The missing Surfer.

Week Ending 30th June 1973

 

Missing panels and missing pages. Strips with any mention or image of the Surfer and Thor removed so as to not spoil future stories. We get a "Future Shock" that would make the mighty one feel green with envy. The Skrulls walk among us this week. Can you pick who's who in this weeks web of mystery in Spider-man's strip? No Skrulls involved. Plus can Thor save the future? Read on to find out about all that and more.

The Mighty World of Marvel #39

I think it's fair to say that both weekly comics covers are going through a poor period at the minute, especially the Mighty World of Marvel, which is surprising as Rich Buckler and Mike Esposito are both very accomplished artists. May be it was the hard deadline with two covers a week and also Bucklers regular comic book chores in Jungle Action drawing the Black Panther regularly. So for that he can be forgiven. Marvel UK would produce some cracking covers once they concentrated on showcasing one story per cover rather than the split covers.

The Incredible Hulk "Turning Point!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Marie Severin

Inker: Frank Giacoia

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #92

Cover date June 1967

(Published in March 1967)

Following a great artist like John Buscema is a challenge, but it helps if you're already a great artist like Gil Kane, but then when you have to follow Buscema and then Kane it becomes an even greater challenge. Marie Severin followed those legendary artists and meet the challenge head on with one of my favourite runs by any artist on the Hulk. Marie Severin isn't a name that is held in the same high esteem as Buscema, Kane, Ditko or Kirby, but she should be. The opening splash page showcases her creative craftsmanship. An impressive looking Hulk looming over a detailed city landscape, it's iconic. After the number of artists who would tinker with the Hulk's features Marie sets out on the page the definitive look for the green giant that would last more or less for decades, perhaps until Todd McFarlane in 1987. Marie took all the best bits that had come before and made a universally recognisable Hulk, who dare I say looked more appealing.

Marie Severin knows when to have detailed backgrounds and when to have close up of characters with more simple background for efficiency, but those close ups never lose any detail, take the panel of the Hulk holding onto something that's moving at speed, the artwork on the Hulk is full of incredible detail but that background is uncluttered. As to what that object that the Hulk is holding on to you'll have to wait one hundred weeks to find out! No I'm very serious, the story ends after nine pages with the tenth page removed to stop any spoilers. The next Hulk story that follows on from Tales to Astonish #92 doesn't get printed in the UK until 7th June 1975 in Mighty World of Marvel #140. But who or what is the Hulk chasing?

The answer is shown on page ten of Tales to Astonish #92. It was the Silver Surfer that the Hulk saw in the night sky. Norrin Rand wouldn't make his first Marvel UK appearance till 28th September1974 in the Fantastic Four story from MWOM#104, so the last page was left out leaving a very strange conclusion. In many ways "Turning point!" need not have been published, it's a great little story but British readers could have gone straight onto Tales to Astonish #94 "..To the beckoning stars!" as we'll see later. "Turning point!" and "He who strikes the Silver Surfer" will both get a full reprint for Marvel UK fans in the Mighty World of Marvel issues 139 to 140 (31st May 1975 to 7th June 1975,) in which those two stories are neatly squeezed between the Hulk's regular continuity. If you'll stick with the Power of the Beesting blog I'll discuss that and how readers from 1975 felt about a story being repeated within two years. I imagine they were happy to finally see its conclusion.

    

   

The Incredible Hulk "..To the beckoning stars!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Marie Severin

Inker: Herb Trimpe

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #94

Cover date August 1967

(Published in May 1967)

Herb Trimpe joins the art team as an inker this week, a name totally synonymous with the Hulk. 

The strange light/object in the sky from the previous Hulk story is left hanging, leaving the British readers to assume that it was the mysterious "New Man" that featured in this tale. I'm not sure how well that sat with the MWOM fans from 1973, I know the "Turning Point!"/"He who strikes the Silver Surfer" story line so well that it feels an obvious gap. We'll see in future mailbags if this caused any tension. I totally understand the reasons why the Silver Surfer's involvement was removed, with hindsight I always felt it was a mistake to allow the Hulk to race ahead of other stories like the Fantastic Four. Easy for me to say, harder for the editors to get right without producing handfuls of Marvel UK comics to bridge the gaps. Although in a couple of years they did just that. 

Unlike the Silver Surfer's continuity the editors must have felt that preserving the High Evolutionary's  continuity wasn't a problem. He makes his first UK appearance here however in Marvel continuity he would first appear in The Mighty Thor #134 cover dated November 1966 (published in September 1966,) which would get it's UK debut in Spider-man Comics Weekly #72 on the 29th June 1974. I imagine that explaining the Surfers continuity with the Fantastic Four would cause problems, but the High Evolutionary and his New Men's out of order stories would be less so. 

