CONTENT NOTICE: WARNING - TODAY’S CONTENT HAS ESPECIALLY STRONG EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE - DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
Sales of Marvel UK titles had begun to fall by the late 70’s and Dez Skinn was brought in to overhaul the ailing company. Skinn had long experience in British comic publishing and was given free reign to change Marvel UK as he saw fit, dubbing the changes "The Marvel Revolution". The first major change was to have original material produced by British creators. Many of these writers and artists had already worked with Skinn on his title TheHouseOfHammer (which has been covered earlier in this thread) a few years earlier.
So the US artwork was re-sized to fit several pages onto one and emulate the look of the more established UK boys' weeklies like Warlord and Action. Skinn knew that the Marvel UK superhero weeklies had been effectively competing with each other in an already crowded market. So while the Spider-manComic was to be the flagship title (with Thor, Iron Man, Avengers and Fantastic Four) TMWOM was re-launched as Marvel Comic, in the tradition of UK boys' adventure titles.
RampageWeekly ran for 34 issues from October 1977 to June 1978. The lead feature was The Defenders, with the comic boasting "A complete Defenders story every week!". These stories were generally reprints from the first ongoing Defenders series issues 1-34, although issue 1 of Rampage was a reprint of Marvel Feature #3 and issues 25 & 26 were reprints of Giant Sized Defenders #5.
The title was discontinued in June 1978 and replaced with Rampage Monthly from July 1978.
The Hulk was a popular character – Rampage Weekly had been added to Marvel's list of publications under Neil Tennant's editorship as a second vehicle for the green giant – and now with his own TV series Skinn saw the Hulk as the lead feature of another adventure style comic Hulk Comic, with original Hulk stories reflecting how he was depicted on the TV.
Probably Skinn's most important decision was to launch DoctorWhoWeekly in 1979. Based on the TV series (which at that point had already been running for 16 years), Doctor Who Weekly featured original stories, plus articles and features on the show itself. It proved a huge success, and by now Skinn had transformed Marvel UK back to being a major publisher of not just weekly comics but monthly titles such as Starburst, a magazine created by Skinn before he joined Marvel UK, but was purchased by Marvel when he joined the company as part of the deal.
In March 1980, as part of the "Marvel Revolution," Skinn launched the Marvel Pocket Books line with four 52-page titles. Mimicking the design of the traditional UK Picture Library titles (such as Commando and Thriller), which boomed in the 60’s, Skinn wanted to establish a definitive look for the Pocket Books.
It was his final act for the company as Skinn left Marvel UK in late1980 to publish his own Warrior comic.
And that is the end of the story as far as I can write it. Marvel UK continued for many years but diversifying into Ghostbusters and Care Bears etc. before selling out to Panini who publish UK versions to this very day.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I liked the UK version of the ads familiar from USA comics. By this point I was busy doing nurse training and not reading comic books at all so I have no memories of these titles. I did resume reading them much later (Watchmen, V For Vendetta etc).
so there was more original content in the Marvel UK titles after Captain Britain. CoolHand you mention a Hulk series more consistent with the teevee show/ I wonder what other new content there was?
Warrior I am familiar with, picked up a few issues over here when I found them, because of the early Alan Moore content.
I’m not too sure, Caractacus, I found this on a website…
After starring for many years in the Marvel UK flagship title,The Mighty World of Marvel,the Hulk was given his own weekly publication. The title included new Hulk material drawn by Dave Gibbons and Steve Dillon. This material portrayed the inarticulate, wandering Hulk of the 1970s television series. Other original work included Nick Fury also drawn by Steve Dillon and a new Black Knight strip which also featured Captain Britain.
Maybe someone else reading this thread can supply further information?
