Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Tuesday has, once more, come in through my bathroom window and is, no doubt, already on the phone to Monday.
But, surely, that can only mean one thing.
The epic moment is, again, upon us, in which the first person to use the comments section gets to decide what the topic of the day is.
However, preemption has occurred.
In the comments section for last week's feature, Phillip suggested we tackle the subject of your very first Marvel comic. What were your initial impressions and reactions to it and how did they differ from subsequent ones?
Sadly, Charlie had just beaten him to the punch by suggesting a totally different topic. So, to avoid disappointment, Phillip's question shall be the subject of today's discussion, instead.
So, feel free to get those typing fingers working and share whatever thoughts you have upon the matter of your first-ever Marvel comic.
I had a quick glimpse of a Ditko Spider-Man when I was really little, like maybe 4 years old. I saw it just lying there on the coffee table in our living room one day, and I was nervously flipping through it when my older brother yelled at me to put it down. I think he’d borrowed it from a classmate and had to return it unscathed the next day or something. Anyhow, I was kinda relieved he took it away from me — it creeped me out big time.
ReplyDeletePretty sure the first Marvel Comic I ever owned was CAPTAIN AMERICA #111, the second issue of Steranko’s short but legendary run. It’s a spectacular issue (obviously) but strangely I don’t have many vivid memories of reading it that first time. You’d think that crazy double-page splash would have been burned into my brain — Cap puttin’ the hurtin’ on some plain-clothes Hydra agents as they attempt to kidnap hapless Rick Jones in broad day-light —but nope. The one thing that made a big impression on me was the climax of the story: a bunch of gun-wielding bad guys open fire on Cap as he dives into the bay. On the next page, in the very last panel, one cop is using a fish-hook to retrieve Cap’s bullet-riddled costume out of the water and another cop is holding a limp, drippy Steve Rogers mask and wondering, ‘If Captain America wasn’t really Steve Rogers — WHO WAS HE??’
I think I was only vaguely aware that Cap and Steve were the same guy (from the cheapo Marvel Super Heroes cartoons, i guess) so the reveal that they supposedly WEREN’T probably didn’t have as much impact on me as it would have had for a regular reader. I was more freaked out that Cap had apparently been gunned down right before my very eyes — as in, killed. As in, DEAD! That rubbery Steve Rogers face with its empty eye-sockets and bullet-holes in its forehead was also a pretty disturbing sight to my tender 8-year-old sensibilities.
Between that brief encounter with Ditko’s Spidey and Steranko’s darkly explosive finale (plus the general feeling I’d gotten from seeing the covers of other Marvel books at newsstands and spinner racks, and even the jazzy trippiness of the Spider-Man cartoon), I got it into my head that Marvel World was a much weirder, creepier place than DC Land.
b.t.
First for me was Spider-Man Comics Weekly #2, which featured the whole of ASM #10 (vs Big Man and the Enforcers) and a Thor strip that I've long since forgotten. I was nine years old at the time. There was some sort of Spider-plane that came free with the comic that I wasn't particularly impressed with. I was pretty well hooked immediately. I got #3 the next week (vs Doc Ock, ASM #11). I desperately wanted to see what happened when Doc Ock unmasked Spider-Man the next week but nobody bought me the comic - these were the days when people would just pick any old comic off the spinner for the grandkids. The idea of reading the same comic every week and that it might be one long narrative was alien to them.
ReplyDeleteI had a better run a few months later, with the U.K. equivalent of ASM 21 to 27. Then another break and I must have returned at the UK equivalent of maybe ASM 37 or 38. And then I stayed around until the days of Dez.
What was so good about it? Well, it all seemed so grown up compared to Valliant and TV21. I’m other words, Stan's writing.
Interesting that bt talks about not knowing Steve Rogers was Captain America. I rermember reading the odd couple of pages of Iron Man stories in 1960s pre-Marvel U.K. comics (or maybe full stories in an annual), thinking that Tony Stark and Anthony Stark were two different people and getting really confused about which one was Ifon Man.
Matthew, bt and Dangermash, congratulations on being the first to comment.
ReplyDeleteMatthew, I remember also being disturbed by The UFO Connection. I'm fairly certain it's the only comic book story that ever gave me the frights.
Bt, that was something that struck me, as an 8-year-old reading US comics for the first time. With its Cold War, atomic, B-movie sci-fi vibe, the Marvel universe seemed so much darker and less comforting than the DC one.