A brief recap on the High Evolutionary, his creation of a race of New Men and their time at Wundagore mountain was seen as a flashback, but with the image of Thor removed. They could have left in his part in that adventure, using it as a teaser for a future story, but they didn't. The High Evolutionary had left Earth with his New Men to build a new society on a new planet which he named Wundagore II. 

    

But some of the New Men reverted to their bestial heritage and rebelled against the High Evolutionary. H.E. arranged for the abduction of the Hulk, who he hoped would turn the tables in that rebellion. This week's Hulk tale ended with the line "A world he never made!" which many of you readers will associate with Howard the Duck as used by Steve Gerber to demonstrate a young ducks plight with "Trapped in.." added at the beginning. It it's actually comes from a poem by A.E. Housman called "The Laws of God, the Laws of Man" in which the line is "In a world I never made".

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag

There's only two letters in this weeks mailbag, the first is from the mysterious Captain Vole from Kent. Not sure that's the name on his passport. He questions the lack of colour in British weekly comics. He wonders if the scope of Marvel UK comics will include the Silver Surfer and the Inhumans. If not would it be because in Britain the market is so small, stating that even if the whole population of the UK were to buy MWOM it still wouldn't add up to the sales in the UK as the US has a larger population. The editor replies that there are many reasons why at the time there is no colour in UK comics and economics is certainly one of them. Peter Crawford from Crawley Sussex is puzzled why so many characters have the same face, no matter which artist draws them, but the Hulk's features alter like a chameleon on a patchwork quilt. He goes on to list eleven changes from issue 1 to issue 27 and the artists who were responsible. I do get his point. I think with the new art team of Marie Severin and Herb Trimpe that will ease considerably. 

 "The last rocket!"

Writer: Stan Lee and Larry Lieber

Artist : Gene Colan

Inker: Gene Colan

Originally published in Tales of Suspense #39

Cover date March 1963

(Published in December 1962)

With the first Hulk story missing a page and there being only one letter page in MWOM this week has a couple of spare pages free. So they decided to use that space to print a lovely sci-fi tale from Tales of Suspense #39. That comic is more widely known as the comic that featured Iron Man's first ever appearance. Some of the original panels were removed to shorten the story from five pages to four, but that doesn't spoil the story at all. In fact I think it actually helps the narrative run more smoothly. When the sun starts to burn out a married couple refuses to leave the planet with everyone else, because of their love for each other and the planet. The couple remain to watch a giant flash of light as a new sun forms. They pledge to start the human race anew as a breed that will love the planet as much as they love it. The real twist in the tale is their names are Adam and Eve. Stories like these were the inspiration for Tharg's Future Shocks in the Prog. You can see why, even at four pages it's a cracking little yarn.

The Fantastic Four "A Skrull walks among us!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

Originally published in Fantastic Four #18

Cover date September 1963

(Published in July 1963)

After the last three weeks adventures which involved the Sub-Mariner from the US Fantastic Four Annual #1 MWOM goes back to the original continuity with the story that follows their adventures from MWOM #35, that featured a battle with the Lord of Latveria but in doing so it replaces an image on a TV screen of Doctor Doom for one of Namor the Sub Mariner. The Fantastic Four take a well earned rest whether they had been fighting Doom or the Sub-Mariner, so our attention is taken to the Andromeda Galaxy, where the evil Skrulls make plans to defeat the Fantastic Four.

Their master plan involves enhancing a Skrull with the combined powers of the Fantastic Four. The Super Skrull demonstrates each of his new powers to the Emperor who soon sends him to Earth to battle the Fantastic Four. Find out next week are the FF any match for the Super Skrull? 

On the inside back page we get an in-house advertisement for this week Spider-man Comics Weekly #20, in which Spider-man must solve the mystery of "the Man in the Crime-Masters mask!" as well as defeating the Green Goblin. Plus Thor is a "Slave of the Tomorrow Man!" Keep reading and we'll get to those chestnuts.

But before we can get to all that there's the question of "What's the word?" Some of you might have said "Grease" is the word! I'm afraid not. The word is "Wordophobia!" Yep that's just a made up word that means it's another Marvel competition that has something to do with making up as many words as you can from a single word or phrase. The prizes are for the boys, Superstar sets and Mark Strong kits and the girls Barbie Beauty centres and Barbie kits. A total of 240 prizes in all! More on that next week.