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
art above by Carmine Infantino, story by Gardner Fox
funny how Commissioner Gordon's been a character for nearly thirty years by this point, but this is the first we learn he has a daughter?
note in her secret identity she wears the same hairstyle as Princess Leia
like Poison Ivy, the new BatGirl character was also created to add another female character to the teevee series
heres a few more classic BatGirl covers
holy indescretion Batman, are you really going to share your secret identity with BatGirl? Detective 363, more Infantino. note the gogo checks .
Detective 371, Infantino again, one more reason why you cant let girls fight crime
BatGirl vs CatWoman, Batman 197 - cover by Infantino, interior art by Frank Springer
starting Detective 384, BatGirl gets her own backup series, replacing the Elongated Man. art by Gil Kane (who we earlier saw draw The Atom).
just about every early BatGirl story devotes a montage panel to her changing into costume, this is Gil Kane's version
in October 1975 began a new giant size title called Batman Family, companion to Superman Family. Robin and BatGirl would alternate new solo stories every other issue, or else team up as they do in the first issue. the rest of each issue filled with vintage reprints. Barbara Gordon is a congresswoman by this point, quite the career rise since her days as mousey librarian!
Robin always seemed a bit jealous of BatGirl, but here he gets some of what Batman never got! (art by Mike Grell)
Batwoman's first appearance above art by Sheldon Moldoff, story by Edmond Hamilton
Kathy Kane is dissuaded from fighting crime at the end of her first adventure, but she comes back, repeatedly, until 1964 when the Batman series changed to a more realistic direction.
Note some of the differences between the first Batwoman story and the first Barbara Gordon BatGirl story: Batman easily figures out Batwoman's secret identity, and she is persuaded to leave crimefighting to the men. Whereas he does not guess BatGirl and Barbara Gordon are the same person, and welcomes her as part of the team.
and I'm sure we've all noted that Batwoman's numerous gadgets are not Bat themed at all, but woman themed? lipsticks and powderpuffs? I'm not even sure why the bad guys who first see her think she's some sort of BatWoman, based on her gadgets she should be called GirlyWoman. I think at this point in the 50s, womens roles had been so narrowly redefined by postwar reactionaries that having a woman fight crime at all was a novelty, played for laughs. (yet a decade previous there had been dozens of female crimefighters)
from her second appearance in Batman 105, art by Sheldon Moldoff
her third appearance is in World's Finest 90, where she meets Superman and temporarily gains superpowers too (art by Curt Swan)
I think Swan draws Batwoman better than Moldoff, who otherwise drew most of her appearances
it is in this issue Batman finally gives her permission to continue her career as Batwoman
and of course she meets both BatMite and Ace the BatHound. Batman 133, more Moldoff
and even turned to the dark side and took on the identity of CatWoman, when the real CatWoman had not been seen for a decade. Detective 318
beginning Batman 122, Batwoman appears in a series of imaginary stories set in the future where she and Batman have married, and had a son. now Robin is Batman II, and the son is Robin II. (another Curt Swan cover!)
introduced in Batman 139, April 1961, Kathy's niece Batty Kane comes to visit Gotham City, stumbles on her aunt's secret identity, designs her own matching costume, and joins the battle against crime. art by Sheldon Moldoff, story by Bill Finger.
Betty of course is too headstrong and disobeys her aunt, tracks down the bad guys herself, and saves Batman, Robin and Batwoman
she makes a half dozen more appearances over the next four years, and the four characters go on lots of double dates fighting crime. Moldoff drew all the original BatGirl appearances
Batman 144
Batman 144, in which BatGirl and Robin team up while Batman and Batwoman are out of town. and BatMite joins the fun, playing cupid. basically all of these stories are about BatGirl liking Robin more than he likes her, and planting a kiss in the final panel while the Boy Wonder blushes and stammers. So Barbara Gordon planting that kiss in Batman Family 1 was continuing a tradition started by her predecessor years before.