DM, I remember that Spider-Tracer plane. It was one of my favourite Marvel UK gifts and was a thing of wonder compared to the Spider-Man "mask" that came with issue #1.
My own first Marvel comic was the 1968 Amazing Spider-Man annual that reprinted his very first one. Seeing all these people in colourful costumes and doing amazing things like turning into sand and having mechanical arms was like suddenly being on LSD.
Looking back on it, I think I had an amazing piece of luck stumbling across that one as my first. Not only did it feature Spidey and the Sinister Six but there were also cameos for Thor, Giant-Man, the Wasp, Dr Strange, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and the X-Men. I got an instant introduction to the entire 1960s Marvel universe, in one comic.
My very first Marvel comic was Marvel UK's Planet Of The Apes No.5 which I bought (OK, my mother bought) on the morning of Saturday, November 16th 1974. I was a huge fan of the POTA TV series and I was gobsmacked to discover there was a POTA comic too!! But I was also rather confused because I was expecting to see the characters from the TV show - instead I got a bearded man running around who eventually gets caught in a net and then the bearded man starts shouting and all the apes are shocked because he can speak. What the heck was this?? I should explain that I'd never seen, or even heard of, the five apes movies at this point. But the story was intriguing and I wanted to know what happened next so I dropped The Beezer and The Topper and started getting Planet Of The Apes every week. And of course, POTA also featured Ka-Zar and Gullivar Jones, Warrior of Mars and there were ads for Marvel UK's four other weeklies so my new comic was a door into the rest of the Marvel Universe. My first "proper" Marvel comic featuring actual superheroes 'n' stuff was Spider-Man Comics Weekly No. 103 dated February 1st 1975 which featured Part 1 of The Kingpin vs. The Schemer (SPOILER ALERT: The Schemer was really The Kingpin's son all along, gasp!!)
ReplyDeleteMy first Marvel comic was Spider-Man Annual #7 in 1970. I was seven years old and had seen Spider-Man a couple of times on cartoons, but only when I was visiting my aunt and uncle in another town (we didn't get the channel it was shown on back in the rabbit ears days). I remember liking the stories at the time, but the art was a bit quirky to me at the time.....I was used to the DC style that was pretty generic (I love it now). I think I actually still have that copy stashed away somewhere, but it's probably in pretty shabby condition.
ReplyDeleteMy first Marvel was Amazing Spider-Man 52, with the Kingpin. I was 7, and to that point had only read a few Superman comics and Casper from Harvey Comics. The Superman stories were fun, but seemed simplistic even to young me. Then my neighbor introduced me to this "Spider-Man " and holy mackerel! Such drama, such characters! With Superman, I picked up a book here and there but didn't mind if I missed one. Once I got 'bitten by the Spider' I HAD to have the next issue...
ReplyDeleteThe first Marvel comic I fully remember 100% getting, it was a gift from my grandmother when I was sick, was Avengers 69. The famous Wedding-Cake cover!
ReplyDeleteOle Charlie read it over and over that day, that week... loving it yet totally confused as to who was who! (That's a lot of characters!)
I was born in 61, it came out in Jan 69, so I'd have been 8 or so years old.
Those were the days!
Charlie - I read that Avengers (# 59/ # 60) in Marvel UK Avengers Annual 1978. To me, it's the best Avengers story - possibly - prior to Jim Shooter's era (although a couple of others come close.) Admittedly, the UK Annual had very sharp colours - probably better than the original.
ReplyDeleteT'Challa's pantherish leap, before he lifted Yellow jacket over his head was great John Buscema. The story's sometimes criticized, on the grounds that the Avengers, despite believing Yellow jacket killed Hank Pym, let things lie. As a kid, to me, this wasn't a problem.
Isn't it interesting that our first comic always seemed to be a particularly good one, making you want to keep buying?
If your granny got you Nick Fury & the Howling Commandos, you may never have bought another Marvel comic ever again! (Apologies to fans of Fury & the Howlers!)
Phillip
Even my SMCW #2 /ASM #10 is a classic. Big Al at spiderfan.org would agree with me - he's a big fan of the Enforcers stories in ASM 10/14/19.
ReplyDeleteDangermash - I've got that Enforcers story in a specially bound edition - so it must be a classic! - although that sanctioned boxing match (Flash vs Peter) in the school gym - which also happened around that time - seemed a bit odd. Then again, Patrick Swayze & his bully also settled things in exactly the same way, according to a daft tv documentary!
