To get us started on our reprint journey, let's look at some variant covers. Reprints had a tendency to use re-positioned art, mirror images, different colors and other techniques to distinguish from the originals. And I will explore a myriad of those more subtle variances in a future post because today I will mainly focus on entirely new covers for old stories (although I cannot resist throwing in some of the former examples as well).
Let's start with Avengers #54 reprinted in the final issue of Marvel Triple Action #47. The original cover pencilled by John Buscema is a classic with the Masters of Evil center stage. The reprint by Steve Ditko reverses the action and gives us an entirely different view. While I prefer the original, I enjoy looking at the two side-by-side and comparing the details. The villains for instance are not reversed in the same order as the original, while the heroes would indeed maintain their opposite view sequence. I am not certain why a new cover was created, but I am glad it was.
Jumping overseas to the Marvel UK, alternative covers were often created because the original stories were reformatted to weekly comics. The gap issues often used variant covers that fit the story. Check out the below UK comic reprinting a section of Avengers #71 with the classic introduction of the Invaders.
And if that variant on the original Sal Buscema masterpiece is not enough, take a gander at the slight changes in the matching UK issue and the corresponding Marvel Super Action issue as well.
How many changes can you see? It is like one of those childhood "what is different challenges." If they look the same to you, check out things like the coloring, the position of the Eiffel Tower, the topiary in front of the tower, the position of Captain America's legs, the distance between Black Panther and the Sub-Mariner, the angles of the characters, the fireballs, etc. Why were such things changed, reshaped, or redrawn? I have no idea but I find it fascinating.
Staying with the UK output, I thought you might like to see some of the intermittent covers for their version of Secret Wars. They of course had many additional issues because of the shorter chapter breaks; but here are some covers that some of us may not have had the opportunity to view.
And last but not least, Redartz just yesterday discussed anniversary covers and I expressed my admiration for the George Perez cover to Avengers #200 despite the horrendous story. Well here is the reprint as it was handled overseas. It is kind of odd and seems to be missing something (ha), but I like the background color.
I hope you have enjoyed this initial post on cover reprint variations; more to come in the future. Cheers!
8 comments:
I suspect that, on that first Avengers cover, it was redrawn because, otherwise, the Black Knight would have been completely hidden by the new cover's larger masthead.
On the Eiffel Tower cover, I assume that Cap was moved upwards in order to prevent part of him being hidden by the newly added bar code box, which then forced them to move other elements around in order to accommodate his new position.
As for Marvel UK, some of the more dramatic reworkings I can recall are the Vision being redrawn as Thor when they reprinted the cover of Avengers #61. I'm also told he was redrawn as Thor in the comic's interior pages as well.
Infamously, there were the issues of the UK Planet of the Apes where Killraven was renamed, "Apeslayer," and his covers were redrawn to turn various characters into apes.
And then there was the cover to Spider-Man Comics Weekly #78, for which they reused the cover of Iron Man #45 but redrew Iron Man as Spider-Man.
The ones that immediately sprang to mind for me were Marvel Tales; sometimes they used new covers, but a lot of times (especially during the reprints of the Lee/Ditko/Romita classics in the early 80s) they had the original cover with new colouring and sometimes a border around it.
Then there's Classic X-Men, but I think those covers were all new.
Regarding that first pairing of covers, Steve's suggestion above makes good sense. But i don't care why it was done, i just wish they'd do it more often. That's a great concept, reversing the perspective gives a fresh take on the cover and is just rather cool.
V. little time to comment today but what a fine study of spot the difference. What perhaps doesn't come across easily on the blog is the impact of printing methods regarding design and appearance across the US and UK editions.
In the Bronze era the UK editions tended to be larger that their brethren across the pond, while covers were less glossy.
But by the time of the Avengers United #200 retrospective reprint, UK covers were printed on thicker card stock than the American originals.
Quite what impact these differences had on cover design I don't know, but the various editions certainly look and feel very different in the hand.
What an interesting subject - it certainly merits further research.
Yes, the changes to that Avengers #71 cover are really interesting. The original composition of the figures is basically a square which breaks down in the more open Marvel Super Action variant. It's more fluid, but less immediate to the viewer, and the darker background of the original works with that figurative "blocking" in the corners to bring the action into closer focus. I've owned that Super Action since I was a child, and I think I like it a little better, not just out of familiarity, but because it harmonizes with the story and the emphasis on the shifting locales of the contests in which the Avengers find themselves. It gives the stage a little more grandeur and strangely underscores how closed these conflicts are, and yet how far-ranging the effects of their outcomes will be.
Wonderful topic, thanks!
Great post and so well-researched as usual. I love stuff like this.
For a trip in the wayback machine, this topic was actually one of the first we wrote about on the BAB - as a treat, all the covers we featured are different from today's specimen's... furthering enjoyment of the subject!
https://bronzeagebabies.blogspot.com/2016/01/aint-nothing-like-real-thing-baby.html
Doug
Fascinating subject! One that is becoming increasingly interesting to me, as I'd generally ignored reprints 'back in the day'. With all the emphasis on variant covers in comics today, I find these vintage variations much more intriguing.
"Steve DC" seems to have the most logical reason for the cover changes in the UK.
When I worked at Reuters (a UK firm) the marketing department told me once that different colors work better in different countries. Also, a French advertising exec once told me that while the USA is big on the flag and patriotism, other countries don't really get motivated by such things.
I'm just curious if Marvel UK ever had any similar thinking to how they designed their covers? (E.g., change the colors, ditch the flag...)
Oh.. I did enjoy reprint around 1972 - 73. My best guess at this was perhaps due to the poor distribution of comics and being left with Marvel Triple Action or such for my fix.
Truly my grocery store had 2 spinners at one time in the early 1970s (one being Harveys and Archies!) and I never saw an Avengers from like 94 - 99. Half a year! GO figure... I wondered if it was a plot!
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