The Wonderful... er, Mighty World of Marvel

Unearthed!

When I started my original Secret Oranges Blog on Friday, 4 November 2011. The very first post was something I’d rediscovered lurking in the back of my filing cabinet. A very crumpled and aged dummy for issue #1 of The Mighty World of Marvel. I'd originally rescued this from certain doom while I was working at Marvel UK in Kentish Town, sometime in 1984 (I think). We were planning an office move to a far more salubrious location in Bayswater and were all told to jettison anything that wasn't needed to save on removal crates which were pretty limited. I spotted this sticking out of a pile of rubbish destined for the bin, and being the incessant hoarder that I am, saved it from a certain future in a landfill. I wish I’d rescued more now, but I’m glad I retrieved this one, because it’s a little slice of comics history. It also shows that photocopiers were somewhat limited quality-wise in 1972.

© Marvel Comics

You’ll notice a few differences between the cover mock-up and the final printed issue. Interestingly, there were a couple of other pages alongside it; one is an advertisement with editor's corrections, but curiously it says The Wonderful World of Marvel, leading me to speculate as to whether that was the comic's originally proposed title. You’ll see it has a line through it here.

The Daredevils was published in January, 1983, and this promotional poster, signed by Alan Davis and Alan Moore, was given to me by one of the editors.

Another treasure that I acquired three years later was this Fantastic Four poster that I asked Stan Lee to sign when he visited Marvel UK’s Bayswater offices. I still kick myself for not having my camera with me that day, and there were no iPhones to fall back on in 1987! Anyway, I was thankful to have a bit of a chat with him as he signed this poster for me. It’s not every day you get a chance to meet your heroes.

© Marvel Comics