Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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October 1972 saw bad news hit the world of English football when Gordon Banks, the national team's goalkeeper, suffered the loss of an eye in a car crash. Surprisingly, despite this setback, Banks went on to play for another six years, finally ending his illustrious career with two seasons in the North American Soccer League.
Banks was having a bad week but if you liked irresponsible spending and piling up debt, it was a great week for you, as it was the week in which Access credit cards were first introduced.
But what's this?
It's only the most important publication in human history - because it's the very first issue of Mighty World of Marvel that I ever owned!
How I remember opening this book and seeing Bruce Banner, in rags, standing amidst the wreckage of a spaceship belonging to the terrible Toad Men. How dark it seemed. How menacing.
And then, after that, we were treated to the Fantastic Four defeating the equally alien Skrulls by hypnotising them into thinking they were cows!
And the book closed off with Spider-Man confronting the Fantastic Four as he sought to join their ranks, in an unsuccessful attempt to make money.
Truly this was drama to rival that of Shakespeare himself!
And not only that but if the Grand Comics Database is to be believed, the FF reprint actually corrects the error of there only being three cows at the tale's climax, when there should four. This can only be viewed as magic of the magicalest kind!
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27 comments:
Steve! Ain’t childhood memories grand???!!!
Regarding the 3 or 4 cows… good grief…. I’m raking my memory here… didnt Marvel end up using that error to their advantage with the 4th skrull leading skrulls to whatever happened in Avengers 93? IIRC Neal Adams said the title for Avengers 93 was contemplated being “3 cows shot me down!”
So if the 4th Skrull is grazng in a field with the other 3 in MWOM then that undoes the premise of the 4th skrull being a trouble maker later on???
Woe is Charlie’s memory…
Well remembered Charlie
Earing oatmeal every workday since 1984 may have contributed to this unnatural recall of Charlie’s?
Charlie, if I remember rightly, the 4th skrull became H Warren Craddock, the politician who stirred up public fear of aliens and ended up being killed by an angry mob.
A top Starlin/Sinnott cover.
Seems his work at this stage of his career was better for Marvel UK than it was for US Marvel/DC.
How come its 'if the Grand Comics Database' is to be believed Steve? You had the comic - don't you remember four cows?
Awful covers were obviously a thing at Marvel UK from the beginning. I don't care if its by Judo Jim Starlin, that is a terrible Thing.
-sean
Oh dear, I didn't see your comment before posting just then Spirit of 64, so I hope mine didn't appear rude. But I really dislike that cover...
-sean
That cover is interesting! Charlie Horse is a fan of all of it but for Thing. The hunched-back pose combined with the oiece of metal in his hand as if he’s going to stab Spidey. Stabbing in comics is no bueno. Whipping, punching, scarves… hell, even nipple clamps… but NO STABBING!
That cover is interesting! Charlie Horse is a fan of all of it but for Thing. The hunched-back pose combined with the oiece of metal in his hand as if he’s going to stab Spidey. Stabbing in comics is no bueno. Whipping, punching, scarves… hell, even nipple clamps… but NO STABBING!
Well, none of the figures seem quite right to me, and the spatial relationship between them is off.
Are Reed and Sue too small, or too far away? (Answer: both)
-sean
Btw Steve, I was impressed by your dismissive identification of credit cards with 'irresponsible spending'. You are a true son of gods own county.
-sean
Charlie, you may be interested to know that Jacob Rees-Mogg (aka Walter The Softy) resigned from the government last Tuesday after backing the wrong horse when he hoped Boris Johnson would return as Prime-Minister.
Steve, I too agree with the "irresponsible spending and piling up debt" remark in regard to credit cards. I don't own one or want one and my Halifax debit card is all I need.
I just checked my digital copy and the last panel of this week's FF does indeed display 4 cows. I had never noticed that.
DW
Reed Richards shoulda hypnotized them Skrulls into thinking they were cats. Nobody's gonna milk a cat!
Then again, you'd probably end up with some weird lookin' cats walking around after a few years, if they mated with the local cat population.
Heck, they might even start eating people.
I guess there's no easy way out of this dilemma, is there.
M.P.
Or perhaps trees? Imagine a Skrull conker that regenerated after every game? I reckon one of our regulars would explode ;-)
DW
Conkers? Not that old chestnut again...
Anyway, the obvious solution would be to hypnotize the Skrulls into believing they were South Dakotans. That'd keep 'em out of the way, right?
-sean
That would only make things worse, Sean!
They're a troublesome lot as it is, even without alien DNA.
M.P.
...then again, there might well be some alien DNA in the mix.
I've seen some weird behavior...
M.P.
SEAN - if the proportionality of the characters on this cover are giving you concern, I have to wonder your thoughts about Bill Everett covers and art, lol. Especially next week!
CONKERS! A SKRULL CONKER! You lads are finally coming to the promised land! I can only assume you've read that RED BULL is investing heavily in making CONKERS an extreme sport starting next year?
STEVE - It is a pity you did not cover the international UK hedgelaying competitions last weekend...
I guess the "staking and binding" competition ended in a draw between Bob Lubbers and Matt Baker!
Ummm... anyhow...
Charlie-
About Bill Everett, I was never a huge fan, but I was online looking at some of his work on Strange Tales (y'know, after Ditko split) and I kinda dug what he was doing there. It was Doc Strange, Umar, various bizarre characters, and his style seemed to fit the bizarre subject matter. The faces...yikes!
Anyway, it seemed to work. That comic was weirder than a three-dollar bill, and it would get weirder still, but I enjoy some cosmic weirdness from time to time.
M.P.
Attention UK readers: British Summer Time ends at 2am tomorrow so don't forget to put your clocks back one hour tonight (unless you've already done it like me).
Don't worry, Colin, I'm prepared. I can never remember whether to put my clock forwards or backwards. So, I always turn it both forwards an hour and backwards an hour, to be on the safe side.
DW, you deserve recognition for your dedication to cow counting.
COLIN! Thanks for the update! Now I won't think there is a bunch of nutfuckery going on when I tune in to Hawksbee and Jacobs at 7 AM Chicago Time and end up with Jordan and White!
Steve
Back in my junior auditing days I was, quite literally, a professional cow counter and so I feel the right man for the job.
DW
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