Week Ending June 30, 1973

Reading the Marvel UK reprints back in the 70s, I assumed we were just getting black and white versions of what the Americans read a decade or so before, with the odd reference changed to suit our British tastes. That was possibly true later on, but in these early issues there was quite a lot of effort put into making stories that started months or years apart originally, tie up in a new, alternative continuity. Looking back now, the success of this tinkering was a mixed bag, but it is hard not to appreciate the effort that went into hiding the joins from what would have been a largely oblivious audience.

Mighty World of Marvel #39

Once again Rich Buckler and Mike Esposito are taking care of business on the cover. There, is character, action and unusually even some background this week. I wonder if these guys ever got to see their work on these covers in print after churning them out week after week?

Time for a new art team and a new take on the Hulk, with Marie Severin and Frank Giacola. Bruce Banner is once again on the run from the authorities and the Hulk is hunted, if slightly less aggressively than usual. The real difference this week is that Banner is hiding in the city for a change, rather than his usual cave in desert. This gives the story the feel of the 70s TV show, while giving Severin the chance to display her considerable skill with realistically posed figures interacting in more relatable setting. After an failed experiment to cure his condition, Banner transforms into the Hulk and destroys his rented room, leaping into the night. The story now takes a turn away from gritty realism and towards Stan's usual path of melodrama, unlikely coincidence and need to throw aliens at a story as Hulk spots what he thinks is a flying saucer. Seeing this as his opportunity to leave the planet and escape his pursuers, he leaps towards the UFO.

It is at this point that UK continuity diverges from that of the original stories. In Tales to Astonish #92 the UFO is revealed to be the Silver Surfer, but despite the opening splash page promising guest appearance, this reveal is excised.

The Silver Surfer at this point has not been introduced to Marvel UK readers, so how will the bullpen deal with the events of Tales to Astonish #93? Quite simply by pretending it didn't happen.

Welcome to Tales to Astonish #94. Surprisingly, this works pretty well, with little obvious editing that somehow makes you connect the two stories without any explicit suggestion on the page that there is a connection to make. Roaming the wilderness, Hulk encounters two hunters and scares them away from their downed prey. Though these are not just normal hunters, rather men in the employ of the High Evolutionary, supplying samples for experimentation. On learning of the Hulk's presence, the High Evolutionary demands his henchmen deliver this ultimate specimen to him. The Hulk is soon subdued with the hi-tech weaponry of the hunters and loaded onto the High Evolutionary's transport missile.

A bonus story this week from Tales of Suspense #39. Stan Lee and Gene Colan bring us a short tale that feels like it had probably already been done several times when it was published 1963. The sun is dying and the population of the planet seek to escape en masse in rocketships, with the exception of one couple who seem to think a horrible death as the sun goes out, seems quite romantic. As luck would have it, just as the end is nigh, a new sun kickstarts itself. This turn of events is fortuitous for our couple, named Adam and Eve, and their plans to repopulate their newly named 'Earth' with their inbred offspring.

Want another example of Marvel UK doing its own thing? Watch in awe as they play fast and loose with the fabric of spacetime, this week brings us the events of Fantastic Four #18, which in normal continuity took place before the events of the last two weeks reprinting of Fantastic Four Annual #1. This twisting of reality is achieved with relative ease by means of editing the Sub-Mariner's face in place of that of Dr Doom on a TV screen. Take that Einstein.

After a couple of pages with the team interacting and the introduction of the FF's passenger ICBM, the scene shifts to the home planet of the Skrulls. Still smarting from their last defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four, the Skrull leadership have a new weapon at their disposal, the Super Skrull, a shape-shifting super soldier with all the powers of the FF. Next week should be entertaining.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #20

Buckler and Esposito take a stab at aping the interior artists work for the cover of this week's SMCW, with some success. It clearly looks Ditko-ish and diet Kirby, but the sloppy backgrounds, sickly colouring and poor print quality do it no favours.

This week's Spider-Man episode is credited as plotted by Steve Ditko, we certainly get a new villain who could not be more a Ditko creation, in the form of the suit and fedora wearing Crime Master. There is also a three-way mystery involving this new protagonist, the Green Goblin and former Mr Big, Frederick Foswell, who is now in the employ of J. Jonah Jameson. This unusual set up definitely feels like Steve is off the leash a bit and doing his own thing, though a major subplot involving Spider-Man's struggle to get back his superhero costumes from Aunt May and the Daily Bugle offices feels much more like the hand of Stan at work. The story moves along nicely with misdirection and red herrings aplenty, all while our hero struggles with a store bought fancy dress version of his costume. Once again, the fact that the Goblin's true identity has clearly not been decided at this point, looms large over the story. That said, there is still enough suspense generated by the premise to keep it interesting.

I grumbled last week that Kirby's pencils were being obliterated or just ignored, well all is forgiven, if only for this opening splash page. Chic Stone takes over on inks and his bold lines really make what should be an ungainly pose jump off the page. The story continues to be as dumb as a box rocks but Jack gets to draw a giant robot octopus, and there is no story in the world that can't be vastly improved by a giant Kirby robot octopus.