Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
***
Let me just check what day it is.
By Heimdall's beard, it's Thursday!
And Thursday's named after Thor!
And Thor was a strip in Spider-Man Comics Weekly!
By my troth, that can only mean one thing.
That it's time to look at what that book and its older brother were up to, fifty years ago this veritable week!
And that's probably because this week's main Hulk tale isn't a Hulk tale at all.
It's a Captain Marvel tale!
It's true, this week's lead story's sourced from that hero's 21st issue but features the novel wheeze of removing the good captain completely from his own adventure, as UK readers are not yet familiar with him.
Therefore, Marvel UK clearly couldn't use that issue's original cover.
A Captain Marvel tale with Mar-Vell completely expunged might seem like madness but I'm sure the talents responsible are more than capable of turning it into a truncated thriller.
After that, we get the green grappler's first visit to Asgard when Loki pits him against Odin's forces, including the Warriors Three.
And then, back on Earth, the Warriors Four, otherwise known as the FF, conclude their first battle with the Molecule Man.
But, of course, what really matters is we get the chance to discover if any of us is the lucky winner of the football competition!
It's yet more trauma for Peter Parker - and, presumably, Dr Bromwell - as Aunt May becomes seriously ill on our hero's first day at university.
But that might turn out to be the least of his worries, seeing as how that rapacious rogue of rottenness the Master Planner's busy stealing scientific gadgets.
But who is the Master Planner?
And where's his base?
Elsewhere, Thor has his first clash with the Grey Gargoyle when a scientist gains the power to turn himself - and others - to stone.
Hoping to gain the secret of immortality, he heads straight for a punch-up with Thor.
Needless to say, he's thwarted in his aims.
And we must celebrate because there's yet another chance to find out if we've won that football competition!
Do tell! How in the world do you tell a captain marvel story while at the same time removing him from the story? Did they put another character in his place like ego the living planet?
ReplyDeleteI just checked out both the MWOM and Captain Marvel (#21) issues online and they removed around half the story pages. So we didn't get the actual Hulk v Captain Marvel fight, but did get some ropey added generic Hulk Smash scenes. Very strange. Surely they weren't worried about running out of stories at this point, and so a bizarre editorial choice. I guess it was the increasing number of characters that wold appear in the Hulk stories, well in advance of their chronology.
ReplyDeleteBTW, this week's MWOM also teases the Avengers by referencing Ant Man, who had guest starred in a recent FF.
DW
Checking Captain Marvel #21, I guess its not that hard to see how it could be abridged - skip the first two pages (or combine them into a single opening one) adapt the early Bruce Banner/Rick Jones dialogue to fit the continuity, and leave out the Mar-Vell fight scenes - but you'd be left with a fairly boring story.
ReplyDeleteReactionary lackey of the military/industrial complex Banner complains about some demonstrators protesting at his warmonger colleague's research, gets so angry he turns into the Hulk and goes to smash puny peaceniks, but Rick persuades him not to. The end.
I wonder why they did that. Could Marvel really have been running short of regular Hulk stories to reprint already?
-sean
Ah, ok, DW - you've read both (thats above and beyond the call of duty really).
ReplyDeleteThe Hulk stories getting ahead of the UK chronology makes more sense than running out of material. But I don't really understand the problem - if there's a new character they haven't got to yet, why not just include a 'Who's Who' page or something, as an explainer?
I regularly read import Marvels as a kid with stuff I didn't know anything about. But it wasn't hard to pick up what was going on anyway.
-sean
I was staring at that MWOM cover, thinking “That looks very familiar but also not quite right.” Then it hit me — Starlin did a very similar cover about a year later, for MARVEL TEAM UP 27. Hulk’s pose and position is very closely duplicated on the MTU cover, and the Rick Jones figure is replaced by some other dude in street clothes and Spider-man — a very swole Spider-man.
ReplyDeleteb.t.
Steve, I was born on a Thursday, my father died on a Thursday and my mother was born AND died on Thursdays.
ReplyDeleteA Captain Marvel story without Captain Marvel is even more bonkers than Apeslayer.
Sean
ReplyDeleteRead is probably a bit generous ;-)
Half way through typing it occurred to me that their problem is the relative pace (to the other strips) at which they were getting through the Hulk material. The second Hulk story in this week's MWOM came from Tales to Astonish #101, cover dated Mar 1968. That month also saw FF #72, Avengers #50, X-men #42, Thor #150, Spiderman #58 etc. Obviously it took years for a lot of the other characters to catch up.
DW
Long ago, dangermash's list of interdiction (relating to the so-called 'Marvel Revolution') included paper covers & editing & chopping up stories. Looking at Marvel UK's troubled birth, this really is "Back to the Future" !
ReplyDeletePhillip
Nothing to do with the subject but I've just been reading that the British government has ditched the new UKCA safety mark that was supposed to replace the EU's CE mark and now the CE mark will be used here too even though we aren't in the EU any more. I've noticed the UKCA mark appearing on some products but now it is officially defunct. Another Brexit fiasco followed by a government u-turn!
ReplyDeleteI suppose any product featuring the UKCA mark (like my new Casio calculator) can now be regarded as a collectible. Many decades from now there'll probably be enthusiastic nerds trading rare UKCA-branded products for huge sums!
ReplyDeleteIf any UK readers are interested there's an adaptation of 'Metropolis' on BBC Radio 4-Extra this afternoon at 4pm. This silent sci-fi classic was directed by Fritz Lang but I didn't know that the film was based on a novel written by Lang's wife.
ReplyDeleteMetropolis (1927) and Nosferatu (1922) are both regarded as influential classics but has anybody actually seen them?
ReplyDeleteMe neither.