The back page features another Marvel Collectors Special, this time its No.6 in the series with a noble looking Sub-Mariner, taken from the cover of Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner #1 cover dated May 1968 (published February 1968,) by John Buscema and Sol Brodsky. The back ground of the original cover is replaced with a water coloured seascape scene.

Spider-man Comics Weekly #20

This cover is a remake of Steve Ditko's the Amazing Spider-man #26 cover by regular Marvel UK cover artists Rich Buckler and Mike Esposito. I have to honestly say they should have reused the Ditko version, it's virtually the same except it has better composition and it also features the Green Goblin. The inclusion of a panel of Thor as a "Slave of the Tomorrow Man" doesn't let the cover breathe either.

Spider-man "The man in the Crime-Master's mask!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Steve Ditko

Inker: Steve Ditko

Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #26

Cover date July 1965

(Published in April 1965)

After last weeks acknowledgement right after the credits that "Sturdy Steve Ditko dreamed up the plot" of that "tantalising tale", this weeks credits go further by telling the readers that Steve Ditko plotted and drew this tale. I almost think in the credits section of this story I should add Steve Ditko's name together with Stan Lee as writer. Although it's universally known that Lee and Ditko would knock about the plot on these Spider-man stories together. The plotter or writer would either tell the artist the plot or write out a rough draft of it for the artist to work from. Obviously, I wasn't there but I imagine Stan and Steve would discuss the plot before Steve drew it, in the case of this story imagine Steve told Stan what he wanted to do and Stan just let him. The plot is a nice little "Who is he?" story line thread, with that question directed to both the Crime-Master and the Green Goblin.

The identities of both would at this point remain a secret, even though both criminals stated that they knew each others true identities. J. Jonah Jameson and Frederick Foswell were prime suspects due to their shady comings and goings. I'm pretty certain that they were intended as red herrings all along. I'm not sure whether by design or coincidence but one of Jameson's fellow gentlemen's club members looks very much like Norman Osborn, who ever he may be! The mysterious stool pigeon known as Patch makes his debut this week. But what is his connection with everything? Can't tell you/won't tell you, spoilers!

As you would expect from a Spider-man tale there's loads of Peter Parker's real life problems, possibly as much as 40% in the Peter/Spider-man split. With Peter looking for is confiscated costume, dealing with Betty's anger at Peter for siding with Jameson against Spider-man and her jealousy over Liz Allan and Mary Jane! Then there's his work life at the Daily Bugle and school life. At one point he blows his top and takes on Flash Thompson and his friends in a fight. The school Principal sees Peter starting the fight and so punishes him for it as Peter is willing to take all the blame. Flash overhears Peter's confession and secretly tells the Principal his involvement in it taking some of the blame. This could be the start of a move to Peter and Flash's future friendship.

 

Peter's solution to his missing costume is to buy one off the peg from a costume shop. like so many parts in Peter/Spidey's life thing's don't quite work out, the costume doesn't quite fit so he has to glue the gloves, boots, top and mask together with webbing. Which with hindsight is a good thing as later the Green Goblin tries to unmask the unconscious hero, but of course it won't budge.

The action plot revolves around both villains wanting to take over the New York underworld, but as they won't agree to work together they lock horns to see who will out think the other. It looks like the Crime-Master comes out on top but as this weeks instalment ends the Goblin produces an unconscious Spider-man and claims the position as the New York mobs boss as his! Most Spider-man stories are single issue stories, this two part ends on a cliffhanger and it's better for it. Can't wait for next week's conclusion.

The Web and the Hammer

Like MWOM's letter page this weeks TWatH page is a single page, so much for the two pages of letters promised. First up is Allan Waite from Bedford, who is glad to see Marvel starting all over again in the UK, allowing readers to those early classics from Lee, Kirby and Ditko. Roger Stanley from Shropshire used to collect Fantastic (what??) from the sixties and doesn't want Marvel UK to repeat all Thor's stories from that comic. The editor tells Roger to hold on to them as they could be worth a fortune. (I must find out how much mine are worth, not that I have any British Marvel comics from the late 60's, because such comics don't exist so I wouldn't have any of them in my collection! Well not many.) Tony Dixon from Manchester is pleased with is FOOM parcel, but wants to know what are the meanings of "Nuff Said", Peta" and "Excelsior!" Well nothing more needs to be said about "Nuff Said", as for Peta that's the real name of Marvel UK's editor Peter L. Skingley, the editor calls her the "Lovely lass" who looks after the London office, I wonder was she smiling as she typed out that reply. As for "Excelsior", ever upward, ever higher. Finally Jim Harding from County Down in Northern Ireland is really "grooved" by his FOOM kit and wonders where he can send off for the 1973 Marvel Annual. I would say eBay but that was an impossible dream in 1973. The 1970's answer was always second hand bookshops. 

