Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Oversight Comic.

I kept missing this issue on my want list. Why would I keep forgetting to buy this issue? There's nothing special about it (other than that it was written and illustrated by Jack Kirby). But every time I filled in gaps in my Fantastic Four collection I would miss this issue.

And then I remembered.

Back when I was a comic book retailer I ended up with two unopened cases of three comics. One was The Amazing Spider-Man #35. One was Flash Gordon #12. And the other was Fantastic Four #83. I had so many of them that what I would do is give one away (your choice) for any purchase over $20. The Spider-Man issues ran out first. Then the FF. Finally the Flash Gordon.

I think I was subconsciously forgetting the issue because I used to have so damned many of them in near mint to mint condition. Wish I'd kept those cases of Amazing Spider-Man #35. All of them near mint to mint! Alas...

My recently acquired copy of FANTASTIC FOUR #83, written and illustrated by Jack Kirby.

3 comments:

Henry R. Kujawa said...

I was missing FF #83 & 84. I gave my best friend Kevin a list of what he might pick up when he went to a comics convention in Chicago IF he could find them cheap enough. He got BOTH for like $2.00 APIECE!

Not in great shape, but READABLE, and I could scan EVERY page in if I wanted to, they're all SO GOOD, Kirby-Sinnott in their prime.

Too bad the "editor" wasn't doing his job... there's actually a continuity F***-up in #83 that they later FIXED in a MGC reprint, though I bet that correction was removed on subsequent reprints.

Mind you, it's not until I read all these issues in sequence, that I realized #84 has an even BIGGER continuity F***-up in it. Jack Kirby had Reed Richards test-driving an experimental aircraft by flying it around the world, stopping over in Tibet. The "editor" MISTOOK what was going on, and in his dialogue, said they were "returning" from The Hidden Land with an aircraft LOANED them by Black Bolt.

But this was B***S***! The aircraft Reed used to GET there had landed intact. And The Hidden Land was in THE ANDES. But from FF #84 on-- totally thanks to the "editor" not knowing what the F*** he was doing-- it's been in THE HIMALAYAS ever since.

Jim Steranko once told the guy-- "You have a LOT of books that BADLY need editing." The "editor" did not take kindly to that.

Kirk G - The Thrifty Rocketeer said...

So, what WAS Spider-Man #35? #34 was the Kraven return "The Thrill of the Hunt". What followed it?

James Robert Smith said...

Spidey #35 was the return of the Molten Man. One of the covers that Stan Lee had altered because Ditko showed Spider-Man's butt cheeks (which apparently was something that really got on Lee's nerves--thus Ditko did it often.)