UNSEEN DITKO...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Feast your fortunate eyes on an un-inked and unused pin-up of The INCREDIBLE HULK by STEVE DITKO, intended for an issue of TALES To ASTONISH, but presumably vetoed by STAN LEE on the grounds that ol' Greenskin was facing away from the audience instead of lumbering towards them.  Such a display of bad manners from BRUCE BANNER's alter-ego would surely never do, eh? 

This and other pages can be found in The Incredible Hulk Vol 2 in the softcover MARVEL MASTERWORKS series, which often features pages of a higher archival standard than even some OMNIBUS editions.  Why not run along to your nearest comic shop and schlep down your shekels in exchange for a copy?  You know it makes sense.

ISBN # 978-0-7851-5883-7

MOEBIUS PASSES AWAY...

JEAN HENRI GASTON GIRAUD.  (May 8th, 1938 - March 10th, 2012)

JEAN GIRAUD, also known as MOEBIUS, has sadly passed away. I have to confess that I wasn't a fan of his SILVER SURFER graphic novel, PARABLE, with STAN LEE (nor did I share his rather strange views on lettering), but when it came to doing the stuff he was good at (which was a lot), he was very good indeed.  Comics are the poorer for his passing.

I'll leave it to others better acquainted with the man's life and career to pen a more detailed tribute than I'm capable of.  I just didn't want his passing to go by without commenting upon it myself.  No doubt some of the many fine blogs in the list on the right of the page will have their own thoughts to express about the legendary artist, so keep your eyes peeled.  I'm sure they'll do him proud.

A FISHY TALE Of FOUR (NOW FIVE) SUBS...

FANTASTIC FOUR #11.  Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Sufferin' Shad!  Take a long lingering look at the above pin-up from the 1962 issue of The FANTASTIC FOUR #11 - it's none other than the awesome avenging son of fabled ATLANTIS himself, PRINCE NAMOR The First, the sensational SUB-MARINER - mighty monarch of the seven seas!

TERRIFIC #1

This pulsating pin-up next appeared (in Britain) on the back cover (above) of TERRIFIC #1 in 1967, before turning up yet again in 1973 as a back page pin-up (below) in the collectors' item classic that every true believer should have, The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #15.

The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #15

It turned up again in The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR #24 (below) in 1977, but this time was printed in black and white (with a little touch of Letra-tone), and lacked some of the 'punch' of the three earlier full-colour versions.  Still nice though.

The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR #24

The next one (below) was produced by semi-regular reader and commenter Baab, who digitally coloured a picture of the original art after the MWOM version.  Didn't he do a good job?  He first showed it on his own blog, but I'm sure he won't mind me 'borrowing' it for mine. 

Bah Boy Blog.  (See comments)

I suppose the first two versions have more of an 'oceanic feel' to them due to the blue and green colour scheme, although the MWOM page had more of an impact on me at the time and is consequently the one I prefer.  Luckily, I'm not restricted to just one and can enjoy all of them depending on my mood.  Okay, you've had more than enough time to compare all four five of them - which one is your favourite?

Imperius Rex!

BATMAN'S WORLD OF ADVENTURE - NO PARACHUTES INVOLVED...

BATMAN copyright DC COMICS.  Art by WALTER HOWARTH

Here's a nice little item I picked up in Gosport when I was living down in Southsea in Portsmouth back in 1981.  31 years later, I'm reminded that I probably had my original copy for only a few weeks when I first bought it back in the faraway 1960s.  Looking at it today, I remember having quite a few issues of this run, and also seem to recall a SUPERMAN companion series.  (Even though there isn't one listed on the back-page ad, below.  I could be wrong though.)

If memory still serves, I got all four of these titles in my sadly-missed local WOOLWORTHS, and - on the day I bought them - I recall standing in line for a visiting fairground's 'parachute jump' (slipping into a harness and jumping off the edge of an iron fire-escape staircase - no actual parachute involved) situated in the rear car-park of the tenpin bowling alley in the main shopping precinct of my home town.  As I waited, some ned kept asking me to let him read my new acquisitions while the queue wound its way along.  I refused of course, because even at that tender age, I was smart enough to realise that he'd be off the moment I handed them over, never to be seen again.

