From super-hero daydreamers to true believers!

 Week Ending 1st June 1974

The Mighty World of Marvel #87

This cover by Herb Trimpe was originally used on the Incredible Hulk issue 127 and hasn't been changed much for this UK weekly other than a total re-colouring of Mogol, who has opted for an all-over tan that would make Trump proud. Why he's been re-coloured is anyone'e guess. In the 1982 Marvel UK reprint (the Incredible Hulk #23 cover dated 1st September 1982,) the colours were kept the same as the US version. 

The Incredible Hulk “Mogol!”

Writer: Roy Thomas

Artist: Herb Trimpe

Inker: Herb Trimpe

Originally published in The Incredible Hulk #127

Cover date May 1970

(Published in February 1970)

Roy Thomas has gotten into the swing of writing for the Hulk and I particularly like the opening scene with a deep in thought Bruce Banner wearing misfitting clothes and a pair of pumps without socks, crossing the street in front of a speeding truck. The reason for the Hulk's dramatic changes have in the past been for many varied reasons, not many have been as ordinary as for jaywalking! 

Civilians and Police officers are aghast to see the Hulk in their city but as they crowd round groups of them disappear to the astonishment of the Hulk. The culprit for these abductions is the Hulk villain Tyrannus, who last fought against him way back in MWOM #33, where he used his teleport device to better results. There seems to be a problem with it as Tyrannus had intended to use it to kidnap the Hulk not the civilians who disappeared. Tyrannus still fighting his war with the Mole Man for the Fountain of Youth, wants the Hulk as an ally. But with the unpredictability of his teleporter he has no choice but to send his imperial warrior, the Mogol, to enlist the Hulk, by force if necessary. 

Mogol offers the Hulk the hand of friendship but once he mentions the name "Tyrannus" the Hulk gives a violent answer to that offer, remembering that Tyrannus is "bad" and he tried to hurt the Hulk before. So if Mogol serves him he must have been sent to trick the Hulk. Mogol is a strange giant of a man, powerful enough to withstand a blow from the emerald brute. The streets of New York take a beating as the battle lead the two titans into the subway. To be continued next week in a "War underground."

The Mighty Marvel Mailbag

David Hikell from Staffordshire wants to see more printed battles like the Hulk versus the Destroyer, or Thor, or the Executioner, or Hercules. The mighty Thor versus Hercules,  or the Sub-Mariner. Or even the Fantastic Four versus the Impossible Man, or the Infant Terrible. David seems to have picked battles that have already appeared in British weeklies. May be he needs to just buy some back issues. Laurence Gleeson from Yorkshire has been getting MWOM since issue 53 and is desperate for a pin-up of Sue Storm. Maurice Gray and his sister, both from London like Marvel greatly. They want to see the X-Men instead of Doctor Strange in the Avengers weekly. Micheal Alsford RFO, KOF, from Jersey isn't a big fan of the changes to Daredevil's cane an headgear as it takes away his original appeal. Micheal offers "Gadget Man" as a new name for DD instead.  

Michael White from London wants to see Hercules, Kang, the Absorbing Man and the Sub-Mariner back in Marvel to improve the action. Andrew Hoyle (and his Dad,) from Yorkshire writes in complaining that there isn't enough Hulk in Marvel, both missing the extra story or his double length tales. Unlike D. Peake from Warwickshire who is happy that they took out the second Hulk story, as it took up too much room and he was missing the DD adventures. Although he was a little disappointed with the retelling of the Daredevil origin as it had already been repeated in the Marvel Annual 1974. Tony Palmeiro from Bedford thinks Marvel is great but has one problem when the covers say something but what happens inside is different. Tony's Mum doesn't like him buying MWOM, but she does like to see him reading it.

Daredevil “Sightless in a Savage Land!”

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby and John Romita Sr

Inker: John Romita Sr

Originally published in Daredevil #12

Cover date January 1966

(Published in November 1965)

The opening splash page uses the cover artwork from Daredevil #12, even though it looks like it is two separate panels but originally it was one piece of art. A partition is added to make two panels. It's a very clever idea, splitting the artwork into two it does match well with the split in the story as at this point Ka-Zar is in the Savage Land after fighting a party of Swamp Men, while Daredevil is at sea fighting the Plunderer and his men. 

