Week Ending June 2, 1973

This week's post has been somewhat delayed, not because I am lazy, oh no. Rather, such is my dedication to providing you the reader with the rollercoaster experience of collecting Marvel UK weeklies in the 1970s, I have simulated the ever present risk to distribution of an industrial dispute. That terror as your comics fail to turn up day after day in your newsagent with no explanation.

Don't say I never do anything for you.

Mighty World of Marvel #35

Another Buckler/Esposito cover, that while a little crude and marred by low quality printing, still delivers some eye-catching action.

This week's first Hulk story is certainly nothing special in itself, but the stuff going on behind the scenes is fascinating. The Hulk's long period of troubled art seems to reach a crescendo here, with artwork credited to "the whole blamed bullpen". A quick scan of the comic book database names Bill Everett, Jerry Grandenetti, Jack Kirby, John Tartaglione, Mike Esposito and Sol Brodsky as responsible. I think I can even detect hints of Frank Robbins and Carmine Infantino as well. Who knows what must have been going on in the Marvel bullpen when this was slapped together. To add to the story's woes, when this was originally published in Tales to Astonish #84, the Submariner tale that month acted as a crossover for the Secret Empire sub-plot. Our Marvel UK version therefore has to do even more legwork with some inserted panels to hurriedly tie up the loose ends in a very unsatisfying manner. Further edits are required to erase mentions of the Avengers, whom Hulk has not met yet in UK continuity. 

It is quite the read, but maybe not for the right reasons.

After the production chaos of the previous story, the second part is a breath of fresh air. John Buscema takes up the pencils with John Tartaglione on inks, and we are treated to an almost 70s version of the Hulk in a 60s setting. Considerably more effort looks to have gone into the art here, giving it a much needed look of modernity. The story is still pretty flimsy but we get a lot of Hulk smashing stuff, and let's be honest, that is what we are here for. Also worth noting is the fact that we see Hulk transform into Bruce Banner when he calms down. I am going out on a limb here and calling this as the first issue we see the complete 'traditional' Hulk.

After the excitement of the Hulk strip prior, I am feeling a bit more well disposed towards yet another thinly plotted FF story. Continuing from last week the Fantastic Four are out to rescue Alicia Masters from the clutches of Victor Von Doom and his Doomship. Cue some truly awful pseudo-scientific dialogue from Stan as the team face traps that would not look out of place in a playground for toddlers. Jack Kirby's pencils with the inks of Dick Ayers may not be his best, but even at 50% they are still enjoyable. It is no classic but we do find out that Johnny can make convincing 'flame replicas' of people and that Reed is one of the world's greatest judo experts. Making it up as they go? Never.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #16

I know it is subjective, but the same art pairing as MWOM never seems to work quite as well on SMCW. 

Maybe Spidey and his foes are a little too visually 'busy'.

Face it, the Circus of Crime have always been a bit rubbish, something that even Stan Lee tacitly admits here as he attempts to rebrand them as 'The Clown and The Masters of Menace'. It will be no great spoiler to reveal that they are still rubbish. However our antagonists are at least interesting as the indulge in some infighting and turf out their erstwhile leader the Ringmaster. J. Jonah Jameson is hosting an art exhibition and the all-new Masters of Menace decide to make it their first hit, which provides the setting for a real life mystery. In one panel J.J.J is schmoozing the crowd, while an incidental bystander hidden behind a pillar is admiring a painting of a foot while thinking "Boy! I wish I could draw feet like that!" I can't help feeling that this was some kind of pointed remark about a contemporary artist, it really stands out as unconnected to anything that is going on in the story. If anyone has any insight on this I would love to hear it. The rest of the story is Spider-Man dealing with the Masters of Menace just as easily as everyone ever dealt with the Circus of Crime, I fear the problem goes deeper than your team name guys.

Jack Kirby is absent from the pages of Thor this week, which can mean only one thing... yep, it is time for another substandard tale of Asgard's favourite son.

Thor is doing a pretty impressive Peter Parker impression as he sulks because his dad won't let him date a girl from the wrong side of the rainbow bridge. Dr Don Blake is equally upset about this situation and decides to bugger off to India like a gap-year student trying to find himself. His plans are immediately interrupted on arrival when he discovers his former mentor has been murdered by a jealous assistant. Klaus the assistant's plan to have himself and his boss bitten by a cobra and then administer the antidote only to himself did not take into account that the cobra would be radioactive (well, duh, obviously) and now finds himself with the powers of a cobra. Thor gives chase straight away, following his enemy back to New York. Klaus, now going by the name The Cobra and sporting a costume very similar to King Cobra from the UK comic the Hotspur, has a plan to create an army of minions with powers similar to his own. This story does look like one of those cases where the famous 'Marvel Method' failed to work as planned, the art for the story clearly shows all of the Cobra's powers originating from his costume, the only reference to radioactive cobras appearing in the text. Definitely looks like a case of Stan's fondness for radioactive animal bites getting the better of him. Needless to say, a guy with a couple of snake gimmicks is no match for an actual god and Thor even manages to win his nurse back from her dastardly new employer.