Batman 153, another one of those kooky scifi Batman covers we were admiring earlier
once the Batman series changed direction in 1964, BatGirl disappeared along with Batwoman, BatMite, Ace the BatHound, and lots of other silly stuff. She did reappear over a decade later in Teen Titans50 oct 1977 (I actually bought this one new off the newsstand)
I think it was because Superman was rapidly expanding its cast, and was still DC's most popular series, supporting a half dozen spinoff titles. Batman was not selling well in the late 50s/early 60s, so the editors thought theyd try whatever was working well for Superman. same reason there were so many silly scifi adventures at the time.
but in 1964 they soddenly dropped all that, all these new Batman supporting characters disappeared, and the series tried to adapt a more realistic tone, both artwork and plots. The new BatGirl was then added because of the teevee series (which was not trying for realism)
todays theres probably dozens of Bat - related characters, because Batman is now by far DC's best selling character, so they keep introducing Batman spinoffs instead of Superman spinoffs. I'm sure theres been a half dozen different Robins by now.
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
Comments
Amazing details there…thanks to you both…but I was hoping the centrefold pin-up CHB said to look out for was of Poison Ivy ☺️
Here you go, Sir M.
CONTENT NOTICE: WARNING - TODAY’S CONTENT HAS ESPECIALLY STRONG EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE - DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Deviation Three - Rocket Man Part One
Part Two tomorrow…
Better…thank you ☺️
I did wonder when Scientology would pop up 👀
As ever, looking forward to more. Thanks CHB.
CONTENT NOTICE:
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Deviation Three - Rocket Man Part Two
More of this intriguing tale next week…
A whole week 🫣
Aw crap, I'm deep diving into this mix of fact and fantasy, truth and lies, and it breaks again.
CONTENT ADVICE: Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended.
DANGER GIRL (1998) Part Eleven
Continued tomorrow…
Brilliant fun 😁
I agree!
CONTENT ADVICE: Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended.
DANGER GIRL (1998) Part Twelve
You’ll all have to wait until next weekend to find out what happens next…
It’s probably a good job I can’t draw like that…I’d never leave the house 😁
MARVEL UK Part 4
Sales of Marvel UK titles had begun to fall by the late 70’s and Dez Skinn was brought in to overhaul the ailing company. Skinn had long experience in British comic publishing and was given free reign to change Marvel UK as he saw fit, dubbing the changes "The Marvel Revolution". The first major change was to have original material produced by British creators. Many of these writers and artists had already worked with Skinn on his title The House Of Hammer (which has been covered earlier in this thread) a few years earlier.
So the US artwork was re-sized to fit several pages onto one and emulate the look of the more established UK boys' weeklies like Warlord and Action. Skinn knew that the Marvel UK superhero weeklies had been effectively competing with each other in an already crowded market. So while the Spider-man Comic was to be the flagship title (with Thor, Iron Man, Avengers and Fantastic Four) TMWOM was re-launched as Marvel Comic, in the tradition of UK boys' adventure titles.
Rampage Weekly ran for 34 issues from October 1977 to June 1978. The lead feature was The Defenders, with the comic boasting "A complete Defenders story every week!". These stories were generally reprints from the first ongoing Defenders series issues 1-34, although issue 1 of Rampage was a reprint of Marvel Feature #3 and issues 25 & 26 were reprints of Giant Sized Defenders #5.
The title was discontinued in June 1978 and replaced with Rampage Monthly from July 1978.
The Hulk was a popular character – Rampage Weekly had been added to Marvel's list of publications under Neil Tennant's editorship as a second vehicle for the green giant – and now with his own TV series Skinn saw the Hulk as the lead feature of another adventure style comic Hulk Comic, with original Hulk stories reflecting how he was depicted on the TV.
Probably Skinn's most important decision was to launch Doctor Who Weekly in 1979. Based on the TV series (which at that point had already been running for 16 years), Doctor Who Weekly featured original stories, plus articles and features on the show itself. It proved a huge success, and by now Skinn had transformed Marvel UK back to being a major publisher of not just weekly comics but monthly titles such as Starburst, a magazine created by Skinn before he joined Marvel UK, but was purchased by Marvel when he joined the company as part of the deal.
