Marvel style, done the Fleetway way. Marvel Annual 1972.

I was in the grip of madness. A madness that had led me, for long and bewildered years, to believe that, long before the Mighty World of Marvel comic hit UK news stands, I'd had three issues of TV21 that featured the Silver Surfer fighting the Abomination.

Apart from the fact that this meant "Abomination" was probably the biggest word I knew at the age of six or seven, such a thing made no sense. After all, TV21 famously published Gerry Anderson stories, and in what way was the Silver Surfer either TV or Gerry Anderson?

So, over the years, I decided I must have got confused and that it must've been a comic like Terrific, which did indeed publish Marvel reprints and, crucially, also began with a T.

But the Internet's a wonderful thing and, through it, I recently discovered that, in its dying days, TV21 did indeed publish Silver Surfer adventures. It seems Fleetway had a deal with Marvel to reprint their tales and no longer had the rights to the Gerry Anderson shows. Hence we suddenly got the likes of Spider-Man and the Surfer in the pages of TV21.

It also explained my Christmas disappointment of 1972 when I eagerly received that year's Marvel Annual, only to discover that most of the tales therein had been published in the Mighty World of Marvel just a few weeks earlier. Given their massive back catalogue of stories, what had possessed the House of Ideas to make such a perverse decision?

I now know the answer to both mysteries was the same. That year's Marvel Annual wasn't published by Marvel at all but by Fleetway, taking advantage of their reprint rights. I admit, you don't have to be a Sherlock Holmes to know that. After all, it says on the front cover that it's a Fleetway publication and, even at that age, I knew Fleetway and Marvel weren't the same thing. Fleetway, after all, did Whizzer and Chips. But I assumed Marvel'd got Fleetway to publish it on their behalf, because Marvel didn't traditionally do hardback annuals and Fleetway did.

Time, however, heals all wounds and while I felt let down as a kid, I now see the book as a treasure trove of ancient Marvel tales. It doesn't hurt that it features some of my favourite outings of that era. Spidey's first meeting with the Scorpion's always been my favourite Spider-Man epic of the Ditko run. It's so hard and violent, with Spider-Man nearly beaten to death twice by his specially created nemesis, and Ditko's art's at its peak here. I also love the Terrible Tinkerer's debut for its off-beatness. The Hulk comes up against Tyrannus, a cross between Alexander the Great and the Mole Man. The Fantastic Four come up against Kurrgo and his robot, and the Hulk comes up against the Toad Men.

I have to admit the Hulk v the Toad Men might not be Marvel's greatest achievement but it was drawn by Jack Kirby and inked by Steve Ditko, and Bruce Banner looked like Eric Morecambe in one panel, which always gave me great pleasure. The book also had a Barry Smith Conan tale. I'd never seen Conan before and, for some reason, had it in my head he must be Thor - who I'd also never seen before - even though everyone kept calling him Conan!

What really stands out about the annual though is that, in its pages, it has a couple of articles. One deals with the various villains in Spider-Man's life. The other gives an overview of the world of Marvel and those who inhabit it. Given that they still had the rights, using the reprints made sense but it does seem odd that, through those articles, Fleetway was needlessly giving publicity to a rival publisher's entire pantheon but perhaps, it being Christmas, they were in a generous mood.

The other matter of interest is the cover. What a thing of beauty it is. Who did it? I don't know. Is it by a British artist?

I only ask because I've always felt there's something oddly continental, maybe Italian, about the thing. I base this on no knowledge whatsoever of Italian comic book covers of the early 1970s but, for some reason, whenever I look at it, the world "Italy" always bursts into my head.

That aside, I always felt there was something oddly camp about the soldiers in this picture and, looking at it now, it's suddenly occurred to me what it is.

It's the footwear.

Were those men really sent into battle with those things on their feet?

Help needed. Fleetway's Marvel UK Annual 1974.

Wherever shadowy men gather in dockside bars, to speak of dread secrets and crazed travellers' tales, hushed whispers are spread that one of the most futile and pointless successful features on this blog is where I ask readers for help in tracking down a comic.

Well, in this case, I don't need help tracking one down. The comic in question, I already know what it is and I know where to get it. The only question is one of content.

