MARVEL MEMORIES - 40 YEARS AGO TODAY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Forty years ago today (1972), October 7th was a Saturday, not a Sunday.  It was also the day that the 2nd weekly ish of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL went on sale, and I was down at the newsagent's at the crack of dawn (well, shortly after it opened) in order to buy my copy.  Featuring the early tales of The INCREDIBLE HULK, The FANTASTIC FOUR and The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, as well as fabulous full-colour pin-ups and a Spidey iron-on transfer, it was an absolute bargain at a mere 5p.

   

The above page is from the Hulk's first appearance, continued from the previous (debut) issue of MWOM.  Given the jade giant's skin hue, green was an ideal spot-colour for this story, although it was perhaps not quite so apt for the FF and Spidey.  (Though, speaking for myself, I thought it worked quite well.) 

The above pin-up originally appeared in FF #2.  Personally speaking, I always preferred the THING's original dinosaur-type epidermis, as opposed to his later rocky appearance.  I was over the moon when, years later, JOHN BYRNE transformed ol' Benjy back to his pre-evolved state for several issues.

One of the great things about those early MWOMs was the use of original covers to first issues being utilised as pin-ups for the mag.  The week before, we had seen the cover artwork to FF #1 - now it was the Hulk's turn to be accorded the same treatment.  Spidey was to have a slightly different honour bestowed upon him - as we shall shortly see.

   

Above is the free iron-on transfer given away with the comic.  Worth the price of 5p by itself, thousands of burgeoning Marvelites were doubtless soon running around sporting Spidey on the back of their tee-shirts, Hulkie from the first issue adorning the front.  Thousands more kids (the rich ones from the posh estates) probably awarded these transfers a tee-shirt each, but I wouldn't have been allowed to 'ruin' more than one. 

The MOLE MAN makes his first face-on appearance in the above page, with the addition of an added caption in panel five which wasn't present in the original printing of the tale.  Quite a few 'editorial changes' were made in early issues, and not just the usual revisions from U.S. to U.K. spellings.  Story pages were sometimes discreetly edited out due to lack of space.

Above is the artwork from the cover of FF #2, featuring The SKRULLS From OUTER SPACE.  Another great pin-up, the removal of which to hang on a wall surely ruined many an issue of these classic British mags.

I just had to include this ad - ACTION MAN was still selling in the millions when the above page first saw print, and it's a real 'slice of life' from the '70s which many of you will surely appreciate for the memories it brings.  Okay, hands up - who had a 'soldier doll' when they were a kid?  The correct answer is 'nobody' - because, as we all know, boys don't play with 'dolls'.  They're called 'action figures' - got it?

Sharp-eyed readers will have noticed that some of the speech balloons in the above page (in the first two panels) have been re-lettered.  DAVE GIBBONS is reputed to have made certain corrections and revisions in early issues, but I'm unsure whether these ones were made by him or done in the States. 

JACK KIRBY's cover from AMAZING FANTASY #15 was never utilised as a pin-up - that accolade went to STEVE DITKO's unpublished cover, which saw full-colour print in a Marvel mag for the first time on the back page of this issue of MWOM.  (The artwork had been seen previously in black and white in an issue of MARVELMANIA #2, I believe, but that was an 'outside' publication, not a Marvel one.)

And there you have it - a short trip back in time to forty years ago.  Tune in again soon. 

JAMES BOND AT 50 - STILL LOOKING GOOD...

Images copyright relevant owner

How time flies, eh?  I remember, back in 1974, a friend informing me in school one day that the back catalogue of JAMES BOND movies had just been sold to ITV for showing on British television.  It wasn't until 1975 (after I had left school) that the first film - DR NO - made its small screen debut, and I recall watching it and reliving my memories of having first seen it in my local cinema around three years earlier.

