Week Ending Jan. 27, 1973
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 with the original US version may well be scratching their heads at this point because Rick's use of his Avengers ID to pull off this coup has been erased from Marvel UK history with some additional text hastily scrawled under the original panel. Once pardoned by the POTUS, Dr Banner is rushed off to oversee a nuclear test, a test that is rudely interrupted by a cohort of the Leader's rubbery robots.
An injured Spider-Man is forced to fight the Vulture in the offices of the Daily Bugle, which provides some fun character moments for J. Jonah Jameson and a printing press showdown for our hero and his winged adversary. It may just be the reproduction of this reprint, but Ditko's art seems to take a downturn from last week, it resembles a teenage student's homework project that has been put off till the morning it was due in. Something I can certainly relate to, so I shall resist the urge to criticise it too heavily.
The Thing is on a Puppet Master controlled rampage through the Baxter Building, which of course leads Reed Richards to his standard avenue of action in all matters relating to his rocky, orange friend, as he temporarily changes him back into the human form of Ben Grimm. Obviously this status quo is only maintained for the legally mandated six panels before Ben is lumpy and miserable again. On the upside, he does manage to secure a girlfriend in the form of Alicia Masters. Note for youngsters, this is actually how all relationships were formed before Tinder. The remainder of the story sees the FF foil a jailbreak and Alicia indulge in some light patricide. You really don't get value for money like that these days.
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 with the original US version may well be scratching their heads at this point because Rick's use of his Avengers ID to pull off this coup has been erased from Marvel UK history with some additional text hastily scrawled under the original panel. Once pardoned by the POTUS, Dr Banner is rushed off to oversee a nuclear test, a test that is rudely interrupted by a cohort of the Leader's rubbery robots.
An injured Spider-Man is forced to fight the Vulture in the offices of the Daily Bugle, which provides some fun character moments for J. Jonah Jameson and a printing press showdown for our hero and his winged adversary. It may just be the reproduction of this reprint, but Ditko's art seems to take a downturn from last week, it resembles a teenage student's homework project that has been put off till the morning it was due in. Something I can certainly relate to, so I shall resist the urge to criticise it too heavily.
The Thing is on a Puppet Master controlled rampage through the Baxter Building, which of course leads Reed Richards to his standard avenue of action in all matters relating to his rocky, orange friend, as he temporarily changes him back into the human form of Ben Grimm. Obviously this status quo is only maintained for the legally mandated six panels before Ben is lumpy and miserable again. On the upside, he does manage to secure a girlfriend in the form of Alicia Masters. Note for youngsters, this is actually how all relationships were formed before Tinder. The remainder of the story sees the FF foil a jailbreak and Alicia indulge in some light patricide. You really don't get value for money like that these days.
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