OYEZ! OYEZ! SIXTH And FINAL PART Of The TITANS COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

"And it came to pass that there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth across the land, for The TITANS had fallen."  Yes sirree, after only 58 issues, The Titans was subsumed by SUPER SPIDER-MAN and yet another mighty MARVEL mag bit the dust.  You have to hand it to Marvel U.K. though - they certainly tried, and were a major player in British comics in the '70s and '80s, but it couldn't last, alas. After 20 plus years, Marvel U.K. disappeared, and PANINI gained the licence to produce mags for a British readership.  However, in its day, Marvel's British division was a force to be reckoned with and published some memorable comics that are still fondly recalled (but not without criticism) by old farts like myself.

Okay, it wasn't as good as it could have been - should have been - but neither was it entirely without merit.  So let's raise a glass of soda pop to The Titans, as we study the covers of the final nine issues of this short-lived but power-packed comic from the far-off '70s.  We may never see its like again, but at least it made a big impression on the memories of bright-eyed readers who enjoyed it back in the day and were sad to see it go.

  

And below is one you won't have seen before.  For the story behind it, take a look at the comments section.

There were two Annuals to tie-in with the title (issued in 1975 and '76, each for the following year), so below is a selection of images from them.

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - MARGARET NOLAN (AGAIN)...

Excluding your wife ('cos, depending

on your reply, it just might cause you some

serious grief), have you ever had a girlfriend as

gorgeous as MARGARET NOLAN?  Me being

a real handsome lad, I've had loads, but how well

have all you ordinary looking guys done?  What's

that, nurse - time for my long-sleeved pjs that

tie at the back?  But I can't scratch my @rse

 when I'm wearing them.  Bah!

The CRUNCH COVER GALLERY - PART FIVE...

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

As well as having all 54 issues of The CRUNCH, I'm pretty sure I also have all 67 issues of SPIKE, which was published by D.C. THOMSON around three years after its predecessor's demise.  Unless I've given them away and then forgotten about it, they should be up in my loft in a box somewhere and have been for years.  (Let's just hope they're not too mouldy.)  I may even have CHAMP as well, but whether or not I've still got the complete set or only the first three issues, I can no longer remember.

It's a shame that DCT no longer produce action/adventure weekly titles for boys, because they had their own undeniable charm, despite their cheap paper and typeset lettering.  Of course, that may just be nostalgia for the past which makes me feel that way, as comics like VICTOR, HOTSPUR, WARLORD, etc., represent a fondly remembered part of my childhood.  Not that I was ever a regular reader of the first two papers, restricting myself to an occasional free gift issue down through the years.

It's kind of scary though to think that today's kids may one day look back on the last incarnation of The DANDY with the same glow of affection, as, let's face it - one or two strips apart, it was pure p*sh.  When I eventually win 80 squillion quid on the the Lottery I'll come to an agreement with Thomson's and revive some of their retired titles, fill them with classic strips, but print them on the same cheap paper.  I'm convinced that content is the important thing, and I'd much rather read an old 1970s comic printed on what seemed like blotting paper, than a modern one printed on something akin to a shiny piece of linoleum.

What say the rest of you?

   

The TITANS COVER GALLERY - PART FIVE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

So, what can I say about The TITANS that I haven't already said or that you don't already know?  Nothing, actually, apart from the fact that I'm surprised, looking back, to note that it lasted for just over a year.  In keeping with quite a few other titles of their time (like FANTASTIC, TERRIFIC, SUPER DC, The CRUNCH, etc.), it seems, in memory, to have been a much more significant feature of my life and around for far longer than it actually was.  Strange, eh?

However, we're not here to ponder that particular paradox (though you can if you want to), but to go on a whistle-stop tour of nine issues of what was supposed to be MARVEL's flagship title in their fleet of British weeklies back in the 1970s.  Like I said in an earlier post, I feel that, had just a little more care and attention been lavished on The Titans (and that goes for some of the other comics too), then it may well have lasted for longer than the 58 issues it managed to hang on for.

But that's enough pontificating from me, you'll be glad to hear.  Now it's time to lose yourself in the pretty pictures that follow.  Don't hog them all to yourself now - leave a space and let other Criv-ites cop a gander as well. 

Oh dear, the layout and perspective of this page is all wrong

PART TWO Of STRANGE TALES COVER GALLERY...

All images copyright MARVEL COMICS

And now, a leap back to the 1960s, to take a look at an earlier, more innocent age, when comicbooks sold in far greater numbers than they do today.  On the whole, I think I preferred these more basic tales, which one could read in 20 minutes without getting bogged down in a multi-part serial consisting of talking heads - where nothing very much happens in a story you can't fully understand until you've read the collected edition many months down the line.

That's the difference between these comics and today's crop:  All the writers and artists wanted to do back then was entertain the readers for a short while.  Today's current creators seem far more interested in demonstrating how clever they are, and using comics as a showcase for how suited they'd be working in more 'mature' mediums, like movies or TV. With a few exceptions (like FRANK MILLER's DAREDEVIL: BORN AGAIN, for example), give me the 'cheap and cheerful' comicbooks of the '60s and '70s any day.

With that in mind, let's now enjoy these STRANGE TALES covers together, as we return once again to yesteryear.  Anyone else miss these simpler types of comics as much as I do?

BABE Of The DAY - KIM KARDASHIAN...

Frankly, the only thing I know

about her is she's got an @rse you

could sit a dinner tray on, but ain't she

a babe!  Let's all now kneel in awe and

adoration of the amazing beauty of

 KIM  KARDASHIAN - yeah.

FIVE FANTASTIC FUN-FILLED FRANKIE STEINS...

From WHAM! #52, June 12th 1965.  Copyright REBELLION

Oh, your luck's in, Criv-ites!  Here are five - count 'em, five - panting pages of KEN REID's barmy strip, FRANKIE STEIN, from one of Britain's finest comics of the '60s - WHAM!  Who else gives you such value for money ('specially as you don't pay any) in this day and age?  I'm unsure if I've posted any of these classics already ('cos I'm too lazy to check), but it doesn't much matter as they're always worth another look regardless of whether you've seen them before.  Surely that's a sentiment with which you'd all agree?

So don't hang about - fling yourselves right into these masterpieces, from a time when comics were funny and well-drawn - not something that can be claimed for many of the mediocre 'magazines' of today!

  

From WHAM! #53, June 19th 1965

From WHAM! #54, June 26th 1965

From WHAM! #55, July 3rd 1965

From WHAM! #56, July 10th 1965

And below is the cover of a super book that you may be able to track down on eBay.  It contains every strip that Ken Reid drew for Wham! - including JASPER The GRASPER.  That reminds me - I once created a character-name clearly inspired by Jasper, called THATCHER The SNATCHER.  This was a few years before anyone had heard of a certain Prime Minister with the same surname.

  

BABE Of The DAY - VICTORIA VETRI...

I'm sure you're uninterested in anything

I have to say when you have VICTORIA

VETRI to slaver over - so take it away.