So, what has that to do with the price of cheese?  Just this - October 5th was the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Dr No back in 1962.  Apparently, ITV's contract to show Bond movies on U.K. TV also expires this month, with SKY now having the rights in that department.  I find that rather amazing - the fact that an agreement first set up when I was still a mere schoolboy is only just now coming to an end, 38 years later.  In that period of time, five different actors have played Bond... James Bond, and the latest - DANIEL CRAIG - has just signed up for another two movies in the ongoing blockbuster franchise.

On November 25th, another anniversary takes place - the 40th anniversary of the first time I saw agent 007 (in the person of big TAM CONNERY - SEAN to you) go through his paces on the largest cinema screen in Scotland.  He had a licence to kill, chill and thrill - and the world's favourite secret agent is still going strong umpteen years later.

The latest movie, SKYFALL, is due in U.K. cinemas from October 26th, and U.S. cinemas from November 9th.  Don't dare miss it - 'cos NOBODY DOES IT BETTER THAN BOND!

DON'T BE 'THOR' - BUY A MIGHTY MARVEL MASTERWORK TODAY!

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

I can't stop, I'm on a roll - so here's yet another astounding painting by DEAN WHITE, over JACK KIRBY's and JOE SINNOTT's cover art to JOURNEY Into MYSTERY #83.  The THOR figure appeared on the front of his own volume against a black background to give ol' Goldilocks greater emphasis, but the complete and unobscured version was published in the back of DAREDEVIL MARVEL MASTERWORKS Vol 1 (softcover), from which this image comes.  I can't recommend these books highly enough - they're essential 'must-haves' for all true Marvelites.  (Of which I'm one.) 

AN AMAZING FANTASY MASTERPIECE...

Continuing the theme of the previous post, I thought I'd show you DEAN WHITE's painting of JACK KIRBY's & STEVE DITKO's cover to AMAZING FANTASY #15.  I'm not sure whether Dean traces the original image or uses a projector (or some other method), but the results are fantastic.  I'd love to see special reissues of various MARVEL #1s sporting such covers, with the contents benefiting from the same colouring techniques employed in the TALES Of ASGARD six-part series a couple of years back.  Now wouldn't that be something? 

'MUST-HAVE' MARVEL MASTERWORKS...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Criv-ites not buying the new softcover MARVEL MASTERWORKS are missing out on something special.  As well as printing the most accurate versions of classic Marvel stories to date (the reproduction quality of some tales in the FF volume being superior to the OMNIBUS edition), the books also include terrific extras.

Case in point: The above painting by DEAN WHITE (over JACK KIRBY) of FF #1 is simply stunning.  The illo was used on the cover, but with the background blacked out - as is the case with all volumes in the series.  However, the first two releases (SPIDER-MAN and FANTASTIC FOUR) included the full paintings in the back of the books, with subsequent volumes displaying the unedited artwork of the next one to come, inside the back cover.

The books are worth having for these fantastic paintings alone, never mind the cataclysmic classics from Marvel's heyday.  What are you waiting for?  Start buying these titanic tomes today!

IS THERE A FUTURE FOR BRITISH COMICS IN PRINT?

Image copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co, Ltd

I'm afraid we may have to consider the distinct possibility that nothing can be done to save comics in print form in this country and that their eventual demise is inevitable.  Perhaps they really are a dying breed and the digital dimension is the only way in which they can possibly continue.  (Strictly speaking, they wouldn't really be comics then, though they would still be comic strips.)

However, assuming they can be saved, here is perhaps a way to do it.  We all know that newsagents and supermarkets prefer to stock more expensive items as their percentage from sales is bigger, but they'd be foolish to ignore lower-priced items selling in large volumes.  After all, it results in the same thing - profits.

So, what can comic companies do to help their products perform better on the shelves?  Off the top of my head, here are a few suggestions which I think may be worth considering:

1)  Start employing writers who can produce consistently funny strips on a weekly basis. No more editors slumming as writers to supplement their earnings and churning out tired, formulaic, unfunny stories that merely fill space.  Stop aiming strips primarily at an infant audience and start crafting stories which not only children can enjoy, but also teenagers and adults who thumb through a copy in their idle moments.  Remember Dennis the Menace at his finest, when his capers weren't written down to an infant's mentality?  Kids and parents could both find things to laugh over in his exploits.

