The Thing's own UK comic - yes it did happen.

[stevezodiac]

Dug this out of the storage unit. Don't remember it ever existing. 32 page comic some in full colour, the rest in one colour. Has three strips, The Thing, Iron Man and Captain America. I wonder why they chose a second string character to front his own mag? Teaser for next issue just says "Next Issue Ultron!" I have no idea how long it ran for. My copy is almost new and still has the free gift of a paper, fold-out baseball cap. Just noticed it does have an original full page strip called Donald Dogfly by Hunt Emerson.

[Raven]

Oh, I remember this. It was as if they'd run out of new angles and a few characters that would probably be considered second string in the UK got their own titles. Thor had one, too. You just knew they wouldn't last long.

For The Thing mag, I suspect the supporting features Captain America and Iron Man probably weren't that popular with UK comic readers, either. It did seem like they'd lost the plot a bit.

[Digifiend]

Didn't know Hunt was drawing that long ago. I'd have thought if any member of the Fantastic Four had their own title, it would be the Human Torch. Surprised that the Thing had one. BTW, Cap and Iron Man now appear in Panini's Marvel Legends, along with Thor.

[chrissmillie]

They did some weird stuff then. Valour where Dr Strange, Conan and back-up Thor as a boy strips were the big sells(?) and Forces In Combat where Machine Man (Machine Man!) was the big star!! Not to mention, Marvel Super-Adventure, Marvel Action, Savage Action and all the rest that had little chance of survival. Hulk and Spider-Man were constantly being re-invented. It probably brought a few new readers in but I can't help feeling that regular comics of their biggest stars with back-up strips (as they started with and Panini are now doing) would have fared better long-term.

I know people can say they changed from that due to falling sales but they were still hugely popular. Only in retrospect can we see that though.

[philcom55]

I think the main problem was that they'd run out of new material featuring the A-List characters, especially with the glut of digest-sized reprints that had just plundered the Marvel back-catalogue yet again. Besides which John Byrne had just started writing a Thing comic-book for Marvel US while still at the height of his fame. To be fair though Dez Skinn did attempt to give some of those later 'scraping the barrel' titles a more British style with names like 'Big Ben' and 'Fury' (In fact I think I've still got the plastic spitfire kit given free with the first issue of that one!). Incidentally does anyone know which artist drew the cover? I'm pretty sure it's not a reprint; maybe Paul Neary? I know John Higgins did a later cover whereas Brian Bolland drew the cover of Hulk Weekly no.1 (even if they did paste over the original head! ). Some of those British Marvel's contained a surprising amount of work by home-grown artists in amongst the american material. Hunt Emerson had been around for years before that btw - particularly in various underground comics from Rip Off Press. He did an absolutely brilliant parody of DC's Blackhawks called 'Thunderdogs' for example.

- Phil Rushton

[Raven]

To be fair though Dez Skinn did attempt to give some of those later 'scraping the barrel' titles a more British style with names like 'Big Ben' and 'Fury' (In fact I think I've still got the plastic spitfire kit given free with the first issue of that one!).

I think Dez Skinn had long left Marvel UK when Big Ben came out in 1984 as he started Quality Communications/Warrior circa 1982. And the Fury weekly I recall ('Nick Fury's Howlin' Commando's reprints) was just pre-Dez and his 'Marvel Revolution': 1977. (Unless there was a later one, too?)

So we should probably be blaming/crediting someone else for those titles!

Maybe there was a lack of focus or direction after he left.

I remember those Hunt Emerson 'underground' comics - he did lots, didn't he.

[philcom55]

You're right of course Raven. The various transformations of Marvel UK are all a bit of a blur to me now as I was mostly interested in the American equivalent at the time. It's interesting that Fury was before Dez's time though as I seem to recall the first issue having a Dave Gibbons cover, yet I tend to associate the Mighty World of Marvel era with covers produced in the States by people like Jim Starlin (not to mention that strange Captain Britain weekly by Trimpe & Kida, even if it was scripted by token British expat Chris Claremont! ). Hmmm, maybe I ought to have read those two articles in the latest Crikey! after all...!

