1992: THE UNCANNY X-MEN EASTER SPECIAL (MARVEL UK)

From Spring 1992: THE UNCANNY X-MEN EASTER SPECIAL, published by Marvel UK.

This one-shot not only tapped into the boom in all-things-X (fuelled by the Marvel hype machine, speculators and the quest for ever bigger profits at the expense of industry stability) but also the raised profile of the franchise thanks to the animated show and the rehabilitation of superheroes in the UK after several years where publishers (except for London Editions), distributors and retailers wouldn't touch them with the proverbial barge pole.

This coincided with Paul Neary's reboot of the Annex of Ideas, moving it back into adventure publishing and massively bolstering the amount of origination by creating the UKverse of new characters to sell on both sides of the Atlantic.

Marvel's mutants, thanks mainly to the TV show (and then - of course - the movie franchise), regained a regular slot on the shelves of Britain's newsagents for the first time since the closure of their ill-fated (sabotaged by ancient contents and cackhanded printers) weekly ten years earlier.

1983: THE X-MEN AND THE MICRONAUTS in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (Marvel Comics)

 

From 1983: A behind-the-scenes feature (and exclusive cover) devoted to THE X-MEN AND THE MICRONAUTS four-parter from the pages of in-house puff-piece producer MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE.  

The cover was a special MARVEL AGE commission.  

See the previous post for the cover gallery.  

This, incidentally, was the first issue of MA to boast 32 pages (for a mere 35 cents compared with 60 cents for a regular Marvel title... and they contained external advertising but, of course, cost a lot more to make) rather than the initial 16 pages (for a quarter). 

1983: THE X-MEN AND THE MICRONAUTS Limited Series (Marvel Comics)

From 1983/ 1984: One of the more bonkers limited series (at least until the X-MEN/ TREK crossovers of the Nineties) of the Star Age: X-MEN AND THE MICRONAUTS.

Well, maybe not so strange... the mighty miniature Micronauts were, after all, integral to the mainstream Marvel Universe even through the Bullpen had only borrowed them.  Quite why they were deemed to be worthy of a four-part run in the mutants is less clear.  Presumably the strong sales in the direct market made it a no-brainer for the circulation department.  

Back issue prices don't reflect it but this is also one of the rarest X-outings of the decade.  When Marvel lost the rights to the Micronauts a few years later (a plan to revive them a decade later stalled on the launch pad), they also lost the ability to reprint this four-parter.  It's not been seen outside the back issue bins (where, in truth, it seldom surfaces as a complete set) anywhere (except a four-issue rerun in MARVEL UK's THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL... which was cancelled a month after the reprints ended) since.  

The announcement that IDW have picked-up the rights to both the 'Nauts and ROM THE SPACE KNIGHT (who, unlike the former, didn't see a return to comics during the early Noughties fad for toy-based print revivals) opens up the slim possibility that both the original series will return to print... although IDW will still have to overcome the problem of multiple appearances by Marvel's copyrighted characters throughout both runs.  

The UK reprint in MWOM marked the last appearance of the Micronauts (following stints in STAR WARS WEEKLY, STAR HEROES and FUTURE TENSE) in the British line.  Their finale should have been in the pages of SECRET WARS II (yup, they were blessed by an encounter with the big-haired Beyonder) but the Annex of Ideas (possibly because the rights had already lapsed) skipped both the Micronauts and Rom crossovers.

1986: X-MEN UK SIGNING TOUR House Ad (Marvel UK)

From May 1986: A MARVEL UK House Ad with itinerary details for the Marvel US-organized (apparently as "thank you" overseas trip for the X-creative team) signing tour to promote the launch of the new CLASSIC X-MEN monthly.  

It's unlikely that a few extra copies flogged in the UK was going to make much difference to the overall sales figures so this was clearly a "working vacation" ruse on everyone's part.  

This was not the same tour that saw the team appear on TV-am's GOOD MORNING BRITAIN... that took place the previous year. 

CLASSIC X-MEN, which reprinted the New X-Men strips from a decade earlier, turned into a canny launch for Marvel.  It eventually clocked-up an impressive 110 issues through to 1995.  

It became X-MEN CLASSIC from the 45th issue, presumably to group it alongside the other X-books on retailer paperwork and on the shelves.  

Those initial four-odd years also included new material (supplementary pages of new art and back-up strips) intended to anchor the past events to current continuity or explore additional facets of the original storyline. 

1980: THE UNCANNY X-MEN WINTER SPECIAL (Marvel UK)

From 1980: MARVEL UK's THE UNCANNY X-MEN WINTER SPECIAL.