Bearing in mind my affection for Fleetway's Marvel Annual 1972/1973, whenever I see their 1974 annual up for sale, I get this urge to buy it. So, if you happen to know what stories are in it - so I'll know if the sound of it grabs me - I'd be delighted to hear from you.


PS. Don't forget. The results of our battling amphibians poll are now in. Did everyone else agree with your selection?

There's only one way to find out.

The Amazing Spider-Man 50th Anniversary Edition Vintage Annual.

From the moment I first discovered the existence of Panini's Amazing Spider-Man 50th Anniversary Edition Vintage Annual, I knew I had no good reason for buying it. After all, thanks to the Marvel Essentials, I already have copies of every tale in it.

Did that mean I didn't want it?

Of course it didn't. Just as I must buy chocolate even though I know it's bad for me, I knew at once that I craved this book.

Why?

Because it was nearly Christmas - and I knew I would've loved to have got it for Christmas when I was ten.

Sadly, the RRP of £12.99 for just under a hundred and thirty pages put it beyond the reach of one as tight-fisted as I. But, like any good super-villain, I'm a man who knows how to bide his time and, happily, as I expected, with Christmas gone, it's now available for just £4.55 from Amazon, and with free postage.

Suddenly my Scroogelicious tendencies were being appealed to as never before and, like the Green Goblin, I knew I must strike.

How much do I love this book?

Bigly.

If ever I needed confirmation that I am indeed the centre of the universe, this tome confirms it for me because it features only stories with a special significance for me.

The first appearance of the Sinister Six was the first Spider-Man tale I ever read.

Amazing Spider-Man #1 was the first Spider-Man story I ever read in The Mighty World of Marvel.

The Lizard has always been my favourite Spider-Man villain and, so his first appearance has always grabbed me.

And I first read Spider-Man's Amazing Fantasy origin in Origins of Marvel Comics, one Christmas morning.

Not only that but it has the Secrets of Spider-Man feature that showed up in Fleetway's legendary 1972/73 Marvel Annual - the one that includes the image of our hero lifting a giant barbell as Thor, the Hulk and the Thing watch on.

It even has that tongue-in-cheek feature on how Steve Ditko and Stan Lee create an issue of Spider-Man, the one that shows Spidey flying past the Statue of Liberty, on a rocket. For many years, this feature contained the sum total of my knowledge of how a comic is created.

It also features a full-page cutaway spread of Peter Parker's house, a full-page spread of Flash Thompson flexing his muscles for his adoring high school fans and full-page spread of J Jonah Jameson haranguing Betty Brant. Maybe I have a faulty memory but I don't remember ever seeing any of these three illustrations before.

It also has a villains gallery, featuring the portraits of Spidey foes that were used in one of the text features of that Fleetway Annual.

But, for me, perhaps the most interesting thing is seeing some of these tales and features in colour for the first time. Happily, the colouring's old style rather than that new-fangled method that over-complicates and half-obscures the linework - although there's a more modern style to some of the backgrounds, making them contrast nicely with the simpler figures in the foreground.

Another plus is the chance to see Ditko's full-page splashes from the Sinister Six tale in a much bigger format than we're used to.

The book's main gimmick is that the pages have been artificially aged, with tanning around the edges, fake water rippling and even creases. Really, this shouldn't add to the book's appeal but, because I'm a total mug, it does.

Fans of Stan Lee will be pleased to see we get an intro from the man himself.

Any quibbles are minor. Given that all the stories and features within are by Steve Ditko, it seems strange that none of the illustrations on the front cover are by him. Also, I know a hundred and thirty pages is a decent count for a modern annual but, given that it's a fiftieth anniversary special - and therefore unique - even more pages would have been appreciated. I still recall those doorstop thick annuals from my childhood and dream we might see their like again someday.

So there you have it - a book that's inherently redundant to me but that already feels like a treasured possession.

Oh but if only Panini had thought of doing the same for the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and Thor's 50th Anniversaries...

December 23rd, 1972 - Marvel UK, 50 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

I'll be your long-haired lover from Liverpool.

I won't really.

But Jimmy Osmond will!

And if you want, he'll even wear a mask!

It's true. It was in this week in 1972 that the song of that title by the artist of that name hit the Number One spot on the UK singles chart, by deposing Chuck Berry's My Ding-a-Ling. How thrilled everyone must have been at the songs that were dominating the charts in that period, and what a golden age it must have seemed.

