Week Ending March 24, 1973

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 were hoping that Daredevil was going to raise the average quality of this week's issue of MWOM, you were almost certainly doomed to disappointment. We get the second part of DD's first encounter with the Owl, in a tale that is heavy on exposition and light on art that doesn't hurt the eyeballs. You can almost feel Stan struggling to make an even slightly coherent tale from the material here. I believe a change in artist is due anytime soon, hopefully this will improve things.

Three more mini posters and an editorial from someone who I am growing evermore convinced is not the real Stan Lee.

The Fantastic Four have been tasked to find the Hulk by General Ross, who is convinced the green goliath is behind recent sabotage at the desert missile base. He isn't, it turns out to be a shifty looking dude called Karl Kort, who gets  Scooby Dooed when he drops his wallet containing his 'I am a spy' identity card. This is why there are no Bodavian James Bond movies.
Before the world's worst secret agent is discovered, the FF get their first fight with the Hulk and it is all fun stuff, if a little short. The absolute highlight of this week's issue is the classy Kirby/Ayers art contained in this story, which is more than worth the cover price all on its own.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #6

SMCW definitely wins the battle of the covers this week, even if it does play fast and loose with the contents.

The pages of Spider-Man bring us the debut of probably his most iconic enemy, in a story that Stan Lee throws his entire bag of tricks at. The mysterious Green Goblin teams up with the Enforcers in a rehash of one of Stan's favourite plots, the old 'fake Hollywood movie gambit'. We even get a shoehorned-in guest appearance from the Hulk. The story is pretty contrived, but it is interesting to see the set up for the mystery of the Goblin's identity, when at this point there was either no plan for it or it was intended to be someone other than Norman Osbourn. Of even more interest is who were the original pop-culture references that Marvel UK replaced with Tom Jones, Boris Spassky/Bobby Fisher and Petula Clark? Answers on a postcard please.

One mystery that is partly solved, is that of the surprise gift that has required the butchering of several issues of this comic. I'm really not sure it was worth the sacrifice.

This week brings more fuel to my theory that Stan and Jack were taking turns plotting these early Thor tales. Looks like Mr Kirby is back in the driving seat with the return of Loki and a more Asgardian flavour to this week's story. The god of mischief gets an opportunity to live up to his title but is ultimately suckered by his brother and his handy plastic Thor dummy. Truly, there is no deux ex machina (or possibly machina ex deux in this case) too daft for these early Marvel stories.