PART TWO Of THOR The MIGHTY In A JOURNEY Into MYSTERY COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Strange as it may seem, I always preferred the original "star-kissed human" concept of THOR The MIGHTY over the idea of Dr. DON BLAKE being a construct of all-wise ODIN.  Maybe that's why I enjoyed Thor's Earth-based escapades more than his adventures in ASGARD (on the whole), because I could relate to them more.  After all, I could never have been born a Norse god, but there was always a chance (however slim) I might find an ancient and enchanted gnarled cane in a cave that would transform me into even more of a walking powerhouse than I already am!

However, enough of levity.  Here, not before time, is the second in our series of cover galleries starring ol' Goldilocks from the dawn of his career.  Ten JACK KIRBY mighty MARVEL masterpieces to astound you!

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - LANA WOOD...

PLENTY O'TOOLE - named after

her father perhaps, as 007 dryly suggests

in the movie DIAMONDS Are FOREVER.

Of course, it was really LANA WOOD - and

there's a joke in her name too, but I ain't

gonna touch it, no sirree.

PART TWO Of DEATHLOK The DEMOLISHER COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

"A new beginning" proclaims the cover of ASTONISHING TALES #36, but (alas) 'twas not to be.  The comic was cancelled with this ish, and the new beginning ended in MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #33.  However, you can't keep a good man down, and LUTHER MANNING (the original Deathlok, there's been at least three more since) popped up as a guest star in various titles 'til his star faded in the Mighty Marvel firmament and he was eventually consigned to reprints in the MASTERWORKS and EPIC volumes.

But don't be downhearted, 'cos we have these cracking covers (Gromit) to remind us of when Deathlok kicked @ss.  Got a favourite?  Then tell us all about it in the comments section, frantic one!  This blog's nothing without you!

This would've been AT #37 had the mag not been cancelled - the cover was already prepared,
logo and all.  Luckily, with a bit of rescheduling and re-titling, it finally got the 'spotlight' it
deserved.  Ironically, this was also the final issue of MARVEL SPOTLIGHT

Cover production photostat of originally-scheduled mag

PART TEN Of The CRUNCH COVER GALLERY...

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

It's been a while since we looked at any covers from The CRUNCH, DCT's late '70s comic for boys in the 2000 A.D. mould (The Crunch, not the boys), so let's rectify that by copping a gander at another quartet of captivating comic covers from this short-lived (just over a year) periodical from the publishers of The BEANO and COMMANDO.  Back then, of course, they had numerous comics on the go, but not any more, alas.

So let's turn back the clock, and live again those happy, heady, dying days of the '70s.  Now there was an era!

STRANGE TALES COVER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Seven is a lucky number.  "And why's that?" you enquire.  Because here are seven covers from MARVEL's magnificent mag from the '60s - STRANGE TALES.  Two, count 'em, two titanic tales for the price of one, when comicbooks were unashamedly comicbooks, and not the slick, 'sophisticated' magazines they aspire to be today.

But don't let me get on my soapbox about modern comics.  Let's just enjoy these covers from a simpler age, when comic mags were fun, and entertaining the readers was the only aim of writers, artists and publishers involved in this crazy business called comicbooks.  Ready?  Then what are you waiting for?  The fun starts now!

The HUMAN TORCH COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Back in the early to mid-1970s (okay, '74-'75 to be precise), MARVEL did a reprint mag devoted to The HUMAN TORCH.  The main tale was JOHNNY STORM's Torch from the FF, first seen in STRANGE TALES in the 1960s, and the back-up strip was JIM HAMMOND's Torch (an android, so not human at all), who first appeared in MARVEL COMICS #1, and also had his own mag (which started with issue #2) in the '30s and '40s.

There were only eight issues ever published of the '70s mag, so here are the covers in all their glory for you to slobber and swoon over, you lucky peeps.  And they didn't cost you a penny!

  

PART THIRTY-EIGHT Of FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #2...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

You're looking at one of my favourite-ever comics - The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Annual #2.  I never actually owned it back in the 1960s, got the one you're looking at sometimes in the '80s.  However, I was familiar with the tale from the 1968 FANTASTIC Summer Special, which reprinted it in a re-sized format (two U.S. pages to one U.K. page) to fit the larger dimensions of a British comic.  And it was in black and white.

The graphics, naturally, are superb, as is to be expected from STEVE DITKO at the height of his artistic powers, but it's STAN LEE's dialogue which elevates the issue from being a great-looking tale to a classic.  Stan's dialogue in conjunction with Steve's artwork, of course, but had Steve scripted the tale himself, I doubt it would've resonated down through the years to the same extent that it has.  Some people tend to forget that comics are for reading, and not just looking at the pictures.

As well as the original mag, I also have various reprintings of the tale, one of my favourites being MARVEL TALES #167.  This one is well worth hunting down if you don't already have it.  ASM Annual #2 would cost you a small fortune nowadays, but the MT reprint will be far more affordable.  Anyway, enjoy the pages on view - and may your amulet never tickle!

'Worlds' on the cover, 'world' on the splash page - I wonder why?

The Spider-Man figure in pic 3 was used on the cover of the 1968
Fantastic Summer Special, published by Odhams Press in Britain

A little 'rearrangement' to accommodate the bar code box, but still a
great cover.  Get on to eBay and track down a copy of this ish today!