Blue Moon!

 Week Ending 31st March 1973

Early Marvel UK was jammed packed with "first appearances" week in week out by the very nature of reprinting for British readers the 1960's stories that give birth to the Marvel Universe. Kraven the Hunter, Killgrave the Purple man (the Controller), the Red Ghost (Mad Ghost) with his Super-Apes and most fundamentally important to that Universe the Watcher. Who kind of-ish gets two first appearances. Plus a very special red-head gets an off page first appearance too! I'll try my best to explain the multiple names and multiple appearances as we go along, so stick with me Tiger, to the Moon and back!

The Mighty World of Marvel #26

Jim Starlin draws this weeks cover which features the Fantastic Four on the Moon fighting the "Mad" Ghost and his Super-Apes, Yeah comics can be that crazy! Things of note, firstly "Starlin stars", technically you can't see the stars from the moon as the refection from the surface is brighter than the light from stars, in the same way that you can't see stars during the day time while on Earth. It's a sci-fi movie/TV/book mistake where stars are added to the effect purely because people are expecting it and it looks good. Jim Starlin does add some signature stars near the Invisible Girl and Mr. Fantastic, that he would go on to use to great effect on comics like Captain Marvel and Warlock. I'm a sucker for sci-fi stars and especially "Starlin stars." The second thing is blue apes, or more precisely a blue gorilla. More blue gorillas would adorn the covers of the Planet of the Apes comic from Marvel UK in a couple of years time. Gorillas are generally black in colour, which wouldn't work quite as well as the dark blue colouring on the printed page. Makes you wonder what colour the Beast really is? 

The Incredible Hulk "Another world another foe!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby, Bob Powell

Inker: Mike Esposito 

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #73

Cover date November 1965

(Published in August 1965)

Another change of penciller this week but Bob Powell either copies Jack Kirby's layout to the line or Mike Esposito inks over Bobs artwork to his own style. Maybe a bit of both, or might Bob render his artwork to mimic the book style from the last couple of issues. He does keep the Hulk's Neanderthal forehead which I'm not completely happy with but he does add lots of detail to other panels, possibly from what Kirby originally intended. In this weeks tale the Leader discovers that the Hulk is easily overpowered by his Humanoids due to his impending death if he were to changes back into Bruce Banner, by a bullet lodged in his brain. The Leader uses Gamma radiation to stabilise his transformation and offers to remove the bullet in exchange for a favour. 

The operation is a complete success and to the Leaders amazement the Hulk makes a speedy recovery. At this point in the Hulks history Bruce Banner is in control of his Hulk alter-ego, a situation that flip flops through these early adventures, depending on how much the writer needs an intelligent Hulk or not. I personally prefer the childlike Hulk ego as this makes for more tragedy in those stories and later when he does recover some intelligence, in the late 80's onwards, it all feels more earned as a character arch. But even this Banner/Hulk version displays some incredible feats of endurance as the Leader puts him through a barrage of tests. All to gauge how powerful the Hulk is for a very special mission.

 The Leader explains to the Hulk that he has been studying the Moon and the Blue Area in general, where he has observed the alien life form called the Watcher. For British MWOM readers this would be the first appearance of the Watcher, a panel on the last page of this weeks Fantastic Four story does actually show his first Marvel appearance, or at least his legs. His appearance in this Hulk story would in fact be his 17th appearance in US continuity. US readers would be well aware of Uatu the Watcher. The Leaders incredible brain has not only designed a space probe that can spy on the Moon but it also has the capability to follow the Watcher back to his home planet. The Leader wants the Hulk to travel to the Watchers home world to steal a device that holds all the knowledge of the Universe called the Ultimate Machine. 

  The Hulk agrees after all he is in the Leaders debt, and enters the Leaders teleporter. Once arriving at his destination the Watcher greets the green giant and informs him that he knows what he has come for and he can't stop him due to his vow of none interference. Which is a cheek as his also shows the Hulk his collection of creatures he has collected from all over the Universe. If that isn't interference what is? This character trait may be the inspiration for the Collector, who would make his first US behind the scenes appearance three months later in the Avengers #26 and first full appearance in #28. 

It should be an easy task for the Hulk to obtain the Ultimate Machine but for a sudden appearance of another alien who also wants the device. The Leader, through his space probe, alerts the Hulk of his presents only to be too late. The Hulk is struck from behind!...To be continued.

Daredevil "Killgrave, the unbelievable Controller!"

