I can think of no link whatsoever between this fact and the existence of Marvel UK, so I shall dive straight into my look at what was happening in the pages of the mags that bore today's date all those years ago.
I notice this week's cover boasts that it includes the complete colour section of last week's issue. It's not every comic that makes a boast like that.
I assume this is to do with the legendary page order mix-up that occurred last week. We can only assume the Red Skull had sabotaged the printing presses.
Only two weeks to go before the apes cease to stand supreme.
I seem to remember Luke Cage once coming up against a bunch of robot knights in a castle.
I'm assuming they're the, "Armoured assassins," mentioned on the cover blurb.
But just what were the circumstances that led Harlem's hippest hero to come up against those foes?
I must confess I can't remember.
Spider-Man finds himself turning detective as he tries to discover who murdered some scientist or other.
Reader, can you guess who the killer was?
You don't have to. I'm going to tell you.
It was a cheeky computer with a laser beam.
Quite why the scientist gave his computer a deadly laser beam, I have no idea. I mean, yes, I have given my own dear laptop a deadly laser beam but I only did that for a lark and because I know it would never use it against m- -argh! Stop it! Stop it, you cheeky laptop!
A somewhat obvious swipe of the classic Romita Spider-Man pose from the cover of ASM #68. It must pop up even more often than Ditko's one on the cover of ASM #19.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, dangermash. I was wondering where I'd seen it before.
ReplyDeleteAs I've stated previously, I'd missed Captain Britain #17 and so was quite happy to get the colour pages as a bonus in #18. I just read the as-printed # 17 on (the handy, but possibly copyright breaching) readcomiconline.to and I'm not sure the as-printed story is any less interesting than the corrected version...
ReplyDeleteI like this week's MWOM cover, and am pretty sure I had that one. I vaguely recall the actual story wasn't quite as good as promised.
DW
Wsn't issue 17 the one with the final part of the SHIELD/Yellow Claw confrontation? Steranko went really over the top on the trippy visuals with that one - the "meanwhile in Latveria" double page spread of Dr Doom playing chess still seems pretty wild to me now, let alone as a kid in 77...
ReplyDeleteSo yeah, I'm not sure it made much more sense in the right order DW, but either way it was - is - fantastic.
On the other hand, the CB story could only have been improved by printing errors (but not enough to make it any good)
-sean
My problem with Yellow Claw is that he bred giant man-eating spiders.
ReplyDeleteI feel that this goes far beyond the bounds of acceptable super-villainy.
Way out of line.
M.P.
Giant man-eating spiders? You have me at a disadvantage, MP, as I have no idea what you're talking about.
ReplyDeleteGranted, the Yellow Claw was no Dr Doom or Loki... but, you know, he wasn't Batroc ze Leapair or Stiltman either - as B-list super-villains go, I always thought he did a pretty good job.
Not bad going for someone who started out as a somewhat dubious racist caricature.
-sean
Captain America #165, the Claw unleashed his spider legions.
ReplyDeleteHe could be a real dick sometimes.
M.P.
Ah, right, MP... forgot about that; I'm a bit vague on Englehart's Cap, which I always found to be a bit up and (mostly) down.
ReplyDeleteIsn't unleashing spider legions the kind of thing super-villains are supposed to do?
As evil schemes go it may be a bit boring - its certainly no Madbomb Conspiracy, thats for sure - but all villains have their off days.
So I'll see your Cap 165 and raise you ish 164.
-sean