The Mighty World of Marvel was the first attempt by Stan Lee and co to break into the British comics market and by the time it reached #50 tow other titles joined MWOM to bring the adventures of The Hulk, Fantastic Four and Spider-man in glorious black and white to these shores.
Previous attempts to market Marvel characters had taken place back in the sixties with Power Comics (Odhams publishing) incorporating them first in their weeklies and then in two short lived but fondly remembered titles Fantastic and Terrific.
These had ceased publication after just 89 and 43 issues a piece with Terrific being "merged" with the stronger title Fantastic. Power comics had been long gone by the time MWOM was launched featuring Spider-man, who went into his own weekly and the Hulk who became the mainstay of MWOM itself.
The fiftieth issue of Mighty World of Marvel featured the fight between Ben Grimm: The Thing and a rather different Hulk to the one mostly featured before. It seems that chronological order had not been maintained. The Hulk that appears here is the one from the first series of The Hulk which had only lasted six issues.
This story brings the Fantastic Four and The Avengers together for the first time. Originally printed in Fantastic Four #26.
A straightforward story of two super-beings fighting it out in an area of New York that just happened to be awaiting demolition with squalling heroes from the two competing super-groups squabbling over who should deal with the rampaging behemoth known as the Hulk.
Nobody really wins or loses but its a great opportunity to see all Marvels early heroes cram into one story.
And unlike the American original available at a much cheaper entry price on the second hand market.
The next issue features the lovable green one fighting the Space Parasite.
And Hulk simply "smash" in this one unlike the grumpy version seen in the issue before. But as kids did we really care? Nah. Even as an adult I'm not bothered after all since those classic days the Hulk has developed multiple-personalities.
Make Mine Marvel UK!
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