ReplyDeletePhillip
The boxing match is a little earlier, Phillip, in ASM #8. It a great issue - the main story was a bit short and the issue needed to be padded out with that Kirby Spidey vs Torch story. The Enforcers, though - they were the perfect villains for Ditko to draw. Not just the whole criminal underworld thing but the way that the three of them worked together and how the action rolled over from one panel to the next.
ReplyDeleteOh, and I also saw an episode of Mind Your Language where the French student is being sexually harassed by the gym teacher and the language teacher steps in to stop it. The headmistress type woman then comes along, the language teacher explains it all and the headmistress tells him he needs to settle it in the boxing ring! I would have put a brick through the TV screen if I could have reached it from my recliner chair.
ReplyDeleteI live in Germany, so my first Marvel was a reprint "Tomb of Dracula #17".
ReplyDeleteI was on a long train ride with my mam, and I was allowed to choose a comic for the ride, even though she did like me reading comics.
But the intriguing part was not the Dracula story, but the last page. I was a promotion for all the Marvel comics of the next month. Reprints like:
- Amazing Spider Man #33, #34
- Fantastic Four #33, #34
- Avengers #20
- Thor and Hulk
The last page printed all the covers and inside the comic was a short introduction of the stories.
I sat there for hours looking over all these covers, in awe about what was happening there and who were these superheros. When the trip was over, I rushed to the next newspaper shop to check them all out. Unfortunately my pocket money didn't allow me to buy as many as I wanted.
I must have been 10 years old I think.
Well, thanks a lot for reminding me of Mind Your Language, dangermash (yes, I'm being ironic)
ReplyDeleteI can't remember my first Marvel comic - when the Complete FF came out in the late 70s a lot of images from the old Lee/Kirby stuff were familiar so I must have seen them in Smash! or early MWOMs. But I don't specifically recall reading them... like Alan Moore said, back then if you were lower class enough comics were always around, like rickets.
Actual American import comics were more memorable - exotic, with shiny covers! - and the oldest I read as a kid was X-Men #62, but that doesn't count as it was definitely already a couple of years from the cover date (must have been bought at the seaside, or at a jumble sale or something).
The first I can be sure of was - yes, not a Marvel - Batman #227. Funny how your mind plays tricks on you - years later I was sure for ages it had been drawn by Neal Adams, but it turned out to be actually Irv Novick (he should definitely get some of the credit for the "dark" early 70s reboot of the caped crusader).
For me, its more interesting to try to recall the earliest comics that really seized my imagination at the right age - the ones that got me obsessed enough that I'd keep reading them past 12, and waste time here in my 50s (no offence Steve, you know what I mean ;)
Kamandi #6, and Captain Marvel #29 spring to mind.
-sean
So Chim - were German reprints in black & white?
ReplyDeleteI loved the Gene Colan Tomb of Dracula artwork in b&w in the British reprints. Unlike a lot of superhero comics it never looked quite as good to me in the colour US imports.
-sean
The Tomb of Dracula comic was in color, and for me as a kid with no "comic reading knowledge", not that easy to grasp. The only comics I have read before were Tintin and Asterix, so this was something completely different.
ReplyDeleteSince it was a long train ride, and I had nothing else to do, I reread it over and over again and more and more understood Gene and Palmers "language".
But after that one, I went straight to the Fantastic Four and fell in love Jack Kirbys and Stan Lees imaginations. After being introdced to Spider Man and the Avengers (all reprints from the early 60s), that Dracula from 1974 seemed from a different era and never kept me as excited as the other titles.
A year later the Daredevil reprints had Gene Colan as a penciler and I remembered that he draw that Dracula comic. A circle closed.
Colin, what I love about that Spidey story is how, all the way through it, they bash you in the face with mentions of the Kingpin's missing son, so you're never in any doubt who the Schemer must be.
ReplyDeleteGraham, my local channel never showed the Spider-Man cartoon either. My only experience of it was seeing it, once, on Granada TV during a summer holiday. It featured Dr Octopus and a flooding drain.
Red, Marvel comics did always seem more addictive than DC ones. When Marvel UK launched, having to wait a whole week between issues felt like Purgatory.
Chim, when American comics were reprinted in Germany, did they keep the English names for the heroes or did they translate them into German? For instance, was Batman still Batman or was he called Die Fledermausmann. Was the Human Torch "Die Menschliche Fackel"? It is my sincerest hope that they were because that would be truly awesome.
