Sunday 3 January 2016

January 3rd, 1976 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Hooray! It's a brand new year!

And that can only mean one thing.

That it's time for me to foist a brand new feature upon the world of blogging.

And here it is - my spanking new feature where I look at what Marvel UK were publishing forty years ago this week and I totally fail to recognise any of it.

I can't believe I've never thought of doing this before.

Marvel UK, Avengers #120 Man-Ape

Maybe I'm imagining it but I'm getting a Rich Buckler vibe from parts of that cover, most notably Captain America.

That aside, it's the return of the mendacious Man-Ape.

I always liked the Man-Ape. He was definitely a man with an attitude problem.
Marvel UK, Titans #11, Sub-Mariner is threatened by big orange claw

It's the legendary Emergency Issue, which I never had and was totally unaware of until I gained access to the internet.

I'm still not totally sure what the story behind it was and why other Marvel UK comics were unaffected.

Marvel UK, Dracula Lives #63, Legion of Monsters

Gil Kane's Cowering Blonde makes her senses-shattering return.

That poor girl's shins must be worn out by now.

Mighty World of Marvel #170, Modok vs Hulk

Modok's still causing trouble for our hero.

I do always wonder why he messed about with these schemes when he was the inventor of the Cosmic Cube and could therefore, presumably, make another one any time he wanted.

Spider-Man Comics Weekly #151, the Spider-Slayer

And the Spider-Slayer's still causing trouble for Spider-Man, which somehow isn't quite as dramatic as the thought of Modok causing trouble  for the Hulk.

Marvel UK, Planet of the Apes #63, Conquest

At last, a Planet of the Apes cover which features someone who can actually shoot straight.

Admittedly, he clearly hit his target from a distance of just ten inches but it's more than most people on Planet of the Apes covers could manage.

Even more excitingly, it signals the start of the mag's adaptation of Conquest of the Planet of the Apes which I seem to remember having been drawn by the always stylish Alfredo Alcala.

Marvel UK, the Super-Heroes #44, Giant-Man vs Human Top

"Once again Giant- Man must face the horrifying Human Top!"

I think they might be slightly overplaying the Human Top's ability to cause a sense of terror in an observer.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

From memory the "Titans" emergency editions for issues 11 and 12 with a non glossy paper cover and a slight reduction in page count (for which we got 1p off the cover price) was not really explained in any detail other than it was a "technical problem" either the printers of paper stock was not ordered (it only covered 2 issues of Titans - I think it was 2 issues as UK Marvel printed 2 editions of each weekly at the same time)

Anonymous said...

Regarding the Human Top, alliteration can be challenging with some letters.
Lessee now..."Horrendous Human Top"? ...No. "Hateful Human Top?" Nope. "Happy-go lucky," no. "Hung-over Human Top"? Well, that could explain why he's acting so horrible, I guess, right after New Years.
M.P.

Blair said...

Not long till Captain Britain number one now!

Steve W. said...

Thanks for the reminder, Blair. I must confess it had totally slipped my mind. :)