The Mighty Thor "Slave of Zarrko, the Tomorrow man!"

  

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: George Roussos

Originally published in Journey into Mystery #102

Cover date March 1964

(Published in January 1964)

The opening splash page of this Thor story must have been drooled over by a young Barry (Windsor) Smith, because the framing is similar to a splash page he used in an Avengers story he drew, that was later used as a Marvel Collectors Special in SMCW #16. And why not, it's an incredible dynamic pose. Zarrko the Tomorrow Man bribes Thor into becoming his obedient slave and travel with him to the 23rd Century, so that he can take over that century's world controlling "Master Machine". Thor of course plays along until he tricks Zarrko into releasing him from his promise and allows the machine to finish the job for him. It's a cool little tale but I imagine that at any point, even with his strength at half of what it was after Odin stripped half from him (because of his unrelenting love for Jane Foster.) Thor could have beaten Zarrko, but that would have shorten way to much of a cracking story.

On the inside back page we get an advert for next weeks Wordophobia competition, which we've already seen in the pages of this weeks MWOM above an advert for this week SMCW, Spidey returns the favour to show an advert for this weeks MWOM. I must admit the cover artwork does look better in black and white. Not that I'm suggesting they should try a black and white cover, they definitely should not do that! 

   Finally for this week, No.5 in the Marvel Collectors Special and its Odin's turn. This brooding portrait of the All Father looks to me to have been drawn by John Buscema. I did some checking and I found it in The Mighty Thor #202 cover dated August 1972 (published May 1972,) in a story entitled "--And none dare stand 'gainst Ego-Prime!" It was indeed drawn by John Buscema with inks from Vince Colletta. Marvel UK fans would have to wait until Super Spider-man with the Titans #212 (published 2rd March 1977.) to read it. Hopefully I'll talk about that story in under four years time. 

You won't have to wait that long to find out what went on in next weeks issues, just seven days. So until then...

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel.

 

"Face it Tiger...you just hit the jackpot!"

 Week Ending 23rd June 1973

If I may take a little time this week to mention that as I was preparing this weeks look at Marvel UK from 50 years ago sad news broke of the passing of a Marvel Legend. John Romita SR sadly died at the age of 93, in his sleep at his home in Floral Park, New York, on 12th June 2023. Regrettably this weeks comics have no artwork by the super talented artist otherwise I could show examples of all the wonderful stuff he did. I can promise you that those amazing stories will be featured in three months time. That's the great thing about his work it will go on for along as comic fans want to pick up great stories to read about romantic adventures that combined soap opera and fantasy action. Over the last eight or so months I've talked about Steve Ditko's interpretation of Spider-man, yes I do love his version, but to me when I think about who is the definitive artist of Spider-man there's only one answer...John Romita SR. I may joke that in my top three artists I can name ten, which will change daily. Romita isn't always on that list, but he should be at the top of that list. His beautiful lines and clear story telling make him a delight to read. His characters are realistic each displaying distinctive personalities through their body language. His designs are creative and unforgettable. It's no wonder that in 1973 Stan chose him as Marvel's art director, he designed hundreds of images, covers, comics and characters that will always be associated with Marvel. He designed or helped to design characters like the Punisher, Wolverine, Luke Cage, the Kingpin, the Rhino, the Shocker and Bullseye to name a few. We all know what the Black Widow looks like, even if you've only seen her look in the movies. John took a character designed by Don Heck and give her a sexy black jumpsuit that really made her unforgettable, A look that has more or less remained the same since 1970. Romita was the second artist on Spider-man, the Fantastic Four, and arguably DareDevil (may be I should say as the second regular artists that is, there had been a number of other artists on DD but I'm implying he followed Wally Wood who held a very strong run on that comic.) following and improving on the great works of Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Wood. He took over Captain America after Kirby and then Gene Colan had set a high bench mark, Romita became the regular artist, making Cap his own. Even though Ditko first drew Mary Jane (as seen in this weeks Spider-man story,) in my mind Romita created her because he drew her first full reveal, which give her a full character. I grew up every Christmas reading annuals that regularly featured John Romita SR stories, his work is part of my childhood and even through my adult life. When I left home I bought a pile of second-hand Spider-man Comics Weekly that were filled with the more mature Peter Parker stories that I found myself reading while sharing my new independence with Peter's adulthood ups and downs. So who's top of my all time favourite artists? Face it Tiger, John Romita SR is number one! 

