The Mighty World of Marvel : The start of the revolution!

 The start of the revolution!

"Wow! We meet at last! After all these exciting weeks of planning, plotting and preparing, here we with the first supersensational issue of... THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL!"

That's what Stan Lee, or someone from the New York or London office of Magazine Management (London) Ltd (that later came to be known as Marvel UK) wrote for him in the first issue of The Mighty World of Marvel issue one dated week ending 7th October 1972, but in you local newsagents from Saturday the 30th September 1972. That was fifty years ago, for many it was the start of a life long love for super-heroes that has been passed onto their children and maybe even grandchildren, through comics, graphic novels, films, TV shows, T-shirts, action figures, sandwich boxes and so much more.

1972 wasn't the start for these incredibly, fantastical, amazingly iconic characters, no their first appearances began in1961/62's America. Nor was it their first British appearance, no Marvel characters had been published by Alan Class and Odhams Press in various comics during the 60's to various degrees of popularity and continuity. Both mixed Marvel stories with characters from elsewhere, with the likes of Star Trek's Captain Kirk and DC's Batman rubbing shoulders with Spider-man or the Thor and Iron-man with British comic cuts shorts and strips like The Missing link/Johnny Future a British character as close to an American super-hero without you seeing the tracing paper. Original US comics had also found their way to our shores but with sporadic distribution that created a headache for comic fans if they wanted to follow their favourite hero's adventures. In fact Odhams Press through their Power Comics, especially Pow, Fantastic and Terrific, had stumbled onto the format that Marvel UK would follow but this time with greater control from the US and better continuity of stories that would hook the next generation of fans. Marvels UK revolution had begun!

Bursting on the British comic scene and front cover swings Spider-man with the rampaging Hulk and the Fantastic Four under an iconic The Mighty World of Marvel logo. It's a title that is quintessentially British and has appeared headlining seven British volumes from 1972 to 2019 for Marvel UK. I'm surprised that it has never be used in the US. Showcasing heroes that are well known by todays standards but to kids in the early 70's, who may have been too young to pick up those 60's comics, they must have been very intriguing. Two monsters, a man on fire and a girl sliding down a rubber band man! I can't imagine life without Spider-man, the Hulk or the Fantastic Four but these characters must have been strange indeed to many kids. MWOM has always been a vehicle for the Hulk. But child/teen friendly Spider-man was placed front and centre with his name the first you see on the lower bar, but amazingly enough the webbed wonder holds the last spot in the comic. He would later gain pole position in his own comic in February 1973 but that's a story for another blog. I love this action ready cover from John Buscema, but was the missing 4 logo from the Invisible Girl's uniform a mistake? Or could it have been a choice made to give the impression of numerous stories staring numerous characters? A quite common practice in British comics to have loads of smaller stories, although a banner also states "3 Big supernatural movie length adventures" so may be not, it could have just been a "No Prize" winning mistake! Not sure "supernatural" was the correct way to describe this comic but it was possibly used as a way to pull in the punters. "Movie length" is definitely not false advertising as the three classic tales fill this forty page blockbuster! No 3 or 4 page fillers here!

Also on a clothing note this issue boasts a "FREE! Green-skinned monster t-shirt transfer!" My second-hand copy didn't come with one and I guess not many do, if any.  

The first story to greet the reader starts with a green coloured Hulk looking imposing in the Jack Kirby splash page. Originally the Hulk was coloured grey in his early US comics but British readers never saw anything other than a green Hulk either on the front covers or the inside green, black and white pages. Of the forty pages only five were in full colour, the front and back pages, one inside poster and a double page feature (more on that later), while 24 pages had shades of green on black and white, leaving the remaining eleven purely black and white, all for money saving reasons. Stan Lee's 60's style dialogue, like the artwork, is workman like and enjoyable. Never taxing the reader, the Gamma Bomb starts off as an awesome G-Bomb, a Geiber Counter is explained to Rick Jones by Dr. Banner and overstated clues are made of Igor's evil intension. The unnecessary part 2 splash page goes missing as parts 1 and 2 are used in this first issue, while parts 3 and 4 would be used in the second issue making one original story of four parts into two separate stories for editorial reasons. 

It's worth noticing that Pippa M. Melling is named as editor and would mother young minds with changes to dialogue. The copyright bar also indicates that the comic was originally printed in Carlisle in the Lake District by Carlisle Web Offset Limited. A company which sadly no longer exists. 

Our second tale is the Fantastic Four origin. Sue Storm starts off in strong independent woman by playing tricks on a taxi driver, being a willing adventurer and calling out Ben for his cowardliness but in the original US version her character is shows a weaker side that is prepared to go on a deep space adventure just to be with her fiancèe Reed. This was because their whole relationship was edited out in the UK version. I noticed this as Ben says Reed called him a Thing not Sue! Which didn't sit well with my older self, why would Reed Richards, a scientist, describe Ben Grimm's monstrous new appearance as a Thing?  Was adult relationships too much for young minds. Pippa also changed a line were Sue says to Ben "we've got to take that chance...unless we want the Russians to beat us to it!" instead on the original "Commies". British comics never do politics in the 70's, Russians, Commies or Reds later would be Bodavians as to not offend  more liberally minded Brits.

The centre pages would offer a message from Stan and a mysterious gift that could be yours in exchange for ten coupons, one each from the first ten issues. This left holes in the middle of many copies as young fans wanted to get their hands on the mystery gift, that was bigger than a breadbox! Was this an US or UK attempt to sound more British? In Lancashire its was always called a "bread bin"! I wonder how many kids cut out these coupons , thus ruining the comic for life and didn't send them off? Anyway my second hand copy has a hole right in the middle of the Fantastic Four strip!

It's almost like Spider-man is spying on the Human Torch! I'm not overly anger at the damage, it's a piece of human history, were some young scallywag has had a thrill out of collecting those coupons and sending off for the mysterious gift after hopefully enjoying the FF's adventure first. The tale of this comics journey from its original owner in 72 and into my possession is a mystery that only my imagination can picture, but for me its a happy ending.

The final strip is Spider-man's classic origin story by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Were the green, black and white colouring suits the Hulk strip it looks strange for Spider-man. There's no need to lay on the heavy editors pen this teenage lead story suits British kids as much as Americans. The only bit of editing needed was the complete removing of page 7 of the US version, the scene with Spider-man in the TV studio, which must have been for lack of space reasons. Spider-man gets the full coloured back page as a bonus. Which I did notice that the Burglar's hat and pants change from green in the original to brown in the UK version and his jacket changes from brown in the US to green in the UK for absolutely no reason! I kind of think the UK colours look better if truth be told, green pants! No way! 

I never liked Spidey's eyes when confronts the unconscious Burglar. It looks like an editor added the two dots to make the young British reader notice that this is the moment that Peter realises that he could've stopped his uncles death, but no this was exactly how Steve Ditko intended it. The end text box finished with an order to not miss next weeks issue of The Mighty World of Marvel, for more action-packed adventures of Spider-man, the Fantastic Four and the incredible Hulk! 

This comic starts the ball running for Marvel UK, a publishing empire that lasts right up till it was bought out by Panini Comics in 1995. Producing 170 different titles with 8584 issues, it give the starts to so many comic creator talents, who went on to have careers both at home and in America. I've always had a soft spot for Marvel UK, even when I started collecting the American imports regularly 

Issue one is a fine piece of nostalgia that as a child of the 70's I would've loved to have read and owned. Fifty years later it still holds that magic and I treasure it! 

Make Mine Marvel.