Sunday 27 September 2015

September 27th, 1975 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Hold on to your telescopes because it would seem that tonight there's a supermoon in the skies.

Well, supermoons are all well and good but, here in 1975, all we care about are supermen.

But wherever could we find such beings?

Why, we can find them in the pages produced by the comic company upon whom the moon may never shine but upon which the sun will no doubt never set.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #137, the Vulture

I do believe this is the launch of the six-armed saga that's long divided fandom as vigorously as the age-old debate about whether it's Marmite or Vegemite that's best.

Personally, I loved Spidey having six-arms and think he should have kept them.

I have no opinions at all about Marmite and Vegemite, never having been brave enough to try either of them.

Marvel UK, Avengers #105

This issue sees the beginning of childhood tragedy for me, as it marks the start of the lengthy spell where the Avengers comic all but disappeared from the shelves of my local newsagent, meaning I had to to endure week after pitiful week without it.

Mighty World of Marvel #156, Hulk vs Abomination

Fortunately, the company's flagship title was still around to keep my spirits up.

And it did it with style, flinging the Abomination in my face, in a tale I cherish to this day.

Marvel UK, Dracula Lives #49

I assume this is the reprint of the Aleister Crowley inspired tale that I reviewed in this blog's earliest days.

And that review can be found by clicking on this link here.

Marvel UK, Planet of the Apes #49

I assume we're still being given Tom Sutton's apes-on-a-ship tale.

I have no clue what the back-up tales are, though Warlock and Captain Marvel may be involved.


Marvel UK, The Super-Heroes #30, Human Torch vs Silver Surfer

This cover does look weirdly like it was coloured in with a felt-tip pen. I suspect that that was not the case. Even Marvel UK's ofttimes idiosyncratic approach to reprinting methodologies probably didn't extend that far.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good grief, Steve, you've never tasted Marmite ??? You sound like a candidate for that show "I've Never Seen Star Wars" - I've never tasted Vegemite either but that's Australian (isn't it ?) which lets us both off (the first time I ever heard of Vegemite was in the song 'Down Under' by Men At Work). That cover of The Super-Heroes probably WAS coloured-in by felt-tip pen - unfortunately it was the level a lot of the later Super-heroes covers stooped to, they were truly dreadful. And it's a sad farewell to the chimp face in the POTA corner box - next week (No.50) he's replaced by the grinning gorilla which I hated :(

Steve W. said...

Colin, I too prefer the original POTA corner box.