DD gains the upper hand until the pirate threatens to throw the passengers and crew over board if he doesn't surrender. Plunderer's galleon turns out to be more than it first looks as the sails fold in and a steel canopy surrounds the hull to form a sub-marine. Plunderer intends to take DD to Skull Island. On their arrival Ka-Zar attacks the pirates and DD is forced to attack the jungle king. Ka-Zar knocks out DD and scares off the pirates after a cache of explosives ignite. Sensing the fallen hero's courage the savage lord rescues him. Ka-Zar seeks out the healing Ju-Ju berries for his unconscious patient. Daredevil's weak frame is left alone at the mercy of the newly arrived Man-Gor, the last survivor of the deadly Ape-Men tribe. It's all a bit weird, pirates, savages and forgotten lands. Not the kind of thing you might expect for an urban hero tale, but on the whole it does grip you. More next week Oh yeah.

The Fantastic Four “The brutal betrayal of Ben Grimm!”

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in The Fantastic Four #41

Cover date August 1965

(Published in May 1965)

We finally get the original story title for the second half of this FF adventure as it opens with a splash page that uses the artwork for the original cover from the Fantastic Four issue 41, with the two panels flipped from top to bottom and bottom to top. It does feel a little strange as the FF have yet to meet their old friend after the Wizard has turned his personality evil.

After canvassing from door to door, the FF  are attacked by the Frightful Four once they reach their foes' hideout. Out numbered the fight goes against our three heroes especially when they are shocked to see that Ben is fighting by the side of the Frightful Four. Unwilling to use their full strength against their friend, the Fantastic Four are quickly taken down by the Thing. The Wizard had designed traps that counteracts their powers. The Torch is placed in a harness that will douse him with water whenever he tries to flame on, the Invisible Girl is placed in a large plastic bag that will somehow counteract her invisibility powers. How that works is anyone's guess. Finally Mister Fantastic is placed on a board covered in the Trapster's paste. 

The Wizard puts the Thing into an hypnotic sleep while they discuss what they are to do with the Fantastic Four. The Sandman and Trapster thinks now is a perfect time to kill the sleeping Thing, however their attempts fail. Medusa suggests they use the brainwashed Thing to do their dirty work for them by having him kill his former teammates. Some subconscious reasoning has Ben blame Reed Richards for turning him into an "ugly" monster as this story ends on the cliffhanger of the Thing closing in on his once best friend with angry hate filled eyes. 

The back page of this and British Marvel's other two comics offers "a Whale of a Contest." Readers can "reel" with delight at the prizes on offer in the first of this year's "Super Summer" competitions. Spider-man, the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner offer some terrible puns to introduce the readers to the first two questions. You have to pick out a ship that collided with an iceberg on its maiden voyage and a viking ship from two sets of three silhouettes. Save those answers, together with this week's coupon and next week there'll be a second coupon plus part two of the competition with even more questions. The prizes are an Intrepid boat rod and reel for the first prize winner, an Intrepid Pier/Estuary rod and reel for the second place winner. Third place gets you an Intrepid Spin rod and reel. Ten runners-up winners get  an Intrepid Boy'o reel and superline. The second half next week.    

Spider-man Comics Weekly #68

This is a wonderfully crafted montage of a Spider-man cover that in many ways pays homage to the Steve Ditko classic cover from the Amazing Spider-man issue 31, cover dated December 1965, published September 1965. The majority of the artwork is by John Romita Sr, with the exception of the image of the Mandarin, who was drawn by Don Heck, taken from Tales of Suspense #50, cover dated February 1964, published November 1963, the sixth panel of page 8. That story doesn't appear in this issue of SMCW, but it will appear in issue 76, cover dated 17th July 1974. Who ever put the cover together must have presumed that the Mandarin would have appeared in this issue. The Romita drawn image of Mysterio is actually from the Amazing Spider-man #67 page 15, panel 1, which will appear in SMCW #71, cover dated 22rd June 1974. The two images of Thor and Iron Man are taken from the cover of Giant-Size Avengers #1, cover dated August 1974, published May 1974, again drawn by John Romita Sr, making them the newest pieces of art. The Iron Man image would feature in the corner boxes of Marvel Team-Up #29 and Marvel Two-in-one #12 both from 1975. The original Iron Man sketch signed by John Romita went up for auction through HeritageAuctions.com on the 5th April 2024 and sold for $3120, that's an incredible £2,463.58 in English money. The Spider-man image remains a mystery to me, I'm sure I've seen it many times before but I can't place where originally. That's one for you Friends of the Beesting, a PotBNoP for the correct answer. I'm convinced it's by John Romita Sr. I also suspect that this cover was put together by Romita as Marvel's Art Director at that time. It's a smashing cover and I'm very happy to give it my Cover of the Week award.