I've always found the British Bullpen's enthusiasm for running WHAT IF tales in one-shots perplexing.  Presumably their appeal rested in their self-contained done-in-one format but, for casual readers, not only were you not getting a true representation of the characters/ continuity but it also relied on a basic knowledge of what had been before to make it work. 

1983: MARVEL UK FREE GIFTS

From 1983: More gifts direct from the hallowed halls of MARVEL UK.  

The launch of a new weekly was always a good excuse for three to four weeks of gifts (kids today don't know they were born... dozens of gifts with EVERY issue!), usually of decreasing cost to the publisher as the weeks wore on.  With two new titles on the go (THE MIGHTY THOR... swiftly followed by THE X-MEN), there were even more goodies to be had.  

However, Marvel obviously didn't want readers to start defecting from SPIDER-MAN (or wanted to replace any that bailed out) so they also pushed the boat out for a Spidey pin-badge.  

Gifts galore!

1983: FREE X-MEN STICKERS from MARVEL UK

From 1983: MARVEL UK loved to give away paper-based products as freebies.  Not only did they cost next-to-nothing to make but they also avoided the hassle of having to employ someone to tape them to the cover.  

Case-in-point: the second and third issues of the short-lived 1983 X-MEN weekly (plagued by Marvel's new Crappo Colour technology) came with free loosely-inserted X-stickers.  These, of course, were guaranteed to part company with the comic when displayed vertically on the shelves... forcing the would-be buyer to first vigorously shake the comic and then, upon discovering its absence, scrabble around the shelves to try and find it.  This could also, depending on the display, unveil a treasure-trove of other gifts and inserts which had long-since parted company from the comics they were intended for.  And, of course, unscrupulous buyers could slide inserts from other copies into their own and walk away from the till with multiple inserts tucked inside.   

Marvel went for economies of scale by getting several batches of stickers made at once... around the same time THOR (which launched two weeks ahead of THE X-MEN), the revived MWOM, SPIDER-MAN and possibly others all boasted free stickers. 

1983: X-MEN SPINNER GUN 'HOW-TO...' GUIDE (Marvel UK)

From 1983: I remember being utterly perplexed by the (presumably off-the-shelf... or out-of-a-cracker) Spinner Gun freebie cover-mounted to the first issue of MARVEL UK's new X-MEN weekly.  

It only consisted of three parts (the flat plastic gun, the spinner and the elastic band) but it confounded all attempts to make it work.  How could something so small and simple be so perplexing?  

Clearly I wasn't alone as the British Bullpen saw fit to publish this handy guide in the seventh issue (cover-dated 15 June 1983). 

By which point... I'd lost the gift.  Sigh. 

1983: ON SALE THIS MONTH: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES Issue 393 (Marvel UK)

On sale this month in 1983: MARVEL SUPER-HEROES issue 393, the first to incorporate RAMPAGE following the demise of its monthly stablemate, after 54 issues, the previous month.

The tie-up meant the best of both titles... The Avengers continuing to appear in their old home but now joined by the (new) X-Men, just in time for the epic Dark Phoenix saga.  

The British Bullpen marked the momentous moment with the new Alan Davis poster in the previous post.  

RAMPAGE had already hoovered-up the unmemorable BLOCKBUSTER the previous March.  MARVEL SUPER-HEROES had snaffled-up SAVAGE ACTION a month earlier in February.  

1983: ON SALE THIS MONTH: ALAN DAVIS X-MEN POSTER from MARVEL SUPER-HEROES 393 (Marvel UK)

On sale this month in 1983: Some early Alan Davis Mighty Marvel Magic: an X-MEN poster from the glossy centre pages of MARVEL UK's MARVEL SUPER-HEROES Monthly issue 393 (the first to feature Marvel's merry mutants, thanks to the recent closure of RAMPAGE Monthly). 

1984: ON SALE THIS MONTH: THOR AND THE X-MEN Issue 39 (Marvel UK)

On sale this week back in 1984: the 39th (and final!) issue of MARVEL UK's accident-prone THOR AND THE X-MEN.

TatXM was actually, as the name hints, an amalgamation of two previous M-UK weeklies.  Unusually for comics, the combination had been a fair fifty-fifty combination with neither being the dominant partner or creating the impression that it was only a matter of time before the interloper's logo started to shrink on the masthead (a sure sign that it would vanish entirely within weeks or months).  

Technically, this is a continuation of THOR's weekly as the first issue was number twenty, picking-up where the Thunder God's solo title left off.  

The problem with the solo titles, and the combination, is that the strips weren't very strong (Marvel's merry mutants seemed particularly dated by 1983) and the print quality was dire.  These were the British Bullpen's first colour weeklies... but they neglected to check whether the Irish printers could cope with the new-fangled technology (they couldn't).  Marvel hadn't got their sums right either so, as circulations started to fall, they had to drastically cut the number of interior colour pages anyway.  