John Romita SR 24th January 1930-12th June 2023. RIP

If I get time I may write a special blog on my favourite John Romita SR comics, but let's now take a look at what was going on in Marvel UK for the week ending 23rd June 1973.

 The Mighty World of Marvel #38

     

Rich Buckler and Mike Esposito again handle the art chores for this weeks Mighty World of Marvel cover, but who added the colours? It was a "Strange" choice to colour the three main characters for this week in primary colours. (Yeah I know it should be yellow instead of green with red and blue, but the Hulk would look very strange with yellow skin.) But they decided that a blue Abomination and a red Stranger is fine! Did this confuse young British readers when they finally saw those two characters in their true colours? Speaking of colour confusion did the same readers think the Torch's uniform was red like the one he wore for a while from Fantastic Four #132 (cover dated March 1973, published December 1972.) as Johnny's "flaming on" form looks that way. 

The other most noteworthy thing about this cover is the new title logo. It now goes by the full title of The Mighty World of Marvel starring the Incredible Hulk! Or MWOMSTIH for short. A bit long that, I think I'll stick with MWOM. You can see a definite push to make the Hulk the star of this comic.

The Incredible Hulk "The Abomination!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Gil Kane

Inker: Gil Kane

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #90

Cover date April 1967

(Published in January 1967)

From last week the Stranger winds up the Hulk with a hypnotic command sending him on an uncontrollable rampage to cleanse the Earth of the "unfit"mankind, so that it can be rebuilt with the Stranger as the world's new ruler. Bit of a mad plan there! After ripping apart a bridge he feels tired and needs to rest, which leads to the emerald berserker chilling out for a bit, leading into the his transformation into the weary Bruce Banner who no-longer feels any of the Strangers manipulations. Banner decides that the best way to end the Strangers plan for global annihilation is to commit  suicide through a Gamma ray over dose.

The easiest way to accomplish the dark task is to use his Gamma Ray Projector, which for some reason is now located at the New Mexico Army Base and not the cave that Banner used to hide all his equipment. May be the US army discovered it at some point and removed it to its new location. At the said base three security breaches have occurred including an attempt to kidnap Betty Ross, is the General including the attempts by Boomerang, the Secret Empire or the Leader's agent, the Chameleon, or are these new attempts? Either way Major Glen Talbot is a pretty poor security chief, he spends too much time being jealous of Bruce Banner and pining over Betty Ross to do his job properly. The spy/saboteur in question is a Croatian Yugoslavian communist called Emil Blonsky who is working for China, although none of that is mentioned in the UK or the original version. In the US version he says "There are those behind the Bamboo Curtain who will pay any price for Banner's invention!" while the UK version refers to "certain foreign lands" instead. Security is so poor Banner wearing nothing but ripped jeans gets all the way to his lab before there's any attempt to stop him! Blonsky who to be fair his wearing a military uniform, from the shadows spies the vagrant scientist desperately trying to operate the Gamma Ray Projector before the guards drag Banner away. Blonsky decides to operate the machine on himself just to see what it does.

With the success of the Leader it was little wonder that Stan would use gamma rays to create another gamma powered antagonist to match the Hulk. I'm only surprised it took five years to make an evil version of the Hulk. Fans wanted to see big clashes, a thing that would become the default plot line for Hulk stories for many years to come. Gil Kane created an incredible opponent for the Hulk. The Abomination lived up to his name in looks and fear factor. 

The mixture of power and intelligence give the Abomination the upper hand, winning the battle with the Hulk. It would seem he was unbeatable. Too clever to allow the General any chance of pursuit by armed aircraft the Abomination took Betty Ross as a hostage while leaping away in a Hulk fashion. She's always getting kidnapped that Betty.  Can anything stop the Abomination? We'll find out soon.

One of many readers pet peeves is spoiling the story when they want to cut out a coupon or an offer. The general suggested solution is to put the adverts back to back. Marvel did this in this issue (and in SMCW,) with these two offers for a Spider-man Medallion coin and a Hulk T-shirt. I noticed in a digital copy I have, that the previous owner had cut out the order form, but I couldn't make out which offer was wanted as the form is on the reverse of the other. So I guess you could only have a medallion or the T-shirt. If you could choose which would you have? Thankfully my paper copies of this weeks comics are both fully intact. 