Over on the British album chart, there was little joy for either Chuck or Jimmy, as the roost was once more ruled by Various Artists' 20 All-Time Greats of the 50's.

But what roosts were being ruled in that week's Mighty World of Marvel?

And just who were the roosters?

Unless you count the cave that houses his Gamma Gun, the Hulk doesn't have a roost.

He does, however, have an enemy.

And that's the Metal Master, a foe who'll go on to make surprisingly few appearances after this tale. Perhaps the humiliation of being one of the few foes ever to be outwitted by the Hulk proves too much for him.

In the swamps of Florida, meanwhile, Spider-Man, begins his first-ever encounter with the Lizard who's probably my favourite Spidey villain.

Elsewhere, the Fantastic Four have the deadliest fight of their lives, so far, when they must combat both Dr Doom and the Sub-Mariner - and find their Baxter Building HQ launched into space.

With them inside it!

As if that's not thrilling enough for us, this issue - as did the previous one - gives us the chance to be a Marvel editor.

But what's this? Fab as it is, Mighty World of Marvel isn't the only British Marvel fun we'll be having at this time of year?

Holy smoke, it's true! This very Christmas, we also get a whole heap of Marvel reprint goodness from IPC subsidiary Fleetway who bring us their very own Marvel Annual. I couldn't claim to understand the legal manoeuvrings that have made such a thing possible but, whatever they were, we all have cause to be grateful.

In it, we get to see the Hulk's battle with the terrible Toad Men, the Fantastic Four's epic encounter with Kurrgo, lord of Planet X, Spider-Man's tussle with the Tinkerer and his cellar-full of aliens, the Hulk's thwarting of Tyrannus, and Spidey's first-ever meeting with the Scorpion.

Not only that, there's a text retelling of the origin of the Fantastic Four, a gallery of Spider-Man's deadliest foes, a two-page overview of the Marvel Universe, and a Lee/Ditko look at Spider-Man's secrets.

And there's even a chance to read Conan's encounter with Zukala and his lovely daughter who keeps turning into a tiger.

Granted, that last reprint seems out of place alongside all that early 1960s super-hero action - and we've read most of these stories, in the past few weeks, in Marvel UK's weekly comic but who cares? It's all great stuff. And it's yours for just 65 pence!

Neal Adams, John Buscema, and Red Sonja makes three. Conan the Barbarian #44

Love at first sight. It certainly happens but does it ever last? Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian was an easy comic to fall in love with but also perhaps an easy one to fall out of love with. After all, like DC Comics' Weird War Tales, you don't have to read too many of those issues to realise you're getting pretty much the same few stories over and over again.

But, way back in 1975, the Hyborean Age was still a novelty to me and, unjaded by familiarity, I could fully appreciate the antics of the Hyborean battler.

In fact my first exposure to the strip had come through an unlikely source; Fleetway's unofficial Marvel Annual of 1972. Bearing in mind that the rest of the annual was made up of modern-day super-heroes like Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the Hulk, why they decided to include a Conan story - and from much later era than the other reprints - I've no idea but I loved it, as, pencilled by Barry Smith, Conan came up against evil sorcerer Zukala and his shape-changing daughter.

But I had to wait a full three years to finally see Robert E Howard's greatest creation in his own monthly mag; Conan the Barbarian #44.

And you know what?

It was worth that wait.

Why? Because not only was it drawn by my all-time favourite artist John Buscema, it was inked by someone called the Crusty Bunkers, which, we were told in the letters page, was a collective name for whoever happened to be hanging around Neal Adams' studio at the time.

Clearly Neal Adams happened to be hanging around the Neal Adams' studio at the time because large chunks of this tale - especially the faces - are clearly inked by him, And that combination of Adams' inks and Buscema's pencils really is something to behold. It has to be one of the most gorgeously rendered comic books of the 1970s. Not only that but Glynis Wein clearly decided to do the art justice by producing one of the best colouring jobs I've ever seen in a comic from that decade. There's just no way round it, the thing just looks fantastic.

As it happens, it was also my first taste of Red Sonja and though it's easy as an adult to knock the scale armour bikini, things look a little different when you're eleven. She had red hair, she had a sword, she ran around in a bikini, what more could you ask of a woman?

