It's a Marvellous world - Marvel Annual 1973

Marvel Annual 1973

Published  Autumn 1972 

If you were a good boy or girl back in 1972 you might have been lucky enough to receive the Marvel Annual in your stack of presents on Christmas morning. A hard backed book with 128 pages packed with Marvel adventures starring the likes of the Hulk, Spider-man and the Fantastic Four, as well as a sword and sorcery tale about a character called Conan the barbarian! 128 pages all for just 65 pence! Now that's value, although MWOM cost 5 pence for 40 pages, less than a third of the annual so maybe it wasn't but with the hard covers I still feel it was well worth it as a Christmas treat! 

This annual was published under licence from Marvel Comics Group via Magazine Management London Ltd. by IPC Magazines as part of its Fleetway Annual brand in the Autumn of 1972 just in time for the Christmas sales period. Some information states that it was released on the 1st September 1972 but I can't find any hard evidence to collaborate that fact. An advert for the annual did appear in the Mighty World of Marvel issue 10 on the 9th December 1972 as a sales push, stating that the Marvel Annual 1973 was "crammed with thrilling, gripping adventures starring the one and only Spider-man, the Hulk and the Fantastic Four." but no mention of Conan!  

Marvel Annual 1973 advert from the Mighty World of Marvel #10.

Seasonal Marvel Annuals had appeared in the UK before, the Marvel Story Book Annual 1968 (published in 1967) and the Marvel Comic Annual 1970 (published in 1969) were both produced by World Distributors (Manchester) Limited, while the 1971 Marvel Comic Annual (published in 1970) could also have been produced by World Distributors but as I don't possess a copy of that seasonal treat so I'll have to take the internets word for it. Fleetway then took over the annual fun with the 1973 and 1974 editions before World Distributors returned with their 1975 and 1976 versions and from 1977 to 1979 the three annuals were titled The Mighty World of Marvel, in keeping with the weekly comic.

The cover, a homage to a panel from the first featured Hulk strip "The terror of the Toad Men" originally by Jack Kirby with inks by Steve Ditko, is beautifully painted by an unknown artist. Yeah the Hulk does look skinny, but the detail of the solders is wonderful. Although I'm not completely sure about the military regulation footwear! Are those Cuban heeled shoes they're wearing? The artists identity could be López Espí, a Spanish artist born in Barcelona 1937 and well known for his beautiful painted posters of Marvel superheroes which were offered for sale in the early years of Marvel UK. He did work for DC Thomson on its Commando title and for Fleetway on Air Ace, Battle, Roxy, Marilyn and Valentine titles, so it's possible he may have created this cover, however I'm again unable to find concrete evidence proving my "very weak" theory, so the artist must remain unknown. 

On the whole the annual follows very closely the format of the Mighty World of Marvel, even using stories that had only just been printed in current  and near future issues. The annual would have started as a project in the summer of 1972, while MWOM was in its planning stages too. Rob Kirby (Marvel UK historian) and Dez Skinn (comic and magazine producing legend) have discussed on the internet that the original MWOM title was going to be "The Wonderful World of Marvel" before a late change, which may have inspired a text feature in this annual. How close were the two companies working? Well I'm sure I've read somewhere that IPC (Fleetways parent company) were interested in doing a comic that would feature Marvel characters, which may have been in the planning stages before Marvel Comics Group decided to set up its own company in the UK, named Magazine Management London Limited. I may have dreamt that so please don't take my word for it. The truth is probably lost in the sands of time after 50 years. I'm hoping that Rob Kirby gets to finish his book on the history of Marvel UK soon so I can buy that epic volume and get to the bottom of that mystery. (Come on Rob, when can I buy a signed copy?)

The inside front covers, like so many annuals would do, sported artwork, this annual showcased Namor The Sub-Mariner, the mighty Thor and the Hulk, unsigned by the artist but I feel they're the work of Jack Kirby but I could well be wrong. 

The first Hulk story in this volume is a tale of the Hulk's first encounter with "The terror of the Toad Men", by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, first published in The Incredible Hulk #2 (US) from 1962, which was also printed in MWOM #3 from 21st October 1972 for British readers. Stan and Jack's signatures have been removed from the bottom left of the main splash panel for some reason. This story is presented in full, but only in black and white, while the weekly version ran over two issues and featured green shading over the black and white artwork with some full colour pages. 

The second strip belonged to Conan the barbarian! A change from the rest of the annuals contents as this strip was relatively new, having been originally been printed in Conan the barbarian issue 5 (US) from May 1971. The story titled "Zukala's daughter" was written by Roy Thomas and drawn by British born Barry Smith, later known as Barry Windsor Smith, inspired by the poem "Zukala's Hour" by Robert E Howard. Again the credits are removed from the bottom of the splash page and drawn over by a "bodger" filling in the lower half of the dog and the street pavement. Robert E Howard's credit box is left in, well to remove that would be sacrilege. The tale is basically about a town held to ransom by a sorcerer  Zukala and his shape-shifting daughter Zephra. It's a cracking tale, but if you didn't get to see it in this volume you would have to wait till the 5th of April 1975 for it to appear in Conan's own British weekly comic - The Savage Sword of Conan. I've always thought that Sword and Sorcery stories would work well in a British market, sadly Conan's first comic only lasted 18 weeks. His second attempt did last longer, but that's a story for another blog.