 

Spider-man “The madness of Mysterio!”

 

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: John Romita Sr and Don Heck

Inker: Mike Esposito

Originally published in the Amazing Spider-man #66

Cover date August 1968

(Published in May 1968)

John Romita Sr was in his pomp when he was drawing this strip, yeah he had help from Don Heck and Mike Esposito but the over-all look shouted Romita. Take a look at this opening splash page, Mysterio lording it over an amusement park, it looks symbolic but the very next page you see that it's actually a scale model that will play a big part in the up-coming issues. 

Peter Parker doesn't yet know the threat that Mysterio will enpose on his life, he's too busy worrying about the grind of every day life that many teenagers have to deal with, like worry about aging family members, friends and their psychotic super villain fathers, holding down a job to make ends meet when your boss is a nightmare, getting back with the girl you really fancy and on top of all that her father might have discovered your secret identity. All the usual teenage troubles. Romita is the master at symbolising all that with a committee of floating heads. 

Peter's money troubles would mean that he'd have to sell his motorcycle to make ends meet, after Jameson won't buy Peter's photos of Spider-man's battle with the Vulture after JJJ thought he "chickened out on him." Jonah believes that he had photos from a staff photographer to use instead, but the last laugh on Jonah, the photographer's pictures are blurred due to him shaking with fear. Money isn't the pressing problem, Mysterio is on the scene and his only intension is to get revenge on Spider-man. The strip is a perfect mix of Parker's real life predicaments and Spidey's super-hero hassles. It's the best time to read Spider-man, these stories are amazing. 

Bullpen Bulletins

The UK Bullpen Bulletins seem to be filled with advertising for imported colour comics, as an answer to the many letters received asking for them. The first item tells the UK readers that Marvel will be releasing a massive total of 28 great new comics on sale every month, available in all great British newsagents. The next item talks about one such comic titled the Defenders, starring the Hulk, Doctor Strange and the Sub-Mariner, all well know to British readers, but also the Nighthawk and Valkyrie will be teaming up with the titanic three super-stars. Next item is another US import that will be loved by Spider-man readers. Marvel Team-up will be drawn by Jim Mooney, who has been inking some of John Romita's work seem currently in SMCW. Team-up will feature Spider-man joining another guest super-hero every two issues, while every third issue the Human Torch teams up with another guest hero. Fans of Roy Thomas's Hulk will like the next item. Thomas will be writing another one of those 28 US comics with Conan the Barbarian arriving on our shores in glorious sword and sorcery action every month. As a Special to Spider-man Comics Weekly, with all the news on the new US mags the British versions may be forgotten about. But fear not, there's still a lot of great stories to read in the UK mags, with a surprise or two in this week's mag. In Stan's Soapbox this week Stan talks about how comic books are a medium of communication just like television and film. But it must be judged by their own individual merits. Stan adds "If the words have dramatic impact, if the pictures are visually appealing, if the theme is emotionally relevant, then certainly it is worthy of a reader's attention. However, if the quality is lacking, then it rates little consideration." Stan ends his column with "read first..and then decide." Good bit of marketing that, even though it's very true. The Bullpen page ends with the usual Mighty Marvel Checklist and an address that readers or even newsagents, can send their inquiries to about the newly imported American comics. The company and address is recognisable to fans of any British Annuals from the 70's and 80's. It's World Distributors Manchester Ltd. (News Division) with the address of PO Box 111, 12 Lever Street, Manchester M60 1TS. That company was at the time the official distributor of American comics in the UK, an arrangement which ended in the early 1980s. World Distributors was a British publisher and distributor of magazines and comic books, known also for repackaging American comics and producing comic book annuals based on licensed properties. 

