Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
It is time to once more climb into our Time Submersible and discover just what nightmare horrors swim within the trenches and reefs of that ocean we know as, "The Past."
As far as I can make out, during a fight with the Leader's humanoids, the Hulk falls into the sea, reverts to Bruce Banner and gets captured by a Russian sub.
Except it's not a Russian sub because I do believe that, as so often with Marvel UK, all references to both Russia and communism have been excised for the benefit of UK readers.
Back in the Land of the Free, Spider-Man must defeat the high school menace of the Living Brain, a robot that not only has fists of steel and castors of chaos but may possess the means to calculate his secret identity!
I do believe it's in this story that Peter Parker discovers he no longer needs to wear spectacles.
This week's letters page contains a missive from an Allan Moore but not the Alan Moore.
And, finally, it's one of my early Marvel faves, as, thanks to Reed Richards' financial incompetence, the Fantastic Four go bust and have to pay the bills by starring in a movie produced by the now mega-rich Sub-Mariner who's determined to milk the situation for all it's worth.
And, of course, there's yet more mystery and mischief being woven around the subject of FOOM.
That is the story in which Peter Parker's glasses get broken and never replaced.
ReplyDeleteBut the real headline news about this issue is that a lot of the original story is hacked out Dez Skinn style, presumably to fit a 17 page story (which might have been too short to split in two) into a single MWOM comic. Sacrilege!
The rest of ASM #8 was taken up by that rubbishy Jack Kirby pencilled Spider-Man vs Torch story. Don't know whether it's skipped and we go into ASM #9 in SMCW #1 next week or if Spider-Man has one last week in MWOM before SMCW is launched.
Spider-Man appeared in the next issue (19) with the 2nd part of that Kirby Torch story before leaving MWOM with issue 20 when he moved to his own weekly.
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that looking at this on a phone I thought Hulk was fighting numerous Daredevils!
ReplyDeleteIs it me or is there a touch of Steranko in the Hulk illustration?
ReplyDeleteDW
DW, your right the Hulk does look a bit like it was influenced by Steranko's art.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it does have a bit of a Steranko vibe.
ReplyDeleteIts Judo Jim Starlin, still in his early days - probably he was going for that look, trying it on for size?
-sean
If you want a reference to the Russians and communism here, Steve - today is the anniversary of the Red Army victory in Stalingrad.
ReplyDelete-sean
Funny you mention Stalingrad Sean! Two weeks ago I had checked out the venerable "World at War" series from the local library.
ReplyDeleteIt's from 1973 IIRC, from the UK.
Specifically I watched the Operation Barbarossa and Stalingrad episodes.
Very well done!
Sir Laurence Olivier... that voice is so incredible, dramatic!
Highly recommended!
I remember seeing those on tv as a kid, Unknown (Charlie I'm guessing) and they do still seem to be repeated regularly on tv. Its impressive that they haven't been superceded, even though the series is fifty years old now.
ReplyDeleteThe post did seem a bit lighter on the history side than usual this time out. Although admittedly the Battle of Stalingrad ended 30 years before MWOM #18 came out, and doesn't really tell us anything about little Jimmy Osmond or Bowie.
-sean
Only SDC could juxtapose Little Jimmy Osmond on Stalingrad with a whiff of the Hulk!
ReplyDeleteDoes make me wonder if the Golden Age comic shops ever got letters from kids saying “Can you have Superman or Captain Marvel go kill Hiter please?!” That said Im not sure the two indestructibles actually went to war, ir rarely?
Sean Ive never seen the World at War on TV here since around 1975. And it isnt really to be found on Youtube so some one is looking out for copyrights? Glad to hear it is still shown in the UK.
ReplyDeleteCharlie on the Age of 0 degrees F again!
The first episode of 'The World At War' was about the rise of Hitler and last Monday (January 30th) was the 90th anniversary of Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, do you ever use the Celsius scale? It's much easier to understand!
ReplyDeleteCOLIN- Regrettably, the USA does not use Celsius... nor liters... nor kilometers.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you folks "over there" have ever had the maddening experience of measuring something with a ruler and it's something like 9 inches and 7/32 and you had to get there by splitting a distance in half e.g., 18 inches and 7/16. Such a dumb system.
And to make it worse, volume and weight get measured in ounces which can mess with you when you are cooking a recipe.
The reason we don't have the metric system over here in the U.S. is because Americans are almost unherdable cats. And when they do get herded, it's mostly in the wrong direction. Adopting the metric system would have been an inconvenience, and God help any politician here who asks that any large section of the population that votes inconvenience themselves.
ReplyDeleteM.P.
You don't appreciate what you have in the land of the free, Charlie - going back to pounds and ounces is what the British struggle against Brussels was all about!
ReplyDeletewww.theguardian.com/politics/2022/sep/18/metric-system-imperial-measures-consultation-brexit
Although since Jacob Rees-Mogg lost his ministerial position it doesn't seem like the government here are really pushing the repeal of metrification anymore.