- Phil R.

[Raven]

Many fans hated Dez's changes at the time - the much vaunted 'Marvel Revolution', as the glossy covers were dropped for all weeklies, all writer and artist credits were dropped, the weeklies became wafer thin, and all the strips were resized and shaped into a traditional-looking British format. But some of the monthlies he set up like Rampage Monthly, seemed quite good.

Fury had a non-glossy paper cover, maybe also why you associated it with his reign. Mind you, so had Captain Britain's Weekly and that was 1976.

As I recall, the problem with the American eqivalent at the time was that most of the major characters' titles: Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four etc. weren't imported. Dez claimed in a fanzine interview around the late 70s that it had nothing to do with their availability risking sales of the weekly titles, though I can't think what other reason there could have been.

[Muffy]

It lasted 18 issues (see last issue attached). Ending on 25th July 1984. Merged with UK Spiderman, issue 595 (a staggering feat in itself, for reprints).

Not a comic I collected, I think the FF were popular at the time.

Though at UK Marvel, I did like 'Future Tense' which reprinted, Micronauts and Rom and Star Trek. At the time I never realised these were reprints, or some of the other story's like 'Star Lord' (Not the UK weekly that merged with 2000ad).

[chrissmillie]

Many fans hated Dez's changes at the time - the much vaunted 'Marvel Revolution', as the glossy covers were dropped for all weeklies, all writer and artist credits were dropped, the weeklies became wafer thin, and all the strips were resized and shaped into a traditional-looking British format. But some of the monthlies he set up like Rampage Monthly, seemed quite good.

The weeklies (apart from the wonderful Black Knight in Hulk) just didn't work. Not enough of a story to really get the reader involved. It went down from about 10 pages to 2 or 3. Well, sometimes, nothing happens in those 2-3 pages as they weren't written as installments.

I did enjoy the monthlies though. I was a teen then, so following something on a monthly basis worked for me, whereas as a youngster, the next issue of 2000AD in just a week seemed to take forever!

[stevezodiac]

Marvel UK started off ok but when they went glossy the paper became thinner, the single colour tones vanished and were replaced by horrendous greys that, sometimes, were so dark they obscured the artwork, gave up buying them soon after. They tried to give them an American appearance with the glossy covers but i much preferred the paper covers. I still retain a fondness for those early Marvel Uk titles and will keep hold of them. They had some quite intelligent letters of comment after a few months with some regular correspondence from a couple of fans.

[Lew Stringer]

The weeklies (apart from the wonderful Black Knight in Hulk) just didn't work.

Incidentally Chris, as you may already know those great Steve Parkhouse/Paul Neary/John Stokes Black Knight strips have just been reprinted in the third volume of Panini's Captain Britain (The Lion and the Spider). Out now!

Lew

[felneymike]

I did enjoy the monthlies though. I was a teen then, so following something on a monthly basis worked for me, whereas as a youngster, the next issue of 2000AD in just a week seemed to take forever!

It still does to me! Then again that's because they've got a few good stories running at the moment after a recent lean period. Still a year and a bit ago they were properly on fire! The wait was very annoying then.

[chrissmillie]

The weeklies (apart from the wonderful Black Knight in Hulk) just didn't work.

Incidentally Chris, as you may already know those great Steve Parkhouse/Paul Neary/John Stokes Black Knight strips have just been reprinted in the third volume of Panini's Captain Britain (The Lion and the Spider). Out now!

Lew

I'll be back in Britain for a while end of this month, so I'll pick it up then. Anyone see the Black Knight mini-series for Marvel US that guest-starred CB? Absolutely terrible!

I believe the Knights of Pendragon is also going to be 'booked'. Strange comic. The first volume I thought was some of the best super-hero/supernatural comics I'd ever read. The follow-up, where they all got futuristic armour? Pile of I was convinced that it had to be a different creative team, so different were the approach of the stories, but no, the same.