1980: MARVEL UK'S POCKET BOOKS LINE

Back in 1980, as part of his Marvel Revolution Project, Marvel UK boss Dez Skinn was charged with increasing the Annex of Idea's output without devouring contemporary material at an even greater (and unsustainable - special UK strips were already being created by the New York mothership to fuel STAR WARS WEEKLY) rate.  As with Skinn's seasonal specials (launched the previous year), Skinn also looked to his competitors for his next 'innovation': digests!

Rivals DC Thompson and IPC had been cranking-out their pocket library digests for years... considerably longer than Marvel's wannabes would last.

Skinn believed their diminutive size would ensure newsagents placed them at the front of displays, ensuring maximum exposure.  The bitter truth was that they were more likely to get lost in the sea of comics or racked adjacent to the more attractive (colour!) US imports.  Marvel's oft-patchy distribution certainly didn't help.

The A5, black and white, pocket book line largely exploited Marvel's sixties back catalogue with only CHILLER, STAR HEROES and, briefly, SPIDER-MAN running more recent material.

The range (initially THE FABULOUS FANTASTIC FOUR, SPIDER-MAN, CHILLER and STAR HEROES) launched in March 1980 with a second wave (YOUNG ROMANCE, TITANS, THE INCREDIBLE HULK and CONAN THE BARBARIAN) launched in September.

Several of the featured characters (The Hulk, Conan, Spider-man etc.) were already appearing elsewhere in the Marvel UK line-up: an early example of M-UK brand extension.

The first wave was heavily cross-promoted in the Pocket Books range and the wider Marvel line but the second range received much less publicity and, by 1981 (and the first raft of cancellations), Marvel's new management seemed to have lost interest in the digests with barely an editorial nod.

CHILLER POCKET BOOK

28 ISSUES

March 1980 - July 1982

Horror strips including THE TOMB OF DRACULA, MAN-THING and material from the US horror comic and magazine lines.

Issues 9 & 20 were double-length.

CONAN THE BARBARIAN POCKET BOOK

13 ISSUES

September 1980 - November 1981

Conan reprints from US CONAN THE BARBARIAN issue 1 onwards.

This material had previously appeared in the UK in SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN (Volume 1), 1975.

Conan strips also ran in THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN (volume 2) and VALOUR (latterly FUTURE TENSE AND VALOUR) during this period.

Issue 3 was double-length.

THE FABULOUS FANTASTIC FOUR POCKET BOOK

28 ISSUES

April 1980 - July 1982

Reprints from US THE FANTASTIC FOUR 43 onwards.

The FF had previously had a solo run in THE COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR (53 issues) from September 1977.

More contemporary FF reprints were also appearing in MARVEL TEAM-UP (1980), MARVEL ACTION (1981) and CAPTAIN AMERICA (1981) during this period.

The foursome graduated to their own weekly (29 issues) from 6 October 1982 - 20 April 1983.

FF POCKET BOOK issue 1 editorial

THE INCREDIBLE HULK POCKET BOOK

13 ISSUES

September 1980 - November 1981

Reprints from US THE INCREDIBLE HULK issue 1 onwards.

Previously reprinted in THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL (volume one), 1973.

Issue 3 was double-length.

The Hulk's popularity was bolstered during this period by the Universal live-action TV show.

The Green Goliath also appeared in HULK COMIC, SPIDER-MAN AND HULK WEEKLY and RAMPAGE MONTHLY during this period.

SPIDER-MAN POCKET BOOK

28 ISSUES

March 1980 - July 1982

Initially a venue for MARVEL TEAM-UP reprints, these strips were swiftly diverted to the new weekly of the same name, replaced here by sixties Spider-man reprints beginning with US AMAZING FANTASY 15.

Despite Skinn's request for mail (above), none of the Pocket Books range ever featured a letters page.

Issues 9 & 20 were double-length.

Spider-man also appeared in SPIDER-MAN weekly and MARVEL TEAM-UP weekly during this period.

The Spider-man reprints continued briefly in THE DAREDEVILS, 1982.

STAR HEROES POCKET BOOK

13 ISSUES

March 1980 - May 1981

13 Issues

Piloted with (the standard-format) STAR HEROES WINTER SPECIAL 1979.

Contemporary reprints of the TV-based BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and toy-based THE MICRONAUTS.

Episodes of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (1978-79) were initially reworked as feature films in the UK.  The TV series did not debut until September 1980 (with some ITV regions airing it considerably later).

A 'rival' Battlestar strip also appeared in LOOK-IN weekly during this period.

THE MICRONAUTS had initially appeared as a back-up strip in STAR WARS WEEKLY.  They would appear next in FUTURE TENSE (1981).

Original X-Men strips, beginning with US THE UNCANNY X-MEN 1, were added from issue 10.  

Becomes X-MEN POCKET BOOK from issue 14.

STAR HEROES HOUSE AD

THE TITANS POCKET BOOK

13 ISSUES

September 1980 - November 1981

Avengers-centric sixties reprints of Captain America, Iron Man and The Mighty Thor.

Issue 3 was double-length.

TITANS was previously a landscape-format weekly (coining the description "Titans format") published for 58 issues between 25 October 1975 and 24 November 1976, merging with SPIDER-MAN from 199.

THE X-MEN POCKET BOOK

14 ISSUES*

June 1981 - August 1982

Issues 1-13 published as STAR HEROES POCKET BOOK.  Issues 14-28 as THE X-MEN POCKET BOOK.

