OtherEric Posted August 31, 2017 Share Posted August 31, 2017 So, seeing a thread for Star Wars Weekly from the UK pop up here recently, I decided to create a thread showing some of my Marvel UK books, tracing the insane route a couple of original series bounced from title to title over a few years. So this will look at the Night Raven text stories and the Alan Davis-drawn run on Captain Britain. I just hope people find this interesting. We start off with Savage Action. Night Raven was originally a new character created for the Hulk Weekly comic in the UK; the series appeared in the first 20 issues of that magazine. That title started out with mostly UK produced material, but as time went on it switched to mostly reprints of stories originally published in the US. But, when Marvel UK started a new title called Savage Action, they added Night Raven in as a text feature. The first issue rather oddly credits 3 artists with creating the illustrations for the text story, including Steranko. It's actually just pulling a panel showing a staircase from Tower of Shadows #1 as background for one of the illos. The other artists are Luke Warme (possibly the most blatant pseudonym I've ever seen) and D. Ryder, neither of who I've ever heard of. Anyway, on to the covers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 Gotta love the Sienkiewicz and Adams covers, even if they're reprints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 It's worth noting that the covers don't necessarily match the stories: The 1st two issues reprint the Punisher story from Marvel Preview #2, not Marvel Super Action; and they use the Ka-Zar story from Savage Tales #1, not #6, in issue #5. For that matter, Night-Raven isn't in #5 despite the cover claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 Always liked the cover they used on #7, both here and on the Bizarre Adventures issue where it originally appeared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 Nothing to really say on these two, other than Night Raven was gone for both issues for no really clear reason: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 Night Raven finally shows back up in #12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 It's interesting comparing the cover of #14 to Marvel Preview #9: it's the same painting, but they don't zoom in here and there's a lot more image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted August 31, 2017 Author Share Posted August 31, 2017 And the series wraps up, with a cover featuring Hodiah Twist- a character who appears nowhere in the issue. After this the series merges with Marvel Super-Heroes #382, but I'll be starting that title at #377 with the Captain Britain feature. Those should start going up tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batmiesta Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 Like a lot of UK monthlies, this series is tough to find in high grade, what condition would you say yours are in? I am viewing on my phone so hard to tell. Nice to see some UK books on the forum. JTLarsen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 3 hours ago, batmiesta said: Like a lot of UK monthlies, this series is tough to find in high grade, what condition would you say yours are in? I am viewing on my phone so hard to tell. Nice to see some UK books on the forum. I would say my copies are in variable condition; trying to put together the run in the US they're tough in ANY grade. Lots of the books also have what I presume is the owner's name on the back; it seemed to be a very common practice. I was guessing that was from the magazine dealers holding copies for people, not the owners themselves, but that's purely a guess now that I think about it. Starting off today with the first half of my Marvel Super Heroes run; Captain Britain gets a new solo series after having co-starred in the Black Knight feature in Hulk Weekly. (If I had the Hulk Weekly issues I really could have started this thread there; but I don't, sadly. I really should start looking for those.) The #377 would be considered a classic cover if it had been released in the US, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 With 382 Savage Action merges into the title, and we have both the Captain Britain and Night Raven series in the same book. I really do love the handful of original covers we get on this title; although I believe this one is by Paul Neary, not Alan Davis. Not 100% sure, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 The 384 was, for some reason, the hardest of the Captain Britain issues for me to track down; not just in this title but of all the Alan Davis drawn run: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 And, with the 386, the last page of the Captain Britain story gets a new writer, uncredited in this issue but revealed in an article in 389: Alan Moore joins the series and the fun really begins. I'll post the last 9 issues of the Marvel Super Heroes run tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 3, 2017 Author Share Posted September 3, 2017 And now the end of the Marvel Super Heroes run. These issues are the first two where Alan Moore writes the entire Captain Britain story. Once again, I love the original cover on the #387: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 3, 2017 Author Share Posted September 3, 2017 388 was the last issue with a Captain Britain story; although there's a text feature on the character in the #389 by, once again, Alan Moore. Then Alan Moore takes over the Night Raven stories with #390: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 3, 2017 Author Share Posted September 3, 2017 391 and 392. Sure, let's throw Iron Fist into the book for an issue, because why not: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 3, 2017 Author Share Posted September 3, 2017 393 and 394. At this point, the title merges with a series I'm not really familiar with, called Rampage. And the bouncing of series continues apace... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 3, 2017 Author Share Posted September 3, 2017 395 has the last Night Raven text story in this title, it moves over to Daredevils starting with #6. Captain Britain had moved over to that title starting with the first issue; I should have mentioned it a few posts ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted September 3, 2017 Author Share Posted September 3, 2017 And #397 is the last issue of the series, but what is essentially the same book relaunches as Mighty World of Marvel; only with heavy covers, some interior color, and a higher price tag. We'll be seeing the latter part of that run in a couple days, but tomorrow we'll jump over to Daredevils for the entire run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