Well, in retrospect, you could ask she be less of a wimp than she was in this tale. Although we were given the whole, "she's a warrior woman who no man can have," schtick, reading the tale now, she seems oddly ineffectual. Basically, she gets pushed around a bit, mopes around a bit and then needs to be rescued by Conan at the tale's end. Still, it was the 1970s and it was Conan's mag, not hers, so what can you expect?

At least she got to bash him over the back of the head with a rock before she left.

Fifty years ago this month - May 1971.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

What's that you ask? "Is there life on Mars?"

I don't have a clue but, in May 1971, we, no doubt, felt we were about to get an answer, as NASA's Mariner 9 was launched on a one-way mission to that very world.

Would green things with tentacles and cold intellects vastly superior to our own be waiting for it?

Or would it just be rocks and a place that looked like a gravel pit in Surrey?

Stan Lee and Gil Kane smash down the doors of the Comics Code and give us an anti-drugs message to rock the world.

Even more importantly than that, Mary Jane Watson gets to dance in some kind of stage show, and Norman Osborn suddenly remembers he has an alternate identity.

One that involves sitting on a flying broomstick!

You can't accuse Marvel of short-changing us.

It's one of my favourite Avengers tales, as the action-loving assemblers brave giant caterpillars, swamps, Shazam references and voodoo rites, to prevent Psyklop from doing the work of the Elder Gods.

But the heroes don't arrive in time to prevent him shrinking the Hulk to the size of an electron.

I do believe this was my first-ever exposure to the work of Sal Buscema, and I have to say it was quite an introduction.

I know little of this tale but am led to believe it involves the Falcon trying to break free of Cap's shadow, by capturing Spider-Man.

I suspect that idea doesn't end up going to plan.

It's the first Conan tale I ever read; way back, in that legendary Fleetway 1972/1973 Marvel Annual of which UK comics fans still speak in hushed whispers.

Our battling barbarian strolls into town and is promptly attacked by a tiger who's actually a beautiful woman who can change shape.

This leads him to confront her not-so-beautiful father Zukala, and the prerequisite punch-up breaks out.

It would appear this is the issue in which Daredevil helps bring El Condor's revolution to an end.

That does pose the question, is that bird on the cover supposed to be a condor?

Because it really doesn't look like one.

It just looks like a crow.

And not even a very impressive one.

It's deus ex magica, as Agatha Harkness is brought in to weave the spells that will enable Reed Richards to flee the Negative Zone without leading Annihilus back to the Earth.

It's all good dramatic stuff from John Buscema but I'm not sure what that look on the Thing's face is about.

For that matter, what are he, Johnny and Sue actually looking at? They seem to have their backs to the scene Agatha's helpfully casting for us.

How could anyone not love this tale, as the rascally Leader decides the best way to beat the Hulk is make him fight all his foes, one after the other?

Needless to say, thanks to Jim Wilson, things quickly go wrong for the villain who's as high-handed as he is high-headed.

It's one of those Iron Man tales I've no recollection of ever having read, even though I'm certain I must have.

I'm assuming the man with the beard is Kevin O'Brien who I recall ending up with his own, green, suit of armour.

Ramrod's in this one but appears not to be the same Ramrod who once fought Daredevil.

Things are coming to a head because Odin's still managing the unique feat of possessing himself.

I am, though, struggling to remember just how Infinity's defeated.

I do recall Hela nearly ageing Thor to death at the tale's climax and The Silent One intervening to save him but that doesn't explain how Infinity's thwarted.

That's Marvel looked at but what of DC? Is Marvel's deadly rival up to anything interesting this month?

Not as far as I'm concerned, it isn't but these are the two books from it I'd probably snatch from the spinner rack, had I pocket money to spare.

Admittedly, I'm singling out the first of them purely because it's the Phantom Stranger and I could never resist buying his comic.

Also, this one has a cover by Neal Adams and interior artwork by Jim Aparo.

Quite frankly, if a combination of Adams, Aparo and Strangeness of Phantomness doesn't make you want to buy a comic, there's no hope for you.

Hooray! It's one of the first American comics I ever bought, as the Teen Titans return from the past, with a caveman in tow.

Needless to say, they then set themselves the task of civilising him and helping him adjust to the groovy present in which he finds himself.

Conan the Barbarian #5.