2)  Give kids stories they can relate to - which are funny - that reflect things they have experience of.  (Conflict with parents, teachers, authority, etc.)  No more ridiculous and repetitive concepts like Gnipper, Rasher, Thrasher, Basher, Crasher, Donner and Blitzen, or however many pets Dennis currently has.  (I might have invented a few there, in order to make a point.)  No more ex-army neighbours with tanks in their back gardens and nonsense of that sort, or flying around in rocket-powered Dennis mobiles.  Keep it real, but make it funny.  (Of course, if the concept of the strip is about a boy with a rocket-powered vehicle or a menagerie of pets, then the above 'restrictions' need not apply.)

3)  Hire artists who can tell a story without merely repeating one panel throughout the length of a strip, or is just a series of talking heads.  Artists who can make funny things funnier by the way they draw them, who have a good grasp of sequential storytelling and whose depiction of events can be understood at a glance - and which don't induce eyestrain and a headache.  Oh, and who don't draw like six-year olds.

4)  Use lettering fonts which are instantly legible and pleasing to the eye, not ones that look as if a chicken has walked through ink and scampered all over the page.  Use a consistent style throughout, to give the comic a sense of unity, rather than just being a hodgepodge collection of random strips.  One cannot seriously defend upper and lower case lettering on the grounds that children (or anyone) find it easier to read, when one is using barely legible amateurish scrawls.  A scrawl is a scrawl, whether rendered in upper case or upper and lower.  You'd think this truth would be obvious to all.

5)  Keep the costs as low as possible by perhaps reducing page count (The Beano and Dandy had phenomenal sales when they had only 16 or 20 pages, remember), using cheaper paper and exploiting traditional, familiar characters that'll prompt parents to buy comics for their children out of a sense of nostalgia.  One of the main factors in The Beano's and Dandy's longevity was the 'nostalgia-factor'.  This alone, of course, won't sustain a comic if it isn't any good - it still needs to be well-written, well-drawn and funny.  Humour comics have fallen into the habit of being faintly amusing - and then only sometimes - over the past couple of decades (with exceptions of course), and this needs to be reversed.

6)  Cut the price.  Which can be done if production costs are kept to a minimum.  Investigate supplying to 'pound shops' - they're springing up all over the country and are perhaps an avenue which can be exploited.  (Back issues could be sold, three in a bag, for a £1, rather than just being pulped.)  Another thing which should be emphasized is the educational aspect of comics and how they can help children develop an appetite for reading, along with the ability to do so.  Parents need to be encouraged to renew the once-popular custom of buying comics for their kids, and the educational aspect could be a way of doing it.

Well, these are just a few ideas for the purpose of kick-starting reflection and discussion on how printed comics can not only survive, but thrive, in the decades to come.  Thirty years ago they said that Cinema was dead with the advent of the video, but a reversal in its fortunes was achieved which can surely be emulated by comics if we all put our minds to it.

So how about it?  Anyone else got any ideas?

******

(A version of this post was first published on another site.)

CONAN The... 'CONJURER'?

Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CPI

The year was 1979.  A whole 33 years ago and seeming like only a few months back - and, paradoxically, 100 years ago at one and the same time.  I was working in my local central library back then and, one day, several of us were sent out in pairs to chap the doors of people in possession of long-overdue books and to relieve them of their ill-gotten booty.

I was paired up with a fellow worker by the name of Bob Billens, who was also a comicbook geek like myself.  We chapped the requisite number of doors (some in my neighbourhood), then popped into my house so he could marvel at my collection.  (No, that's not a euphemism - behave yourselves.)  Then, by virtue of the fact that he had a car, we sped along to his house (or to be exact, his wife's parents' house, where they were staying at the time) and, while sipping tea in the back garden, I looked through some of his not quite so vast array of four-colour treasures.

