Week Ending

Mighty World of Marvel #19 We have reached the eve of big changes at Marvel UK, unfortunately it seems that the decision was made early in February 1973 to mark the occasion with a somewhat less impressive issue of MWOM than we have become accustomed to. The Hulk continues his adventures in the made-up but definitely a bit communist Bodavia. Taking his sweet time to escape from one guy armed with what looks like a prototype Super Soaker. The story does little and goes nowhere, do we get some nice art along the way though? Unfortunately not. Steve Ditko is on pencils with Vince Colletta on inks, I know Colletta gets a lot of flak, so I wanted to be able to say his work was ok here. I'll be generous and say it is possibly a combination that doesn't flatter either artist, one small upside is Glenn Talbot looks even more like David Niven than he did last week. Can Spider-Man raise the bar for this week's issue? Well he might have done, were he not reduced to a fi

Mighty World of Marvel #18 Issue 18 of MWOM offers up another cracking cover, even if the reproduction is a bit ropey and the added Spider-Man panel seems like an afterthought. It is the contents that are important though, so what does our five pence get us this week...? It gets us the mighty figure of the Hulk fighting the Leader's Humanoid Horde, with Dick Ayers' inks adding much needed weight to Ditko's bandy-limbed pencils. A side effect of which is that everyone looks angry or sad, but it is a price worth paying. The Hulk's struggle is cut short by his now customary transformation back to Banner due to exertion or excitement, and it not long before he is captured by evil Bodavian forces lurking offshore in their submarine. Bodavia appears to be a clumsy edit for Russia, I had no idea that 1970s Britain was considered so sensitive about these matters. Anyway Bruce is spirited away to a Bodavian forced labour camp, where it takes his a shocking length of ti

Mighty World of Marvel #17 The seventeenth instalment of Mighty World of Marvel promises 'new facts about FOOM!' Basically we get a rerun of the earlier free poster debacle, with weekly clues. Kids these days take cleverly crafted viral marketing for granted, they will never know our pain. Stan does however let us know via his column that MWOM is soon to be not the only Marvel UK title on the shelves, with an as yet unnamed sister publication joining it soon. Breath baited, we wait. We get more Leader-y goodness this issue, while Bruce Banner languishes in a cell on suspicion of espionage and having some connection with the Hulk that nobody can quite work out. This state of affairs does not continue for long, as Rick Jones comes to the rescue (how grim is your life when you find yourself grateful for the arrival of Rick Jones?) Dr Banner's freedom is secured after Jones blags an audience with the President by means of a letter from Reed Richards. Readers familiar

Mighty World of Marvel #16 It's mid January 1973 and your five pence pocket money is burning a hole in your corduroy bell-bottoms. What does your 5p get you? Well you could do a lot worse that what looks like a cracking Jim Starlin cover plus 39 pages of awesomeness. Full disclosure here, I am going to admit that nostalgia is playing a big part in my enjoyment of this story, which includes the origin of the Leader and his bubblegum based creation the Humanoid. The Leader was always the perfect, if obvious, foil for the Hulk, and I can't help but be pleased to see him turn up here. The story is pretty standard fare, but the inclusion of a quality antagonist elevates it above preceding episodes. While we are on the subject of villains with recurring longevity, Spidey is up against the recently escaped Vulture in his second appearance. Despite the fact that the Vulture is definitely no Leader, he manages to give Spider-Man a surprisingly hard time for someone who is

Mighty World of Marvel #15 Issue 15 of MWOM hits the newsagent shelves with a dramatic, if probably cobbled together cover. Despite the artwork coming from various sources, it would have certainly parted me from my pocket money. Can the contents live up to the promise of this cover's confident collage? Let us find out... Well the Hulk does his best to hold up his end with the continuation of last week's story. I am still enjoying the Ditko/Roussos art, despite some heavy-handed application of the Zip-A-Tone shading. In the time between the stories from the original run of The Incredible Hulk title and this episode from the pages of Tales to Astonish, I assume Hulk's first encounters with the Avengers took place. This leads to another 'cunning' Marvel UK edit being required, as Rick Jones was still hanging around with the Avengers in the US version of this story. The solution? Rick is attending Lee University and Captain America is hastily redrawn as 'D

Mighty World of Marvel #14 It is January 1973, somewhere in a probably grey, wet Britain a child called Waids is embarking on the next phase of his 47 year plot to make my life miserable. Despite his uncanny knack for long-term planning, he did not foresee the advent of ebay and a fellow youngster called Hamilton who would understand the importance of NOT CUTTING UP COMICS, YOU AWFUL LITTLE PHILISTINE. This week we get the second part of Hulk's battle with Bruce Banner's low-rent Iron Man knock off. We are also treated to what I think is Marvel UK's first creator credits with wacky nicknames or hyperbolic introductions. The story itself is not particularly noteworthy, we do have the first appearance of Major Glenn Talbot and a namecheck for Tony Stark though. This is yet another tale that experiments with the Hulk, his strength seemingly reduced to that of the early issues and his transformation from the Hulk back to Dr Banner also triggered by increased stress, o