I'm pretty down with the street gangs, winning them over instantly with my mammoth break-dancing skills. "Gordon Bennett!" they declare, "We've never seen anyone spin on his head like you do! Please become the leader of our crew and teach us your skillz so we can save our local youth club from closure, with the winnings from next week's National Street-Dance Disco Dancing Competition!"

Sadly, not everyone's as popular as me; and the evil sorcerer Zukala's among them. He keeps sending his daughter Zephra into the nearest town to demand taxes from the locals.

This might not sound like much of a problem for the said locals. Can they not just show her pictures of sad kittens until she cries?

But Zephra's no ordinary gal. Like 1960s pop legend Lulu, she can turn herself into a tiger.

Unfortunately for Zukala, on this particular occasion, Conan the Barbarian just happens to be in town, and one look at his horny helmet sends her so horny she decides to side with him against her father.

After being promised lots of money by the locals, Conan sets off to Zukala's castle and takes on the wizard - but not before Zukala summons the demon Jaggta-Noga to collect the taxes his daughter so miserably neglected to gather.

It all ends with Zephra fighting Jaggta-Noga before, to protect her, Zukala sends the demon back to where it came from, and he and his daughter vanish off to some mystic dimension, leaving Conan to help himself to the collected taxes they've left behind.

This was the first Conan story I ever read - in the pages of Fleetway's Marvel Annual 1972/3 - and it was love at first sight. How could I not love a story with a sorcerer, a tiger and a demon in it? How could I not love a story with a castle?

Granted, I didn't at that point have a clue who Conan was and, because Thor got mentioned in an article elsewhere in the annual, I somehow convinced myself the star of this tale was Thor - even though everyone kept calling him Conan.

It's from the strip's early months and thus features Barry Smith's art when it was still partway between his days of badly imitating Jack Kirby and his more ornate later style. But even here there's a class about it - an appreciation of "camera-angles", perspective and poses - that hints at the true potential behind the pencil. Smith's renditions of the tiger, and Jaggta-Noga are especially appealing. Frank Giacoia's inking doesn't best suit Smith's pencils, being too crisp and harsh, but it's not enough to spoil the enjoyment.

The more observant may notice the colouring in the images I'm posting here isn't quite the same as in the original comic. Those devoid of marbles might think it's because I have a priceless and rare edition re-coloured by the great man Bazza himself.

They'd be wrong.

It's because at some point as child I decided it'd be a good idea to colour-in the otherwise black and white reprint with felt-tip pens. Comic book colouring? Break-dancing? Truly I am the Renaissance Man.

Mighty World of Marvel Annual 1975.

Dads. Are they psychic - sometimes sensing their future blunders and taking action to make amends for them before they've even committed them?

A couple of years before he completely forgot to give me the Avengers 1977 annual for Christmas - meaning that, when he finally remembered, I got it in the Spring - my dad, for no reason I've ever been able to determine, gave me the 1975 Marvel Annual, weeks before Christmas. Clearly Christmas was a movable feast in his eyes.

Why he did it I shall never know but I know it was on a Thursday because Top of the Pops was on and David Essex was singing I'm Gonna Make You A Star, with a little help from The Goodies.

Well, David Essex was a big fat liar and never did make me a star but my future bitterness over his broken promises was the last thing on my mind right then because I suddenly had a Marvel annual to keep me warm through those long dark cold winter nights. This was the first Marvel annual I had after the 1972 Fleetway Marvel Annual that had so disappointed me at the time and this more than made up for it. Not only had I not read any of the stories before but blow me down if they weren't in full colour too.

So, what did we get for our 90p?

Well, we got lots of Hulk. First up we got a double-length helping of him and his encounter with Captain Omen's undersea kingdom that owed nothing to Captain Nemo. Clearly Steve Englehart had the same kind of mentality that I had when it came generating names.

When it came to the tale itself, I was most struck by Captain Omen's bright red metal tentacles the Hulk thought were giant worms, the wide-bodiedness of his crew, the salivary goodness of Aquon and most of all  the shocking denouement as the crew of Omen's ship exploded in the lower air pressure of the surface world. Never before had my youthful mind reeled before such titanic terror. There were other things that grabbed me  too; the fact that General Thunderbolt Ross had been captured by the Russians, and that one of Captain Omen's crew kept a leaf as a sacred relic of the surface world.