Never got my parachute jump that day - the queue was moving so slowly that my parents, hovering in the background, got fed up waiting and summoned me and my bruv back to the car (a blue and white NOBEL 200).  Ah well, at least I had my BATMAN and U.N.C.L.E. World Adventure Libraries to console me.

A SAINSBURY'S supermarket has been built on the site of the long-gone bowling alley, and an ICELAND shop now occupies the premises that once belonged to Woolworths, but - somewhere in the back of my mind and in surviving black & white photos of the period - the way things used to be still exist whenever I feel compelled to reconnect with my past.  And who knows?  Maybe one day I'll even make that long-abandoned 'parachute jump'.

******

Click here for more of the same.

FANTASTIC COVER GALLERY PART TWO...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

And now, starting with the first ever issue of FANTASTIC that I actually bought, here's the second part of our 1960s' cover gallery of the jewel in the POWER PACK crown.  There's something about the cover to #7 which gnaws at me - the speech balloons have been relettered and, if I'm not very much mistaken, the art has certainly been retouched in places - if not completely redrawn (traced, most likely).

On what do I base my opinion?  By comparison with the cover of the original U.S. published version of TALES Of SUSPENSE.  If you check it out, you'll see that the faces of KALA and STARK's friends differ slightly from the U.K. printing.  I'd be interested in what anyone else thinks, so don't be shy now!

IT'S FABULOUSLY FLIPPIN' FANTASTIC - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I've lost track of just how many previous posts I've published on the ODHAMS PRESS periodical, FANTASTIC - so I'm going to start from scratch and showcase my cover gallery from issue #1.  This will save anyone from having to dig through the blog archives in order to find any posts they may have missed.  Not for nothing am I known for my thoughtful consideration for others, regardless of even the slightest concern for myself.  I'm a veritable saint, I am - even if I say so myself.  (And I do.)

Anyway, as some of you will already know, Fantastic was a comic which lasted for 89 issues back in the '60s, and which reprinted MARVEL stories from the States.  The comic featured the adventures of THOR, X-MEN, and IRON MAN in the early issues, along with a strip called The MISSING LINK - which was later renamed JOHNNY FUTURE.

I'll fill you in with anything pertinent as we trundle along, but for now let's just relax and enjoy the spectacular covers and back-page pin-ups from this titanic title from yesteryear, when the POWER PACK seemed to hold sway over newsagents' counters the length and breadth of Britain.  Look out for more cataclysmic comic covers from FANTASTIC - soon!

SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN COVER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CPI

Here are the final six issues of MARVEL U.K.'s ill-fated weekly from the mid-'70s, SAVAGE SWORD Of CONAN.  You may not have the actual comics (or perhaps you do - lucky you), but at least you've now got access to the covers to cast your discerning gaze over.  If you had these comics back in the day, it'll be like welcoming old friends - if not, say hello to some new pals.  Now you can have the fun of tracking them down on eBay and getting a complete collection.  Perhaps you may even have the joyous thrill of discovering them in a charity shop one day and pick them all up for a pound.  Now wouldn't that be something?

See part two here, and part one here. 

PART FIVE Of TERRIFIC'S COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I know how hungry you all are out there for your regular fix of comics from the past, so I'm not going to deprive you of the latest batch of TERRIFIC covers from the '60s for another nano-second.  Here are issues 17 to 22, along with their back-page pin-ups for you to stare at, glassy-eyed, while you drool all over your computer.

Were you a reader at the time these comics were printed, or did you instead have to make-do with more anaemic publications?  Never mind, we won't hold that against you - you've obviously been punished enough and are now a little wiser for your deprivation.  Therefore, don't be shy - YOU, also, are permitted to cast your peepers over these ten awesome POWER PACK publications, presented here in all their monumental and mighty MARVEL magnificence.

Don't forget to tune in again soon for yet another titanic instalment of TERRIFIC COVER GALLERY - only here, on Kid's Cataclysmic bloggy-thingy-doo-dah!