Week Ending May 5, 1973

What were you doing during the tail-end of April 1973? Probably going outside a bit more regularly than during the same period in 2020, and one of those trips into the social distancing-free world of the early 70s may well have been to browse the comic shelves of your local newsagent. You may even have picked up one of these beauties from Marvel UK, no pandemic AND comics, we really didn't know how good we had it.

Mighty World of Marvel #31

I really like this cover, evidently featuring pencils by Rich Buckler and the inks of Mike Esposito. Not sure if it is the unusually defensive pose of the Hulk or the fact the colours have survived surprisingly well on the cheap paper stock that Marvel UK were using back in the day, but it pleases my cynical old eyes.

It should come as no surprise to learn that there is another change in the lineup of the ever rotating art team on this series, as Jack continues on layouts with new arrival Bill Everett on pencils and inks. It really does feel like Stan was grabbing whoever passed his office when it came to the Hulk. The result this week is a slightly stumpy looking Hulk with a torso like a muscular bus and a primitive but expressive face.
Hulk is back from the future to a world that now knows the secret of his connection to Dr Bruce Banner, with Banner's mind no longer in charge of the Hulk we are now close to what I would call the 'classic' Hulk, though the triggers for his transformation may not quite be set in stone yet. Hulk follows his internal urge to return to the missile base of his birth, unaware that Glenn Talbot and Banner's replacement, the fantastically named Dr Konrad Zaxon are expecting him. Using the tried and tested method of trapping the Hulk with a hole in the ground disguised by foliage, Dr Zaxon confides with us his plan to use the power of the Hulk to rule the world. Cue maniacal laughter.

If this issue has any theme at all it is 'the bat-crap crazy plans of bad guys that are way more successful than they have any right to be'. Our story continues from last week with what I think might be the first example of a specially commissioned splash page by Marvel UK to bridge the gap between episodes. Let me know if anyone can confirm this and who the art might be credited to. Daredevil rescues Foggy from his self inflicted peril and rushes him to hospital, where Karen Page can spend a few panels setting back the cause of women's liberation by pining for the cold and unemotional Matt Murdock. Her reverie is interrupted by the Fellowship of Fear arriving to rub out the only eyewitness who could reveal the identity of Mr Fear. DD gives our bad guys a kicking in Foggy's needlessly large private hospital room and they make their getaway to the safety of their lair. That would be the same lair as they fought Daredevil in last week, and then have the gall to look surprised when he turns up again. We get a couple of pages of action with the moral of; if you are a supervillian with a gas-based weapon, don't fire it at the good guy when he is stood next to a fan.

Two more mini posters this week and the exciting news that next week's issue will feature not one but two Hulk stories. A prospect that, unless it is coupled with a higher page count, fills me with foreboding dread.

Finally the master plan of the Mad Thinker can be revealed, a plan made all the more impressive by being carried out while holding the same seated pose from last week. Who am I kidding? It is barely a plan at all, he is just that annoying mate who always says "I knew that would happen" after the fact. After pursuing their solo dreams, the FF get back together quicker than a boyband who have just received a tax bill, and return to New York to find the Mad Thinker has taken over the Baxter Building. Our heroes make their way up through the floors facing traps and perils, as well as the annoyance of the Thinker banging on about how he planned for them to beat each threat. He is finally out-thought by Reed's plan to have postman Willy Lumpkin press a button at the very moment of the Thinker's ultimate victory. Mr Fantastic's plan is as chock full of holes as the Mad Thinker's, so it is poetic as a means for his defeat.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #12

Another Buckler/Esposito cover, though this lacks the pizzazz of its sister publication, possibly because the action is very much confined to its panels.

My recently discovered appreciation for the art of Steve Ditko takes another leap upwards, as this week's Spider-Man story makes the smart move of having very little Spider-Man in it. The repercussions of Aunt May's heart attack and Spider-Man's apparent cowardice in the face of the Green Goblin are making themselves felt, giving Ditko the chance to flex his muscles with the human drama he excels at. Peter Parker is doing his usual 'woe is me' thing, but at least this time it feels justified, as he seeks to make ends meet for his aunt and struggle with what it means to be a hero, super or not.

Such is the apparent excitement for a second Hulk story in the pages of next week's MWOM, that it is trumpeted here in full colour too.

These early Thor stories have been hit and miss, with a heavy bias towards miss. A situation that is only made worse when Jack Kirby's name is not in the credits. Not only do we have to cope with value-brand looking Asgardian gods, we are offered a plot that revolves around Thor taking blows to his chromosomatic gland in order to turn him evil. This is all a scheme by Loki to free himself from being chained to a small section of wall in Asgard, quite why he has abandoned sorcery for dubious pseudo science is never explained, I look forward to next week's issue where he will possibly seek to defeat the god of thunder through the power of homeopathy. Evil Thor and Loki team up to destroy a bunch of international landmarks before Odin and the gods of Asgard turn up disguised as a UN delegation and slap Thor upside his head and put things back to normal. Seriously, that is genuinely the plot.

I wondered aloud last week how FOOM was working out for Marvel, it would seem Stan and the gang were listening. 7000 members evidently, I'm not sure if that's worldwide or just in the UK, given the relatively high circulation of UK comics of this era, I wouldn't be surprised if this was just in Britain. If anyone has any reliable figures I would be interested to hear them, so far my Google-Fu has been weak on this subject.