This was followed by the Hulk's first punch-up with Zzzax, the creature from the Dynamo. I like Zzzax. Zzzax always referred to himself in the third perzzon and was as stupid as they came. This is how a Hulk villain should be. Through the story I also got a bit of a lesson in electricity from Hawkeye, thanks to which I've never been tempted to use my electric toaster in the bath.

Finishing off the annual we had what for me was its highlight; the Hulk's first-ever encounter with the Silver Surfer. The Hulk's determined to force the Surfer to take him into outer space, where he can escape the puny humans who hound him. The trouble is the Surfer's not allowed to go into space, thanks to the orders of Galactus. Violence follows - the ironic ending being that, after discovering where the Hulk came from, the Surfer's about to cure him, with his cosmic powers but the Hulk thinks he's about to attack him. The Hulk hits the Surfer in preemptive "retaliation" and the Surfer takes his board home and leaves.

Sandwiched in between all this green goodness were a series of pin-ups, mostly the covers to the issues from which the annual's tales originated. There was also a very curious pin-up of the Hulk landing in what seems to be a courtyard, as a bunch of oddly-dressed men run away and a strange looking tank waits  in the background. I don't have a clue who did it. It's clearly not by what you'd call one of Marvel's top rank artists. The issue also features what for me's quite a special pin-up, a reproduction of Marie Severin's  cover to Tales To Astonish #99. Unless there's something wrong with the version on GCD, the one in the annual's clearly been re-embellished noticeably and it looks genuinely epic, which is why I'm reproducing it here.

So David Essex didn't make me a star and my dad never again displayed anything that resembled psychic powers but I had an underwater kingdom and a rider of the space ways to keep me happy and, in the often blighted days of the early 1970s, that was enough.

PS. Don't forget the breathless results of our Captain America vs Daredevil poll are in, fresh from the burning inferno of democracy -- and it's not good news for one of them.

I can hear music

Strange is the human mind and, just as we have a tendency to associate certain smells and sounds with certain places and events, so we can come to associate certain songs with certain objects.

Thus it is that, for various reasons - some straightforward and some more arcane - I tend to associate certain songs with certain comics I read as a kid. In one of my attempts to be inclusive, I thought I'd share which songs I associate with which comics and ask if you have any similar song/comic associations.

Kids in America by Kim Wilde, with Nightmare #17.


For some reason, I never appreciated Kimberley's monster early-1980s hit at the time but have come to recognise it as possibly that decade's finest three musical minutes. It was out at the same time as I first read the UK reprint of this comic.

In retrospect, I think the record was better than the comic.

January by Pilot, and Angie Baby by Helen Reddy, with Savage Sword of Conan #4.


As mentioned elsewhere, I got this comic on a Sunday. Sunday was and is the day of Radio 1's UK singles chart countdown and I'm fairly sure both songs were played on that rundown on the day I first read this mag.

Shine A Little Love by ELO, with Nova #3.


As Nova #3 came out in 1976 and ELO's Shine A Little Love came out in 1979, I don't have a clue why I associate these two things with each other but I do.

Gonna Make You a Star by David Essex, with Mighty World of Marvel Annual 1975.


I remember David Essex being on Top of the Pops, doing the song in question as I read the annual for the first time. The Goodies were also present. They mimed the line, "I don't think so."

Whispering Grass by Don Estelle and Windsor Davies, with Avengers #66.


As I said mere days ago, I heard Don and Windsor while on a coach headed for Blackpool as I read the first part of this story in Marvel UK's weekly Avengers mag. To this day I can't see the panel where the Vision's stood over Wonder Man's grave without hearing those magical words, "I will not 'av gossiping in my jungle!"

Dancing in the City by Marshall Hain, with Rampaging Hulk #9.


I seem to remember this being a hit around the same time I read Rampaging Hulk #9. The two are now inseparable in my mind, which is a bit of a shame as it's not a song that's ever overly interested me.

I also associate it with Substitute by Clout but there's no way I'm ever admitting to that on the Internet.

Roll Over Beethoven by ELO, with Mighty World of Marvel #5.


I remember singing this on Pond Street bus station escalators shortly after getting Mighty World of Marvel #5 from a nearby news kiosk. I don't think I liked the song at the time. I just liked the noise it made and also that "Beethoven" sounded like, "baked oven." The things that amuse you when you're eight.