He even gave me a handful of his surplus comics, one of them being CONAN The BARBARIAN #6.  Bob tended not to keep his comics in quite so pristine a condition as I aspired to with mine, so a little while later (and not being a particular Conan fan), I cut out the splash page and put it on my wall amongst all the other posters, covers, pages, pin-ups and panels which adorned it.  There was just something about that jewel-bedecked night sky which fascinated me.

That page was on my wall for close to four years until we moved house, where it was again awarded its own space on the wall of my new bedroom.  Then, as regular readers may remember me recounting in a previous post, just over four years later we moved back to our old house, whereupon it resumed the space it had previously occupied and where it still resides to this very day.  (Update: A bright, new, colourful duplicate has now replaced it as it was showing its age.)

Interestingly, when I was in my new abode, I would sometimes look at the page and recall my old house and room and feel quite nostalgic about them.  When I eventually returned to that room four and a bit years later, it was as if I had never moved to begin with and, consequently,  I never spared a thought for the place we had just vacated.

Now, however, 25 years after returning, I look at that Conan page on occasion and recall that other home with fond affection.  Not only that, but I remember that sunny afternoon when me and Bob sat out in his in-laws' garden and spent our dinner hour poring over a selection of various MARVEL and DC comics (mainly DC, it has to be said) before returning to the dismal confines of the library and our dreary and unimaginative, po-faced colleagues.

So, one glance recalls two different houses and rooms, a former workplace, various ex-colleagues, a one-time friend, and a sunny afternoon in a vanished era from long ago.  Funny how one picture can encompass so many memories, don't you think?  If you have a particular comicbook page or panel that conjures up a fondly-remembered time from your youth, feel free to share it in the comments section.

******

(If you're interested in what happened to Bob Billens, click here.)

PART THIRTEEN Of FANTASTIC COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

This time around, let's not bother with too many words - why waste 'em when these pictures speak for themselves?  All you need to know, if you don't already, is that these covers and pin-ups are from FANTASTIC, a weekly comic published by ODHAMS PRESS in the late '60s.  Enjoy! 

The MARX DALEK - APPROVED And AUTHENTICATED...

If I remember my DOCTOR WHO history correctly, a DALEK's 'sink-plunger' appeared on the programme on December 21st, 1963, but it wasn't until the following week (28th) that the pepper-pot perpetrators of planetary pulverisation appeared in their full glory and subsequently took the kiddie-contingent of the country by storm.  MARX TOYS were amongst the first to jump on the merchandising bandwagon that followed, with an assortment of friction-drive, ball-bearing and battery-powered bump 'n' go plastic playthings in varying sizes and colours.  (Silver and black initially, with red and yellow ones a few years later.)

Although the demand for these toys was huge, it has to be admitted in the cold light of adulthood that they weren't entirely accurate in terms of detail.  True, they captured the essence of the aggressive aliens perfectly and were even used as stand-ins in the programme itself, but could hardly be considered as exact reproductions of their TV counterparts.  (Though Marx were not the only manufacturers of Dalek merchandise whose product differed from their cathode ray tube incarnations.)

At least, that's the generally-held view of collectors of these popular 'metal' mutants.  However, a few years back, in the pages of DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE, I spied an early production sketch by designer RAY CUSICK, which suggested a possible means of propelling the Scions of SKARO around the BBC studios.  Take a good look at the drawing below - doesn't it seem remarkably similar to the Marx Dalek to you?  Look at the shape of the head - it's almost a dead-ringer for the Marx version.  (It's also got the same lights as the movie version - a couple of years before the big-screen adventure had even been thought of.)  

  

So, to all those inclined to write off the Marx Dalek as an inaccurate representation of the Doctor's arch-enemies, perhaps it's now time to re- evaluate that assessment.  The fact that it bears quite a resemblance to an approved (in appearance, if not in propulsion) production sketch by the actual designer means we can safely regard the most sought-after toy of Christmas '64 as an 'official', if variant, member of the Dalek ranks.

