SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY COVER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Time again to demonstrate my justly-famed generous nature by bestowing upon all you panting picture-lovers yet another round of sensational SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY covers and images from the early 1970s.  "Why am I so nice to everyone?" I often wonder, and the only answer I can come up with is that, basically, I'm a nice guy.  Of course, you'd likely get an argument about that from some of those who know me better than you do, but don't listen to them.  They're lucky that I still occasionally slide some toast under the door of the cellar I've got them locked up in.

Anyway that's enough way-out waffle from me - I now unleash an array of awesome images from the vast and vaunted vaults of my very own personal collection for all you frantic fans to slobber and drool over.  Don't be greedy now - take things slowly and enjoy them one at a time.

And remember - today is February 10th - 40 years to the day (which was a Saturday back in 1973) since SMCW first landed on newsagents' shelves the length and breadth of Britain.

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It's snowing outside as I type this - and it was snowing 40 years ago as I chapped a friend's door to show him my copy of the newly purchased SMCW #1.  He wasn't up and out of bed yet - and because his mother was too ignorant to invite me in to wait (as mine would've done in his case), I took shelter in one of a row of under-construction lock-ups around the corner from his house and waited for him to get up and greet the day.  He had only moved to the house a week or so before and, being quite a distance from mine, I was reluctant to make the return journey so soon after arriving.

As I stood in that grey, doorless lock-up while the flakes swirled outside, I again browsed through my latest comic acquisition, bought that snowy Saturday morning from my local newsagent's.  I have other memories associated with other copies of that same first issue, obtained at different times and under different circumstances, but that's the one which is foremost in my mind as I watch the snowflakes dancing outside my window - just as they danced beyond the opening of that cold and cheerless lock-up four decades ago today.

  

The HULK - MADE In BRITAIN...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Back in February 1979, comics editor DEZ SKINN - who was then in charge of MARVEL U.K.'s complete line - capitalized on The INCREDIBLE HULK's TV success by releasing ol' Jade Jaws in his very own weekly comic (cover-dated March).

Unlike earlier British Marvel mags which had reprinted U.S. material (even CAPTAIN BRITAIN was produced in America), the new periodical featured U.K. originated strips - with the exception of the reprinted LEE & KIRBY 1960s story, ANT-MAN.  The new Hulk tales were based more on the BILL BIXBY/LOU FERRIGNO TV show than his Stateside comicbook, but the U.K. content dwindled over time, especially once PAUL NEARY took over the reins from Dez Skinn.  The comic lasted for 63 issues and introduced NIGHT RAVEN into the mainstream Marvel Universe in the process.

Hulk Comic (alongside its companion weeklies, MARVEL COMIC and SPIDER-MAN COMIC) was in some ways a return to the style of the ODHAMS PRESS POWER COMICS of the 1960s, in that reprints were resized approximately two U.S. pages to one U.K. page.  In the main it was handled quite well, but the reshuffling of sizes allowed the odd mistake to creep in from time to time.  (See the second tier of the third Ant-Man page on this post for an example.)

I thought my American readers (especially Nifty NICK CAPUTO and Bashful BARRY PEARL) might like to see what the first issue (sans adverts) looked like - especially the 'made in Britain' Hulk strip, which will be reprinted alongside other U.K. created Hulk tales in a book due out in July.  Keep your eyes peeled.

  

The FABULOUS FANTASTIC FOUR COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

August 1961 - that's when the November dated first issue of The FANTASTIC FOUR went on sale - and changed the face of comics publishing forever.  Created by STAN LEE & JACK KIRBY, the cosmic quartet set the pattern for superheroes with problems, who fought amongst themselves, who got married, had kids - and saved the universe when they weren't doing all those other things (and even sometimes while they were doing them).

"The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!" is now 52 years old and still going strong - and will hopefully be around for another 52 years at  least.  (And maybe one day they'll get the movie adaptations just right.)  Anyway, I thought all you 'Criv-ites' might enjoy seeing the covers for the first ten issues - when history was being made without anyone realising it at the time.