 

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Joe Orlando

Inker: Vince Collette 

Originally published in Daredevil #4

Cover date October 1964

(Published in August 1964)

Another first appearance for Marvel UK, Killgrave the...Controller!???? Well that's Killgrave the purple man to every Marvel fan. With MWOM being printed mainly in black and white or Black and white with shades of green British readers probably never knew that Killgraves skin colour was a shade of purple. In some panels he looked dark skinned. So for some reason the title and any reference to the colour of his skin was changed.

You can see to the left the original title, bearing his original super-villain name.

Killgraves back story is that he was exposed to various unnamed chemicals changing his skin to a purple hue, giving him the new ability to control people's minds to his will with the pheromones his body gives off. Strong willed people can withstand those pheromones, which is great news for Daredevil. Killgrave begans to use his powers for personal gain and started to live a life of crime. The character Killgrave in the Netflix Jessica Jones series played by David Tennant is based on the Daredevil villain,  although much like the Marvel UK version his skin wasn't purple. We've got green Hulks, what's wrong with a purple man? 

Another example of the change in dialog to hide the fact that he is purple! In the original the Judge comments on the unusualness of Killgrave with that "The colour of his skin, for example! It's all purple!" While in the British version it comes across a little racist when the line is changed to "The colour of his skin, for example! It's very strange!" Why remove the word purple then mention his skin colour is strange?  

In this story Killgrave uses his power to rob a bank, but later gets caught, he uses his power again to escape jail, taking Karen Page under mind control as hostage and then mind controls a crowd to stop Daredevil. 

Last week Daredevils handy hood was introduced as a practical solution to store his civilian clothes while in super-hero mode. A novel idea but as this panel shows it also came with its own set of problems. Thankfully this is the last time we see that design. The Daredevil costume in these early stories is always being adjusted little by little, in three stories time the biggest change will come. 

 

In the twelve pages of this strip the words Purple Man was replaced with the single word Controller, which in some cases seems very strange when people for no reason called him the Controller when they have no reason to know he can control minds, calling him the Purple Man makes more sense because he literally is purple! This was a lot of correcting for the bodger, the name given to the artist or letterer who corrects or changes artwork or text in comics. This must have driven them crazy, especially if they thought it was unnecessary but in saying that they would get paid for the work. Purple wasn't the only word they changed a number of times....

Now you may have heard say, or even said it yourself, that reading comics had helped them/you to read. Comics are very educational not just with literacy but in inspiring young minds in areas of science, technology and artistic practices. Comics and Marvel comics in particular don't preach or criticise, they're a safe place to learn and make mistakes without getting lambasted for your errors. They help form creative minds by even if you can't understand all the words you can piece together the story through the panels. Comics are a media that  realistically are aimed at children but loved with nostalgic hearts by adults. I count myself as someone who learned so much from reading comics. As a young child I was never diagnosed as being dyslexic but I did share many of the signs of a person who is effected by dyslexia, so much so I worked hard to over come it. Even now I hate to  read texts on my phone that don't contain the correct grammar or punctuation.

 Slang and realistic speech for character is fine to add flavour. Also as a parent I also see the need to encourage and never criticise mistakes. Which all said and done as a child or adult my grammar OCD alarm bells rang when I read the above panel. The word JAIL has been changed to GAOL, not just once but three times. Now I know this is a word that came into English in two forms, jaiole from Old French and gayole from Anglo-Norman French gaole (surviving in the spelling gaol), but it totally looks wrong to me. Jail is the most common spelling as any Monopoly player would recognise, why bother changing it? Even mild forms of dyslexia can occur if you're tired, words and letters can become confused so I wonder if it was a hard day at the office when these changes were made. Was someone over thinking it or is it just me? Many regular readers of this blog may have noticed errors in it that are self inflicted by yours truly or by this humbled writer not carefully checking the text for any misplaced autocorrection, so I won't savage them for it. I do wonder what will readers in 1973 think about it, I look forward to any letters in future Mighty Marvel Mailbags about it and also how the editor replies with interest. Fair and friendly open discussion is always welcomed like many subjects in life. If in this blog I'm informed of a mistake either with spelling or facts I'll correct it or address the incorrect fact in that or a later blog. Goodness knows there are loads, especially when I get tired. What I need, well what everyone needs is a good editor!   