The Incredible Hulk "Whosoever hates the Hulk..!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Gil Kane

Inker: Gil Kane

Originally published in Tales to Astonish #91

Cover date May 1967

(Published in February 1967)

I'm really liking the Hulk stories at the minute, with John Buscema and then Gil Kane taking over the art chores the strip has had fresh life breathed into it. The Hulk knocking on death's door, while the Abomination leaping away with Betty Ross, the drama is really ramping up. Rick Jones suggests using "Gamma Electrodes" to revive the Hulk. They're a bit like a defibrillator for gamma spawned monsters. That's a pretty clever idea from Stan Lee or Gil Kane, the theory of electric shocks stopping and starting a heart was demonstrated in 1899 by two physiologists from the University of Geneva, Jean-Louis Prévost and Frédéric Batelli on a dog. The first external defibrillator as it is known today was invented by Electrical Engineer William Kouwenhoven in 1930. This was refined by Dr. Albert Hyman, heart specialist in 1933. Many refinements later we get the idiot proof portable models you see everywhere today. I like the way the creators of this story used the basic idea. It's a great set piece of many hospital dramas.

 

The Hulk does recover and after Jones talks him down, telling him he is needed to save Betty's life the Hulk's heart rate slows allowing the transformation into Banner to occur. Banner suggests using a top secret "Infinite weapon ray" to attract the Abomination back to the base where the now angry Hulk swiftly defeats the other green monster. The Stranger, who has been observing it all from afar declares the Hulk valorous, making him unsuitable to be controlled. Also noting that the Abomination is truly evil and transports him away, leaving the Hulk to start a "New Chapter"

next week.

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag.

In reply to Kevin Magson's letter in MWOM #25 wanting Marvel Binders, Nicholas Oldfield from Norwich suggests using large cornflake cereal boxes to store his comics. Harry T. from London relies to Peter Millington who wrote in MWOM #26 saying he had to rely on the unpredictable arrival of US Marvel comics, Harry mentions that there are many American comics for sale in his local newsagents. He suggests that WH Smiths are the best place to find them. He also comments that Oldham's Power comic range simply stopped because they too quickly caught up to their American counter parts. He also has a plan to create another weekly comic that should have the Avengers,  Doctor Strange and the X-Men in it, plus Iron Man should join Thor in a comic. Does he have a crystal ball? I find it strange but also wonderful that the editor is allowing readers to write about the Avengers, Dr. Strange, Iron-man and the X-Men as previously they wouldn't have been edited out of the featured stories. Has the coming of  FOOM wetted readers appetite for more heroes? Speaking of FOOM, N. Binet from Jersey wonders why is FOOM and not MMMS (the Merry Marvel Marching Society.), where have you been N. ?

On the subject of Friends Of Ol' Marvel more readers are writing in with their feelings for it. Mark Graham from Leighton Buzzard thinks FOOM is great and has calculated using the check list for Fantastic Four comics he found in FOOM first issue that at the current rate the FF stories will not catch up with the American comics till Mighty World of Marvel issue 283. His friend disagrees and says it will be issue 264. If only they knew about the full stories that will be printed in the Titans and later in the Complete Fantastic Four. Finally for this weeks Mighty Marvel Mailbag Steven Laming from County Durham, who also things FOOM is great, wants to see more Marvel weekly comics, possibly starring Ant-man, the Avengers, Captain America and the Sub-Mariner. Now if that was to happen I'd have to spend more of my time blogging about them, which may or may not be good for the dear readers of this blog but at least I would get to re-read some fine comics.

The Fantastic Four "The final chapter"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

Originally published in Fantastic Four Annual #1

Cover date July 1963

(Published in July 1963)

The final chapter of this epic Fantastic Four vs. the Sub-Mariner tale. It uses panels from last weeks chapter as a quick recap. We see Mister Fantastic's incredible devise that evaporates the life giving water the Atlantean troops require to survive from their helmets. This seems extremely cruel of Reed Richards, causing them to literally suffocate. But when at war! Namor allows his army to retreat back into the life giving seas while he confronts an injured Richards. The rest of the FF rush to help Reed, so out numbered Namor flees taking Sue Storm as hostage. The male members of the FF follow in an attempt to rescue her, in turn bringing Namor to the surface to do battle. A jealous Lady Dorma smashes the undersea craft's porthole to drown her prisoner. Seeing the consequences of that action Namor rescues Sue and takes her back to New York to a human hospital as quickly as he can. Ending his desire to fight with the surface world. This story was quite an epic that sets up future events. It's from this story that Sue realises that she really love's Reed and give's Namor lots of food for thought about his place in the world. Like many stories from this era Stan and Jack tend to rush the later parts to fit it into a comic, but still it was an enjoyable romp. 