"It's a 'Marvellous' World", a clever pun that! But also the first text feature, basically a list of the crazy character that live in the world of Marvel, from the well known Spider-man, Hulk and the Fantastic Four to the less well known (at least to the British MWOM readers) like Iron-man, Daredevil, Thor Giant-man and Dr. Strange among others. Some hints are given on what they'll be like, plus what's to come. Something that Marvel UK would try to avoid in the pages of MWOM to the extent of removing or changing names and even editing out panels that might feature those characters who have yet to been featured in the core strips.
 

The the only strip to not appear in just black and white thanks to its wonderful red shading was Spider-man in "The uncanny threat of the Terrible Tinkerer!" by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Once again the edits are rubbed out of the splash page. This story had only just been printed in issue 6 of MWOM from the 11th of November 1972. 

The only feature to appear in black, white and red was "The secrets of Spider-man!" A fact feature from the Amazing Spider-man Annual issue 1 (US) from 1964, written by Stan Lee and drawn by Steve Ditko. This feature world re-appear in many other annuals and Marvel UK comics through the years. It had previously cropped up in MWOM #11 on the 16th December 1972, although at a shorter length.

 "The birth of the... Fantastic Four" was basically a retelling of Stan Lee's Fantastic Four origin story rendered this time by an unknown writer with numerous Jack Kirby panels from the original strip illustrating the context. British annuals always had text stories, I think policy was designed as to not unset parents who would prefer their children to read books not comics. Well parents we do both!

Just to keep the kids happy the next strip was a good old fashioned Fantastic Four comic strip, "Prisoners of Kurrgo, Master of Planet X!" by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. A story that if you were reading this annual just after Christmas you may not have seen, however if you waited till the new year you may have read MWOM issue 14 (6th January 1973) were the first instalment appeared, which might've come as disappointment to those who had only just read the weekly version or the other way round depending on what ever one you read first as the other would've felt like you'd been cheated.

"Beauty and the beast!" the Hulk tales from MWOM #9 (2rd December 1972)  gets its second outing of the year, second  time if you were reading this after Christmas morning as a gift and not during the Autumn days of 72. Again the credit box had been rubbed out, so the reader of this version wouldn't know that Stan Lee scripted it, Jack Kirby draw it and Dick Ayers inked it. 

Another feature jam packed with spoilers but also numerous interesting facts about the many rogues Spider-man had encountered and will encounter in upcoming tales in MWOM during 1973 and maybe in other "weekly comics" too (well if this annual was crammed with spoilers I thought why not one more cryptic tease). "The amazing Spider-man's gallery of famous foes" starts with the lowdown on The Tinkerer, who the reader would have read about previously in the annual. The feature then goes on to account the skirmishes with the Vulture, the Chameleon, Doctor Octopus and the Lizard. Then it teases us about clashes with the Living Robot, the Fantastic Four foe (try saying that after on to many Christmas sherries,) Doctor Doom, the Green Goblin and Kraven the Hunter. There are very brief mentions of the Rhino, the Scorpion, Mysterio and Electro too.

The Scorpion features in the second Spider-man story "The coming of the Scorpion!" A new story (to MWOM readers anyway) that encounter the origin of Mac Gargan's rampaging alter-ego. British comic readers would have to wait till the 19th of May 1973 to see this story in issue 14 of a new comic staring Spider-man. OK I'll let the spider out of the bag, 1973 sees the launch of the web-slingers own comic titled "Spider-man Comics Weekly", There you go my Christmas present to you all, a glance to the future.

 Yeah I know I write like Marvel characters are just appearing in British comics for the first time, but lets pretend that that MWOM was the start of it and the 60's Power Comic didn't exist, as good as they were and they were VERY good, it's a fact they shaped what Marvel UK would become, but to many of the  70's readership Marvel UK was new and unique.

     The inside back covers feature another glance of the future, with two characters who'll star in next years Marvel Annual, Giant-man and the Wasp! As a Christmas present this annual offered young readers Marvel thrills that would last right into the new year and beyond. Many Mighty World of Marvel readers may have felt cheated a little with the many MWOM repeats, but I can't fail to notice that this book sets my nostalgia levels to a high "10"! The readers of the annual would go out and find the weekly comic to continue their literary adventure and the regular weekly reader would treasure this hardback edition, pride of place on their bookshelves for years to come. 

Merry Christmas and happy reading everyone, see you in 12 months (or sooner if you follow my weekly blog!)

Make Mine Marvel!