Of Aliens and Astronauts.

The Mighty World of Marvel No.3

Week Ending 21st October 1972

 

The third issue of "Britain's biggest action comics weekly!" hits the news stands with a cover created by a Jim Starlin and Joe Sinnott collaboration of Spider-man taking on two low life criminal scum (with absolutely no connection to the inside story what so ever) in a good half of this weeks front page, while the Fantastic Four and Hulk make do with two quarter sized panels. It kind of looks like Spidey is "zapping" one thug's gun with a ray and not his webbing! With typical British comic style text is plastered all over with the intension of grabbing young readers five pence pocket money with offers of "Free! Fantastic fun stickers for you inside!" More hints about your "Free extra Mystery Gift!" and the fact that inside you'd be greeted by "The world's greatest superheroes!" Sadly my second-hand copy contained no fun stickers, but there was another clue to the "mystery gift" and the inside did indeed contain the greatest superheroes the world has ever known! (Well apart from all the other great heroes that in the future I'd come to love too.)

The Hulk story "The terror of the Toad men" starts off with a Frankenstein's monster looking Hulk in a murky swamp during the night. The style looks incredibly like Steve Ditko, but Jack Kirby signature is on this panel. After doing my research I found to my pleasure Steve did indeed ink over Jack's pencils. This tale, at the start of the Hulks life, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby with intensions that the creature was a  mix of Frankenstein's monster, a werewolf and Mr. Hyde from classic horror tropes, in as much as with his looks, his night time changes and his darker alter-ego at odds with  the Bruce Banner Dr Jekyll ego. Green swamp monsters, monster by night and weird antagonists, did this inspire the creators of Disney+'s latest special "Werewolf by Night"? (Spoilers! You'll know if you know.)

 

 The mixture of science, horror and 60's paranoia is completed with the villains of the piece, the alien invaders -the Toad Men! We won't find out till many years later, in issue number 11 of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe from 1983, that the Toad Men's race are called Tribbitite. I imagine that young readers never really questioned their name at the time because they do have the appearance of toad like men but you must admit it was a little strange. They aren't green either although you wouldn't have guessed from these Marvel UK prints, their skin colour was orange in the original US version, which contrasted well with the Hulk's new green skin, a change from grey due to issues with the American printers finding it hard getting a constant shade of grey! 

This week we get an inside look into Peter Parker's house and the Baxter Building care of Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby respectively, originally from Amazing Spider-man Annual #1 1964 and Fantastic Four Annual #1 1963. Cut aways were a steadfast of British comic, especially in the Eagle, so these two pages would have been welcomed by British readers.

 

Two of the full colour page this issue sported pin ups, the first, a teaser for next weeks Spider-man adventure, was a recoloured Amazing Spider-man number 1 cover by Kirby with Ditko's inks, while the second was a Jack Kirby Mole Man pin up originally from the same FF annual as the Baxter Building cut away.

This weeks second story is the first part of the Fantastic Four issue 2 adventure where we "meet the Skrulls from outer space!" in what will be the start of a very "Secret Invasion". Their aim is to discredit the FF who they see as a threat to their invasion plans. Strange hoe a race of billions decide to send an invasion force for just four Skrulls to take over the Earth! Okay they might be just a primary task force but still. 

The Skrulls predate the Toad Men by eight months, you would see that Kirby started to draw aliens better in those months, in this tale he hasn't quite got the classic look down to what we all know and love. Let's be fair they are shapeshifters. The FF don't wear their blue traditional costumes yet but their faces and names are well known to the general public, even the Skrulls name them as the famous Fantastic Four. Although they use the word "Famol's", which I'm not sure if that's an original US spelling error or a poor British correction mistake. May be it's a Skrull praise I've never heard of! 

The centre pages of my copy has been vandalised again by a 1970s youth who desperately wanted "the worlds greatest free gift offer" by cutting out another coupon. This weeks clue to the mystery gift "you can fold it, roll it, or hide behind it!" My guess of a rainbow coloured bread bin has gone right out the window now! 

Spider-man's story is part two of last weeks adventure as he performs the truly amazing feat of rescuing Astronaut John Jameson from a crashing space capsule. This story sets up J. Jonah Jameson as Peter/Spider-man's antagonist as well as inducting his son John to the cast. The inter timing of this story is incredible as from disaster to Spider-man rushing home to find his costume, then back to Space Flight Control Centre to pick up a guidance unit,  then off to catch a plane to reach the falling capsule, while then finally fit the guidance module in mid fall is nothing short of impossible! But our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man gets no credit after completing those unbelievable tasks, in fact all he receives is a bitter editorial from J. Jonah Jameson in the Daily Bugle accusing him of sabotaging the space mission and endangering his son's life. The loudest voice is nearly always heard the most and believed by many and so in this case the Bugle reading public, the FBI and even Peter's dear old Aunt May starts to believe Jameson's "Public Menace" rhetoric. How can poor old Peter change all that? Find out next week in the pages of The Mighty World of Marvel issue 4!

Make Mine Marvel.