The inside back page with an in-house advert for this weeks Spider-man Comics Weekly that promises Spider-man being "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson!" and Thor facing deadly doom when the "Tomorrow Man returns!" 

The lower advert teases "The word is coming!" What that means I have no clue, I don't recall what it relates to and I won't sneak a peak at next week issues to find out. Is it another competition of some more offers? If you want to know you'll have to come back next week and find out with me what the word is! 

On this weeks MWOM and SMCW back pages there's another football contest. Answer five questions to be entered into the draw. Five first place winners will receive a Kodak camera, the next ten runner-ups will receive a Wembley Club trainer football. The ten third place winners will get a Soccerama game each, leaving the next 400 correct entrants the consolation prize of a model space craft. All you need to do is collect two football coupons, one from this week, the other from next week and answer correctly five questions. I got four completely right but had to look up the Bobby Charlton question. Have a go and I'll print the answers when Marvel UK does in a later blog.  So here's the questions.

1) Spider-man's webbing

a) can only be destroyed by special chemicals.

b) can only be destroyed by fire.

c) melts into nothing after a few hours.

2) Thor's profession when he changes to Don Blake is 

a) Scientist.

b) Professor.

c) Doctor.

3) How many caps did Bobby Charlton get before he retired?

a) 99.

b) 106.

c) 109.

4) The first British team to win the European Cup was? 

a) Celtic.

b) Chelsea.

c) Manchester United.

5) The Hammers is the nickname given to? 

a) West Bromwich Albion.

b) West Ham.

c) Sunderland.

Spider-man Comics Weekly #19

Another Marvel UK cover specially created by Rich Buckler and Mike Esposito. Spider-man Comics Weekly covers always seem to be more brighter and enticing than those used on its companion comic. The original Spider-Slayer with Jameson's smiling face filled with enjoyment looks more interesting and enjoyable than the Ditko version. Was SMCW aimed at a slightly younger readership than MWOM?

Spider-man "Captured by J. Jonah Jameson!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Steve Ditko    

Inker: Steve Ditko 

Originally published in The Amazing Spider-man #24

Cover date May 1965

(Published in February 1965)

This story marks the first that Steve Ditko was credited as coming up with the plot for a Spider-man tale. The way the Marvel Method worked was Stan Lee would come up with a plot idea, then after discussing it with the artist he left him to rough out the story. Stan would then take a look over the layouts, make any suggestions he felt was necessary, then leave the artist to complete their pencil work. The inker would then ink the artwork and at certain stages Stan would cast his eye over the work to make remarks on things he wanted changing. Stan would then add dialogue to finish the storytelling off. Artists like Kirby and Ditko had a massive input into the storytelling. Lee was more an editor who added dialogue than a writer. These wonderful stories were made possible by a grand collaboration, in my opinion they're better for it. Great ideas come from teamwork. Ditko may have felt hard done by, with Lee claiming all the credit on previous comics, Steve  might have mentioned this to Stan. In fact in The coming of the Scorpion! Stan put Steve Ditko's credit above his, although he does use a bigger font for his own name. Was Ditko starting to feel aggrieved with Lee? In thirteen stories time Ditko would leave Marvel after the rift between the two had become unrepairable. In a deposition statement in 2010 John Romita SR recalled that Lee and Ditko "ended up not being able to work together because they disagreed on almost everything, cultural, social, historically, everything, they disagreed on characters. ..." A sad end but we still have thirteen great stories to read and review, followed by collections of Lee/Romita classics. 

This story marks the first ever appearance of Spencer Smyth the inventor of the Spider-Slayer which also made its first appearance. The Mark I Spider-Slayer had unbreakable coils that it could entrap its victims with and a two way audio/video monitor which displayed the image of whoever was controlling it. This in itself must have been terrifying, seeing Jameson's gloating mug on the slayer's face. This story was filled with mirth rather than menace, as Jameson, like a boy with a new toy hunted down Spidey with utter glee, Flash wanted to smash Parkers face in because the amount of time he was spending with Liz Allen studying together and Betty who was getting jealous of Liz and why Peter was always with her.

