Week Ending

This week in 1973 sees a bit of a (half) milestone for Marvel UK, as it marks six months of publication. Despite having to rely on content that may have seemed a little dated even four decades ago, Marvel's UK arm has two titles up, running and starting to hit their stride. Again, as noted by keen-eyed readers on Facebook last week (I was less attentive and missed it) we have a pair of covers with matching compositions. I'm actually impressed with the effort this must have taken, probably only to be unappreciated by ungrateful 70s kids. Mighty World of Marvel #26 Last week we were promised a bold new direction for the Hulk, this week's pages give me reason to doubt a similar claim made for next week. We open with some uninspiring artwork and what seems like a fairly blatant passive-aggressive commentary on that subject in the credits box from Stan. Hulk is still captured by the Leader and in danger of a fatal transformation back into Bruce Banner due to a bull

As 2020 seems hell-bent on its bid for the title of Craziest Year Ever, a trip down memory lane to the simpler time of 1973 is probably welcome. Lets take a look at what Marvel UK fans were stockpiling 43 years ago instead of toilet paper and hand sanitiser. Mighty World of Marvel #25 There is something very 'British' about this cover to my eyes, not entirely sure if it is the main art or the layout but there is a distinct 1970s UK vibe to it. The art credits for this week's Hulk story have Jack Kirby on 'layouts', I can only assume this means the King was drawing rough stick figures that Mike Esposito did his own thing over. His own thing in this case being a pretty weird looking Hulk. A Hulk who finds himself trapped in the lair of the Leader with a bullet in his brain that will kill him if he transforms back into Bruce Banner. Not a lot happens in our oddly drawn panels this week but we are promised a new direction next week. Ooooh... If you

We have come within striking distance of synchronising with original release dates of Marvel UK's output from 47 years ago. This by my (possibly faulty) estimation means that I will hopefully be putting up a new post each week on a Wednesday. "So what?" I hear you not unreasonably ask, well Wednesdays seem oddly appropriate to me, as this was the earliest day of the week that I might hope to find the new Marvel weeklies in the newsagent. Thursdays were more certain, but it was always worth a look the day before. Your mileage and nostalgia may vary. Mighty World of Marvel #24 The surprising choice to not reuse the classic cover from Fantastic Four #12 is made, maybe so as not to confuse British youngsters with the image of a three toed, three fingered Hulk. Instead we get what might be another Jim Starlin cover, featuring a time-period incorrect Thing. Maybe avoiding confusion was not the aim after all. Hulk is mid-battle with the Leader's supersize Hum

If you were browsing the shelves of your local newsagent 47 years and one week ago, what were Marvel UK offering to part you from your pocket money? If their covers are to be believed, it would seem that they suspected the sight of Daredevil talking like Spider-Man while Electro attacks a miniaturised Fantastic Four and the prospect of the actual Spider-Man unmasked were the most likely methods to get your ten pence into their bank account. They probably weren't wrong. Mighty World of Marvel #23 Bruce Banner is still temporarily inconvenienced by being dead, this doesn't prove to be too much of a set back as his body is stolen by Rick Jones from under the noses of the US army. While General Ross and Major Talbot are admiring the Leader's creepy life-size plastic model of the Hulk, Rick has plans to bring Dr Banner back to life. Rather shockingly, Rick's plan works, even creating a Hulk with the brain of Bruce Banner. There is little time for celebration

Another week, another cracking pair of covers from Marvel UK, even if the quality of the reproduction lets things down a bit. I had a request on Facebook after last week's post for more pics and details of the internal art and features, because frankly I had been cutting some corners due to having two titles to read and review. As this gives me the perfect opportunity to use the time-honoured Marvel phrase "Because you demanded it!" how could I say no... Mighty World of Marvel #22 The dynamic cover art of this issue promises much that the contents fail to deliver. The Hulk has his first face to face meeting with the Leader and is apparently killed for his troubles by the end of the installment. This actually sounds a lot more dramatic than the reality merits, and the cliffhanger ending is immediately defused by a text box in the last panel to soothe the panic of worried readers. UK edits this week appear to be limited to Rick Jones' "Presidential Clea

Someone was flexing their layout and design muscles back in 1973 with these pleasingly symmetrical covers. From the poses to the speech balloons and text boxes, we are given a matching brace of comics that make me slightly embarrassed to note that I missed a similar visual trick last week. Mighty World of Marvel #21 Another week, another art team giving us yet another take on the Hulk. Jack Kirby is back on pencils with Mike Esposito looking after the inks. The result is a rough, almost troll-like Hulk, not the worst version so far, but not a classic. Bruce Banner is doing his regular captured/escaped/released tango as the Leader continues to plot in the background, this week with the aid of powdered Humanoids. Daredevil gets his second outing, well at least part two of his first. His skills and superpowers are nicely showcased in this story as he tracks down the killers of his boxer father 'Battling Murdock'. I'm surprised that for all its focus on later interp