Week Ending

It is 1973, a time when newsagent shelves were bursting at the seams with comic titles, unlike now where they are equally stressed, but mainly due to the fact that every modern comic aimed at kids comes in a plastic bag filled with half a dozen toys and a selection of sweets. Forty seven years ago you might have got a crappy free gift with issue one, but after that you had to put up with stories and art to keep you interested.  I am starting to think the lockdown is bringing out my inner grumpy old man. Mighty World of Marvel #34 Another week, another Buckler/Esposito cover, although it is well done, it isn't particularly exciting, with what seems like a strange focus on characters giving non-consensual hugs. Also, at least with my copy, my joy at last week's stapled cover was somewhat premature, with the staple count reduced to one for this issue as the notorious spectre of 1970s British quality control rears its ugly head. After the underground adventures of seven days ago, H

As we enter the sixth? Eighth? Twentieth week of lockdown in 2020 (are we still calling it lockdown? Feels more like probation now) what was happening in 1973's Britain? For a start it was the thirty-third week of Marvel UK. Something I feel probably also warranted a daily briefing by a cabinet minister. Mighty World of Marvel #33 Blimey, that's a cover! Buckler and Esposito are wielding the pencils and pens to full effect it what has the feel of a soft re-launch. Not only is the cover demanding that you yank it from the newsagent's shelf, it might actually survive the experience as Marvel UK have seen fit to grace it with the staples that it's sister publication has been enjoying for a while. In the first of our two Hulk stories this week (from Tales to Astonish #80 and #81 respectively) the green goliath is transported underground to face not one, but two subterranean tyrants. If that isn't value, I don't know what is. First up in our cave-dwelling dictator do

Apologies for the tardiness of this week's post. You would imagine that being on lockdown and working from home would allow more time to read comics, sadly that is not the case. Let us return to a time that was probably entirely filled with comic reading or cycle rides to go scrumping for apples, as well as other hazy, idyllic pastimes. Mighty World of Marvel #32 This week's cover is another Rich Buckler/Mike Esposito collaboration promising action and conflict. What it doesn't promise though is the two Hulk stories I mistakenly thought were happening in this issue. It does however feature by omission, the total absence of Daredevil in this comic. I can find no explanation within for the sudden dropping of DD just a few scant months after his arrival, and it seems like an odd choice for a character who might resonate better with the British comic buyer than Hulk or the FF. Last week saw Hulk return from the future and set up the conflict with new antagonist