The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL - 45TH ANNIVERSARY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

September.  Outside my window (and others' too no doubt), the rain shows that Summer is now over and that Autumn is upon us.  However, my mind is on another September day many years gone, that of September 30th 1972.  Ah, how well I remember it.  It was a Saturday and I was being taken into Glasgow to have a pair of school trousers bought for me.  On an impulse, my parents also got me a black anorak, but as it had pink lining I seldom ever wore it - and when I did, I made sure it was firmly zipped-up so that the lining wasn't visible.  However, that's not the main reason I recall the date and the day with such crystal clarity.

No, the reason for that memory remaining so vivid down through the years is because that was the day when the very first issue of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL went on sale.  I spied it in a magazine and newspaper rack at the side of a newsagent's doorway on our way along to the famous BARROWLAND market, and recognised The HULK, The FANTASTIC FOUR, and SPIDER-MAN as old friends from my POWER COMICS-reading days some years before. Despite my entreaties, my parents declined to buy it for me (after all, 5p is 5p), but I managed to wear them down and they eventually gave in a little while later.

One thing I'm no longer 100% certain of is whether I got the issue from the shop I'd first seen it in or another establishment.  I think I did, but couldn't swear to it with absolute conviction.  Not that it matters much, but I always hate it when I forget things that were once (seemingly) embedded in my memory for so long a period.  Then, one day, suddenly, they've 'flitted', leaving a hole in the space they'd so comfortably inhabited for years.  Ach, well, never mind.  But wait - having just typed that, the recollection of my eager race back along to that very newsagent has resurfaced, proving that the memory wasn't dead at all, but merely slumbering (unless I'm imagining it).  Welcome back, sleepy-head.

I remember other things about that day, but I've regaled you with them before in previous posts about this landmark issue, so I'll spare you the ordeal of a repeat recounting.  Suffice to say that the very first issue of MWOM left an indelible impression on me, containing 40 pages of the earliest adventures of Marvel's main heroes.  Some pages were in full-colour, while the rest bore a green spot-colour - with 'Zipatone' - to punch-up their appearance and avoid what would otherwise have been plain black and white.

Just think - that was 45 years ago, but to me, even in my dotage, the memory of that momentous day yet resonates as if it were only a heartbeat away.  Isn't that a marvel?  (Yes, pun intended.)

Did you buy The Mighty World Of Marvel back in the day, readers?  If you have any happy recollections you'd care to share, then you know where the comments section is.  The following images should hopefully serve to prompt your memory of the glorious event all true British Marvelites will be remembering in just over three weeks from now.  So don't forget - September 30th.  And guess what?  This year, the 30th falls on a Saturday, just as it did 45 years ago.

Below, the free iron-on Hulk transfer (the right way 'round)

Amazingly, MWOM is still on sale today, though now as a monthly periodical as opposed to a weekly mag.  Below is the next issue (Vol 6, #13) - available on the 21st from WHS, and all good newsagents and comics shops.

REMINISCING REPOST: The TOAD CAME HOME...

Cover illustration (E.H. Shepard) to 1960 Charles Scribner edition

Going by the numbers, quite a few of you liked seeing the cover to my The WIND In The WILLOWS paperback a couple of posts back.  I therefore thought you might like to be reminded of how I first discovered that particular cover back in the early '70s, so have brushed down and dusted off this old post which recounts the details of the event in all its ever-loving glory.

******

A 1967 edition of the acclaimed classic

Are you all sitting comfortably?  Good, then I'll begin.  My first exposure (ooer, missus) to Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind In The Willows' was the Disney cartoon 'short' of the same name.  That wasn't the film's original title, which was 'The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad', two animated tales combined in a single cinematic presentation.  Singer Bing Crosby narrated the Ichabod portion and actor Basil Rathbone performed the vocal honours on the Mr. Toad one.

Later, they were re-released separately, and renamed after the books on which they were based. I saw TWITW at an inter-schools art competition prize-presentation (of which I was an entrant) in my local cinema on the afternoon of my very last day at primary school before the school holidays began.  The movie was screened, the prizes awarded, and we were then returned to our schools at the end of the day to collect our schoolbags and jackets, and thereafter revel in eight whole weeks of summer fun before some of us started secondary school at the start of the new term.

