1981-82: CAPTAIN AMERICA WEEKLY PART.2

The second, and final, part of our look back at Captain America's 1981-82 UK weekly.

Things are about to go (a bit) glossy...

As with part one of this post, I'm missing a few issues so this (unfortunately) isn't a complete run of covers.  But it's close.

ISSUE 37

4 November 1981

Although it officially merges with this issue, MARVEL SUPER ADVENTURE (briefly adding Daredevil) doesn't get a cover mention.

The "amazing 1st colour issue" splash is a tadge deceptive.  The only additional colour added with the relaunch was the glossy centre-spread plus the inside front and back covers (always black & white in the past, even with the original glossy covers), adding a whopping six pages of colour per issue (including the already-in-colour front and back covers).  The first "full colour" comics (and, even then, some of the pages were black & white + 1 colour and the rest frequently a murky mess) didn't arrive until 1983.

But, the return of the glossy covers did make Marvel's weeklies significantly more attractive than their IPC and DC Thomson rivals who would continue to use almost-newsprint for several more years.

The new format also cut the overall page count from 32 pages to a mere 24.  Despite the cut, the new format saw the price rise to 20p, a leap of 6p since the comic launched earlier the same year.

The free gift cardboard mask.

ISSUE 38

11 November 1981

ISSUE 40

25 November 1981

ISSUE 41

2 December 1981

ISSUE 43

16 December 1981

ISSUE 44

23 December 1981

ISSUE 46

6 June 1982

ISSUE 47

13 January 1981

ISSUE 48

20 January 1981

ISSUE 49

27 January 1981

A hammer in Hades... a pair of outrageous flairs in the fire!

ISSUE 50

3 February 1982

ISSUE 51

10 February 1982

ISSUE 52

17 February 1981

ISSUE 53

24 February 1981

ISSUE 54

3 March 1982

ISSUE 55

10 March 1981

ISSUE 56

17 March 1982

ISSUE 58

31 March 1982

ISSUE 59

7 April 1982

Cancellation announcement.

Oh the humiliation.  Marvel took the unusual step of cancelling the Cap's weekly but, despite being the star, not bothering to find him a home in another Marvel weekly.  Was it such a disaster that management didn't think it would transfer any new readers to another title?  

Thor took a temporary hiatus (his current strip was hastily wrapped-up by reviving the TITANS tradition of printing two US pages side-by-side on landscape orientated pages) before (briefly) powering back to his own weekly in 1983 (which he was soon forced to share with THE X-MEN).  Iron Man (who never nabbed his own weekly) was the sole survivor, rocketing into the pages of the about-to-launch THE INCREDIBLE HULK (volume 2) weekly.

1981: CAPTAIN AMERICA WEEKLY - PART ONE

In February 1981, Marvel UK launched their most patriotic British periodical to date: CAPTAIN AMERICA.  Hmmm.

Published in what we call the "Skinn II" format, CA retained the almost-newsprint-quality non-glossy covers and black and white interiors but didn't partake in Dez Skinn's old habit of reformatting the existing US pages of age to squeeze more panels per-page and more strips per-issue.

Captain America is one of those rare comics which actually got better over its run.  The line-up of strips benefited from two mergers and the glossy covers (and new glossy centre-spreads) returned from issue 37.

The initial four strip line-up offered two must-reads (contemporary Cap. Am. and Iron Man reprints) alongside two make-weights: The Defenders (ex of RAMPAGE) and Dazzler.  Really.

The demise of MARVEL ACTION added Thor and The Fantastic Four, allowing The Defenders to bow out and squeezing all the other strips to increase the overall line-up from four to five.

Bigger changes accompanied the merger of MARVEL SUPER ADVENTURES.  Daredevil joined the line-up and glossy covers reinstated (coinciding with Spider-man relaunching as SPIDER-MAN TV COMIC to capitalise on the live-action TV show and the opportunity to publish glossy stills from the show as well as new-launch SCOOBY DOO).

The Captain's final months were obviously being used to test the popularity of Thor with the Thunder God being prominently featured and securing several cover slots, including the final issue.  Marvel management must have already been looking ahead to their 1983 launches and the coming of the colour weeklies.

Unfortunately, I'm missing several issues (including the first.  Doh!) so this isn't a complete run of covers. But it's pretty comprehensive.

ISSUE 2

March 1981

ISSUE 5

25 March 1981

ISSUE 6

1 April 1981

ISSUE 7

8 April 1981

ISSUE 8

15 April 1981

ISSUE 9

22 April 1981

ISSUE 10

29 April 1981

ISSUE 11

6 May 1981

- Best - Cover - Ever - 

ISSUE 13

20 May 1981

The cover price rises a penny to 15p. And then drops back to 14p the following week.  Issue 13: unlucky for some!

ISSUE 14

27 May 1981

ISSUE 15

3 June 1981

ISSUE 16

10 June 1981

ISSUE 17

17 June 1981

ISSUE 18

24 June 1981

ISSUE 19

1 July 1981

ISSUE 20

8 July 1981

ISSUE 21

15 July 1981

MARVEL ACTION merges (don't be misled by the masthead which implies that it's the reverse situation), adding Thor and the Fantastic Four.  The Defenders fail to make the cut.

The cover splash may boast "The best of two comics for the price of one" but that's not entirely true, the price sneaks up a penny to 15p!

ISSUE 22

22 July 1981

ISSUE 23

29 July 1981

ISSUE 24

5 August 1981

ISSUE 25

12 August 1981

ISSUE 26

19 August 1981

ISSUE 27

26 August 1981

ISSUE 28

2 September 1981

ISSUE 29

8 September 1981

ISSUE 30

16 September 1981

This is the last issue to officially incorporate MARVEL ACTION.

ISSUE 31

23 September 1981

ISSUE 32

30 September 1981

ISSUE 33

7 October 1981

ISSUE 34

14 October 1981

HOUSE ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE RELAUNCH

14 October 1981

ISSUE 35

21 October 1981

MARVEL SUPER ADVENTURE merger announcement.

ISSUE 36

28 October 1981

Last old-format issue.

-TO BE CONTINUED - 

THE NOT-ALWAYS-INCREDIBLE HULK

The CGI Hulk gets many of the best moments in the new AVENGERS movie, so... it seemed like a good idea to recall a time when Marvel were a little less careful about how they presented their heroes to the world.

This centre-spread poster (from M-UK's CAPTAIN AMERICA weekly 52, 17 February 1982) is an impressive publicity photo from Universal's THE INCREDIBLE HULK TV show (specifically the memorable New York-shot Terror in Time Square segment) but... look down... Ferrigno's wearing his Hulk carpet slippers!  OK... so they were pretty easy to spot on the show if you looked closely but... really...

And do you think that guy behind ever knew he was blu-tacked to the walls of thousands of British pre-teen boys?

Here's another Hulk from the very same issue of CAPTAIN AMERICA.  Here's a gathering of heroes on the steps of the White House itself.  The ROM costume is presumably on-loan from the toy company.  And could that be Jonathan (Riker) Frakes behind the Captain's mask?