In March 1980, as part of the "Marvel Revolution," Skinn launched the Marvel Pocket Books line with four 52-page titles. Mimicking the design of the traditional UK Picture Library titles (such as Commando and Thriller), which boomed in the 60’s, Skinn wanted to establish a definitive look for the Pocket Books.
It was his final act for the company as Skinn left Marvel UK in late1980 to publish his own Warrior comic.
And that is the end of the story as far as I can write it. Marvel UK continued for many years but diversifying into Ghostbusters and Care Bears etc. before selling out to Panini who publish UK versions to this very day.
I liked the UK version of the ads familiar from USA comics. By this point I was busy doing nurse training and not reading comic books at all so I have no memories of these titles. I did resume reading them much later (Watchmen, V For Vendetta etc).
so there was more original content in the Marvel UK titles after Captain Britain. CoolHand you mention a Hulk series more consistent with the teevee show/ I wonder what other new content there was?
Warrior I am familiar with, picked up a few issues over here when I found them, because of the early Alan Moore content.
I’m not too sure, Caractacus, I found this on a website…
After starring for many years in the Marvel UK flagship title,The Mighty World of Marvel,the Hulk was given his own weekly publication. The title included new Hulk material drawn by Dave Gibbons and Steve Dillon. This material portrayed the inarticulate, wandering Hulk of the 1970s television series. Other original work included Nick Fury also drawn by Steve Dillon and a new Black Knight strip which also featured Captain Britain.
Maybe someone else reading this thread can supply further information?
COMIC OF THE DAY - DETECTIVE #359
As promised, here is the first appearance of Barbara Gordon as Batgirl.
Over to you @caractacus potts
art above by Carmine Infantino, story by Gardner Fox
funny how Commissioner Gordon's been a character for nearly thirty years by this point, but this is the first we learn he has a daughter?
note in her secret identity she wears the same hairstyle as Princess Leia
like Poison Ivy, the new BatGirl character was also created to add another female character to the teevee series
heres a few more classic BatGirl covers
holy indescretion Batman, are you really going to share your secret identity with BatGirl? Detective 363, more Infantino. note the gogo checks .
Detective 371, Infantino again, one more reason why you cant let girls fight crime
BatGirl vs CatWoman, Batman 197 - cover by Infantino, interior art by Frank Springer
starting Detective 384, BatGirl gets her own backup series, replacing the Elongated Man. art by Gil Kane (who we earlier saw draw The Atom).
just about every early BatGirl story devotes a montage panel to her changing into costume, this is Gil Kane's version
in October 1975 began a new giant size title called Batman Family, companion to Superman Family. Robin and BatGirl would alternate new solo stories every other issue, or else team up as they do in the first issue. the rest of each issue filled with vintage reprints. Barbara Gordon is a congresswoman by this point, quite the career rise since her days as mousey librarian!
Robin always seemed a bit jealous of BatGirl, but here he gets some of what Batman never got! (art by Mike Grell)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
but note: Barbara Gordon is not the first BatGirl, even if she is the best known!
its past my bedtime now, so I'll have to show you the original BatGirl tomorrow
As long as she's not Alfred's niece!
FAMOUS FIRSTS - DETECTIVE #233 - 1st Batwoman appearance.
It was Batgirl yesterday, but way back in July 1956 Batwoman first appeared.
And some advertisements from that issue
Over to you @caractacus potts
Batwoman's first appearance above art by Sheldon Moldoff, story by Edmond Hamilton
Kathy Kane is dissuaded from fighting crime at the end of her first adventure, but she comes back, repeatedly, until 1964 when the Batman series changed to a more realistic direction.
