The Mighty World Of Marvel Part I

No commentary today, just a lot of pretty pictures.

This is a continuation of my short series of UK Marvel cover art. This post looks at The Mighty World Of Marvel. According to Gifford, TMWOM began publication in October 1972, ran for 329 issues and ended in January 1979, where it was renamed Marvel Comic, which then picked up the numbering and ran for another 23 issues before being renamed once more as Marvel Super Heroes, where it ran for another 45 issues before folding and being relaunched as Daredevils. Confusing enough?

#46

Cover date August 18, 1973.

This one reprinted the first Avengers story, thus making it as good an issue to start with as any.

Cover artist: Dick Ayers.

#47

Cover date August 25, 1973.

My birthday! I'd have been all of six years old when this sucker appeared.

Cover artist: Dick Ayers.

#48

Cover date September 1, 1973.

This cover takes elements from The Defenders #10. In specific the splash page from page 9 (one of my all time favourite Sal Buscema images) with new images added into the mix.

#50

Cover date September 15, 1973.

Looks familiar to me, but I can't quite place it...

#59

Cover date November 17, 1873.

The recolouring of the Hulk, with a more emerald shade of green, is actually more effective on these covers than they were on the original USA comics.

#63

Cover date December 15, 1973.

Classic Trimpe!

#64

Cover date December 22, 1973.

#66

Cover date January 5, 1974.

#67

Cover date January 12, 1974.

From here the comic went from straight newsprint to having a more glossy cover with better paper stock. The contents were still pure black and white, although they didn't have as clear printing as the Newtons.

#120

Cover date January 18, 1975. What a difference a year makes!

More to come.

Comments

Anonymous said…
These take me back!

The very early issues had two-tone interior art: black, white and green. When Spider-Man spun off into his own weekly, that was printed in black, white and red.

It's a small world dept: in the 1980s I used to sell comics to Denis Gifford. It has to be said that he really wasn't a fan of this type of comic, he lived for the British fare of the 1930s. Always an interesting guy to talk to though.
Anonymous said…
Danny,

Here are a few guesses as to cover artists:

MWOM 48: Jim Starlin/Mike Esposito
(I'm not convinced on the pencils, but firm on the inks)

MWOM 47: Ayers/Esposito? The faces on Giant-Man and the Hulk look a lot like Dick Ayers style, meaning he may have drawn the cover (he wasn't getting a lot of work from Marvel at the time and they may have offered him this)or someone is copying his figures.

MWOM 50: Ron Wilson/Frank Giacoia?

MWOM 59: Ron Wilson/Giacoia? (some figures copied from Marie Severin?)

MWOM 64: Wilson/Esposito?

MWOM 67: Wilson/Giacoia?

MWOM 120: ?/Esposito? Or all Esposito?

It's great to see this stuff. Hope to see much more!

Nick Caputo
Anonymous said…
Alan, As I said, Gifford installed a love for writing about comics in me, as opposed to just a love for the comics. The history behind them, the research, well I live for that stuff. I regret I never met Gifford but I hope he'd be satisfied that his efforts reached all the way to Australia. Oh, and BTW, how do I leave comments on your blog? It wants me to become a member of what?

Nick - there's more to come. Keep spotting those artists. As we know, Wilson, Romita, Trimpe, Esposito, Giacoia - all the office artists worked on those UK comics, so it's not surprising that you'd recognise elements of each in those books.
Anonymous said…
Danny, you can comment on my blog by registering. I get a fair ammount of spam and this cuts it out by giving me a chance to delete it before it appears. If you want to comment, register and a password will be sent to you by via e-mail. That's it. Once the first comment has been moderated, there's no further restrictions. Or, if you really don't want to do that, feel free to e-mail me -- there's a 'contact' link on my blog.

Gifford was a nice guy, full of love for old comics and movies. He could be a bit of a curmudgeon, but that was all part of his charm.

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