Steve - Based on Charlie's extensive travels in Germany and France, the Marvel titles were renamed. But I am referring to books that, like in the UK, were reprinting several stories in one mag.
ReplyDeleteSo Spidey was IIRC Der Spinner in Germany and L'Arachnid in French. And they were in color and like 64 pages, not skinny B&W like ENgland.
Steve, Batman in German is Batman (my brother, who's German is better than mine, has a copy of Batman - Die Ruckkehr Des Dunklen Ritters von Frank Miller).
ReplyDeleteAlso, Batmobile is Batmobil.
I guess the two syllable "Batman" is just a snappy name - even the French go with it, rather than Homme Chauve-souris.
Perhaps with Brexit its the Brits should come up with a different name for him?
-sean
*who should...
ReplyDelete(Apologies for the poor edit there)
-sean
@Steve W.
ReplyDeleteIts true, the 1070s german DC comic reprints kept the English names like Batman, Superman, Flash, ..
But the 1970s german Marvel reprints tried to use German names:
- the Amazing Spider-Man = Die Spinne
- Fantastic Four = Fantastischen Vier (in 1986 the most famous german Hip-Hop band chose that name)
- Human Torch = Menschliche Fackel (you were absolutely correct Steve :)
- Invisible Girl = Die Unsichtbare (They avoided the girl/woman thing, even though she changed her name, even though in the 1970s she was still the "girl" in the USA)
- Mr. Fantastic = Mr. Fantastik for the first few issues, but at issue #10 he was also Mr. Fantastic
- Thing = Ding
- Avengers = Rächer
- Captain America = not changed
- X-Men = not changed (not X-Männer)
- Hawkeye = Falkenauge (they actually changed the "H" on the head to an "F")
- Vision = not changed
- Daredevil = Dämon (demon in english). Inkorrekt german Translation, but it has to start with a "D" because of the costume. You could have used the correct german translation "Draufgänger", but that ha a sexual innuendo. So not appropriate for a kid's book.
- Thor = unchanged, thats the same God in German
- Hulk = unchanged
Also the bad guys had German names.
What stayed the same, were the proper names, like Peter Parker, Reed Richards and so on.
Nowadays the names have switched to the US orginal names, but I can not say when that happened. I.e. before or after the MCU success. Because now everybody knows who the Avengers or Iron Man are, but nobody would know about the "Rächer" or "Eiserner".
Also a German special was, that they had a main superhero with a whole story for about 20 pages and a secondary superhero with only half a story (10 pages), to fill up a comic book with about 32 or 36 pages.
ReplyDeleteThese were the combinations:
Fantastic Four (20 pages), Daredevil (10 pages = half of an issue)
Spider-Man + Namor
Avengers + Captain Marvel (the first Captain Marvel from 1968)
Thor + Silver Surfer ("Silberstürmer", not quite correct in German, thats more like a "Silver Runner")
Hulk + X-Men (this may seem strange, but they started the reprints at the end of 1972, just a moment before the successful reboot by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum)
Chum:
ReplyDeleteWas that TOMB OF DRACULA comic you had a reprint of the original (USA) #17? That was my first TOD, and I remember it very well. It takes place on a train traveling through Western Europe, and there’s a scene where Dracula meets a woman and her young son, and the lady nearly becomes his evening meal. I was thinking it would be pretty wild to be a young kid reading that particular comic on a long train ride in Europe with your Mother….
b.t.
Chim :
ReplyDeleteSorry, autocorrect ‘fixed’ your name for me.
b.t.
Thanks for the German info, Chim, Sean and Charlie.
ReplyDeleteThat formula of 20 pages for the main hero and ten for the secondary one was also used in the UK, by early issues of Spider-Man Comics Weekly (Spidey+Thor) and The Avengers (Avengers+Dr Strange). Mighty World of Marvel also used it for a while (Hulk+Fantastic Four).
@Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteYes exactly that ToD #17 in the train. Was a coincidence :))
Fortunately I knew Dracula and Van Helsing already from the movies. What I didn't get was the subplot with Dr. Sun (?) who created new vampires or so. Nice little story in a confined space.
And Gene Colan's Dracula was much more impressive than the movie Dracula ;)
I remember Dr Sun. The interesting thing from my point of view as a kid is that he was based in Ireland.
ReplyDeleteMind you, it was hard to believe a castle full of armed and uniformed Chinese communists could have been kept a secret in the first half of the 70s... especially in the north!
But at least there weren't any leprechauns, a la Chris Claremont.
-sean