On the Run by ELO, with Conan the Barbarian #5.


There's a worrying amount of ELO on this list. I recall this playing on the radio while I was dutifully using my felt tips to colour this story in Fleetway's legendary 1972/3 Marvel Annual. Dave Lee Travis may have been the DJ. The fact that it'd taken me over six years to get round to colouring it in says everything about my dedication to the task.

Down  in the Park by Gary Numan, with X-Men #108.


Now here's an odd thing. I remember hearing Gary Numan's We Are Glass on Radio 1 as I read this story for the first time, in Marvel UK's Rampage magazine. But, the human psyche being a perverse thing, it's not We Are Glass that I associate with the book but instead the more memorable Down in the Park.

If you sing Down in the Park without the accompaniment, it sounds like one of those nightmarish hey-nonny-nonny folk songs they always made us sing in primary school. This realisation always gives me more pleasure than it should.


So, am I alone in such madness? Or does this association between comic book and song afflict you as well? If it does, what songs do you associate with the comics you read as a child?

Fifty Years Ago Today! The 1974 Marvel UK annuals for 1975.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

As every fool knows, Christmas Day means food, presents, TV, booze, arguments, the pub burning down and annuals.

Frankly, I can give you just two of those things.

Therefore, here they are.

When it came to Christmas Day TV in 1974, BBC One presented us with a whole heap of output including but not confined to:

Carols from Canterbury, Dame Flora Robson's Christmas Appeal, Rolf Harris's A Stocking Full of Stars, Laurel and Hardy: Way Out West, Holiday on Ice, Jimmy Savile and Tony Blackburn hosting Top of the Pops, Billy Smart's Christmas Circus, True Grit, Bruce Forsyth's Generation Game, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, The Mike Yarwood Christmas Show, Bridge on the River Kwai and Michael Parkinson's favourite interviews with Morecambe and Wise.

BBC Two, meanwhile, offered up such fare as Golf 74, La Traviata, Henry V, Evel Knievel trying to jump over the Snake River Canyon, Ronnie Barker's Futtock's End and the quiz Face the Music.

Determined not be left behind by its public service rival, ITV stumped up Sooty's Christmas Party, Captain Nemo and the Underwater City, Christmas Rock With 45, David Nixon's Christmas Magic, Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, Meet Peters and Lee and The Tommy Cooper Hour, while the late movie was The Undefeated.

But what of those annuals?

Change was afoot. Whereas previous UK Marvel hardbacks had been published by IPC's Fleetway subsidiary, this year's were compiled by World Distributors Inc.

And did that make a difference?

Too right it did.

For a start, this time, they were in full colour!

And there was a much more focused feel to the choice of material, with the previous randomness discarded.

The Avengers get their first annual - and do it with peril - when they must tackle the menace of Magneto in a tale which first appeared in the US Avengers #110.

Fortunately, Daredevil and the Black Widow show up to rescue them from Magneto's mind control, and the Widow's rewarded by finally becoming an official member of the team.

Then, we get the 1965 Captain America pulse pounder in which Nazi agent Sando, posing as a stage act, lures Cap and Bucky into a trap that involves mental projections.

And we finish the book with its titular team taking on the maned mischief of the malevolent Lion God.

The observant will have noted that most of these tales are drawn by Dashing Don Heck himself.

And will find, within, a number of pin-ups.

Spidey swings into action to liven up our Christmas morning!

And he does so by having his first encounter with the Punisher!

Then he gets together with the Human Torch to create the Spider-Mobile. But he must face the menace of Hammerhead on his own. And then he must gatecrash the wedding of Aunt May and Doc Ock!

Bizarrely, for a Spider-Man annual, the final tale of the book is one which stars Giant-Man and the Winsome Wasp.

However, they do, at least, get to battle Spider-Man, having been tricked into it by Egghead who's out to distract them while he robs an armoured car.

I suspect that is a plan that's going to come back to bite him on the bottom.

And, of course, there are several pin-ups.

But it does all raise the obvious question of why the Green Goblin is on the cover when he doesn't seem to feature at all in the book.

Here it is, the only one of these annuals I ever owned.

And what a book it is, giving us two dollops of Herb Trimpe at his finest, as the Hulk comes up against Captain Omen and then Zzzax the living electric monster thing.