And if you enjoy seeing these ten cataclysmic covers, be sure to let me know in the comments section - then I might show you the next ten in the series.

PART TWO Of BACK To The FUTURE...

Copyright REBELLION

Welcome back, all you jaunty JOHNNY FUTURE fans, as we present the second instalment of the former MISSING LINK's foray into fantasy as a costumed superhero, from the pages of FANTASTIC way back in the swinging 1960s.  LUIS BERMEJO is the awesome artist responsible for these powerful pictures, and he's as good an illustrator as you're likely to find in the cataclysmic world of comics.

Looking at the page below, there seems to be a missing caption from the top tier's middle pic.  Did it fall off, or was it removed prior to printing?  We'll never really know, so your guess is as good as mine.  Anyway, it doesn't seem to affect the story, so let's not lose any sleep over it as we surge ahead and immerse ourselves in this five - count 'em, five - page extravaganza of action and adventure!

And be sure to come back for Part Three.

  

WINDOW On The PAST...

Regular readers will be aware by now that one of the chief delights of my life when younger was gazing out of my classroom windows and losing myself in daydreams.  What cared I about matters pertaining to geography, history, maths and the like?  I was too busy flying around the sky or saving the world - in my fertile imagination, at least.  Sometimes I wasn't quite so energetic in my fantasies, and was content just to watch the clouds glide by in languid motion, going wherever it is that clouds go to.

It should therefore come as no surprise to anyone to learn that I still like to gaze out of windows today, observing the comings and goings of neighbourhood residents, the antics of assorted dogs, cats, birds, squirrels and foxes, and whatever else happens in a typical street.  And yes, I still enjoy just watching the clouds drift by or contemplating the rain pattering off the pavement.  Recently, however, I've become aware of just how few people I actually recognise in their daily perambulations past the panoramic perimeters of my property.

There are now only two faces I can identify from around the time I first came to this house over forty years ago.  One was here before we moved to the area, the other took up residence a year or two after we arrived.  There are others who've lived here for maybe twenty or thirty years, but for some curious reason I still regard them as 'newbies' and not yet established in the neighbourhood firmament.  Strange how them not living here within the first few years of my arrival makes them seem like newcomers I haven't quite adjusted to yet.

There's a possibility that one of the old, familiar faces may sell up and move on in the not too distant future, and the other is retired and getting on in years.  When the last link to how things once used to be has finally gone, I wonder just how I'll react to being surrounded by complete strangers with no connection to my younger days back in the early 1970s.  I've noticed a feeling of 'displacement' gradually creeping up on me over the last few years as more and more 'well-kent' faces have faded from my everyday experience, and sometimes I almost feel like I'm the stranger who doesn't quite belong in these here parts.

It's then that I immerse myself in comicbooks from four decades ago and re-live the early years of when I first moved to this house, in an attempt to recapture the mood, the ambiance, the atmosphere - the flavour - of what it was like to live here back in the sensational '70s, when I was practically just a lad not too far removed from the start of my journey through life and all it had to offer.

Then I lose myself in visions of the past; where long-gone local worthies yet walk the streets beyond my window - living, breathing, laughing and chatting as they did in bygone days, before they gradually fell, one by one, victims to time.  I seek refuge in a place and a period which now exist only in memory, populated by the ghosts of yesterday, and the knowledge is not lost on me that, one day, my 'continuance' will consist of being nothing more than a lingering echo in the minds of others.  Until such time as they, too, are gone, and that faint echo falls forever silent. 

PART TWO Of SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Another JIM STARLIN cover starts off the second part of our look at SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY from the year 1973.  Unfortunately, SMCW wasn't quite so lavish as its sister title had been in its early issues when it came to pin-ups and bonus pages, but by this time neither was MWOM.  Still, I've culled the best examples of titanic treats within the magnificent mag's wondrous interiors to bestow upon all you rabid readers of MIGHTY MARVEL MAGIC!

Everything old is new again, so pamper your peepers with the array of awesome images presented in this pulsating post.  And keep a look-out for Part Three. 

(If you missed Part One, click here.)