Both strips continued (crammed in with the Fantastic Four) in the pages of SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS the follow week.

This issue is cover-dated 11 January 1983.  Which is a year adrift from reality.  Slap-dash Marvel had forgotten to change the year (although they'd remembered the previous week).  

1983: THE MIGHTY THOR August Cover Gallery (Marvel UK)

From August 1983: the final four (16-19) of MARVEL UK's ill-fated first colour weekly*: THE MIGHTY THOR.  Undone by dated strips and (initially) dire print quality. 

As the announcement made clear, Thor was swiftly folded in with THE X-MEN, Marvel's other experimental new weekly (also hindered by the same problems).  Although, technically, the X-Men merged with Thor (the numbering carried on where Thor left off), it was treated as a merger of equals with both strips retaining equally billing on the masthead (and space inside) for the nineteen week run (prior to the merger with SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS).  They even alternated covers.  

It's taken me almost a year to complete this cover gallery.  When I had to break away (because of work commitments) from the Blog for a while, this was one of the ongoing topics left hanging.  And I forgot all about it when regular posting resumed.  So here - finally - are the last few covers.

*CAPTAIN BRITAIN can technically stake that claim... but the centre section (housing the Fantastic Four) was in black & white.

1993: MUTANT MEDIA - X-MEN FANZINE

MUTANT MEDIA was a British fanzine (successor to CEREBRO) , edited by Phil Hall, which appeared during the Boom Years of the early 1990s (when Marvel missed no opportunity to spin-off more X-books and scatter guest appearances and cameos across every possible book in the hopes of a sales spike).

The first issue is dated February 1993, the next two are undated.

In those pre-Internet days, these were advertised in the pages of COMICS INTERNATIONAL (and possibly elsewhere as well).  

I wasn't much of an X-Fan at the time (the sheer amount of product was overwhelming and it was obviously Marvel were milking the franchise for every last cent/ pence they possibly could) but I still enjoyed a good fanzine (and - ahem - WIZARD as well) and I found this to be a great read.  MM also benefitted from (presumably) state-of-the-art desktop publishing which certainly made it a more agreeable read.

One handy feature was a 'mutant tracker' which listed the various appearances of the overworked characters in assorted non-core books.  Their M-UK appearances in the GENESIS line were disregarded as peripheral and of little consequence.  

As far as I know, these three outings represent the sum total of the MM offering.  I'm sure, if more had been advertised, I would have ordered them as well.  

1994: X-MEN WEEKLY (Marvel UK)

Another nineties MARVEL UK foray into the world of the X-MEN: the first issue of their new weekly, cover-dated 14 October 1994.

The hook was, of course, that the BBC had started (or were about to start) running the FOX animated series.

The freebie sticker album (which already demonstrates that Panini and Marvel UK were building bridges) was based on the cartoon.  

Marvel UK had previously dabbled with an X-weekly more than a decade earlier but dated (and oft-repeated) strips, low character recognition (the Amazing Friends TV series hadn't even introduced Ice Man to UK viewers when the comic launched) and ropey new colour all conspired to kill it.

1996: THE AMAZING X-MEN Issue 1 (Marvel UK)

Another MARVEL UK (or, I think, by this point technically Panini UK) launch: THE AMAZING X-MEN issue 1 from February 1996.

The reprints were from some of the myriad of US X-branded books of the time alongside GENERATION X (a spin-off who had the privilege of appearing in a not-entiely-faithful-and-rather-lacklustre TV movie which came close to spawning an ongoing weekly series before the project was quietly abandoned).  

This was a reboot of the previous Marvel UK title which had been published to capitalise on the UK showings of the animated series.  

This appeared alongside the early issues of the card-cover/ US-dimensions Collector's Edition which had rather longer longevity.  

1995: THE ESSENTIAL X-MEN Issue 1 (Marvel UK)

More foil-enhanced goodness from the dawn of the Modern Age of MARVEL UK (or, if you prefer, the last splutterings of the old business): the launch of the first issue of THE ESSENTIAL X-MEN.  The other, along with Astonishing Spider-man, of the two original Collector's Edition launches.

The range, under Panini's stewardship, has grown considerably since then.  The X-Men CE is still going strong although it's been relaunched and renumbered several times since.

1983: THOR and X-MEN LAUNCH ADS (Marvel UK)

Here's the MARVEL UK House Ad, from the final issue of FANTASTIC FOUR, heralding the impending launch of the next two superhero weeklies: THE MIGHTY THOR and THE X-MEN.