Personally, I think they should have concentrated on reversing decimalisation, and going back to old money. Thats how to deal with inflation and low pay - if there was an extra 140p in every £ that would really sort out the 'cost of living' crisis. Its a no-brainer.
-sean
*Excuse me, that should really be an extra 140d...
ReplyDelete-sean
All I know is I was trying to make pancakes today with the old, pre-metric measuring system, with cups and ounces.
ReplyDeleteHere I am trying to make pancakes like some medieval peasant. And they didn't even turn out very good.
They're like Frankenstein pancakes. I wanted them to be beautiful and perfect, but they were just bizarre monstrosities.
I had to use a lotta syrup to eat those horrible lookin' things.
M.P.
Sean, I think the government had cold feet over Imperial weights & measures even before Rees-Mogg was sacked. There was supposed to be a big unveiling of the policy by Boris Johnson during the Platinum Jubilee but it never happened which suggests that the government finally realised how embarrassingly backward it all looked. Using pounds and ounces again was only meant to be optional anyway and the government must surely have known that the British food & drinks industry would totally ignore the whole stupid idea (which indeed they have).
ReplyDeleteI miss feet and inches cm and mm mean nothing to me and I never know if something is 3 foot long of 30 foot long. Happy with decimilisation and weights though.
ReplyDeleteWe still use feet and inches, Paul - I'm 6 feet 1 inch tall which is about 1.9 metres I think.
ReplyDeleteMy ruler has both inches and centimetres on it.
I know Colin, but if you buy anything like wood ( for DIY) or cupboards etc it's always in cm and mm.
DeleteMP - I been making pancakes every weekend for 30 years. Now gluten free. Know the formula by heart, lol. But it really hurt when, after 25 years, my kids told me they don't really like pancakes, lol.
ReplyDeleteUK Whiz Kid Adams Tooze's latest email informs us that the biggest selling type of book is Romance Novels! Like a good 20 - 25 % of the market and the demographic is 13 - 25.
No wonder Marvel and DC had so many titles 50 - 60 years ago? It was always a huge sector of the market? Why don't they give it another shot? It could be more contemporary like, say "How does Reed Richards deal with ED?" Well... anyhow... just a thought...
Paul, its up to you imo. As the Germans say to the English "doesn't matter if you use inches instead of centimetres - it still wasn't a goal".
ReplyDelete-sean
Lol
DeleteCharlie, re: "Marvel and DC had so many titles 50-60 years ago"
ReplyDeleteI looked it up, and both companies have more out today - Marvel are currently soliciting 67 titles for sale this March, and DC 49. Whereas in March '73, it would appear they had 45 and 38 on sale respectively, and in March '63, 10 and 29.
Sales volume is something else of course, but I don't see either of them sorting that out.
-sean
MP and Charlie, here in the UK Shrove Tuesday is also known as "Pancake Tuesday" because it's traditional to eat pancakes on that day and it was the only day of the year on which my mother made pancakes which were then coated with sugar and the juice from fresh lemons was squeezed on top.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of books - I thought crime was the most popular genre and most readers of crime novels are women so I've heard (but most readers of fiction overall are women apparently).
ReplyDeleteAnd that's unlikely to change, despite the new Brexit freedom to use feet and inches.
ReplyDeleteSEAN - Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteCOLIN - I only know what Adam Tooze reported about books. I did not research. So...
MCSCOTTY - My significant other wants to go to Scotland and also see the Shetland Islands. Any tips?
Charlie in the Age of Everton!
Colin-
ReplyDeleteYour mother's recipe sounds intriguing...
Just one day a year for these pancakes, though? I can't get behind that concept.
Was this some kinda pagan custom the Church co-opted?
'Cause they did that a lot, you know.
Still, I respect tradition. It's necessary. Even when pancakes are involved.
M.P.
MP, I think the idea of Pancake Tuesday came from the need to use up leftover ingredients before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Something like that anyway.
ReplyDeletePancake day = Shrove Tuesday
ReplyDeleteAmerican pancakes are smaller, & slightly different fromn UK pancakes.
Re: the Metric/Imperial debate - the "Royale" with cheese, in the Tarantino movie.
Phillip
I always had the impression UK pancakes were more like a french crepe?
ReplyDeleteCharlie in the Age of Nottingham Forest
In size perhaps, Charlie.
ReplyDeleteUK pancakes are the full size of the frying pan, whereas US pancakes are of smaller diameter. This is counter-intuitive, because US portions are generally much, much bigger.
UK pancakes are pale, with occasional circular brown spots over their surface, whereas US pancakes are more brown on the top.
However, this was in California, and I'm sure many state will differ.
Charlie, is this 1979/80/1981? No Brian Clough impressions, please!
Phillip