POT LUCK MARVEL POCKET BOOK COVER GALLERY... (Updated)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

A fresh and frozen thin coating of snow adorns the streets outside my window as I type - ah, lovely.  I sometimes wish it could be Winter forever, so clean and white does everything seem in all its frost-framed finery.  Sorry, I'm being entirely self-indulgent, as the current state of the weather has absolutely nothing to do with this post.  (Unless I wanted to make a bad pun about it being a 'chiller' of a day.)

Contrary to what some Crivvies might think, I don't, alas, possess every British MARVEL comic ever published.  I probably had most of them way back when, but that's no longer the case.  Take the Marvel Pocket Books from the early '80s - I bought a good many of them at the time (with the exception of YOUNG ROMANCE, which I don't recall ever seeing), but sometimes they just weren't in the shops.

This meant I'd start collecting a particular title, but then have to give up on it because it just seemed to disappear from the shelves after several issues.  Case in point: there were 28 issues of CHILLER PB, but I only possess the first eight of them.  And when it comes to the CONAN one, I only have the first two (now three - yippee).  Did I once have more and give them away for some reason?  To tell the truth, I can now no longer recall with absolute certainty, but it's a possibility.

With STAR HEROES (not shown), I didn't buy the mag until it started reprinting early X-MEN tales in its tenth issue, changing its name shortly after.  Likewise, I probably purchased the early SPIDER-MAN PBs, but the only ones I have now are a few with LEE/DITKO tales.  I'd almost certainly have bought the first ish, but if I continued with it, I suspect I later gave away any which didn't contain reprints of the earliest stories.  (Now added #1, 7, & 8.)

But what's all that to you?  Do you care?  Of course not!  All you want is to see the pretty piccies - and who can blame you?  So here's a hodgepodge of covers from an assortment of whatever Pocket Books I don't have complete sets of.  There's bound to be something you'll like.  I'll get around to showing you the FANTASTIC FOUR and the X-MEN ones reasonably soon - promise.  (And a promise made is a debt unpaid.)

2022: Finally acquired #3 - over 40 years since it was published.  Result!

Acquired this and the preceding two issues just a few days after publishing
this post, so here they are for your enjoyment, frantic ones

I bought this one in Southsea/Portsmouth in 1981 - and more than likely the other three also.
That probably explains why I don't have any issues after #12 - they were nowhere to be seen
in shops back home

PART TWO Of The CRUNCH COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

Here we are with the second instalment of DCT's 'paper' for boys, launched in January 1979 and merging with The HOTSPUR after a mere 54 issues.  Having shown you the strip content in part one, there's no need to repeat myself so I'll restrict the pics to the front and back covers - unless, of course, there's something that absolutely cries out to be seen.

Have you any memories of this comic from 36 years ago?  What was your favourite strip?  Did you buy the combined Hotspur & Crunch or simply jump ship at that point?  Feel free to share your reminiscences in our comments section.  

BABE Of The DAY - SARAH YOUNG...

Sensational SARAH YOUNG

(who might be old by now) is involved in

the 'adult entertainment' industry, but let's not

hold that against her.  In this piccie, she looks as

though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth - but

remember, girlie, any naughty stuff 'round

here and you're out on your ear.

The COMPLETE TITANS POCKET BOOK COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

When THE TITANS first appeared in shops in the mid-'70s, it was a weekly comic in what was called the 'landscape' format.  That's to say, a normal-sized upright comic that had been turned sideways, with what had been its bottom edge now being the stapled spine, and featuring two (reduced) reprint pages side-by-side on a single page.

When the monthly Pocket Book version of the title debuted in 1980, it was 'digest'-sized (like a DCT COMMANDO mag) - so the dimensions of the printed artwork on the page were of a similar size to its earlier incarnation, except for having only one reprint page (not two) per actual comic page.  Clear?  No?  Well, you can't fault me for trying.

This was a great little mag, featuring early tales of THOR, IRON MAN and CAPTAIN AMERICA.  Just like its HULK counterpart, it conjured up memories of weekly '60s comic FANTASTIC, due to the fact that the contents were two-thirds the same.  Also, just like the Hulk PB, The Titans only chalked up a run of thirteen monthly issues.

And - yup, you guessed it - you lucky Criv-ites can now enjoy looking at the cataclysmic covers for every single ish.  Do I spoil you or what?!  Comments extolling my generosity to the heavens will be most welcome!  (In a modest way, of course.)

  

The caption is a tad misleading.  The origin is the '60s MARVEL one, not the '40s TIMELY one

The CRUNCH COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

Well, look what I found in the same box as my MARVEL POCKET BOOKS - now that's what I call a bombastic blast from the past.  I was working in the warehouse of BAIRDS department store in the main shopping area of my home town in 1979 when the above comic hit newsagents' shelves, but not for long.  A few weeks later and I'd be working in the Central library just a short walk away.  Ah, happy memories of a time so long ago, but which somehow seems like only yesterday.

I always felt that D.C. THOMSON's 10p comic The CRUNCH was, to a degree, intended as an answer to IPC's 2000 A.D.  It was a good-looking comic and one would've thought it was destined to survive for far longer than the meagre 54 issues that it actually managed.  Looking at the 'cheap' paper, it convinces me that the argument that today's comics need to be printed in full colour on glossy paper in order to compete for the attention of readers is arrant nonsense.  If a comic in this format were published today, I'd buy it - and I bet I'm not the only one.

I'm sure I still have the free gifts somewhere - I've certainly got the poster and the skull pin-badge.  I used to have the poster up on my wall - more to fill a space than anything else, because I'm not a fan of motorbike racing or BARRY SHEENE - nothing against him though.  Anyway, if you bought this short-lived weekly comic back in the day, here are a few images to refresh your memories of 36 years ago.  If you weren't born at the time, don't blame me - I was out most weekends doing my best to increase the population.  Why, I could pull any girl I pleased.  Trouble was, I just didn't please any.  (And thanks to BENNY HILL for that joke!)

Pin back your peepers and away we go!