At first glance, it looks like the widely distributed hardback MARVEL SUPER-HEROES OMNIBUS which kept the super-powered flames burning in the dark days after the cancellation of SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS, the British Bullpen's last regular in-continuity super hero weekly.
But look again: The cover features a different line-up of characters. Ironically, only one of whom actually appears inside. Open up this distinctly thinner-than-the-omnibus oddity and inside are the contents of the 1986 SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL (the Fire Lord one) sans the front pieces.
I assume that Marvel stripped unsold copies of the Spidey annual and glued the contents into this generic cover. Which opens up the possibility that alternative copies are also knocking around with completely different contents. There's no retail price or hint of where this was being sold. I assume it was a single-retailer 'exclusive' and offered at a discount price. Was there a garden centre chain in the UK stacked to the rafters with rebadged unsold Marvel UK annuals in the late Eighties?
Anyone got any ideas?
Below is the more familiar 1987 edition, an undisputed high point in the long line of British Marvel stocking stuffers. Especially at a time when it really felt like the British operation had abandoned its roots in favour of being a plug house for assorted toy lines and animated shows.
The cover design started life as an edition of the US AVENGERS mag, infinitely adaptable for whoever the British Bullpen wanted to include.
that's quite a find you made and goodness knows how many variants are out there with that pick n mix cover.
ReplyDeleteYour speculation about using the same cover for a multitude of contents reminded me of this series from the 70s:
ReplyDeleteMarvel Collection
--Where the generic cover was put on a dozen or so stripped books, and no two editions were quite the same.
I always make a point of picking up copies of the 1970s MARVEL COLLECTIONS whenever I see them at a reasonable price. They are good fun. I have one edition with the same comic bound-in twice. Swizz!
ReplyDeleteMy hat's off to you for using "swizz" to describe that--the perfect word for a 70s cheat!
DeleteThis is actually the kind of information I have been trying to find. Thank you for writing this information.
ReplyDeleteUK