The colour spread plays host to a "Giant" Marvel Mini-poster featuring Namor, the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch by an artist I can't place, any ideas? Rod Tough, a regular reader and commentator on this blog pointed out that last weeks Mini-posters of Daredevil and the Sub-Mariner were drawn by John Romita and Jack Kirby respectively, with the DD artwork being a recoloured "Red" costume to match the current look and that both had appeared in US Marvel during the 60's as ads for the Merry Marvel Marching Society. Next issue "Marvel's mightiest brawlers" meet in a mini-poster "slug-fest!" Sharing the colour spread is an in-house advert for issue 7 of Spider-man Comics Weekly featuring Kraven the Hunter vs. Spider-man from the cover of Amazing Spider-man #15 by Steve Ditko and a panel from the mighty Thor story by Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers. As usual another FOOM advert completes the page.

A shortened Mighty Marvel Mailbag this week due to a half page advert for Hornby Railways, but still it contains four letters from young Marvel fans. The first from a not so young Peter Millington-Wallace from Truro who comments on a letter from MWOM#10 from a writer who at the age of 19 who hoped he wasn't too old to be reading Marvel comics, Peter at the age of 32 states that he's not too old for them. I'm really hope that Peter who would be a sprightly 82 now, reads this blog and still reads comics. Reading comics keeps you young so I plan on read them as long as I can. John McElhinney from Fleetwood wonders if the Thing is said to be one of the three most powerful super-heroes in Marvel, the Hulk and Thor being the other two, why was he scattered together with the Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic by the Sub-Mariner in #11 of MWOM? The editor suggests that the element of surprise was to his advantage, personally I feel when not out of water for too long a time Namor is stronger than the Thing. Royden Outhrafte from South Shields would like to see crossword puzzles in MWOM. Finally G. Welsby from North Warrington would like an argument with his friend settled, how do you pronounce Sub-Mariner? His friend say it's "Sub-Mareener" as in submarine while G believes it should be as in "the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner". Confession time, as a child I always read it as submarine-er, which is so wrong, I was devastated when it dawned on me it was Mariner. Another example of Marvel comics educating me in literacy and broadening my mind. 

The Fantastic Four "The Mad Ghost and his indescribable Super-Apes!"

 Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Steve Ditko

Originally published in The Fantastic Four #13

Cover date April 1963

(Published in January 1963)

The first noticeable thing about this opening page is the subtle change in title from the original, but lets leave that till a little later, as three members of the Fantastic Four have found Reeds lab on fire and him missing! Reed soon appears in a protective stretch-suit which is asbestos lined, to rescue the Torch from the fumes. I've often wondered how Johnny Storm can breathe when in flame form? Doesn't the fumes from his own flames fill his lungs? The answer is he just does! It's Marvel Magic, let's not worry to hard about it. Reed has developed a new type of rocket fuel which he plans to use it to power a rocket to the Moon. This rocket fuel as opposed to the fuel that powered the FF craft that went into space on the mission that give them their powers is said to have cut the cost of space flight to a fraction. Reed discovered this type of fuel in a meteor that crashed in America.

In Bodavia scientist Ivan Kragoff has also discovered a similar meteor and is also planning a flight to the Moon with a crew of highly trained apes. As this story was only published in 1963 landing on the Moon was a fancy of science fiction writers. The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between the US and the Soviet Union, two Cold War rivals, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. The competition is said to have began on the 30th July 1955 when the United States announced its intent to launch artificial satellites, four days later, the Soviet Union responded by declaring they would "in the near future" also launch a satellite. The race was on! America would eventually win by landing Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the Moon in the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle on the 20th July 1969. 

To British MWOM readers this was already history. But in the world of Marvel the race was on with new history to be made. Both American and Bodavian rockets blasted off at the same time!

Ivan Kragoff has taken inspiration from the Fantastic Fours first space mission and intends to fly his un-shielded ship through a cosmic ray belt and gain powers like the Fantastic Four did. He really is quite "Mad"

Two things to notice about the FF rocket, the first it didn't have artificial gravity and the second is wasn't it dangerous for Johnny to flame on inside a rocket? Science is always stretched a lot in a Lee/Kirby story, Reed would produce a special "Atom-web suit" for the Torch to wear which enables him to fly and survive in space due to the release of chemicals to create an artificial atmosphere around him. If you thought the pass scientific exploits of the FF were far fetched it's now time to really suspend your disbelief as the Torch takes a solo space flight without the aid of a ship or a standard space suit.