Iron Man “The sinister Scarecrow”

 

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Don Heck

Originally published in Tales of Suspense #51

Cover date October 1963

(Published in July 1963)

 

It's quite a jump from last week's adventure that was taken from Tales of Suspense issue 48, missing the Steve Ditko drawn Angel tale from ToS#49 and the Mandarin tale from ToS#50, possibly why the Master of the ten rings appears on this week's cover. He will menace Iron Man later in issue 76 of SMCW and the Angel also a week later. You kind of think that the Angel was held back because British Marvel didn't want to feature an X-Men until they got the mutants strip up and running but with the winged X-Man appearing in issue 77 it seems to have not been the case. 

With Heck returning to the Iron Man strip we get another new villain design. A circus contortionist who witnesses and assists the red and gold Avenger in apprehending a minor thief, is inspired to take up a career in crime using his contortionist skills. Using a stolen scarecrow costume and his fellow circus performer's flock of trained crows he becomes the Scarecrow. Why a contortionist would think a Scarecrow would make an ideal identity is completely random. The Eel would have made more sense. Either way it's another Heck design, and although the villain might be classed as lame there is something about him that works, in a kooky 60's way. 

The Web and the Hammer

Kay Sargent isn't a fan of Iron Man, she would rather see him go rusty and have more pages given to Spidey and Thor. What keeps the 30 year old Kay reading is Peter Parker's soap operatics and Jack Kirby's great art. That makes Kay an 80 year old this year. I hope she's healthy and still reads comics. David Keathley from Charleston in South Carolina in the USA, received a copy of Spider-man Comics Weekly and he was thrilled. He considers himself to be an authority on comics as he has around 2000 comics. But the real reason he writes is because he's looking for a British pen pal. Kim Hutley from Derby writes in response to the many readers who have written in requesting models of Marvel super-heroes. Kim mentions that Aurora actually sell models made  out of hard plastic that can be put together yourself.

The Mighty Thor “Rigal, where gods may fear to tread!”

Writer: Stan Lee 

Artist: Jack Kirby

Inker: Vince Colletta

Originally published in The Mighty Thor #132

Cover date June 1966

(Published in April 1966)

Some people may think that Stan or Jack had lifted the name Rigel from the original Star Trek episode "Mudd's women" from season one, but as that first aired on the 13th October 1966 the original issue of the mighty Thor beat it by some five months. In fact there really is a star system called Rigel, it's a blue supergiant star in the constellation of Orion that was discovered by the German born, British astronomer William Herschel who discovered Rigel to be a visual double star on 1 October 1781. 

Thor is taken to the Colonizers home-world to demand that they release the planet Earth from their "Space lock". Of course they aren't going to give in to his request quite so easily. They send a group of Colonizers to fight him with their advanced weaponry. When that has little effect on the might of the Asgardian they unleash a  Rigellian humanoid robot known as the Indestructible, giving Kirby a chance to flex his artistic creativity to great effect. Whether it's cosmic adventures or Norse legends Jack Kirby is the King of it. His creativity makes Thor a pleasure to read.

"Super-hero daydreams"

Writer: Marie Severin

Artist: Marie Severin

Inker: John Tartaglione

Originally published in Not Brand Echh #11

Cover date December 1968

(Published in September 1968)

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Have you ever had that moment when someone shouts at you in a vastly inappropriate way for doing something that is only a minor misdemeanour? Or had someone push in front of you in a queue but you feel that to speak up would make you look un-gentlemanly? Or have you over stepped your place in the social order of life and had a group of bullies put you in your place, either verbally or physically. Sometimes in those moments have you ever wanted to change into a super-hero and readdress those social interactions. This story re-enacts those day dreams written and drawn with humour from the pen of the talented Marie Severin, the Queen of Marvel comedy. British Marvel doesn't do much "comic cuts" style humour strips, but when they do it's a charm. A great way to fill three pages.

