Week Ending July 14, 1973

Ah the Summer of 1973, I have no actual recollection of it but it is reasonable to assume it was probably raining. Not that the weather would have stopped our weekly pilgrimage to the local newsagent to pick up Marvel UK's latest offerings.

Mighty World of Marvel #41

I believe this cover to be at least partly a collaboration between Marie Severin, Dan Adkins and Mike Esposito. I can only assume that the colouring credits must go to an unnamed office junior armed with a child's paint set and half a potato.

This feels like an already well-trodden Hulk tale, with our green anti-hero once again manipulated by evildoers for their own nefarious ends. Evildoers in the form of the Legions of the Living Lightning. A group that is hard to tell if they are communist subversives or a neo-nazi militia. Their fondness for knee-high boots and vaguely Germanic headgear seems to suggest the latter but their political message seems muddled at best, definitely the bad guys though. Severin and Trimpe continue with the art, unfortunately it still looks a little crude, an effect possibly made worse with the UK's larger black and white pages. We do however get to see the Hulk's previously unshowcased first aid skills as he sets and splints an injured man's leg.

Why did Daredevil get dropped from MWOM? It seems odd to lose a third strip with a character I am sure many found interesting, only to replace him with a double feature of the Hulk. Burning through twice the amount of the early Tales to Astonish stories feels a bit shortsighted.

That said, maybe it was deemed necessary to get to the good Hulk stories as quickly as possible. This one is certainly no classic, the Hulk doing the bidding of his new best buddies the Living Lightning, attacks General Ross' desert missile base. Though the Hulk is taken out of action when the army use gas, the forces of the Living Lightning are able to take control of the base during the chaos, we are left with a cliffhanger ending when General Ross is shown his daughter Betty imprisoned in the same cell as the captured, unconscious Hulk.

Time for another FF ripping yarn, a daft initial set up as Reed realises that he might be able to cure Alicia's blindness during a visit to the ancient Egypt section of the Museum of Natural History. If only they had a time machine... wait, didn't they leave Dr Doom's time machine just laying around just a few issues ago? Quicker than you can say "ridiculous plot device" the team are on their way to the past. No sooner do they arrive than they are attacked and overpowered by the forces of the pharaoh Rama-Tut, who also happens to be a big fan of time travelling high-jinks. Fresh from the year 3000 Rama-Tut is is more than a match for the FF and we leave them in defeat.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #22

This week's SMCW cover is also an extended collaboration with pencils by Joe Rubinstein which were finished by Rich Buckler with Mike Esposito taking care of the inks. It is a dynamic enough composition, just rendered somewhat lifeless by the lack of background detail and flat colouring.

Time for another one of those Spider-Man stories that make me curious about the creative process behind the scenes. Taking a momentary break from being the world's most obnoxious teenager, Peter Parker visits the lab of Spencer Smythe, inventor of the Spider Slayer robot from a couple of issues back, Pete claims to be there on Bugle business, following up on improvements to the Spider Slayer. In reality, he is just after his Spider-Man costume that ended up in the hands of Smythe, such is the old Parker luck, that he gets his costume and gets to witness the birth of a new supervillian. Smythe's former assistant Mark Raxton bursts in demanding the inventor's untested liquid metal alloy, as is traditional in comic books, it is only a moment before Raxton finds himself covered head to toe in the stuff. Storming out to seek medical assistance, Raxton discovers that his new shiny metal skin has granted him super strength and a life of superpowered crime beckons.

The part I find interesting about this is that Raxton dubs himself the Molten Man immediately, longtime Marvel fans will know that this name goes on to become totally appropriate, but at this stage Glossy Metal Fella would definitely be the more logical name as there is little about his powers or appearance that screams 'Molten'. Maybe Stan misunderstood the stylistic way Ditko had drawn the character or Steve had ignored Stan's initial plot summary, but the Molten Man name just seems weird in this first appearance.

Spider-Man tracks down the distinctly un-molten menace and we are treated to the now de rigueur Ditko multiple page fight scene. Spider-Man inevitably triumphs and the story is wrapped up with Peter's high school graduation, this in itself feels unusual, with such a clear marker of the passing of time within the comic book universe, especially so soon in Spider-Man's career. I think it is an indication that Stan did not realise the potential longevity of the character he had created and was keen to move the story on while it was still popular.

This week's Thor tale sees Jack Kirby fully embrace his interest in Norse mythology, Loki is annoyed at last week's failure of the Enchantress and Executioner to deal with Thor, so it is time to bring out the big guns. Stirring the pot with Odin, Loki convinces the all-father that he should visit Earth to cockblock Thor in person. Despite being the wisest of gods, Odin thinks this is a cracking idea and even leaves Loki in charge of Asgard in his absence.

Odin is busy ruining his son's love-life while Loki gets to work freeing the fire demon Surtur and a storm giant, luckily this is witnessed by Heimdall  who sends Balder the Brave to warn Odin on Earth. We then get a god-level Kirby smackdown as Thor, Odin and Balder team up to take on the threat. You can really feel Jack enjoying himself as he gets to let rip with the gods of Asgard.

On a related note, a full-page advert in MWOM this week promises the imminent arrival of Tales of Asgard in the pages of SMCW. This pleases me greatly.