KID KLASSICS: FABULOUS FLASHBACKS - MWOM #3...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I originally posted this back in 2012, but not everyone trawls

through previous posts to see what they missed.  So, seeing as it's

relevant (and with a little updating), here it is again, frantic ones.

****** 

Tomorrow, October 14th, it'll be exactly 43 years ago that the

above ish went on sale in Britain.  Featuring a fantastic JIM STARLIN

(I think) and JOE SINNOTT cover, this weekly was the third issue of

The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL which had been launched only

a fortnight earlier.  Let's look at the contents, which reprinted classic

tales from Marvel's history - at that time merely eleven years old.

First up (above) is The INCREDIBLE HULK, with some great
KIRBY and DITKO art, and ol' Greenskin looking as much like BORIS
KARLOFF's FRANKENSTEIN monster as was possible without being
sued by UNIVERSAL.  (Trust me - it's far more apparent in later panels.)
I recall writing to editor PIPPA M. MELLING to tell her that the art had
been wrongly attributed to Jolly JACK KIRBY as it was patently the work
of Sturdy STEVE DITKO.  She replied, apologizing for the mistake, which
demonstrates that she knew as much about Marvel artists as I did (at that
time).  Nowadays, in my more enlightened state, it's obvious that Kirby
pencilled it and Ditko inked it, but back then, SD's style was so
prominent that it confused my still developing spider-sense.
   

And above is yet another Kirby-Ditko collaboration - the art to the

cover of the first issue of SPIDER-MAN - transformed into a pin-up for

all frantic followers to put on their bedroom walls.  I never did at the time;

it wasn't until years later when I had extra issues to spare that I mutilated

these collectable items by depriving them of their interior mini-posters.  I

know - it's akin to pulling the legs off spiders or the wings off flies (not

something I ever did, I hasten to add).  I hang my head in shame at my

unthinking vandalism.  (Saved a fortune on wallpaper 'though.)

Here's something you thought you'd never see - the THING - with

ears.  Except it isn't really Benjy of course, but rather one of those nasty,

shape-changing alien SKRULLS impersonating him.  Some nicely drawn

waves from Kirby here, but I'm not convinced about the perspective or the

horizon.  Never mind, I'll learn to live with it.  I'd read this story a few years

before, in MARVEL COLLECTOR'S ITEM CLASSICS #1, but it was

good to see it again and refresh my memory.

The middle spread (below) utilized a Kirby Hulk drawing with

amended arms by another hand (so to speak).  Both appendages are

too long, even allowing for the margin between the pages, making

him look like a bit of a monkey-boy.  Who's gonna tell him?  

And here's ol' MOLEY (below), not quite as sweet and lovable as

his namesake in The WIND In The WILLOWS, but I'm sure his

mother thinks the world of him.  This page isn't a former cover, but an

'actual' pin-up from FF Annual #1.  I've often/sometimes/seldom (take

yer pick) wondered just how cheap these U.K. Marvel weeklies were to

produce (given that they were mainly reprint), compared to the other

British comics (consisting of mostly new material) available at the

time.  Anyone care to hazard a guess? 

And here's PETER PARKER again (below), demonstrating just how

negligent the U.S. government could be by allowing rubber-neckers to get

close to a fuel-laden rocket about to blast off.  No wonder folks in Marvel-

land were frequently having accidents that transformed them into power-

charged beings (or char-grilled pedestrians) - health and safety obviously

hadn't been invented yet.  (Nor common-sense, it seems.) 

We Brits had to put up with getting our stories in a combination
of black and white, spot-hues - and an occasional page in full-colour,
of which the one below is an example.  On reflection, I wouldn't have had
it any other way.  There was just something about these bombastic British
Marvel weeklies that was truly magical, but difficult to explain to those
brought up on a steady diet of four-colour monthlies.  (I'm talking about
Americans, Melvin.)  I wonder if these relics of yesteryear are as
sought-after by U.S. Marvel collectors as they are by U.K.
readers of a certain age,

 I noticed a Stateside dealer asking for nearly £450 for a copy of the
1974 Marvel Annual on eBay recently, so he clearly thinks it's highly
collectable.  I doubt he'll get his asking price, but if he does, I have a big
tower in Paris which I'll gladly sell to any interested Americans for
an absolute steal (and it definitely would be).   

Oh, but look below - a free gift as well as a comic!  Weren't

we spoiled?  Nowadays, buyers have to wade through newsagents'

shelves overflowing with bagged issues full of cheap plastic tat in an

effort to find our favourite periodical.  (Those of us who still have one

in this increasingly cynical and commercial age.)  Back then, however,

comics normally only carried gifts for the first three issues - and usually

ones which slipped discretely within the pages.  (With an occasional

exception, obviously.)  Surely I can't be the only person who

wishes things were still like that? 

Well, that's yer lot for now - hope you've enjoyed this look back to

43 years ago.  Be sure to tune in again soon for something that will

hopefully tickle your thistle and put a smile on your sporran.

Posted in: Cartoons