It was on a lazy afternoon sometime in first year that I chanced upon the novel in the school library, as chalk dust floated languidly in the white glare of the sunlight which pierced the large curtained windows at the side of the room.  I had enjoyed the cartoon (and recognized snippets of it from screenings of 'Disney Time' on TV one Christmas or other) so decided to read the book and promptly got it stamped out.  It was certainly a good read, but it didn't make an overwhelming impression on me of the kind that one might expect from an acclaimed classic of literature.  No, that would come later - and here's how it did.

I was in my local newsagent's one day in 1972 or mid- '73, and, on their paperback spinner-rack, was the book whose cover you see at the top of this post.  There were two copies, one of which I bought solely because the cover illustration and the pristine, sharply-defined newness of the tome fascinated and appealed to me in some indefinable way.  I had no intention of actually re-reading it - I merely wanted to gaze upon it, handle it, and luxuriate in its presence and the sheer joy of owning an item of such aesthetic perfection.

But then disaster struck!  The next day I inadvertently dropped the book over the side of the settee and dunted a corner.  The putrid portrait in Dorian Gray's attic could not have presented a more terrible vision of ugliness and imperfection as that one crushed corner which so transfixed my horrified attention.  There was only one thing for it - to buy its twin with which it had recently shared a space in the spinner-rack of the shop from where I had purchased it.  I had acquired the first copy on a Friday afternoon after school, so, at the first available opportunity - which was Sunday morning - I rushed to the newsagent's and took possession of the doppelganger destined to assume the place of its maimed and mutilated companion.

Now I had two copies - one at which to gaze longingly in rapt admiration and appreciation of its awesome appearance, and one to - what, exactly?  Read?  Well, why not?  So that's precisely what I did!  It was on that second reading that the scales fell from my eyes and the wonder and mysteries and sheer beauty of Mr. Kenneth Grahame's (and Ernest H. Shepard's) captivating classic captured my heart and soul forever.  The River Bank, the Wild Wood, Toad, Ratty, Mole and Mr. Badger - and not forgetting the washerwoman, the pipes of Pan and the Stoats and the Weasels.

If you've never read The Wind In The Willows, do yourself a favour and do so before you die. As A. A. Milne (the author of Winnie The Pooh and Toad Of Toad Hall) once wrote: "When you sit down to it, don't be so ridiculous as to suppose that you are sitting in judgement on my taste, or on the art of Kenneth Grahame.  You are merely sitting in judgement on yourself.  You may be worthy: I don't know.  But it is you who are on trial."

Truer words were never spoken.

    

ROLLICKIN' REPOST: ANOTHER KRACKING KOSMIC KIRBY (RE) KREATION By KID...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS



It's common knowledge that MARVEL's STAN (The Man) LEE sometimes rejected JACK (King) KIRBY's initial cover ideas and asked him to come up with another approach.  Such was the case with FANTASTIC FOUR #20, perhaps on the grounds that the good ol' FF - being covered with a coating of plaster - were not quite as dynamic (or recognizable) as Stan felt they should have been.  (And a stunted ALICIA MASTERS seemingly sprouting from the back of the menacing MOLECULE MAN wouldn't have helped.)

A few years back (1997  to be precise), The JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR printed a stat of the pencils of the unused cover, and I was consumed with a desire to see it in finished form.  I enlarged The THING slightly (Jack often drew him too small, compared to his original towering stature in FF #1) and "fixed" Alicia's position in the background.  I also decided to render the foursome without the plaster coating, the better to be able to see them.  TJCK printed it in one of their issues, but I forget which number.  Once again, there are a few areas which could stand improvement (The MOLECULE MAN lettering in the cover blurb for example) and maybe one day I'll eventually get around to doing it.

Anyway, I thought all you cavorting Criv-ites might like to see just how FF #20's cover could have looked.  (And maybe even does, in an alternative reality somewhere.)

A BALMY BREEZE BECKONS BENIGNLY...

