PART TWO Of Dr. STRANGE CLASSICS: COVER, SPLASH PAGE & PIN-UP GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Ready for yet more mystical images from LEE & DITKO's Dr. STRANGE tales from the mid-'60s, as reprinted in the four issue Classics series in 1984?  Good, then you've come to the right place as that's just what we've got for you, Criv-ite fans.  I first read these stories in a black & white weekly British comic called TERRIFIC way back in 1967, and I knew they were something extra-special even then.  This was MARVEL at its very best and no mistake.

If you've never read these yarns before then you've missed out, frantic ones, and could be considered impoverished in your comics collecting lives.  However, do not despair - all these pulse-pounding pictures are on view in the Dr. STRANGE OMNIBUS volume - available even as I type these imperishable words.  And, what's more, you'll get to see these double-page covers without the irritating personal address labels taking up space in the corners.  So what are you hanging around here for?

Race right 'round to your local comicbook store right away and immerse yourselves in the wondrous worlds of Dr. Strange by buying your very own awesome Omnibus volume before they sell out.  You don't want to miss it.

And below is the ALEX ROSS cover of the Omnibus edition.

BABE Of The DAY - MARILYN MONROE...

The magnificent MARILYN MONROE.

What else need be said?  (Except wow!)

Dr. STRANGE CLASSICS: COVER, SPLASH PAGE & PIN-UP GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

H'mm, now that's strange (no pun intended).  When I look at these pics, I don't automatically associate them with the house in which I lived when I purchased them.  In fact, I was surprised when I saw the date of 1984 in the indicia, because I thought I'd obtained this four-issue series in 1982 or '83, when I first lived in the house I'm in now.  (In case you're confused - or interested - I resided here from 1972 to 1983, before my family moved to a new home, only to return to our former abode after just over four years, in 1987.)

This cracking series reprints the classic 12 issue 1960s run of STRANGE TALES #s 130-141, wherein Dr. STRANGE embarks on his greatest adventure.  This STEVE DITKO plotted tale ran for a year - a year - something that most rabid readers who first experienced this scintillating saga in epic editions like this (or MASTERWORKS and OMNIBUS volumes) forget.  Although story-plotted by Ditko, STAN (The Man) LEE makes his customary immense contribution by scripting the palpitating proceedings as only he can.

The images on display are scanned from my original issues, hence the personal address labels (sans address) on the back of the covers.  I could have scanned them from the Omnibus volume, but I didn't want to risk damaging it, so I'm afraid you'll just have to live with the labels.  When these stories were reprinted, two at a time, in Strange Tales around the mid-'70s (#s 183-188), ten pages were discreetly edited out, but in this presentation, one lone page aside in the final story, the main saga is complete.  (The deleted panels set the scene for Strange Tales #142, but as the MORDO/DORMAMMU tale was over they were edited out, being regarded as superfluous.)

So enjoy the awesome artwork on offer, and don't forget to return for part two.  I'd hate for you to miss anything!  (I'm thoughtful that way.)

  

'Twas usually Jolly Jack Kirby who sometimes drew characters' eyes on a different level, but
here, Sturdy Steve Ditko seems to be emulating him.  The Doc looks like he's had a stroke

KID KLASSICS: IT'S A MARVEL-LOUS WORLD (THIRD TIME OUT)...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS.  Art by John Buscema

 

I trust you won't mind me resurrecting a post from a few years ago - but (with a little revision) it was perfect for the purpose of celebrating the debut of MWOM back in 1972.  And, to be honest, I simply couldn't think of saying it any better than I did the first time around.  I wish I could relive those Autumnal days from so long ago when I was a mere thirteen year old boy, but, in a way, I can.  Whenever I look at those pulse-pounding pages in the very first issue of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, I'm once more back in the heady days of the sensational '70s.

******

44 years ago, on September 30th, 1972, The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #1 (cover dated October 7th) burst onto newsagents' counters all over Britain.  I hadn't seen the STAN LEE-voiced TV ad (though I did later), so it came as a surprise when I spotted the comic on a wall-rack outside a newsagent's along from Glasgow's famous BARROWLAND market (aka The BARRAS), where I and my parents were heading on that particular Saturday morning.

Art by Jack Kirby

 

I couldn't talk my folks into buying it for me on the way in, but I'd managed to wear them down into submission by the time we made our way out an hour or so later.  We were soon ensconced in the cosy confines of a comfy cafe, and it was with great joy that I pored through its contents over a glass of cola and reacquainted myself with the pals I'd first met in the pulsating pages of ODHAMS' POWER COMICS, way back in what even then seemed like the dim and distant days of the '60s.  Suddenly, life was exciting again.

Art by Jack Kirby

Art by Jack Kirby

DEZ SKINN once revealed that Stan had told him the comic's original title was going to be The WONDERFUL World of Marvel (after the Disney TV show of almost the same name), but thankfully 'twas not to be.  Besides, MIGHTY and MARVEL go so well together it seems the obvious choice, so I'm amazed that any other name was even considered.