Note some of the differences between the first Batwoman story and the first Barbara Gordon BatGirl story: Batman easily figures out Batwoman's secret identity, and she is persuaded to leave crimefighting to the men. Whereas he does not guess BatGirl and Barbara Gordon are the same person, and welcomes her as part of the team.
and I'm sure we've all noted that Batwoman's numerous gadgets are not Bat themed at all, but woman themed? lipsticks and powderpuffs? I'm not even sure why the bad guys who first see her think she's some sort of BatWoman, based on her gadgets she should be called GirlyWoman. I think at this point in the 50s, womens roles had been so narrowly redefined by postwar reactionaries that having a woman fight crime at all was a novelty, played for laughs. (yet a decade previous there had been dozens of female crimefighters)
from her second appearance in Batman 105, art by Sheldon Moldoff
her third appearance is in World's Finest 90, where she meets Superman and temporarily gains superpowers too (art by Curt Swan)
I think Swan draws Batwoman better than Moldoff, who otherwise drew most of her appearances
it is in this issue Batman finally gives her permission to continue her career as Batwoman
and of course she meets both BatMite and Ace the BatHound. Batman 133, more Moldoff
and even turned to the dark side and took on the identity of CatWoman, when the real CatWoman had not been seen for a decade. Detective 318
beginning Batman 122, Batwoman appears in a series of imaginary stories set in the future where she and Batman have married, and had a son. now Robin is Batman II, and the son is Robin II. (another Curt Swan cover!)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I said: Barbara Gordon is not the first BatGirl, even if she is the best known!
its past my bedtime now, so I'll have to show you the original BatGirl tomorrow
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
barbel said: As long as she's not Alfred's niece!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
but she was somebody's niece!
introduced in Batman 139, April 1961, Kathy's niece Batty Kane comes to visit Gotham City, stumbles on her aunt's secret identity, designs her own matching costume, and joins the battle against crime. art by Sheldon Moldoff, story by Bill Finger.
Betty of course is too headstrong and disobeys her aunt, tracks down the bad guys herself, and saves Batman, Robin and Batwoman
she makes a half dozen more appearances over the next four years, and the four characters go on lots of double dates fighting crime. Moldoff drew all the original BatGirl appearances
Batman 144
Batman 144, in which BatGirl and Robin team up while Batman and Batwoman are out of town. and BatMite joins the fun, playing cupid. basically all of these stories are about BatGirl liking Robin more than he likes her, and planting a kiss in the final panel while the Boy Wonder blushes and stammers. So Barbara Gordon planting that kiss in Batman Family 1 was continuing a tradition started by her predecessor years before.
Batman 153, another one of those kooky scifi Batman covers we were admiring earlier
once the Batman series changed direction in 1964, BatGirl disappeared along with Batwoman, BatMite, Ace the BatHound, and lots of other silly stuff. She did reappear over a decade later in Teen Titans 50 oct 1977 (I actually bought this one new off the newsstand)
I love all this, many thanks to both of you.
we might like to see this Batman Family pinup, from the back cover of the second Batman Annual 1962
I’m with you…but I do find it strange that they kept adding Bat-characters 😵💫
I think it was because Superman was rapidly expanding its cast, and was still DC's most popular series, supporting a half dozen spinoff titles. Batman was not selling well in the late 50s/early 60s, so the editors thought theyd try whatever was working well for Superman. same reason there were so many silly scifi adventures at the time.
but in 1964 they soddenly dropped all that, all these new Batman supporting characters disappeared, and the series tried to adapt a more realistic tone, both artwork and plots. The new BatGirl was then added because of the teevee series (which was not trying for realism)
todays theres probably dozens of Bat - related characters, because Batman is now by far DC's best selling character, so they keep introducing Batman spinoffs instead of Superman spinoffs. I'm sure theres been a half dozen different Robins by now.
CONTENT NOTICE:
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Deviation Four - Point Pleasant - Part One
Part Two tomorrow…
Creepy as….😮
Love it 😁
I'd been expecting the Mothman but Mr Cold was a surprise. Lapping this up.