A 1971 edition of the acclaimed classic

I've shown the colourful cover to this METHUEN paperback of KENNETH GRAHAME's The WIND In The WILLOWS before, but it's such a relaxing, tranquil scene (by E.H. SHEPARD, the book's definitive illustrator) that I thought I'd post it again for the quiet contemplation of all you Crivs.  (Yes, I'm thoughtful that way.)  If you've never read this literary classic, then you really should get around to it before you fall off the twig.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS - SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY #141 (EXPANDED)...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's a great cover from the mid-'70s by KEITH POLLARD and DUFFY VOHLAND, which cleverly features all three stars of this MARVEL UK weekly periodical.  The Spidey-signal on the wall ensures that SPIDER-MAN is no less present than THOR and IRON MAN, despite him being 'off-frame' (and his head in the corner box helps with that too).  A nice idea, neatly executed.

Inside, it's good to see that Marvel had abandoned the overpowering grey tones (which often came out as near-black) and let the artwork speak for itself.  If I remember correctly, eventually they returned to much more muted tones, which didn't obscure the line-work and subtly enhanced some panels.  For myself, I didn't mind the plain black and white, and the pages below ably demonstrate that it was far cleaner and, by and large, no less effective. 

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - MARTINE BESWICK...

The magnificent, mesmerising

MARTINE BESWICK auditioning

for The FLINTSTONES movie.  So

Yabba-dabba-dooooooooo!

PART TWO OF TORNADO COVER GALLERY...

Copyright REBELLION

Here you are, peeps - part two of our superb TORNADO cover gallery, IPC's weekly comic from 1979 that only lasted for a mere 22 issues before being merged into 2000 A.D.  The only strips to carry over into the combined comic were The MIND Of WOLFIE SMITH, BLACKHAWK, and one-page humour strip CAPTAIN KLEP.  My favourite strip was VICTOR DRAGO, based very much on SEXTON BLAKE, but the artwork was nicely atmospheric.  Did you have a favourite character in this short-lived comic, readers?  Then tell all in the comments section.   

The ed slipped up here - it's 'baloney', not 'boloney'

'Special news inside for all our readers!' was Tornado's
version of the classic 'Great news inside, chums!' line

And below is an ad from another IPC comic, heralding the forthcoming release of the first issue of Tornado in 1979.

TORNADO COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Copyright REBELLION

On March 31st 1979, IPC Magazines launched a new (undated - for the first issue anyway) weekly comic upon the waiting world.  I doubt the world was actually waiting for yet another comic, but that's what it got, it the form of TORNADO.  The strange thing is, it only lasted 22 issues, making it a hat trick for IPC, as two previous periodicals at the start of the '70s - THUNDER and JET - had each likewise lasted only 22 issues.  What was it about the number 22 that seemingly sounded the 'death knell' for any IPC publication that wasn't doing too well?  Was it something to do with how long the sales figures took to come in before deciding on a comic's fate?  If you know the answer, then share it with the rest of us and don't be selfish.

Tornado had a real live superhero in the form of artist DAVE GIBBONS, but even his much-vaunted might couldn't save the paper from cancellation ('great news inside, chums'), and it was merged with 2000 A.D. #127 on August 18th 1979.  Apparently, the comic was created to use up strips originally commissioned for STARLORD and ACTION, but had the comic proven a success, no doubt it would've continued indefinitely (or at least until sales started to slip).  I'll not bother giving you a rundown of the strips contained within the comic, as you can see most of them in the magnificent cover gallery I've so generously laid on for your edification and entertainment below.

Alas, poor Tornado - you didn't even manage to whip up a small breeze, but here we are, 38 years later, paying tribute to your memory.  Don't forget to come back for part two, Criv-ite chums - coming soon.  (That's 'soon' as I can be bothered, to be precise.)  Feel free to share any memories you have of this mag with the rest of us, frantic ones.

  

Below, the free gifts given away with the first two issues.  Can't remember where the third gift is, or even what it was, and the ish is now tucked safely back in its box in a cupboard - so I ain't emptying it again to find out.  Anyone out there know?  Was it the Team Tornado Pass, or did that come with the wallet?