Mighty World of Marvel #13 It is the final days of 1972, the contents of your Christmas stocking exhausted (to wit: a tangerine and a sugar mouse) what remains to look forward to? Well, the thirteenth issue of MWOM for a start. I should warn those of a sensitive disposition that my arch-foe and probable future serial killer 'Waids' has once again reached across the decades to strike at me by removing a pin-up page with a disturbing, almost surgical care. I am very much of the opinion that this person needs to be found and have their patio dug up. It says a lot for Stan Lee's determination to make the character of the Hulk a success, that after the cancellation of his own title, the story continues seamlessly into the pages of Tales to Astonish #60. We do now get yet another iteration of the Hulk here, with the abandonment of the gamma-ray machine transformation and Hulk's appearance now being triggered by stress or fear. Also we see the first suggestion of th

Mighty World of Marvel #12 We have reached a dozen issues of Marvel UK's flagship comic, I had intended to give a respectful shout out to the original owner of my copy, a young Mr or Miss Waids, whose name and house number has been recorded for posterity in biro upon the cover by a long forgotten newsagent. However, as the little brat saw fit to cut a random panel out of this week's Hulk strip, he or she can get stuffed. Has the wanton vandalism of the demon-spawn of the Waids household ruined this week's installment of the Hulk's adventure? In short; no. This story was in trouble long before the ravages of a scissor-happy child of 70s Britain got their hands on it. Continuing the reprint of Incredible Hulk #6, which was to be the last issue of the green goliath's original eponymous title, given how none of the preceding stories have managed anything like consistency or a greater hook than the Jekyll and Hyde set-up, this is not much of a surprise. I'

Mighty World of Marvel #11 I suspect that back in 1972, the feckless youth of Britain had no idea how spoilt we were with the unique MWOM covers by Jim Starlin, this one inked I believe by the legendary Joe Sinnott. Frankly, for these alone, it is a wonder some of the early Marvel UK issues are not more sought after. Still the wider comic-collecting community's loss is my gain. While we are on the subject of artwork, it is just as well Hulk gets his proper respect on the cover, because Steve Ditko has taken over art duties for his internal pages. As a result we get a Hulk played by Johnny Weissmuller with short legs. I'm not a Ditko fan, but when he works he works... here he really doesn't. Hopefully Stan Lee can save the day with an engaging plot. Hulk is up against the alien Metal Master (think Magneto without the character depth or motivation) while hampered by literally having Bruce Banner's head on the Hulk's body. As a result we are treated to the s

Mighty World of Marvel #10 What does the tenth issue of MWOM have in store for us? Unusually, it's cover makes some effort to inform us of the contents, and immediately gets it wrong by promising us last week's encounter between the Hulk and Tyrannus. Hulk's actual tale this week is the reprint of the second story from Incredible Hulk #5, which seems a retrograde step in comparison to last week's story in terms of art and characterisation. In fact, given some of the story elements like the use of General Ross' Iceberg Rocket that made its first appearance in Incredible Hulk #4, I would put good money on this story actually being created before the previous Tyrannus tale. I wonder if it is too late to claim my 'No Prize'? The bulk of the story sees Hulk facing off against a thinly veiled Communist China, who are threatening an even more poorly disguised Tibet. The Hulk chooses to do this by taking a commercial flight and pretending to be the Abomin

Mighty World of Marvel #9 Now a couple of months into its run, MWOM seems to be finding its feet. Mostly due to an improvement in the quality of the reprinted strips within, but the format itself feels like it is gelling better. We get a column from Stan Lee dropping some pantomime quality hints about something called 'Foom', don't know what that's about but he is very enthusiastic. Also, there is the first mention of Marvel UK staff, as Stan name-checks British editor 'Pippa' with even less forthcoming information than the aforementioned Foom. As is now traditional we open with the Hulk, this week facing the subterranean threat of Tyrannus and his minions (not sure how the Mole Man feels about this) who after centuries below the Earth's surface with nothing but his potato-faced underlings and the fountain of youth for company, has decided to conquer the world above. Step one of his master plan is to kidnap Betty Ross, clearly life in a cave has dr

Mighty World of Marvel #8 It is time for the of the eighth issue of Mighty World of Marvel to be unfairly scrutinised by the denizens of the internet 47 years after its publication. If Marvel UK foresaw this eventuality, they decided not to make it easy for themselves by having cover art that appears to feature Spider-Man and Dr Octopus in a heated debate over whose corset is the most waist-clinching. We kick-off with the Hulk rising to the intergalactic challenge of Mongu, the fearsome gladiator from outer space. Turns out he is neither fearsome or from outer space, he is actually just a chap called Boris Monguski. Given his name and his friends' fondness for furry hats, I think it is safe to assume that he may have some strongly held beliefs regarding the proletariat seizing the means of production. Mongu/Boris isn't much of a challenge for the Hulk, but it does give Bruce Banner the opportunity to use his new transformation ray system in anger. I found this actual

Mighty World of Marvel #7 I'm going to go out on a potentially unpopular limb here and say that this is the first truly 'good' issue of MWOM. From the Jim Starlin cover art, to the general improvement of the art and stories inside, as well as someone bringing reasonable effort to the use of the green shading and Zip-A-Tone. This issue feels like a cohesive, quality product in a way the previous six may have lacked a little. All that said, our opening Hulk story is and odd little tale. Without a antagonist to face, everyone just seems to be wondering how to deal with the Hulk, from Betty and General Ross, to Rick Jones and Bruce Banner, even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby appear to be thrashing out their plans for the character on the page. This week we have Rick flexing his little-known science muscles by using a gamma-ray machine to transform the Hulk back into his puny human alter ego. Bruce then refines the process to allow him to retain his personality and intelligen