GOODMORNING COLIN! Greetings from Chicago. I have seen Metropolis. Once you start, it is captivating. Wife and I both enjoyed watching a DVD from the library about 15 years ago. Only seen bits of the other, 10 minutes here or there.
ReplyDelete“M” is the Lang flm that really grabbed me hard. Those last 15 minutes… Lorre’s plea for mercy… “Ich kann nicht…!” Really really sucked the life out of me. Watch it in the German to get Lorre”s voice. Joe
ReplyDeleteGeeze DW! You have my sympathy now, big time! Dragging my ass out of bed tomorrow to watch USWomen’s World Cup at 3:30 AM Chicago time… The road to hell is paved with good intentions LOL.
ReplyDeleteWorld Cups should be restricted to Americas and European Time Zones as far as this Yank is concerned!
Though playing in Oz is probably just fine for you, the Kiwis, and our Pommies here!
Colin & Charlie - most people's Nosferatu is the Fast Show's monster, monster:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/search?q=The+Fast+Show+%2B+Monster&rlz=1C1TEUA_enGB467GB467&oq=The+Fast+Show+%2B+Monster&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30j69i64.9980j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:c214f103,vid:HCKT6ukArhw
Phillip
Is Fast Show “Suits you sir!”?
ReplyDeleteYES! - It's BRILLIANT!
ReplyDeletePhillip
I have to say I LMAO’d when watching them for the first time about a year or two ago on YouTube. Mark Williams was too much!!!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Mark Williams aka Father Brown me and the missus are anxiously awaiting Season 10 to reach our shores!
If any of you are watching it, how is season 10 playing out? As Yanks are always on a one-year tape delay for all your UK programs! That way, whoever makes those shows over there as an opportunity to sell it there is something called BritBox for subscription! Always about profits, eh?
Hey! Can you guys possibly recommend any live WebCams from the UK or Australia of beautiful places like beaches or such that are on YouTube? Right now, me and the missus are watching the beaches at Cannes in France , via YouTube. I guess I could web cast from internet sites to the smart tv via the smart phone but Charlie is not up to the challenge. Its grey, rainy in Chicago and seeing a sunny beach perks us up and the TV has youtube built in.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, were it not for steve does Comics, I never would have heard of “the Fast Show!” Steve -
ReplyDeleteYou deserve an award for cultural excellence!
Charlie - I only watched Father Brown at the beginning. I thought the episode 'The Wrong Shape' was hilarious. However, when the BBC started switching around the times the show was broadcast, I stopped following it. There's a new show, called 'The Sister Boniface Mysteries', about a sleuthing nun, by the makers of Father Brown. I haven't watched it, but it's on Drama, before Jonathan Creek. In the UK, it's been raining continuously, through July, so it's grey, rainy & miserable here, too!
ReplyDeletePhillip
*throughout July
ReplyDeletePhillip
Colin, I've seen both Metropolis and Nosferatu. I've also seen the very first adaptation of Frankenstein which is also silent and only about ten minutes long.
ReplyDeleteCharlie, I'm afraid I don't know of any webcams that have been set up on any beaches. I remember there used to be one at an African watering hole and you could watch the animals hanging around having a drink and chillaxing but I can't remember any details of it.
I'm afraid I've never seen Father Brown and, so, cannot comment upon its latest season.
STEVE - As you can imagine, that archive of the Cpt Mar-vell inspired my anxiety and I had to look at it (upper right hand corner).
ReplyDeleteWhy did you only have like 81 archives in 2012 and 156 in 2022? I'm curious to know what you added? Is there a master plan you are slowly unleashing on us like FOOS: Friends of Ole Steve?
Btw - your archive review had me laughing again. Richard Rick Jones...
Charlie, back then, I wasn't doing the weekly Marvel UK summaries.
ReplyDeleteNot sure watching pre-war German films is that strange, Colin. If you haven't seen Metropolis - or, presumably, the Dr Mabuse flicks and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari - how are you supposed to fully appreciate Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's Roses of Berlin?
ReplyDeleteCharlie, if you're that keen on webcams, why not set up your own secret one somewhere? Find the right location, and thats hours of entertainment.
Er, so I'm told.
-sean
Steve, did you watch Metropolis and Nosferatu on the BBC or a satellite channel? I haven't got satellite TV and I don't remember either of those films being shown on the BBC. I suppose an appropriate slot would have been one of those sci-fi/horror double bills on BBC2 in the '70s and early '80s but audiences might have balked at watching creaky old silent films even back then when the silent era was much closer than it is now.
ReplyDeleteColin, I've seen Metropolis twice. Once on BBC2 back in the 1970s and, then, about 20 years ago on a channel whose identity I don't recall.
ReplyDeleteI saw Nosferatu on YouTube. I don't know if it's still on there.
Steve, both Nosferatu and Metropolis are on YouTube (I've just checked).
ReplyDeleteSean - For foreigners/newbies, German culture requiring a knowledge of previous German culture was spoofed on American Dad:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.metatube.com/en/videos/232782/AMERICAN-DAD-The-Greatest-German-Film-Of-All-Time-from-She-Swill-Survive/
Phillip
Not that I'm saying Moore & O'Neill are German!
ReplyDeletePhillip
Well, all culture requires some context Phillip, and how much you get out of, say, films from other places depends how much interest you take in non-Anglo stuff generally. (Apologies for replying seriously there, instead of joking about Germans)
ReplyDeleteBtw, also complete on YouTube - classic 1924 Soviet sf flick Aelita, Queen of Mars, in which the revolution is exported to the red planet (and the New Economic Policy is critiqued).
And Battleship Potemkin, and October.
-sean