CAPTAIN BRITAIN STRIKES AGAIN...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Having recently re-shown you all 39 covers to Marvel UK's Captain Britain '70s weekly comic, I thought I'd strike while the iron is hot and re-present the 14 covers from his '80s monthly mag as well.  So here they are!  Shame it didn't last longer 'cos it was a good wee periodical, but it lives on in memory - as well as in my collection of pristine issues bought back in the day.

Yes, these images were scanned from my originals a few years back, so here they are again to allow you to indulge in your own personal nostalgia if you read these comics when they were first published.  Feel free to leave a comment sharing your reminiscences or observations - if you have any.  (If not, use your imagination and make some up.  I won't know - or mind.)

DIRTY DANCING - HE-MAN And SKELETOR STYLE...

Masters Of The Universe was mentioned in a comment in the previous post, which reminded me of the above TV ad.  While I was looking for it on YouTube, I saw the one below also listed, but haven't actually watched it yet.  (I'll have to publish it first.)  If it's completely duff, it'll disappear faster than a... well, you know the rest.  (Update: I've now deleted the second ad because, for some reason, after a while it changed into the same ad above.  I restored it once, but it changed again, so it's gone, man, solid gone!)

157 MINUTES LONG - WILL IT SEEM LIKE AN ETERNITY?

Copyright MARVEL COMICS and relevant owner

I saw a photo of The Eternals from the movie based on Jack Kirby's mid-'70s 19 issue series (and one King-Size Annual) in my local paper today.  I didn't recognise one character, and the main review said that the movie was underwhelming, while another review (in the same paper) said it was quite good.  Can't say I'll be rushing to see it as they've changed the gender of at least one Eternal.  (However, glad to see Salma Hayek's in it.)

It makes me wonder though - if the movie is a great success, is it down to Kirby's concept, or is it down to the skill and imagination of the film makers?  After all, the first Captain America TV movie in 1979 was reputedly a crock of sh*t, and the 1990 version in no way could be described as a blockbuster.  Where lies the blame for their failure to capture the public's imagination - the people behind the movies, or Simon and Kirby themselves?

The Marvel movie version from 2011 was spectacular (I thought anyway), but again, who deserves the credit for its success?  If/when someone gets around to making a New Gods movie, if it's a success you can be sure that there'll be diehard Kirby fans saying that it proves that Jack's 11 issue DC series (again from the '70s) was a masterpiece whose greatness plebs just failed to recognise at the time.  But does it?

I'm pretty sure that gifted movie makers could produce a successful film based on lacklustre comicbook concepts (and have done), and equally, that not so talented movie 'visionaries' could make a pile of p*sh out of a brilliant comicbook idea.  So just where does the credit or blame lie?  The three Fantastic Four movies were hardly the best that superhero movies can offer, so does that mean there was something lacking in Stan & Jack's original stories, or does it mean that the wrong people were in charge of the films?

And if the original concepts are so good, why do film-makers insist in changing so many aspects about them and re-creating things in their 'own image'.  Yet if they do and the movie is a success, doesn't that prove that they were right and the original creators wrong?  (Or vice versa.)

What do you think, Crivvies?

******

Something else to consider.  Because Jack Kirby was a co-creator in mags that have been turned into hit movies, film makers now seem to think anything that Kirby was involved with must guarantee a hit, so we'll probably see quite a few solo Kirby concepts being given the big screen treatment.  Am I the only person who thinks that Jack's name attached to a project doesn't necessarily guarantee a blockbuster?  Or is the success or failure of a comicbook-based film unrelated to the quality of the source material?  Again, what do you think?

******

Oops, I said New Gods was 18 issues, but that was Mister Miracle I was thinking of.  Now corrected.       

CAPTAIN BRITAIN COVER OMNIBUS...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

A few years ago I posted a 12 part series of Captain Britain Cover, Splash Page & Image Galleries which spanned the entire 39 issue run of the Marvel UK weekly comic from back in the '70s.  This time around I thought I'd publish only the covers, all in one post for your convenience, to save you trawling through the blog in search of a specific cover should you ever be looking for one.

For this post I've used my original copy of #1, which I either kept when I gave them all to a pal back in the '70s, or reclaimed shortly after when I was in his house one night and realised I missed it.  (My memory can sometimes be a bit frayed these days, but it was 'either/or'.)  I did occasionally retrieve comics (with his consent), but it only ever amounted to a handful at most, measured against the many dozens I passed on to him.

(Number 10, along with the first combined issue of Super Spider-Man [#231], are also my original copies, freely given back by him well over 30 years later.)

The remaining issues are replacements obtained from various sources in the early '80s ('83/'84), and it amazes me to think I've now had them far longer than I owned my originals.  Our dog Tara was alive when I (separately) owned each individual set, though she passed in 1986, but I'm glad that my possession of both sets fell within her lifespan.  I got her successor Zara a month after Tara died, though she was born the month before, so again there's a sort of overlapping continuity with the comics and the dogs.

I thought Captain Britain was a great wee comic, though it lost a little of the magic when the colour pages were dropped after 23 issues, probably to cut costs in the face of a declining circulation.  Anyway, enjoy refreshing your memory of the covers and also your youth if you bought the title back in the day.  In fact, why not share your reminiscences of the comic and any associations it conjures up in the caverns of your mind?!  

Might as well show show the cover (below) for the 1978 CB Annual as well, on sale around August/September of '77.  This is my original copy, having been in my possession since purchased in Woolworth's back in the day (along with The Incredible Hulk Annual, though the one I have now is a replacement).  It contains the Cap tales from issues 1 - 7, and the two b&w pages (in #s 2 & 3 respectively) were specially coloured for their reprint appearance in this book.

Apparently, when the comics were prepared, it was forgotten the colour cover would leave only seven pages of CB for colouring, not eight, necessitating the eighth page in those two numbers being in B&W (described as bonus do-it-yourself colour pages).  The first ish contained seven pages of CB, and from #4 up to #23, when the interior colour was dropped, that's how it remained.  (Maybe even after, too.  I haven't checked.)