Obviously, as has been seen down through the years, Daleks come in various versions, and each one is as valid as another.  I can't help wondering, though, if the terrifying tin-pot tyrants would have been as successful if either of the following two designs had been approved by the suits in charge.  Perhaps the whole future of the programme would have been different - if, indeed, it would even have had one.

     

So, go on - dig out your Marx Dalek today (if you're lucky enough to own one) and give him pride of place once more on your shelf or sideboard.  No longer need he play second-fiddle to his later brothers and cousins.  No hiding him behind the rest of them, mind - stick him up-front where he rightfully belongs. 

The FANTASTIC FOUR'S ANNUAL EVENT... (Expanded Edition)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Hard to believe the above issue is nearly 50 years old.  I acquired it just over two decades after it was published, which means I've now owned it for close to 30 years - something else I find difficult to wrap my mind around.  The first half-dozen F.F. Annuals all had new content alongside select reprints, but with #7 they became all-reprint material - which lasted until 1976 and the release of Annual #11.

  

The seventh King-Size Special Annual, reprinted the contents of #2 (above), while #8 re-presented the first in the series, minus the opening chapter of the foursome's origin from their 1961 debut in F.F. #1 (which had faces and figures redrawn in places, to update the look of some of the characters).

The above cover was one I re-created for the original printing of Volume 25 of MARVEL MASTERWORKS, and was featured in several publications over the years until an earlier, superior source was discovered and utilized for the OMNIBUS volumes and recently updated Masterworks editions.  JACK ('KING') KIRBY was still alive when I re-inked, re-created and restored this page (and others), and it was an immense thrill to see my name in the credits section of the book alongside some of the (then) living legends of the Marvel Age.

Annual #4 featured the return of the original HUMAN TORCH, but it was the reprints which made this issue a 'must-have'.  Re-presenting F.F. #s 25 & 26, the second meeting 'twixt The HULK and The THING was a real classic.  I confess to never being overly fond of GEORGE ROUSSOS's inks (under the name of George Bell) over Kirby's F.F. pencils, but, some way, somehow, they work in this two-part slug-fest from the scintillating '60s.

  

The above was the cataclysmic issue that featured The SILVER SURFER in his very first solo story.  By this time, Kirby's figure-work had lost some of the grace and fluidity with which he had imbued NORRIN RADD when he first appeared in what would later become known as the GALACTUS TRILOGY.  I have to say that I think STAN LEE made the right choice when he picked Big JOHN BUSCEMA to illustrate the regular adventures of the Surfer in his own mag.  Short-lived though it was, I fear it would have been even shorter had Jack been at the helm.

The sixth in the series was the one which made comicbook history by introducing childbirth into the world of superhero sagas.  Nothing graphic, and all 'off-camera', but, as far as I'm aware, no other super-powered couples had ever entered into parenthood before.  REED and SUE's son, FRANKLIN, is with us yet and is still only a kid - I just wish I knew his secret.

Which brings us back to the beginning - in reverse - for this series of Specials, as the above ish reprinted the story from the second Annual from 1964.  I'd be interested to know if the reprint editions sold as well (or better) as the ones which contained new material, but I'm assuming so as they must have cost less to produce.  Anyone know for sure?

We end our journey where it began - with a re-presentation of the tale from the very first '63 Annual.  It's always nice to come full-circle, don't you think?  And isn't it interesting to compare JOHN ROMITA's cover with Jack Kirby's?  On balance, I think that Romita's is far more dynamic, with Kirby's being a little sedate for such an action-packed adventure.  However, we aren't restricted to one or the other - we have both to enjoy whenever the fancy takes us.  'Nuff said!

******

In answer to a request in the comments section, what follows (eventually) is the restored cover of F.F. Annual #3 for Marvel Masterworks Vol 25, published in 1993.  First up (below) is what I had to work with, taken from an issue of SMASH! printed back in the 1960s.  I later found a much sharper copy of this ad in an issue of FANTASTIC, but by then it was too late - I'd already completed all the work and wasn't willing to do it again.

