1990: STRIP PART TWO - Issues 6-10 (Marvel UK)

From 1990: another five (issues 6-10) fortnightly outings of MARVEL UK's STRIP.

The sixth issue is actually the reprint that was issued as a freebie with copies of the ninth.  Marvel's printers initially screwed up and published it on inferior paper stock.  The Bullpen clearly extracted a heavy price for the error and arranged a reprint that was packaged with issue 9.  I have a copy of the original version in a box somewhere but, typically, I couldn't locate it when I came to scan the run and I could only find the reissue.  

- To Be Continued -

1990: STRIP PART ONE - Issues 1-5 (Marvel UK)

From 1990: The first five (of twenty) issues of MARVEL UK's STRIP.

As the sub-title ("The comic grows up") suggests, this was one of the many 'Mature Readers' title that followed CRISIS onto the shelves of the nation's newsagents in the hope of capturing a chunk of the apparently large, and hitherto under served, market of older readers who were still keen for a bit of paneled action but had little in the way of options beyond 2000AD.  

The publishers, of course, hoped that this untapped revenue stream might (in some small way) off-set the collapse in sales of weeklies AND that one-time reliable cash cow: the annual.

Of the assorted launches of the time (CRISIS, REVOLVER, BLAST, DC ACTION, ZONES, MELTDOWN, DEADLINE, TOXIC and others), only the JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE proved to have any longevity (thanks it part to a bewildering number of relaunches and reboots).  

Strip's clunky slogan inspired TOXIC's "the comic throws up!"

Kudos to the Annex of Ideas for putting some real effort into strip.  You can see from the covers above that it's a top-notch, although possibly not very commercial, roster of strips and creators.  And the British Bullpen, once the home of the low-cost reprints, packaged them up in an appealing but not overly expensive full-colour format.  

The business model herein was, where M-UK had commissioned the material, it was also destined for collection as a graphic novel.  The Grimtoad material was reprinted as done-in-one book, as was (from later in the run) the return of Death's Head.  Night Raven, due to start in the 21st issue, ultimately only appeared in a collected edition when Strip was cancelled without warning.  

As we'll see later in the run, The Punisher snuck in (following the cancellation of his own book) in what looked suspiciously like an unofficial merger (even through the Strip... errr... strip hailed from the Seventies and didn't pick up where the weekly/ fortnightly left off) even through it was supposed to herald a new run of "classic" reprints.  Quite what else was due to follow Frank Castle's formative years remains unclear.  

- TO BE CONTINUED -

1990: MARVEL UK BOOKS House Ad

From December 1990: something of a work-in-progress House Ad for some of MARVEL UK's Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks.  

The NIGHT RAVEN book doesn't seem to have any cover art so the designer has used some panels from the strips themselves.  The final cover for NIGHT RAVEN THE COLLECTED STORIES can be found here.

THE CHRONICLES OF GENGHIS GRIMTOAD was a graphic novel rather than a trade paperback.  I've posted the cover here. 

DEATH'S HEAD THE BODY IN QUESTION was, indeed, a graphic novel (and also serialized in STRIP) and a full scan of the cover can be found here.  "Also trade paperback" must refer, not to an alternative edition of TBIQ, but to THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DEATH'S HEAD (see here for the cover). 

The artwork for THE SLEEZE BROTHERS is the cover of the first issue of the comic.  The collection was issued with new art.  See here.

1990: THE CHRONICLES OF GENGHIS GRIMTOAD (Marvel UK)

This only arrived in the post last week so I've not had a chance to read it yet but, as it's an oft-overlooked part of MARVEL UK's output, I thought it was worth posting.

THE CHRONICLES OF GENGHIS GRIMTOAD was a strip in - err - STRIP, M-UK's short-lived anthology that had a stab at the supposedly booming "mature readers' market in 1990.

Anything with Alan Grant, John Wagner and Ian Gibson's names on the credits is surely worth a look.  

STRIP itself stalled after a mere twenty issues (the twenty-first should have debuted NIGHT RAVEN: HOUSE OF CARDS... an indication of how quickly the plug was pulled) but this graphic novel was added to Marvel's swiftly-growing roster of books later in the year.