Art by Jack Kirby

40 pages, some in full- colour (the rest with green 'spot' colour), for only 5p - containing the origins of The INCREDIBLE HULK, The (FABULOUS) FANTASTIC FOUR and The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN - plus a Hulk iron-on transfer (below) - Wow!  I wish they still produced comics like that today!  

Art by Jack Kirby

Well, in a sense - they do! I still buy MWOM today, though it's now published monthly, has 76 full-colour pages and costs £3.99.  The Mighty World of Marvel - I hope it's still around in another 44 years.  In fact, I hope I'm still around also.

Art by Steve Ditko

Incidentally, you may be interested to know that, despite a later issue's claims to the contrary in response to a reader's enquiry, page seven was edited out of SPIDER-MAN's origin.  The opening caption of page eight was amended to cover this, and so unobtrusively was it done that the story's flow remained largely unaffected by the cut.

Art by Steve Ditko

BABE Of The DAY - LINDA THORSON...

Here's the son of THOR - er, wait

a minute - no, it's LINDA THORSON.

My mistake - her surname confused me

 just for a second.  Silly me.

RIP-ROARING RE-POST: NOT JUST A LETTERER...

'Homage' to the cover of IRON MAN #150.  Hand drawn, no tracing, graph
paper, or projectors involved.  Characters copyright MARVEL COMICS

It's not generally known, but although I was primarily a lettering artist throughout my 15 year career in comics, my original 'ambition' was to be an adventure comic strip artist.  I started lettering simply to get my size 9s in the door, but when I saw I could earn more as a letterer than as an artist (on account of being faster at the former than the latter), I stuck mainly with the lettering.

However, I did a bit of drawing as well, adding to panels when re-sizing IPC comic libraries, and doing occasional spot illos when the opportunity presented itself.  I also worked as a restoration artist on some MARVEL MASTERWORK volumes, re-inking and even re-creating JACK KIRBY art, which was a huge thrill for me.

However, my frank and forthright views on this blog on the current state of the British comics 'industry' (hah!) has brought me in for criticism from some quarters, with a few disgruntled individuals dismissing me as "only a letterer" and a "Kirby tracer".  Thing is, I got my first paying gig as a cartoonist when I was still at school, and have produced artwork for publication (for which I was paid) since even before (during and after) I started freelancing for the likes of IPC/FLEETWAY, MARVEL COMICS (and others).

So here are a few examples of pencil and ink artwork ranging from my teenage years right up to adulthood.  Quite a few are professional pieces I was paid for, some were freebies for people I know, and the remainder were done simply for my own amusement.  I've shown them all before on the blog at various times, but it can't hurt to remind people I'm certainly more than "only a letterer".  Funny how some people who work in comics mistakenly imagine it's the only legitimate outlet for an artist's work, eh?

Pencil caricature (using my pseudonym) done as a gift for someone

"If you don't like a certain cartoonist's version of DESPERATE DAN, then why
not try drawing it yourself?" someone dared me. So I did!  Characters copyright
D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

B&W copy of a colour ad for a local restaurant.  I was going
to be paid £100 for it, but decided against it in the end

2000 A.D. pin-up.  I was paid for it, but don't know if it was ever
published.  Characters copyright REBELLION PUBLISHING

One of the lettering samples that got me the promise of work from
IPC.  Pencils by me, characters copyright MARVEL COMICS 

Set of four cartoon illustrations (sans captions) for equestrian events programme

Cartoon illustration for local business

Acrylic ink illustration of a friend's son

Pencil caricature done as a gift for someone

Parody of AMAZING FANTASY #15 splash page

Cartoon strip for local business

Proposed strip (at the request of BOB PAYNTER) for OINK! while at the preparation
stage.  Never got any feedback, but a similar character appeared a few months later

WILLIAM HARTNELL 'DOCTOR' figure and TARDIS drawn
in 1983, background completed 30 years later, in 2013

Acrylic ink portrait done as a gift for someone.
Yeah, you can see my heart wasn't really in it

Ink drawing done as a gift for someone.  Characters copyright KING
FEATURES SYNDICATE, Inc

Newspaper ad drawn as a teenager for local business

Photocopy of pencil drawing done for my own amusement around 1981

Instruction leaflet done for local business's delivery drivers

Newspaper ad for Glasgow hairdressers

Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone

Logo for The ILLUSTRATED COMIC JOURNAL

Drawing done as a gift for someone

Pair of flyers for local business

Proposed logo for Glasgow Con.  Don't know if it was used or not

Cartoons (sans captions) for two camping posters done in my late teens/early 20s

Logo for local business

Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone

Quick caricature done as a gift for someone

Fun & Activity booklet produced for local business

Acrylic ink caricature done as a gift for someone

Unfinished pencil caricature

Comic strip drawn for The BOOTS NEWS when I was 17

Pencil drawing done as a teenager

Unpublished strip for local paper.  Others were published though

Cartoon strip drawn for my own amusement

Character copyright DC COMICS

And finally - a couple of JK pages of artwork I inked.  The FF one appeared in an issue
 of The JACK KIRBY Collector.  Characters copyright MARVEL COMICS