Smyth and the Spider-Slayer aren't the only note worthy first appearances in this story. No we get to see, well her long legs and shapely body at least, Mary Jane Watson, the niece of Anna Watson, Aunt May and Peter's next door neighbour. Why Ditko decided to draw a flower in front of her face we'll never know. May be it was fate that would allow John Romita SR to reveal the complete version and give readers millions of hours of reading pleasure. This tale ends with Spidey deactivating the robot, then slips out of the Slayer's coils, leaving the Slayer holding a web filled Spider-man costume and a confused Smyth and Jameson to figure out what went wrong.

 The Web and the Hammer

Mark Peatfield writes this weeks first letter in the WatH mail bag, he gets both SMCW and MWOM each week and likes picking up the odd US comics but is finding it harder to find them. Ian Hunter from Blackpool has been thinking if Marvel UK does bring out another comic he would like to see Daredevil or the Silver Surfer or the Avengers in it. Colin Baxter from Knutsford Cheshire wants to see the return of the Spider-man and Fantastic Four cartoons to ITV, saying readers should write in to their local ITV network and demand it. I'll be honest I didn't think there was either a Spider-man or FF cartoon made at around that time. But I checked and the first Spider-man cartoon was made in 1967 (I think I remember seeing repeats in the late 70's which I may have thought of them as new.) together with a FF cartoon also by Hanna-Barbera from 1976, which I have never seen but Colin had. N. Arif from Loughborough University of Technology has been discussing with his University colleagues the man with out fear himself. They can accept Spider-man and the Hulk but feel to their well trained minds that for a bind man like Daredevil to accomplish the incredible feats he does while being blind is stretching credibility and is taking "an unfair advantage of our imaginations." I do see his point, no pun intended, but I do love some upcoming DD stories, Romita anyone?

More FOOM letters in what the editors are calling "It's the FOOM page", the first is from Paul Lambert from Argyll, who has a question about a Hulk panel seen in issue 1 of the FOOM magazine and features a character of Aguon. Is this too much spoilers? John Morley from Nottingham writes after seeing features in the first FOOM magazine he wants to have a regular flow of American comics coming into the UK. John Stevenson from Haywards Heath in Sussex also wants to see more US imports like the many "creepy-tale" magazines advertised in FOOM #1. Finally from FOOM fans this week Steven Drakeford from Birmingham, who really thinks FOOM is great and the free poster is the best. 

Instead of a weekly FOOM advert we get a FOOM bulletin, informing us that the second issue is out in JUNE, featuring photos of the bullpen and articles like "The many faces of the Hulk", a check list for all the green ones comic appearances, puzzles and other diversions to keep comic fans busy. Plus a special feature on the new Marvel Magazine "Savage Tales". Now there was a great magazine. 

The Mighty Thor "The Return of Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man!"

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: George Roussos

Originally published in Journey into Mystery #101

Cover date February 1964

(Published in December 1963)

It's the return of Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man, (last seen in SMCW #4,) and the return of the "King" as Jack picks up his pencil and draws the Thunder God again. I have to be honest the break hasn't helped, his artwork looks basic and a bit rushed, but is that the fault of the inker George Roussos? I can see Kirby's style but I feel Roussos brush has simplified the artwork for speed. 

It's a simple tried and tested Thor plot line, Loki wants revenge on his half brother so he secretly enlists the aid of a villain to fight Thor for him, in this case its Zarrko. The God of mischief returns Zarrko's memories (which Thor removed,) of his defeat at Thor's hands. After a brief recap of that tale the Tomorrow Man visits the present day to challenge Thor with a "Day the Earth stood still" robot. Thor fights the robot but Zarrko threatens the to destroy the planet with it if Thor does not return with him to the 23rd century. Thor agrees to his demands and leaves in Zarrko's time cube.

As it says "Because you demanded it, here's your very own -- Thor Mobile!" From a time when a "mobile" is a small electrical device that you can watch TV or video on, send mail, find out about anything in the world, play games on, have social interactions with people you may or may not know from all around the world, use as a torch at a concert, check on your money, pay for things, find out where you are and where you need to go, and even make phone calls,  this 1973 "mobile" looks very low-tech. But back in those days it was a thing to be creative. I like it, although I'm pretty sure I would't cut out a whole page just so I could hang a flying Thunder God from my ceiling. 

Finally the inside back page boasts that this weeks MWOM has a triple treat that awaits you, first the Hulk vs the awe-inspiring Abomination, second the Hulk must face both the Stranger and the Abomination, (does he really? We hardy saw the Stranger in that story, Sounds a little over egging the hype there.) and then the final battle between Namor and the Fantastic Four. But of course you've already read about those magnificent Marvel masterpieces. And don't forget about "The word is coming". What ever the word might be you can be sure that I'll talk about it next week. So till then...

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel.