Monday, May 11, 2015

50 Years Ago...FANTASY MASTERPIECES!

Face Front, True Believer...
Beginning tomorrow, and for the rest of the week, we'll be presenting the tantalizing tales Smilin' Stan described lurking behind this colorful cover 50 years ago.
(And dig those MadMan-era threads!)
The anthology proved popular enough to keep going for several years, adding Golden Age superhero reprints, and, eventually, becoming a launch platform for both Captain Marvel (The third one, aka Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree) and the Guardians of the Galaxy!
But it was these sci-fi tales by the guys who were doing the Marvel super-heroes, that grabbed my attention!
(Not to mention the sheer chutzpah and showmanship of Stan the Man, linking the tales to the artists who were already becoming the first nerd culture celebrities!)
Be here tomorrow to discover (or re-discover) the magic!

6 comments:

  1. I've got this very issue. It switched to a 68/72 page comic with its 3rd or 4th issue. Unfortunately, when they started reprinting the Golden Age Cap stories, the art was sometimes altered in places.

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    1. The alterations to the superhero stories were due to the Comics Code Authority's objections to racist and extremely violent content in the original tales.
      The recent reprints (Masterworks, Omnibus, etc) are more faithful to the originals.
      (They also include a warning about the racist content.)

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    2. Yes, I remember reading about that, but I was thinking more of the alterations to the Red Skull's face to make it seem like a mask as opposed to a real (looking) skull. I think they were being a little too cautious there. Incidentally, there's a new Martine pic up on my blog for you.

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    3. The Red Skull's mask was just one of the alterations.
      Check out this blogpost...
      http://forbushman.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-new-reprints-part-2-all-comics-are.html
      ...for examples of other reasons.
      BTW, I note you read it, back in 2012!

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    4. Yup, I remember. Only mentioned the mask 'cos I was trying to be concise - not something that comes easy to me. ('Though I try my best.)

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  2. Looking forward to these. Fantasy Masterpieces was aptly named especially when the book tapped into the Golden Age.

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Thanx for posting!