And below is the finished result, a combination of re-created lettering and some taken from my own copy of the actual issue.  You'll see that I had to add two missing figures, as well as re-ink the entire page.

When I first started restoring pages, my aim was to make them as exact as I could, but then I succumbed to the temptation to leave my own 'stamp' on them.  If you look closely, you'll find occasional little deviations from the original.  However, this was accentuated by Marvel not following the original colouring of the published comics.  Nowadays, Marvel strive to make their Masterworks volumes as close to the originals as possible.  The recent softcover editions really are worth acquiring for your collection.

Above is a section from the cover - isn't that gilded frame a thing of beauty?  Below is a section from the credits page - Stan Lee's name kicks it off, I bring up the rear.

And now, what you've been waiting for - the published result.  Unfortunately, the outline of 'King-Size' in the banner at the top of the page was somehow 'lost' in the colouring process, but it was fixed when the cover was later reproduced in other publications.

Considering I used only a Marsmatic technical pen to re-ink a photocopy on cheap paper (copied in my local library), it turned out not too badly.  I also worked on Volume 26 (THOR) - the series was cancelled after Volume 27, but was revived a few years later.

KID KLASSICS - IT'S A MARVEL-LOUS WORLD (EXPANDED EDITION)...

Art by John Buscema

 

40 years ago, on September 30th, 1972, The MIGHTY WORLD Of
MARVEL #1 (cover dated October 7th) burst onto newsagents' counters

all over Britain.  I hadn't seen the STAN LEE-voiced TV ad (although I did

later), so it came as a surprise when I spotted the comic on a wall-rack out-
side a newsagent's along from Glasgow's famous BARROWLAND market
(aka The BARRAS), where I and my parents were heading on that
particular Saturday morning.

Art by Jack Kirby

 

Art by Jack Kirby

I couldn't talk my folks
into buying it for me on the
way in, but I'd managed to
wear them down into submis-
sion by the time we made our

way out an hour or so later.  We
were soon ensconced in the cosy
confines of a comfy cafe, and it
was with great joy that I pored
through its contents over a glass
of cola and reacquainted myself
with the pals I'd first met in the

pulsating pages of ODHAMS'

POWER COMICS, way back
in what even then seemed like
the dim and distant days of
the '60s.  Suddenly, life
was exciting again.

Art by Jack Kirby

DEZ SKINN once revealed that Stan had told him the comic's original
title was going to be The WONDERFUL World of Marvel (after the
Disney TV show of almost the same name), but thankfully 'twas not to be.

Besides, MIGHTY and MARVEL go so well together it seems the obvious
choice, so I'm amazed that any other name was even considered.

Art by Jack Kirby

Art by Jack Kirby

40 pages, some in full-

colour (the rest with green

'spot' colour), for only 5p -
containing the origins of The
INCREDIBLE HULK, The
(FABULOUS) FANTASTIC
FOUR and The AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN - plus a Hulk
iron-on transfer (left) - Wow!
I wish they still produced
comics like that today!

Well, in a sense - they do!
I still buy MWOM today,
although it's now published
monthly, has 76 full-colour
pages and costs £2.95.

The Mighty World of Marvel - I hope it's still around in
another 40 years.  In fact, I hope I'm still around also.

Art by Steve Ditko

Hopefully, you won't mind me resurrecting a post from two years ago -
but (with a little revision) it was perfect for the purpose of celebrating the

debut of MWOM back in 1972.  And, to be honest, I simply couldn't think

of saying it any better than I did a couple of years back.  I wish I could relive

those Autumnal days from so long ago when I was a mere thirteen year old

boy, but, in a way, I can.  Whenever I look at those pulse-pounding pages

in the very first issue of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, I'm
once more back in the heady days of the sensational '70s.

Art by Steve Ditko

Incidentally, you may be interested to know that, despite a later
issue's claims to the contrary in response to a reader's enquiry, page
seven was edited out of SPIDER-MAN's origin.  The opening caption

of page eight was amended to cover this, and so unobtrusively was it

   done that the story's flow remained largely unaffected by the cut.