Comments on: Scott’s Classic Comics Corner: Fun & Affordable Fantasies

By: RobM

RobM — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:28:48 +0000

Fantasy Masterpieces #9, featuring the Torch under glass by Gil Kane, was the very first comic book I ever bought, when I was nine years old. I had read a friend’s Fantastic Four comics, and I remember being very confused at how different the Human Torch looked and acted in this comic, not realizing that this one was a reprint of comics published nearly thirty years earlier.

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:35:18 +0000

Fantastic. Very thorough. Thanks for the prices.
I look forward to tracking these down this year.

By: Mike Blake

Mike Blake — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:26:29 +0000

Apropos of nothing, I remember when Not Brand Echh! parodied this comic,
they called it Fancy Masterpizzas..

By: benday-dot

benday-dot — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 01:05:13 +0000

Great feature (as usual) Scott. I have most of this series. Great cheap way, as you suggest, to get a generous glimpse at the old Timely material. I actually liked the “Death Loads the Bases”. reprint from issue #7. Ridiculous to be sure, but to me the oddball nature of the tales enabled a “because of” rather than an “in spite of” situation to prevail. Odder still, I think this was the very same story Marvel chose to reprint, presumably as a representative highlight of the immortal Simon/Kirby run, just a few months ago as the back-up tale in their Captain America 70th Anniversary issue. Not up to par with Red Skull story from #6, but a fun diversion in the finest spirit of Golden Age “anything goes” experimentation.

By: Cully C

Cully C — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:41:53 +0000

The cover for Fantasy Masterpieces #4 is a very rare piece of Jack Kirby inking his own pencils. I’m hard pressed to think of another.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:59:58 +0000

Perhaps I didn’t hint at it enough in my penultimate paragraphy, but I will be diving into the world of MSH in the not too distant future – so hang on for some real fun!

I meant to note in the column that I love how Marvel referred to the monster reprints as coming from the Golden Age, when the were pretty much all from the 1960-1963 period.

First time ‘Golden Age’ was referenced on a cover?

By: Dan Bailey

Dan Bailey — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:57:06 +0000

(And I’m very much in agreement with thefantome’s sentiments about the first few issues of Marvel Super-Heroes. I’m not sure I even continued buying the comic after #20, the last one before the Avengers/X-Men reprints showed up.)

>>in addition to a ridiculously hokey baseball-themed Captain American story called “Death Loads the Bases”

Speaking of which, BTW, this one also shows up in the back of the recent 70th-anniversary Captain America Comics #1.

By: Dan Bailey

Dan Bailey — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:49:49 +0000

Brian –

Yes. This was the forerunner of Marvel Super-Heroes, which continued to run Golden Age superhero backups through #20.

Otherwise … neat! As I recounted on the Classic Comics forum a few years ago, Fantasy Masterpieces #3 would’ve constituted my first glimpse of Golden Age Marvel when I read a copy at the grocery store late in my first-grade year. The only story that stuck with me, & then very vaguely (which is how I was able to surmise, by consulting with greater minds than mine, that that was indeed) the comic I was thinking of), was an Atlas monster story, “Beware of … Bruttu!”

By: thefantome

thefantome — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:46:26 +0000

This was by far my favorite Marvel series to collect when I was a kid. I liked the cover to #7 so much, I tore it off and used it as a pin-up on my bedroom wall. As you surmissed, the All-Winners Squad issue (#10) was a fanboy’s dream.

When tthe series transitioned into “Marvel Superheroes” with #12, it was the best of both worlds. The Captain Marvel, Ka-Zar, Black Knight, Guardians of The Galaxy, Phantom Eagle, Doctor Doom, Ka-Zar and Spider-Man features were all great stuff and we continued with the golden age stories from the past. I was SO disappointed when MSH went to Avengers/X-Men reprints.

Here’s a bit of trivia not many people may be aware of, but I remember to this day. The final issue of MSH to contain a primary cover feature contained an ad for next’ issue’s star. It was to be the premiere of Starhawk, a character who wouldn’t see the light of day for many years afterwards.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:12:09 +0000

Awesome. Never heard of this series.

I’m quite a fan of that epic Torch/Namor fight, though. I mean, a bunch of dudes hung out and did the whole book in a weekend. That’s great.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:34:30 +0000

Great article. I’m also curious in regards to faithful reprints, only because I thought the code would prevent certain situations or characters being seen in the 60s. Weren’t certain monsters verboten? Recently, I read the Batman annuals, and a comment in the introduction discussed the change from Two-Face being disfigured by acid to being disfigured by an exploding spotlight.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but was this the series that then became Marvel Super-Heroes, with Captain Marvel premiering in Issue #12?

Cheers,