A double dynamite of Marvel winners from British Marvel feature on this in-house ad for issue 87 of the Mighty World of Marvel and issue 37 of the Avengers weekly. Notice that there isn't a price on the MWOM cover, but the Avengers cover sports the price tag of six pence, not the seven pence that it was sold for as per the actual pricing on the cover. The artwork for the Avengers cover does also look better in black and white than it does in colour. More on that later. 

Ok you've seen this back page competition already on the back of this week's Mighty World of Marvel, but this version comes from this week's Spider-man Comics Weekly and Avengers weekly with a noticeable colour change to the sea around the imaginary ship. It looks so much better for it too, At last you can now easily read the under-sea text on the ships hull. The colour of the Hulk isn't as good as the MWOM version, but may be he was feeling sea-sick, which turned him a paler shade of green than normal. 

Avengers Weekly #37

This Ron Wilson (pencils) Frank Giacoia (inks) cover is a little too dark for me. You almost can't see the Man-Thing in the corner and you probably wouldn't know he was there if not for a text balloon telling you he was. Last week we got a Master of Kung Fu cover so why wasn't the original Avengers cover used instead? Well in truth it wasn't a brilliant cover as we'll see it later.

Master of Kung Fu “Stand”

 

Writer: Steve Englehart

Artist: Paul Gulacy

Inker: Al Milgrom

Originally published in Master of Kung Fu #19

Cover date August 1974

(Published in May 1974)

Two pieces of artwork are used on this splash page to re-cap where we're up to in this second half of the story. They're great pieces of art but it does feel a lazy way to start. After fleeing from Fu Manchu's two assassins Shang-Chi and Lu Sun rest for a while as Shang-Chi feels it's a perfect time to ask Lu Sun's advice about fighting against his own father. Lu Sun gives him some sage advice "One may overcome another—one army may overcome another—but the world is not changed. Man will always contend. Revenge is also a destroyer of men, my friend. It blinds them to the present as they dwell on past and future. Thus, it blinds them to life." I do like the worldly-ness of these scenes but I do have to ask where they really necessary? Or was Englehart and Gulacy getting very hippy-ish? 

We do get more kung fu action pretty soon as the two Si-Fan assassins catch up with the pair. You can very quickly see why Paul Gulacy was chosen to replace Jim Starlin as artist on Master of Kung Fu. He's perfect for the job, as the choreographer of the dance between violent action and fighting prowess. 

It's not all kung fu fighting, there's a giant green  monster in the swamp and it's not the Hulk. The Man-Thing saves Shang-Chi from death from a raised sword. With Shang-Chi up to his neck in quicksand the two assassins turn their attack towards the swamp creature only to find in their fear filled attack that whoever knows fear will burn at the Man-Thing's touch. It's a very graphic image. I think it was Englehart or may be Gulacy who said that the powers that be at Marvel didn't care much what they did, they only concentrated on the core group of comics like Spider-man, the FF, Avengers, Hulk, Captain America etc. With Master of Kung Fu you could get away with much more violence.   

Bullpen Bulletins

The Avengers weekly version of the Bullpen Bulletins page is pretty much the same as the one that appeared in this week's Spider-man comics Weekly, focusing on promoting the new imported full colour US comics. More is given to that by having an item about the Captain America and the Falcon comic book, which would be written by Master of Kung Fu's own scriber Steve Englehart. Speaking about the written of Shang-Chi's adventures, in a Special to the Avengers weekly we're informed that next week it'll have a new writer replacing Englehart. Doug Moanch, a relatively newcomer to writing comics, although by the time he scribes next week's Master of Kung Fu story he would have written 23 stories mainly for the Marvel/Curtis magazine line, in mags like Dracula Lives, Vampire Tales, Tales of the Zombie, Monsters Unleashed and Deadly Hands of Kung Fu to name but a few. The Mighty Marvel Checklist ends this Bulletin with quick previews of this week's MWOM and SMCW.

The Avengers “The laser trap!”

Writer: Stan Lee and Roy Thomas

Artist: Don Heck

Inker: Don Heck

Originally published in The Avengers #35

Cover date December 1966

(Published in October 1966)

This opening splash page uses the cover that was used on the US version of Avengers #35. The inclusion of Captain America may look a little strange when compared with the rest of the art. Roy Thomas tells an anecdote that Stan Lee didn't like the appearance of Captain America that Don heck had originally done, so he asked production manager Sol Brodsky to search for some old Jack Kirby photostats of Cap that could replace that version. 

