SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY #1 - FORTY-FOURTH ANNIVERSARY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

February 10th 1973 was the day SPIDER-MAN COMICS

WEEKLY went on sale (and the secret of FOOM was revealed to

the waiting world).  After sharing the first 19 issues of The MIGHTY

WORLD Of MARVEL, the web-spinner was awarded his own mag,

backed up by The MIGHTY THOR, with ol' Shell-head, The

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, joining them in issue #50.

Today, Friday, is the 44th anniversary of this collectors' item

classic, so I thought I'd treat you to a selection of covers and images

from SM's very first pulsating periodical in the U.K.  He'd previously

appeared in POW! back in the '60s and then TV21 at the start of the

'70s, but this was the first British weekly that presented full, uncut

adventures in a publication with him as the title star.

So feast your eyes on the pics that follow, and indulge yourself

in warm recollections of when you first laid eyes on them 44 years

ago.  (And dig that dynamic JIM STARLIN illo on the back page.

Terrific stuff, eh?)  Okay, ready for your trip back in time?

Then let's go!

It was exactly one day short of six years since this story had appeared in
FANTASTIC #1.  Nowadays, six years seems like only a fart in the wind
to me, but back then it felt like half a lifetime away.  In fact, considering
I'd not long turned 14 when SMCW #1 appeared, it practically was.

And below is the paper bag mask given away with this first issue.

(This is a slightly revised post of one that was first

  published on Tuesday, February 5th 2013.) 

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