Fifty years ago (yes, it really was that long ago) on the 8th March 1975, the company that would become known as Marvel UK expanded on its stable of 5 weekly titles by adding two more comics to its UK portfolio: "The Super-Heroes" (cover above) and "The Savage Sword of Conan" (cover below). While both titles were not that successful (Conan was a downright failure) I was initially pretty excited by their introduction as the Silver Surfer and Conan were (and still are) 2 of my all-time favourite comic book characters.
As was the case with most British comics the first issue (at least) always contained a free gift, in the case both titles this was a free poster (see below). The "Super-Heroes" comic initially featured reprints of the US Silver Surfer and X-Men strips and when the Silver Surfer reprints ran out (after issue 30), they were replaced by The Cat. Later issues of the title included Doc Savage, Giant Man, The Scarecrow, The Thing (from "Marvel Two-In-One"), Bloodstone, and Black Knight. I personally lost interest in the title after the Surfer tales ended as the revolving door of reprints (some looking very dated in 1975) were of little interest to me. The "Super-Heroes" comic only lasted for 50 issues before it merged with "Spider-Man Comics Weekly".
The "Savage Sword of Conan" reprinted the US tales from the colour "Conan the Barbarian" comic as well as "King Kull" strips. Despite containing some of the 1970's best illustrated and written comics, the title was not a success and was cancelled after just 18 issues on 5th July the same year. In a strange move by Marvel, they merged the Conan strip into the pages of the weekly "Avengers" title before Conan then moved into the pages of the "Mighty World of Marvel" weekly for a short time. Of course, you can't keep a barbarian down and Conan would eventually be resurrected as a successful monthly title in 1977.
Above the excellent free poster from the weekly "Savage Sword of Conan" by Neal Adams (the cover of issue 2 of the US "Savage Sword of Conan" magazine) - This was one of the few non-pop star ( Debbie Harry, Bowie, Velvet Underground etc) posters that I ever had on my bedroom wall as a teenager.
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CJ reminded me yesterday that it was the anniversary of these two mags and I meant to do a post about them, McS - then clean forgot. And I've still got the two posters up on my wall as I type.
ReplyDeleteI m not one for posters I'm afraid so mine are folded away in the conics I think the next 50 years ago UK Marvel comic would be the Titans in October and the monthly Savage Sword of Conan in November 2027 ( yikes)
ReplyDeleteI bought two issues of each back in the day, and I still have them, one set with their posters which have never been removed, and the other without them, as they were put up on my wall but didn't survive when we moved house. The ones on my wall now are replacements I got around 40 years back.
DeleteThat Neal Adams poster is blockbuster! You chose well, and I agree with the Debra Harry selection as well.
ReplyDeleteI think that's my favourite of Neal Adams Conan covers Ahhh Debbie I had such a crush on her as a teen
ReplyDeleteShe fancied me at the time, McS, so you never had a chance.
DeleteThat Neal Adams Conan poster had pride of place on my bedroom wall, as well. Like many things from 1975, I have no idea how I ended up disposing of it. I wouldn't have torn it up. I did recently get a copy of the US Savage Sword of Conan #2 with the Adams cover, however, which is a great comic in its own right.
ReplyDeleteI held on to my poster but it's badly creased/ worn. I also recently purchased a copy of the US SSOC #2 it's a great magazine with a wonderful main story (Black Colossus)
ReplyDelete