Week Ending Oct. 27, 1973
The passing of almost five decades can play havoc with your memory. For instance; I am total convinced that 'comic day' for the Marvel UK weeklies was Thursday throughout the 70s. I would check on a Wednesday at the newsagent because sometimes they would come in early, but Thursday was generally the day you could hope to pick them up, though this would often stretch out to the weekend. This was one of the reasons I never got my comics reserved, that and I didn't want my name scrawled all over the cover by an uncaring shop assistant, I was happy to take my chances and check out all the local shops before school on the off chance I could get my weekly fix early. Which makes me wonder, why does everyone else seem to remember them coming out on Saturdays?
Mighty World of Marvel #56
Ron Wilson and Frank Giacoia (with assistance from John Romita) provide a cover with lots going on, yet it fails to actually make me like it.
The Incredible Hulk: The Master Plan of The Mandarin. Reprinting The Incredible Hulk #107
The Hulk is still facing the unnecessarily protracted interview process of the Mandarin and up against his fearsome robot. I might be incorrect, it happens frequently, but I think I detect a bizarre edit in this story for the UK market. In the original, did the Mandarin's giant robot go by the unlikely name of 'Smashor'? I also get the feeling that when Herb Trimpe drew this story, he never intended 'Smashor' to be a robot at all. It feels like Gary Friedrich or Stan went for the easy option of robot rather than have to explain a giant monster. We only get a few pages to ponder this mystery before the robot/monster foe is defeated and the Hulk is trapped in quicksand. The weirdness of these early Hulk tales never ceases to amaze me.
The Stone Man. Reprinting Journey Into Mystery #70
The shortness of our Hulk story leaves some space for a Stan Lee/Steve Ditko morality tale this week. Set in what looks to be a eastern European village from the middle-ages, though the locals dress like 1950s New Yorkers. The community minded villagers are struck by famine until one old local prays to the statue of a historic hero, the next day the village wake to find their farms home to a crop of gold nuggets. Unfortunately, our praying protagonist sleeps through the supernatural jackpot and misses out, worse still, his formerly charitable neighbours are not feeling so giving now they have struck it rich. At this point the statue in the centre of town comes to life and berates the villagers for their selfishness, makes the newfound fortune vanish and spirits away the old man to an unspecified reward. It is an odd little addition to MWOM, but a good chance to see Steve Ditko draw faces so full of character that they barely look human.
The Fantastic Four: Battle Beneath The Waves! Reprinting Fantastic Four #27
Rather delightfully, the second half of last week's story opens with the repurposed cover of the original US comic. The downside of this is that Chic Stone's strong outlines and respect of Kirby's pencils really make the following pages of George Roussos inks suffer in comparison. Which is a shame as this story needs all the help it can get. The FF battle the Sub-Mariner as Reed and Namor vie for the attention of Sue Storm. It really makes me glad that Marvel UK skipped the US romance titles when it came to selecting stories to reprint.
Spider-Man Comics Weekly #37
One area where the early Marvel UK covers really suffered compared to their US cousins, was the colouring. I had put this down to the cheap paper stock used or the print technology used for the UK reprints. This cover seems to suggest that it may just have been a lack of effort, because if anything, I think it looks better than the original.
The Amazing Spider-Man: Rhino On The Rampage! Reprinting The Amazing Spider-Man #43
John Romita does a wonderful job of introducing Mary Jane Watson, using minimalist lines and just a pair of dimples, while Stan makes her talk in a manner unlike any self-respecting teenager before or since. Seriously, it is like watching Stan Lee himself cosplay as Mary Jane, which very much takes you out of the moment I can tell you. Luckily, before things can get too weird, things are interrupted by a TV news flash alerting our groovy teens to the escape from prison of the Rhino. Oddly, Mary Jane considers this an ideal extension of their first date and suggests they go into the city to watch the carnage. It worries me that Aunt May thought that M.J would be a good match for her sensitive nephew. Peter ducks out to get some photos for the Bugle and unsuccessfully attempts to stop the Rhino, but his new girlfriend is more than pleased with their first date, turns out that Aunt May is quite the matchmaker after all. Spider-Man then seeks out the scientific help of Dr Curt Connors in readiness for his next encounter with the armoured Rhino. Which proves more successful when Spidey uses his newly developed special Rhino melting webbing. It is all a little Batman Bat-Shark-Repellent for my liking, but a harmless enough episode.
The Mighty Thor: This Deadly Land! Reprinting Journey Into Mystery #116
Thor and Loki are still in Skornheim, doing their trial of the gods thing. Now we are getting into the reprints of the full-length Thor stories, we get the unintended consequence of not much happening over multiple weeks. The Asgardian siblings continue their mini saga, each very much acting as you would expect. There is also a short diversion as Balder the Brave travels to Earth to save Jane Foster from the Enchantress and Executioner, but even this generates little excitement. Vince Colletta inks give a slightly rough look to Kirby's art, with some faces appearing a bit 'off', the overall effect is enjoyable though.
The Avengers #6
The Avengers: The Coming of Wonder Man! Reprinting The Avengers #9
I have to confess that I'm a big fan of Wonder Man, though I did not encounter him until his much later resurrection. So, it is kinda nice to finally get to read his origin story. Even if it is a bit of a mess, with the Avengers seemingly fine with Captain America having hallucinations as well as the bizarre revelation that without his axe, the Executioner takes to keeping a snub-nose revolver about his person. Don Heck and Dick Ayers art is really done no favours with the enlargement to British comic page size, but the story moves along well enough. Wonder Man's debut as a bad guy who pretends to be a good guy before deciding to really be a good guy, ends with his inevitable death, as is always the case in these situations. A lesson for all bad guys there, I'm sure you will agree.
Doctor Strange: The Many Traps of Baron Mordo! Reprinting Strange Tales #117
Steve Ditko really is a fascinating artist, his work on the gloomy, mysterious world of Dr Strange really is a total contrast to his art on the early Spider-Man stories. What we don't see though, is his skill for introducing endless new and interesting protagonists. I can only assume that Stan wasn't letting Steve as much free reign at this time as we get another Strange vs Mordo tale that is already feeling overused. Still, plenty of weird and groovy visuals to take our minds off the repetition.
The thought of a new Avenger really appealed to my 8 year old self. He looked a shoe in because.... his costume was green (!). I think it’s around this time that my new Marvel experience was starting to confuse me as my newsagent didn’t stock the other titles and so I had somehow come to the conclusion that I was missing out on - wait for it - The Mighty World of Marvel, MWOM, Hulk Comics Weekly, Spider-Man Comics Weekly and SMCW. It would be a few weeks before the penny dropped. Another confusion was the regular phrase “Nuff Said”. Who was this unseen Nuff that had so much to say? Sigh...
ReplyDeleteHi Christopher, I seem to recall my young self having lots of misconceptions, mainly over unfamiliar words and Americanisms. Later there would be titles that never seemed to make it to my local newsagents and I missed them entirely.
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