The Torch spies through the transparent structure of the Bodavian ship the mad scientist and his three trained apes. Each ape displays a unique power to the surprise of Kragoff and the Torch. The gorilla shows incredible strength by lifting a generator, not a problem in space where there is no gravity so we must assume that the Bodavian ship does have artificial gravity. The baboon can change its shape and the orangutang can control magnetic forces. The Torch is forced back to the ship.

The Fantastic Four descends to the lunar surface to find the remains of an ancient long dead city. This "Blue Area" has a breathable atmosphere, so off they explore. It's never said who landed first. This panel implies that the FF do, but later the Thing stumbles across the baboon and his master, so it's possible that they might have been there first. 

Ivan Kragoff declares himself to be the Red Ghost, due to his new found powers of intangibility. Due to the Marvel UK policy of removing anything that links to communism or communist countries, the word Red is removed and replaced with Mad. Hence the title change. Mad fits the character more than Red, as his character is ever so slightly mad. But why would he call himself either Mad or Red, a derogatory word for a communist anyway? Why doesn't Kragoff just call himself  the Ghost? I have developed the Orwellian ability to read "Mad Ghost" in these early comics and think "Red Ghost"! So in the it doesn't really matter, everything is double plus good!

The Mad (Red, oh you know what I mean,) Ghost and his Super-Apes aren't the only beings on the Moon. The skirmish is being watched by a strange observer, the Watcher! 

Now these ankles should have been the first appearance of the Watcher and may be if they had paused the Hulk story in #24 and ran the complete Fantastic Four vs. the Incredible Hulk story in one issue this would definitely be his first Marvel UK appearance. You'll have to read next weeks issue to see more than his ankles.

Last week for those not in the know I explained what telephone directories were and also commented that this week I would be explaining what a video cassette was. In hindsight I should have said I would explain what a record or vinyl LP was. Of course I had to Google what a LP was as I'm so down with the kids and into streaming I have no clue what records, CDs or downloads are!

As teased last week a competition for fifty lucky readers who answered five easy questions, then completed a sentence in no more than 12 words and collected two entry coupon had the chance to win a vinyl record featuring the amazing Spider-man entitled "Beyond the grave!" 

The sentence to be completed in under 12 words was:-

"I tell everyone about the Mighty World of Marvel because.... "

Here's the questions, see how you do. No Googling now! 

1) SPIDEYS closest relative is:

Dr. Octopus 

Aunt May

Betty Brant 

2) Peter Parker's best subject at college is:

Art

Games

Science

3) SPIDEY'S worst enemy is

The Tinkerer

Dr. Doom

Flash Harris

4) Who wears the cap in SLADE?

Noddy

Jimmy

Don

5) Was the OSMONDS long haired lover from:

 Blackpool

Liverpool

Hartlepool

Spider-man Comics Weekly #7

This weeks cover features a chained Spider-man being hunted under the light of a full Moon by Kraven  the hunter! Drawn by Jim Starlin with Al Milgrom adding finishing pencils, this cover is quite atmospheric although not completely accurate, as Kraven used magnetic cuffs to slow down Spider-man the story not a ball and chain. Frank Giacola inked the final artwork. The Chameleon insert is taken from the cover of Amazing Spider-man #15 drawn by Steve Ditko. The Thor insert is a panel from this weeks Thor tale drawn by Jack Kirby and inked by Dick Ayers.

Spider-man "Kraven the hunter!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Steve Ditko    

Inker: Steve Ditko 

Originally published in The Amazing Spider-man  #15

Cover date August 1964

(Published in May 1964)

I really like this weeks Spider-man story, Lee and Ditko have really gotten in the swing of the character. Their latest creation Kraven is wonderfully thought out. But this story starts out with Spider-man interrupting a bank robbery, causing the robbers to run, one of which turns out to be the Chameleon in disguise. Chameleon was Spider-mans first costumed villain back in MWOM #4 .

I love the silliness of the scene were the Chameleon is having a drink in one hand and smoking a cigarette with the other, all the while he's relaxing in a dressing gown with his face covered with his featureless mask. A multitude of masks hang all around him like trophies.  He's almost looking at the reader and smiling! Is ingenious plan is to employ his old friend Kraven the hunter to defeat Spider-man. Much later we learn that the Chameleon and Kraven are half brothers but that won't be for sometime. 

