1986: SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS ISSUES 5 - 8 (MARVEL UK)

From April 1986: issues 5-8 of SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS, published by the Annex of Ideas: MARVEL UK.

The British Bullpen had clearly paid whatever debt they had with the makers of the SECTAURS toys (although adverts for the toy line continued to appear sporadically throughout the entire run of the title) allowing Marvel to switch the third strip to their first choice (as announced in the final issue of the original Spidey run the previous December) the Fantastic Four. 

The FF reprints hailed, I think, from issues 272 and 273 of the American run, an odd superheroes-SF-cowboys amalgam from the John Byrne run. Whether this was a deliberate choice to appease distributors convinced that superheroes wouldn't sell is unclear but its certainly an atypical choice to kick off with. As things turned outt, this was the only run of FF strips to appear. 

The free gift attached to the cover of the fifth issue (in addition to the loosely inserted Zoids sticker inside) seems to have varied depending on where the copy was purchased. My copy had a little moulded Spidey which was supposed to sit atop your pencil (by ramming the blunt end up his Spider-butt. Matron!) but I'm pretty sure I saw other copies with another gift attached. Maybe Marvel couldn't secure enough stock to meet the demands of the entire print run...?

Next week: May! 

1983: MARVEL UK WINTER SPECIALS House Ad

From 1983: A MARVEL UK House Ad for that year's WINTER SPECIALS.

The rarest of the bunch is, unsurprisingly, the TOP CAT edition (spun-off from the equally hard-to-find weekly) which I don't think I have seen in-the-flesh. 

Despite the AMAZING FRIENDS title (the same masthead the weekly was carrying at the time), there's no sign of Ice Man and Firestar in the Spider-man edition.  It's justified by the inclusion of the New Mutants (possibly making their UK debut) instead. 

1979: FANTASTIC FOUR ANIMATED SERIES ADVERT (Marvel Comics)

From 1979: A US Marvel Ad for the notorious FANTASTIC FOUR animated series (which aired on ITV in the UK).

The absence of the Human Torch has become the subject of an oft-repeated (even by industry insiders who should know better) urban legend.  the story goes that NBC's censors panicked at the prospect of the nation's impressionable youth igniting themselves and propelling themselves off tall buildings (John Bryne did an excellent riff on this in a memorable issue of the FF comic book, reprinted in the UK as part of SECRET WARS II) and slapped a 'banned' notice on the character.

Not only does that fly in the face of logic but there's nothing to suggest that the character's appearance in the previous incarnation of the show from a decade earlier had induced any dozy pre-teen to try anything similar. 

The less exciting truth is that Marvel had, as part of the superhero screen boom of the time, already signed-away the rights to the character to Universal in the (optimistic) hopes that Johnny Storm would fly solo in a movie or TV project.  When the cartoon producers found out, and mindful of the Star Age impact of the STAR WARS droids, they hot-swapped him for the flying robot HERBIE.  Fandom groaned.  

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the foursome's creators, were indirectly reunited on this project as 'The King' was drafted in to provide designs and storyboards for the show... beginning his twilight years tenure in West Coast animation. 

1973: ON SALE THIS MONTH: THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL Issue 17 (Marvel UK)

On sale this week in 1973: MARVEL UK's THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL issue 17, cover-dated 27 January 1973.

This was still the British Bullpen's only title (SPIDER-MAN would follow in a few months) so it still boasted the premium tier line-up of THE INCREDIBLE HULK, FANTASTIC FOUR and SPIDER-MAN.  All of the reprints would have been familiar to readers of the Power Comics line of the previous decade... but it's a safe bet that many of those readers had long since moved on from comics... leaving the next generation of Marveldom to discover them for the first time. 

1983: ON SALE THIS MONTH: FANTASTIC FOUR Issue 15 (Marvel UK)

On sale this week back in 1983: the fifteenth issue of MARVEL UK's second stab (and third overall ongoing series) at a FANTASTIC FOUR weekly, complete with brand-new British cover. 

1997: HEROES REBORN Issue 1 (Panini UK)

From 1997: the first issue of Panini UK's HEROES REBORN COLLECTORS' EDITION, the British reprints of the rebooted Fantastic Four and Iron Man strips.

HEROES REBORN was a bizarre Marvel New York initiative that took control of some of their most bankable characters (the above plus The Avengers and Captain America) and outsourced all the creative work to Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld, two ex-Marvel creators who'd bailed years earlier as part of the mass exodus to create Image Comics.