X-Men reprints began to appear from issue 10, with the covers redesigned (see above) to prepare for the change of title.

X-Men reprints began from US THE UNCANNY X-MEN 1.  The same material, albeit in colour and at a larger page size, would appear again in 1983 in X-MEN weekly.

YOUNG ROMANCE POCKET BOOK

13 ISSUES

September 1980 - November 1981

Classic Marvel romance strips, presumably pitched at a female audience (making it a rarity amongst Marvel UK's output of this period).

POCKET BOOKS ASSORTED HOUSE ADS:

1980: STAR HEROES POCKET BOOK (Marvel UK)

I first looked at Marvel UK's POCKET BOOKS line last year but I recently acquired a full run of STAR HEROES POCKET BOOK, giving me the ideal excuse to revisit them.

For latecomers (who can't be bothered to click back): Dez Skinn created the black & white digest-sized line in 1980 as an economical way (for Marvel and readers) to expand the British line.  The smaller format was already well established in the UK thanks to the "pocket libraries" published by IPC and DC Thompson.  The Marvel UK books were all-reprint and most relied on archive material from the sixties, often a second (or even third) UK outing for the material (dating back to the Power Comics line of the late sixties).

STAR HEROES was the one exception: it reprinted the contemporary strips THE MICRONAUTS and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.  The former, based on the toys, had already been given its (hyped - see another previous post) premiere in the pages of (the always desperate for suitable supporting features) STAR WARS WEEKLY.  The latter was based on the TV show although, unless they read STARLOG, STARBURST or one of the other imported SF mags, the chances are most British readers only knew it as a series of movies and had no idea they were actually edited TV episodes.

The Battlestar reprints kicked-off by rerunning the sixth US issue, the first to break away from TV adaptations in favour of a parallel continuity.

Skinn had tested the formula (along with several other "heroes" formats including MARVEL SUPERHEROES and TV HEROES) the previous year with the STAR HEROES WINTER SPECIAL (notable for featuring an adaptation of the Battlestar episode Lost Planet of the Gods, a year before the two-parter hit British screens).

The STAR HEROES line-up remained constant for the first eight issues before the Micronauts vanished without any warning or explanation.  Reprints were also being serialised in FUTURE TENSE although Star Heroes readers would be none the wiser as no effort was made to tell anyone.

Issue 9 was a double-length issue all-Battlestar issue (including a reprint of the infamous ex-Tarzan strip, clumsily reworked to become a Battlestar tale involving giant apes).

The Galactica reprints continued in issue 10 but the arrival of sixties Lee/ Kirby X-MEN reprints (the New X-Men were simultaneously appearing in RAMPAGE MONTHLY) signalled change ahead.  This was (at least) the third time those strips had seen service in the UK (first appearing in FANTASTIC in the late sixties and again, in the seventies, in THE TITANS).  I'm pretty sure the first X-MEN strip also surfaced in one of the late seventies/ early eighties hardback annuals although I don't recall which one.  

The last of the Galactica reprints appeared in issue 11 and from 12 it officially became X-MEN POCKET BOOK, albeit with the (meaningless) top line "Marvel's star heroes".

The price jumped from 15p to 18p from issue 11 (without any of the usual editorial concessions to "rising prices").  Another leap, to 20p, kicked-in from issue 17 and again, to 25p, from issue 21. The double-sized 20th issue cost 40p.  Such rampant inflation might help explain the demise of the pocket books a few months later.

The renamed pocket book eventually clocked-up 28 issues before succumbing to the cancellation of the entire line (already pruned back in 1981) in '82. 

The same year, Marvel UK reran the same X-MEN reprints, albeit now in murky colour and at a larger size, again in X-MEN weekly (followed by THOR AND THE X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN).

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. 

1983: THOR AND THE X-MEN

Forget THE AVENGERS VS. THE X-MEN.  Way-back-when, one member of the Avengers was forced into a cancellation-dodging cohabitation of convenience.  It's perfectly possible to find a whole raft of reasons why Marvel UK's two 1983 colour weeklies failed miserably (appalling printing, X-Men's impossible-to-operate free gift, the X-Men getting stuck at customs and creaky reprints) so the sanctuary of a merger seemed inevitable.

The merger was a pretty equal affair, each strip occupying half of each issue and, generally, alternating cover slots.  The numbering continued from THE MIGHTY THOR (which hits the stands first, partially a result of the aforementioned action by customs who delayed copies of the X-Men issue 1 shipped from the Irish printers).

The partial colour interiors continued, with the worst printing problems of the early issues now fixed.  However, Marvel had already cut the number of colour interior pages printed in a cost-cutting move.

Despite (relative) strength-in-numbers, the combined title only survived another 19 weeks before transferring both strips to SPIDER-MAN (in its Amazing Friends era) from issue 567.

ISSUE 20

31 August 1983

MERGER ANNOUNCEMENT

ISSUE 21

7 September 1983

ISSUE 22

14 September 1983

ISSUE 23

21 September 1983

ISSUE 24

28 September 1983

ISSUE 25

5 October 1983

ISSUE 26

12 October 1983

ISSUE 27

19 October 1983

ISSUE 28

26 October 1983

ISSUE 29

2 November 1983

ISSUE 30

9 November 1983

ISSUE 31

16 November 1983

ISSUE 32

23 November 1983

ISSUE 33

30 November 1983

ISSUE 37

28 December 1983

ISSUE 38

4 January 1984

ISSUE 39

11 January 1984

MERGER ANNOUNCEMENT

SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS

ISSUE 567

18 January 1984

First merged issue.