Kraven arrives to some fanfare on New York docks and soon he gets to show off his expertise at hunting as by sheer coincidence loads of imported zoo animals escape. He manages to recover them all before Spider-man can arrive at the scene in costume.

Kraven soon gets to work studying Spider-man, then during a fight Kraven stuns him with a nerve punch to the shoulder and then poisoning him with a special potion. Overcome with dizziness Spider-man escapes to fight another day. 

The Chameleon and Kraven plot and plan their next encounter with Spider-man, over a warm brew with looks of things.

Spider-man recovers the next day but he still feels some of the effects, which include a shaking hand. Not only does Peter have a love interest in Betty Brant and the attentions of Liz Allen, Aunt May and her neighbour Mrs Watson have arranged a blind date with her niece, I wonder who that could be? However Mrs Watsons niece doesn't make it as she's got a headache. May be we'll have to take a rain check on that one Tiger!

Spider-man tracks Kraven to Central Park under the light of a full Moon. But all isn't what it seems as well as traps and hi-tech devices like the magnetic manacles, there appears to be two Kravens! But in pure Spider-man style he unmasks the fake Kraven,  the Chameleon in disguise. Then he runs down the real Kraven the hunter into a giant spider web.

So everything end great for Spider-man, less so for Peter Parker though with his women problems but that's life.

The colour spread this week informs us that the Mystery Free Surprise Gift is a "Real-life Photograph", but I thought it basically said that last week! They're really stretching it out a bit, but seeing as you need eight coupons from I think ten issues we'll have a bit to go. This weeks coupon number 5 is Nurse Jane Foster. The page artwork is taken from the cover of the Amazing Spider-man #82 from March 1970, by Marie Severvin and John Romita SR. The opposite page is an in-house advert for the Mighty World of Marvel #26 showcasing Killgrave the controller with his appearance in this weeks Daredevil strip. The Fantastic Four, the Hulk and another Mini-poster are teased too.

In this weeks The Web and the Hammer, Billy Walker from Hull is baffled as to why Doctor Octopus only has six arms, two natural and four artificial arms, as "octo" means eight. Like the editor I think Billy has missed the point, he gets his name from eight limbs. In MWOM #9 an explanation of Spider-man's spider-sense referred to Daredevil, to which Stephen Griffiths from Barnsley wondered how will the  editors were going to explain this new character to new readers? The reply is an insight to Marvel UK's "need to know" policy which as they reply "Normally, we rewrite our feature pages and stories ever so slightly to remove references to super-heroes we haven't introduced yet. Sometime though, in the hurry to get the books to the printer's on time, we miss a reference." They go on to add Anybody who was confused by the Daredevil reference in issue 9  had their curiosity relieved in issue 20." Scouser Mark Jones recalls Peter Parker saying he was all "fingers and thumbs" in issue 9, yet he wonders how did he manage to make his Spider-man suit! The editors answer is with "Sheer determination." Finally another question, this time from David Filson, a loyal Spider-man fan from Newtownards, "Why does Peter Parker wear glasses all the time except when he's Spider-man?" The editor points out that the strange accident that give him his amazing abilities also increased his own natural abilities, eyesight included. 

The mighty Thor "The Thunder God and the thug!"

Writer: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

Originally published in Journey into Mystery #89

Cover date February 1963

(Published in December 1962)

Thor gets involved with a gangster leader who is known as Thug Thatcher, who get shot during a gun fight outside of Doctor Blakes Practice, forcing Blake to operate on him while they hold Jane Foster hostage. Thatchers men also remove the lame Doctors cane so that he can't use it as a weapon and also in affect rendering him unable to summon his Godly super powers.

Don Blake is helpless but through intense concentration he summons up enough mental telepathically to contact Thors father Odin and appeal for help. Odin sends a lightening bolt to shock the gangster who was holding Blakes cane, causing a distraction and gives Blake time to transform into the Thunder God. 

Thor easily defeats Thatchers men, but Thatcher himself escapes to a construction site where he threatens innocent bystanders if Thor makes any attempt to capture him. Thor agrees to his demand until the girder that Thug was standing on collapses sending Thug Thatchers to his doom! Thor my have vowed to not capture the criminal but never made any vow to not save the falling fiend. A pleasant enough story, if a little of a filler. Next weeks offers a little more as we are teased  with Thor facing the Carbon-copy man! Now there's a villain you'll want to see. If only for the novelty of it! Who, why and what the heck is he? find out next week. Till next time...

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel!