Another Bronze For Britain

 This is my second post on Marvel UK annuals in the Bronze Age of Comics. Hardback annuals were generally published for the Christmas market and went on sale in the autumn. So, The Dr. Who Annual 1977 would have appeared in all good bookshops around September 1976. 


I don't know exactly why there were no annuals among my Xmas presents in 1977. Possibly my mum and dad thought I was too old for them. I would have been in Third Year at school but it was the year of Star Wars.
 The news of Elvis Presley's death had broken that August when we were on holiday in a lonely caravan in the Rhins of Galloway:

Portobello Bay, near Portpatrick

I associate those isolated, jagged rocks with Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" and "Magic Fly" by Space.
On the way home, on a wet Saturday afternoon, I bought this sexy, lurid Treasury edition in Stranraer:

This was the second-last Treasury I got (The Defenders being the last) because they became more rare and because I'd read most of the reprinted material by then. I found this image of the level crossing in Dunragit, between Stranraer and Glenluce: I can clearly picture sitting in my dad's Hillman Avenger here, reading that racy, oversized comic, with the summer rain streaming down the windshield!

 When I think of the Third Years that I teach-Ross; Calum; Fergus- they would be horrified to be thought of as unsophisticated. So, maybe the absence of annuals was a reflection of my reading becoming more selective or perhaps, simply, of the austerity we've been hearing about on Dominic Sandbrook's cliche-ridden, painfully ironic BBC documentary series The 70s.
In any case, it's only through the auspices of ebay that I got my hands on these annuals. The Captain Britain Annual 1978 is one that I have absolutely no recollection being advertised. 

 

Unfortunately, it merely consists of the reprints of the Origin and Hurricane stories by Claremont and Trimpe.However, this is the iteration of Captain Britain I prefer. I posted  previously about the Alan Moore/Alan Davis version and how ground-breaking that style was. Yes, Union Jack has a more iconic costume and yes, CB is a mash-up of Thor and Daredevil with a dash of Spider-Man. But the UK readers wanted a Marvel superhero in England and that's exactly what they got: pure, bombastic Bronze Age melodramatic fun. Claremont's narrative voice is portentous as always and he even references his own Iron Fist stories as one of his favourite tropes - the destruction of a jet plane- crops up again. If he had remained scripter, however, a typically-70s misunderstanding between CB and IF would have been a treat as would the inevitable X-Men guest spot.

I got more enjoyment from The Titans Annual 1978. It reprints FF King-Size Special 6 - "Let There Be...Life" from the late autumn of 1968.

 This is Lee and Kirby at their absolute peak, in my opinion, with the birth of Franklin Richards. I read the original some time in the winter of 1971, when it popped up in Craig's in Strathaven's Common Green (having seen it retold in flashback in FF 107, I think.)

 Annihilus is a terrifying creature: part-bat, part-insect, part-Angel of Death. The scope of what is essentially a quest in the netherworld of the Negative Zone to save the lives of Sue and her unborn child is mythic. It's leavened by Kirby's absurdist sitcom antics for the Thing and an expectant father in the hospital. Ben Grimm is one of the quintessentially unique Marvel creations alongside Spidey, The Silver Surfer, the Thomas/Smith Conan and  the Wolfman/Colan Dracula.

I loved this book.

The back-up story is the final Black Widow short from Amazing Adventures. Again, Thomas presents a driven, tragic Natasha who believed herself cursed to bring death to any men in her orbit- a fascinating character trait that's completely forgotten. I like Heck's sci-fi costume designs but the mutated bigot, The Watchlord is a forgettable villain.

Last week, Tony DeZuniga, the Filipino artist died. His artwork frequently appeared in comics I rarely read in the Bronze Age: DC's mystery books and Marvel's horror magazine line. I remember him primarily from this fill-in issue of X-Men:

 

X-Men was a bimonthly in those days (!) so when a issue appeared in Craig's, it was a huge event for me. I was disappointed that Dezuniga had replaced Cockrum's blocky, futuristic cartooning and although I can recognise the visceral realism in his work, I didn't appreciate it then.

I read yesterday that a second Filipino artist,  Ernie Chan, also sadly passed away. Credited as "Ernie Chua", Chan pencilled many covers during my teenage years, particularly in 75/76, when US Marvels were like hens teeth.

Kobra 1 was a crudely-butchered debut for Kirby's pulpy super-villain, one of the King's final creations for DC.The fanatical cult leader went on to bigger and better things in the 80s:

 ...but I feel he was a Marvel transplant and better-suited as a Captain America or SHIELD villain.

More Ernie: Wonder Woman returns to the JLA and (making room) Red Tornado sacrifices himself again to defeat a typically-bizarre Dick Dillin alien.

The murderous return of the original Toyman, assassinating the 70s jester version.

Bought in the cafeteria at Stonehouse Hospital in the early summer of 1977. Oddly, the cover date was completely in synch. I've never been able to figure out when it changed. 

 This Perez cover is an homage to Ernie from 2000. I can't quite believe that the Busiek Era of Avengers ended over a decade ago.

 We've lost two creative forces from the Bronze Age but while their work continues to stimulate and entertain, they're never really gone.

Coming Soon: Shada by Douglas Adams; White Tiger; Deadman.

All images presumed copyright of their respective owners