You might think that the Living Laser's aim is poor but originally the image of cap would have appeared there on the cover. The Kirby drawn Captain America image still looks out of place in the colour cover. Why was he moved from the right-hand side to the left-hand side of the page in the UK opening splash page version is a mystery.  

Goliath gets captured by the Living Laser but the secret that Henry Pym was keeping from his fellow Avengers was that he had bathed himself in an experimental "Molecular space transformer" in an effort to cure his size issues. It worked and now Goliath is again able to shrink down to the size of an ant, which in this case is great because it allows him to rescue the Wasp and destroy the Living Laser's mammoth laser cannon from inside. The Avengers win the day, in so doing they free the country of Costa Verde, with much help of the democratic republic's national army. All the loose ends are wrapped up neatly ready for next week's new quest.

Assemble!

Geoffrey Arnill from Bognor Regis asks about Marvel super-hero models, well he should have read this week's the Web and the Hammer letter page in Spider-man Comics Weekly and seen Kim Hutley's letter. K. Kennedy hopes the Avengers weekly will last a long time. they say that they've written in many times before but then they used another name, because they belong to the 542 Club. "What on earth is the 542 Club?" You ask. I have no idea. Being a fan of super-hero comics I have no problem with people using multiple names. I sometimes use my birth name Mark Anthony Wilson, or even my friendlier version of Tony Wilson, see this month's Doctor Who Magazine letter page for an example. Other times I use my secret identity the Beesting. Although now I think about that, I've just outed myself to the general public. My nemesis could be after my civilian identity now! Oh wait a minute I don't have an arch-enemy, or do I!?! Anyway back to the letter page, J. C. from Huddersfield ends the letter column with some quick questions, 1) What happened to "Meet the Avengers"? 2) How about letting the Hulk rejoin the Avengers again, and replace him in MWOM with the X-Men or the Sub-Mariner. 3) Will Giant-man and the Wasp have their own story? 4) Will Spidey team-up with Daredevil or the Torch? 5) Will the Mandarin and Doctor Doom team-up against the Avengers or the FF?  The answers are 1) Shortly but re-styled, 2) it's always open to the possibility, 3) they've had adventures together and one day readers will see them reprinted in British Marvels,  4) not on a permanent basis, 5) well the answer is a roundabout teaser for a Fantastic Four story coming in the next couple of weeks. 

Doctor Strange “If Kaluu should triumph...”

Writer: Dennis O’Neil

Artist: Bill Everett

Inker: Bill Everett 

Originally published in Strange Tales #149

Cover date October 1966

(Published in July 1966)

Things look grim for Doctor Strange and the Ancient One as they fight back against Kaluu's mystical attack. The Doctor attempts to counter attack Kaluu but the evil sorcerer erected a mystical barrier around the Doctor's Sanctum Sanctorum keeping them trapped. In the streets outside, Kaluu unleashes his mystical might throw his own barrier, but in doing so he attracts the unwanted attention of the police. Strange and the Ancient One battle bravely against creatures conjured up by Kaluu, but only thanks to his skill and the Eye of Agamotto is he able to defeat them. Outside the police distract Kaluu who uses a spell to immobilise the officers. Kaluu believing that he has triumphed over his enemies enters the Sanctum Sanctorum, only to become infuriated when he discovers that Strange and the Ancient One had somehow managed to escape. Angered and cheated Kaluu fails to notice two tiny flickering candles in a dim corner. This story feels very much like Bill Everett had written and drawn most of it and in some ways that's not a bad thing. I'm missing Ditko a little but on the whole it's not as painful as I first thought.

The inside back page features the covers of this week's Spider-man Comics Weekly and the Mighty World of Marvel in the Double Dynamite in-house advert. This time the price is right on the SMCW cover, showing it to be seven pence, while the MWOM top corner is covered up. 

Well that looks like it's an end for this week's skip down memory lane. As I write this it's time for another wet bank holiday weekend. So if the week stays wet there's only one thing to do, keep dry and read more comics.

 

See you in seven.

Make Mine Marvel.