And I think we know what happened next…

1983: MARVEL UK COLOUR PRINTING PROBLEMS

As I posted previously, MARVEL UK's first forays into colour printing (since the original CAPTAIN BRITAIN anyway) were a bit of a disaster.  The first issue, THE MIGHTY THOR 1, wasn't bad but - a week later - the quality control nosedived and subsequent issues, and the early issues of THE X-MEN and THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL monthly, were rendered all but unreadable by the debacle.

Here are three clippings, all from THOR, where the British Bullpen apologised, explained and - eventually - 'fixed' the problem by - errr - drastically cutting the colour pagination each issue (down to only 12 pages).

They only really cracked it in 1985 when they introduced the full-colour, glossy 24-page format with THE GET ALONG GANG 1.

It's worth noting that M-UK were still light years ahead of the competition who were still churning out the cheapest possible comics on antiquated presses.

15 June 1983

29 June 1983

20 July 1983

1983: THE MIGHTY THOR by BOB WAKELIN (Marvel UK)

I must admit that I've never been much of a fan of THOR (to the extent that I had very low expectations of the film... and was very pleasantly surprised by how good it was) so I gave his 1983 colour weekly a wide berth.  I still don't have many issues (mental note: I need to do something about that some day) but I stumbled across this lone issue in a charity shop at the weekend and was struck (ahem) by this impressive cover by British artist Bob Wakelin.

THE MIGHTY THOR earns a footnote in the history of the Annex of Ideas by being the first of the (initially disastrous) colour weeklies.

The Thunder God had been knocking around the British line since the dawn of Marvel UK (actually earlier: the sixties strips were part of the Power Comics line-up) but this was his first (and only) solo outing (CAPTAIN AMERICA took the back-up slot, a reversal of the final weeks of his own early-eighties weekly.  See here for more).

The weekly survived 19 issues before absorbing fellow colour weekly THE X-MEN, which was launched two weeks later (it should have appeared a week later but there was a hold up at customs on its way from the Irish printers).  THOR AND THE X-MEN (split half/half between reprints of Thor and sixties X-Men) survived another 19 weeks.  The 39th issue was the last.  Both strips continued briefly in (a rather packed) SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS.  See here for more.

1979: CEREBRO: THE OFFICIAL X-MEN CLUBZINE (Fanzine)

Copies of the British X-MEN fanzine CEREBRO don't come to market very often (and seem to command a hefty premium online) so I was surprised to find this stash of five issues at a comic book store recently... and chuffed to see they were only a pound a time.  Needless to say, I snapped them up.

Cerebro, named after Professor X's mutant-finding gizmotron, was published by THE OFFICIAL X-MEN FAN CLUB, presumably with Marvel's blessing.  I recall the club recieved a mention in one mid-eighties British Bullpen Bulletins.

These issues hail from the period 1979-81.  I believe that it was published (roughly) bimonthly which - I guess - means the club was inaugurated late in '78 or earlier in '79.

Each issue is A4 and stapled along the left hand side.  The cover is printed on colour paper using coloured ink (the result is quite satisfying, in a low-fi way) whilst the interiors are mostly black print on white paper with the occasional colour sheet tucked in.

The page count - and thus cover price - varies considerably from issue-to-issue.

Contents included the latest X-news (its worth remembering that Marvel's mutant ambitions at the time were limited to the core monthly title, the occasional outing of a character in MARVEL TALES and assorted crossovers, guest slots and cameos), extensive letters of comments from club members, fan-penned articles and extensive fan art.  The fourth issue also premiered a new section which profiled a single character (beginning with the Angel although I don't know if subsequent issues followed an alphabetical pattern).

The club's launch would have - roughly - coincided with US editions of the comic book going (to use collectors parlance) "non-distributed" (ND in the price guides) at the request of Dez Skinn to avoid competing with the New X-Men reprints running in Marvel UK's RAMPAGE monthly.  One of the club's services was the ability to subscribe to the US editions through the club.

The 100th member signed-up just in time to get their name into the 4th issue.

Cerebro was obviously sent out to club members (members names, when published, would always be followed by their membership number) but - I think - it was also sold in selected comic book shops.  I remember finding a stack (or box) in Bristol's FOREVER PEOPLE store (the one that had a mezzanine floor which made it seem like the geek equivalent of a department store) in the mid-eighties and picking-up several copies (none of which I managed to keep... doh!).  Whether this was a one-off or not, I don't know.

I'm not sure when the club folded but it must have kept a (very) low profile by the end of the eighties as I don't recall ever seeing it mentioned in other fanzines.  A successor, MUTANT MEDIA, appeared during the boom years of the early nineties by which time there were oodles of X-titles and copious crossovers.  I'll get around to posting those here sometime.

I briefly posted about the 'zine once before.  See here for another cover.

1979

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1980

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1981