On top of that, we're treated to our hero's first encounter with the Silver Surfer, when Hulkie tries to force the pewter-plated board hopper to take him away from the planet Earth in a yarn pencilled by Mirthful Marie Severin.

And even more on top of that, we find a number of free pin-ups. One of which seems to have been drawn especially for the annual. Admittedly, it isn't a good pin-up but it is, at least, original.

Forty Years Ago Today! The 1982 Marvel UK annuals for 1983.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon. 

***

A wise man once said, "It's CHRISTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!!!!"

That man was Noddy Holder and, once again, that man is on the UK charts, thanks to his lead role in Slade's evergreen classic Merry Xmas, Everybody.

But was he on the chart exactly 40 years ago?

Yes, he was. And, intriguingly, besides that track, Slade were also on it with a single called (And Now - the Waltz) C'est La Vie. I'm sure we all remember that one well.

More of that chart, in our monthly look at Marvel UK's output, later this week.

But, for now, what was on TV, as we made our way through Christmas Day, back then?

That afternoon, BBC One was serving up a plateful of Top of the Pops, featuring Duran Duran, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Culture Club, Haircut 100, Spandau Ballet, Captain Sensible and Bucks Fizz.

Later that day, it treated us to International Velvet, Jim'll Fix It, The Paul Daniels Magic Christmas Show, Last of the Summer Wine, The Two Ronnies, Death on the Nile, Perry Como and, spookiest of all, Charles Dickens' The Signalman.

BBC Two, meanwhile, gave us The Islanders, Gold from the Deep, The Book Game, Horizon, The Millionairess, On the Tracks of the Wild Otter, The World of James Joyce, Richard Baker's Christmas Dozen and Fedora. Of all the shows I've listed so far, Fedora is the only one I remember watching, although I'm sure I must have watched Top of the Pops because only a barbarian wouldn't.

ITV, that day, was offering Journey Back to Oz, Enid Blyton's Island of Adventure, Andy Williams' Christmas Special, The Parent Trap, 3-2-1, Game for a Laugh, Bruce Forsyth's Play Your Cards Right, The Black Hole, Chas and Dave's Christmas Knees-Up, Cleo and John, and Christmas at Radio GOSH.

Thrilling stuff indeed but all of that was doomed to pale into insignificance the moment we sat down to read whatever annuals Marvel UK could be motivated to throw at us that year.

And it could be motivated to throw four of them at us.

It seems we can always rely on the Hulk to have an annual, whatever the fate of his weekly comics.

And, this time, our hero finds himself battling a whole host of corny old Marvel monsters, thanks to the machinations of Xemnu the Titan who, himself, once went by the name of, "The Hulk."

Happily, the current holder of that title quickly sees off those lesser monsters and, finally, wins out with the help of a collapsing dam.

I also happen to know there's also at least one text story in this book but don't ask me what happens in it.

Can Spider-Man possibly survive when he encounters a masked crackpot, with a sword, who goes by the sobriquet, "The Rapier?"

Too right he can. It's going to take more than a cut-price Swordsman knock-off to stop everyone's favourite wallcrawler.

As with the Hulk's annual, this too contains a text story whose plot escapes me.

We also get what seems to be an episode guide to the TV show. A feature I'm sure we've all been praying for.

And, most nostalgically of all, there's yet another chance to read Lee and Ditko's Secrets of Spider-Man which, I think, appeared in the first US Spider-Man Annual and, also, Fleetway's 1972 UK Marvel Annual.

Because Santa loves us, we're also treated to a Worzel Gummidge annual.

Or are we?

Infamously, this year, thanks to a printing error, the book was entirely filled, not with tales of a loveable scarecrow, but with reprints from Skywald's horror mags and it, thus, treated us to tales of mutilation, blood loss and cannibalism. An event that caused a major scandal, an investigation by Esther Rantzen's That's Life TV show and even led to questions being asked in Parliament.

Fortunately, the following year, things were back to normal.

It's a Star Wars annual and, no, I don't have a clue what happens in it.

Well, that's not strictly speaking true. I think I can guess it features the likes of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Darth Vader.

Exactly what they're up to, though, I cannot claim to know. Sadly, when it comes to this summary, The Force is very definitely not with me.