The year-long project was mired in controversy as the radical reboots didn't always find favor with fans, alienated the existing creative teams who were unceremoniously dumped to clear the decks for the newcomers and Marvel's beleaguered editorial teams who saw some of the company's crown jewels being handed over to outsiders, on lucrative contracts, who had spent (in some cases) the previous few years bad-mouthing the publisher who had helped make them industry stars in the first place.

The experiment lasted a year (I believe Liefeld, never one of the industry's most reliable creators, was asked to exit earlier).  The characters then returned to the mainstream Marvel Universe in the Heroes Return event.  

The British edition managed a 42-issue run before shuttering.  It shouldn't be confused with the impending 2015 revival of the HEROES TV series. 

1979: FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL (Marvel UK)

 

This is one of MARVEL UK's late Seventies FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUALS.  I'm not sure of the exact date of publication because there's no details on the cover or inside so I've, somewhat arbitrarily, said 1979.  Someone set me right. 

The reprints were 'Here There Be Witches' from US FF 185 and 'Enter Salem's Seven' from the following issue.  Both parts had originally seen print in the States in 1977.

There were also an original text story (the title of which I forgot to note) and some activity/ feature pages.   

1983: FANTASTIC FOUR APRIL COVER GALLERY (Marvel UK)

This is the final bunch of covers (27-29) from MARVEL UK's second stab at a FANTASTIC FOUR weekly.

If the final editorial (below) is to be believed then it bowed out to clear the way for THOR and the X-MEN, the two new (and ultimately ill-fated) colour weeklies.  Judging from M-UK's constant hatch-match-dispatch churn of launches and failures, it was just another flop from the Annex of Ideas.

The reprints continued in SPIDER-MAN from issue 529 where they'd eventually find themselves sharing space with Marvel's merry mutants and a certain Thunder God.

1983: FANTASTIC FOUR MARCH COVER GALLERY (Marvel UK)

March 1983 was a five cover month for MARVEL UK's FANTASTIC FOUR weekly which, once again, continued to mix imported and original cover art fronting-up an all-reprint line-up.

The rotating back-up slot continued to be filled with assorted origin stories with Doctor Strange and She-Hulk appearing this month.

Issue 24's interior pages were, for reasons unknown, published on paper with a slight blue hue.  I've scanned and posted one of those pages below.

ISSUE 22

ISSUE 23

ISSUE 24

ISSUE 24

Blue paper interior

ISSUE 25

ISSUE 26

- To Be Continued - 

1983: FANTASTIC FOUR FEBRUARY COVER GALLERY (Marvel UK)

More fabulous FANTASTIC FOUR covers from the 1982-83 MARVEL UK weekly.

- To Be Continued - 

1983: FANTASTIC FOUR JANUARY COVER GALLERY (Marvel UK)

Here's the next four covers, from January 1993, from the second (1982-83) volume of FANTASTIC FOUR from MARVEL UK.

- To Be Continued - 

1977: THE COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR TEASER HOUSE AD (Marvel UK)

Here's another MARVEL UK House Ad, this time plugging the impending launch of the 1977-78 THE COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR weekly, the British Bullpen's first punt at launching the foursome in a solo title.

This ad appeared in THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL issue 259, cover-dated 14 September 1977.

1982: FANTASTIC FOUR DECEMBER COVER GALLERY (Marvel UK)

Here's another instalment of my 1982-83 era FANTASTIC FOUR weekly cover gallery, covering (with an annoying gap) December 1982.

For some reason, I'm missing the 12th issue (although I have a few odd copies of duplicate issues boxed away somewhere and - with luck - I have a copy there) so apologies that this isn't entirely comprehensive.

The 9th issue dispensed with the cover-to-cover fantastic foursome formula in favour of adding an Iron Man back-up.  The shell head was another hardy perennial of the Marvel UK years that shuffled from book-to-book without ever hitting the big time.

- To Be Continued -

1982: FANTASTIC FOUR NOVEMBER COVER GALLERY (Marvel UK)

This is the second bundle of covers from the 1982-83 revival of the FANTASTIC FOUR weekly from Marvel UK, spanning November 1982.

- To Be Continued - 

1982: FANTASTIC FOUR weekly OCTOBER COVER GALLERY (Marvel UK)

This is, according to the counter to my right, my 400th STARLOGGED post of 2013 so I've been holding this - the first part of my next MARVEL UK Cover Gallery - back to coincide with that magic number.  It remains to be seen whether I can muster another 113 posts to beat last year's final figure of 513.

400 posts.  FANTASTIC FOUR.  You can (kinda) see what I've done here.  I hope.

This 1982-83 weekly clocked-up an unimpressive 29 issues before being merged with SPIDER-MAN's weekly, supposedly to make way for the new THOR and X-MEN books.

The FF had been a British fixture right back to 1972 and the first issue of THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL (and actually back into pre-history thanks to the sixties Power Comics reprints of the same material) but this was Marvel's third crack at making their first family stick as a standalone title in the UK.  THE COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR ran for 37 issues between 1977-78 before merging back into THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL, possibly because its cover-to-cover reprints were devouring material too fast to make it sustainable.

The foursome were back in 1980 as part of the POCKET BOOKS range.  With Dez Skinn long gone, the digest-sized line ran out of steam in 1982 but I assume the sales figures on THE FABULOUS FANTASTIC FOUR led directly to the launch of this weekly replacement.

The format followed the post-November 1981formula of 24-pages with glossy covers and centre-spreads with black & white interiors.  This earns it a little footnote in the history of the Annex of Ideas: the last new launch to have (centre-spread not withstanding) purely b&w interiors.  THE MIGHTY THOR would, after a (very) shaky start usher in a new era of colour interiors.

The reprints covered roughly the same timeframe as the FF's last weekly, kicking-off with a rerun of The Monster in the Streets from US FF 105, cover-dated December 1970.

I've blogged about the FF on this side of the Atlantic a few times before:
- Their Hero History, right through to the Panini era, can be found here.
- A Cover Gallery for THE COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR can be found here and here.
- An overview of the POCKET BOOKS line can be found here.
- The short-lived MARVEL ACTION HOUR TV spin-off, including the FF, is here.
- Ben Grimm's short-lived solo book, THE THING IS BIG BEN, is here.
- The colour-me-in FANTASTIC FOUR ALBUM is here.
- The FF run in MARVEL TEAM UP is here.
- Their brief stint in MARVEL ACTION is covered here.

- To Be Continued - 

1982: FANTASTIC FOUR POSTER by ALAN DAVIS (Marvel UK)

COMING SOON TO STARLOGGED: 
THE FANTASTIC FOUR

This rarely-seen centre-page spread (hence the two parts) from Alan Davis seemed like a good way to announce that I'll soon be starting off a Cover Gallery for the 1982-83 FF weekly from the Annex of Ideas.

The piece appeared in the 2nd issue, cover-dated 13 October 1982.

 

1978: NBC'S FALL SATURDAY MORNING SCHEDULE AD

Have you got the "Saturday morning fever"?  

Here's a one-page ad, published in US comics dated December 1978 (hence the timelessly topical reference) hyping NBC's Fall Saturday morning schedule.  

For British viewers, of a certain age, there's several familiar 'toons on show here.  Most notably the infamous FANTASTIC FOUR animated series which, notoriously, dispensed with the Human Torch in favour of H.E.R.B.I.E, Jack Kirby's specifically-created appeasement to the Star Wars Generation.  To set the record straight, Johnny Storm wasn't dumped because Saturday Morning Mandarins feared a nationwide craze for self-immolation imitation.  Marvel had already done a big TV deal with Universal (which spawned TV interpretations of THE INCREDIBLE HULK, DOCTOR STRANGE and CAPTAIN AMERICA) which placed the Torch off-limits (gawd knows how they would have pulled the human fireball off with creaky seventies telly technology).

Telly's tame reinterpretation of GODZILLA became a BBC ONE fave over here.

I think Hanna Barbera's YOGI'S SPACE RACE also crossed the Atlantic although I can't recall any details.  This was clearly the year of Star Wars if even Jellystone Park's most famous resident was suddenly improbably propelled into the void.

JAMA OF THE JUNGLE, paired with the great green stomper, rings no bells.

FANTASTIC FOUR COMIC ALBUM

Stumped for what to do with your bulking, shelf-jamming ESSENTIALS/ SHOWCASE volumes once you've read them?  Why not... colour them in!?!

This is a British FANTASTIC FOUR COMIC ALBUM published by World Distributors, notorious purveyors of shoddy annuals, sometime in the Seventies.

It's a magazine-sized, stiff-cover, square bound affair with black & white interiors reminiscent of the aforementioned Essentials books.  The idea being that once read, it could be crayoned to destruction (why are colouring books invariably published on paper so cheap that any contact with a pencil or pen causes instant destruction?).

The strip reprints are Lee/ Kirby classics The Thing Enslaved (US FANTASTIC FOUR 91, October 1969) and The Return of the Frightful Four (94, January 1970).

There's also a number of (uncredited) pin-up pages (Kirby?), which I've posted below.  The back cover is a repeat of the front cover design.

This shouldn't be confused with the various random-issue compilations that Marvel UK issued in the seventies, binding together unsold copies of the weeklies.