Whatever Happened To Marvelman?

 

I have some Marvelman and Young Marvelman comics and annuals. Really fun and the case of the stolen giant marrows had me chuckling. Up until the 1990s the British loved their allotments and gardens. Growing fruit and veg boomed especially during/after the Second World War.  A lot of 1960s kids like me were presented with steamed/boiled marrow as part of Sunday dinner.

Confession: I could not stand marrow. 

The genius of Mick Anglo, and he was a bit of a comic genius (far more than Alan Moore or anyone else ever gave him credit for), was that he got artists working on strips that to any British kid was full of things they would be familiar with -weird aliens from TV puppet shows and of course the sacred marrow.

Read in 2026 they are still fun books. But, no, we just cannot allow fun comics can we?

And so, in the 1980s, I walked into a newsagents with my brother, Mike, and there was this magazine called Warrior. I looked -that was Marvelman! I bought. We got home and I opened it up to find that...it was not Marvelman. It was ...Miracleman?

Okay, Dez Skinn "purloined" the character assuming that it was public domain. He had worked at Fleetway so was aware of the "Thirty Year Rule". It is a rule that existed for...well, from the Platinume Age to 2000s but when you do something or use a character and  the slime involved in the periphery of comics in tyhe UK do not want you to they start protesting there is no such rule. There is and a chat with HM Copyright Office told me that they knew it existed.

The 30 Year Rule that Skinn employed stated that if a character had not seen publication in 30 years it was open to use. There was a 35 Year Rule which was a safety guard meaning the character was out of use but you allowed a further 5 years "in case". 

I mentioned this to the late Gil Page who was Managing Editor at Fleetway and had been there starting as an office boy when it was still Amalgamated Press -45+ years man and boy. Gil told me it was a known rule and Fleetway had used it themselves but giggled and told me "Best keep that quiet!" (I think I know the characters he was referring to now).

People are still criticing Skinn over "stealing" Marvelman but he was acting on well known and used rules so yah-boo-sucks!

Alan Moore "rebooted" the character to Miracleman and I must admit liking the series at the start as I switched off any Marvelman memories. However, as the series progressed you could see Moore's usual school boy minded excesses taking over. The graphic "Child birth" issue was one such because you had to ask why we needed to see a graphic child birth? It made no difference to the story it was just Moore being Moore.

I have posted before about the whole Alan Moore nad Eclipse farce where someone sold the character when they had no right to and "poor Alan" was (not) ripped off again. Eclipse was the company that published the "controversial" child birth issue but then the series just stopped....as did Eclipse.

Marvel then stepped in as it did not want any loose character running around that could use the name Marvel (when Marvelman appeared it was many years before Timely/Atlas become Marvel so use of the name yah-boo-sucks. They republished some of the black and white strips and I loved that.

Marvel Comics then finished the storyline which started with Moore and then Neil Gaiman before the latter "got cancelled". As someone at Marvel stated "We dodged a ------ bullet with that! If the story had broken earlier we would have junked the series!" I guess the loss of money would have been hurtful to the accountants!

After all of that Miracleman was never name changed back to Marvelman and why not doesn't make much sense since they purchased the Marvelman character from Anglo (was there anything odd in that deal (ahem) such as Anglo insisting that Marvel could use the character likeness but not the Marvelman name -it had t remain Miracleman to distinguish it from his fun creation (just saying. People talk).

Anyhow, as I stated when Marvel purchased the character, there was talk that they intended to make him American. As Lee said in the 1970s: "Make comics American" (yeah, I watched that edition of Pebble Mill at One on the BBC at the time.

And so, in 2026, a failed Captain America causes all sorts of chaos in a rather messy and almost unreadable Avengers Armageddon and suddenly....becomes Miracleman. Well he ain't Mike Moran so the dignity of the original Marvelman is intact.

Miracleman in Marvel's new Avengers title

Miracleman joins the Marvel Universe as the final member of the new Avengers lineup in the upcoming issue of Avengers #1, debuting on November 4, 2026. David Colton, the 21st-century Captain America, inherits Miracleman's legacy and extraordinary powers, which include flight, superstrength, durability, and the ability to switch between human and superhuman forms. Miracleman's arrival is a significant development in the Marvel Universe, as he is expected to play a pivotal role in the new era of heroes.

We know how Marvel's previous "New Eras" have gone.

We'll see. But as a side note that "costume" looks bloody awful!

Does Anyone Have A Scanned Copy?

 My copy was stolen years back so I am trying to find a copy either an actual comic or a scan. If so please get in touch: 

hoopert1957@gmail.com use header Streamline 3 to avoid the spam folder!

Thank You

Upcoming changes

British Golden Age Comics has so far been viewed  214, 813 times while UK Golden Age Heroes and Comics has had 89,884 views.

Trying to publish new material to two blogs which, quite honestly, are on the same subject is a lot of work. Getting the material, writing it up, editing and posting can take time and there are things I have looked at when trying to make a decision as the their future.

Firstly, the posts attract no comments or VERY rarely attract a comment. There is no feed back or conversation with readers -that was the whole point of the blogs because you might assume with the number of views someone must think something or have questions.

Secondly, sales of the Platinum, Golden and Dark Ages compilations. Each book can take a couple months to put together and gathering the material can cost. But the books are a "passion project". There were at one time a lot of supposed fans of comics from these periods and the material I publish is what we would have grabbed like crazy in the years preceding the internet and the new age of illiteracy.

Of the Black Tower Gold reprints I believe that two copies have sold of each. Of the Ultimate Golden Age Collection about 5 copies. That is not weak that is an abject failure. Once I shift this mortal coil the online store closes. There are no stocks of books to buy in later years as everything is print on demand. Only books ordered get printed. Yep, I go everything goes and I had hoped there would at least be copies of the books out there for the future.

So, lack of any comments/conversations or sales of books has had me re-assess the blogs. What I do post in future will opnl;y be on the British Golden Age Comics blog.

These changes will begin at some point before Christmas so if you are still interested in the material BGAC is the blog to earmark.

Thank You.

I often Ramble...and Appeal.

 

 "Why don't you publish a British Golden Age horror collection?"

Well, the pulp scene continued in a way with US reprints but not horror comics as such. We had Dene Vernon dealing with all sorts of supernatural menaces (and moe) and Krako was "The Angel of the Burning Death" but apart from incinerating some "unidentified European fascist troops" there was a lot of interesting but hardly "horror" action.

Most of this has already been reprinted in the Gold series and Dene Vernon has already had a reprint issue. The thinking at the time was that comics were for youngsters and it was probably considered giving kids horror stories when they faced  bombing raids and deaths every night was a bit much. escapism was far better. The 1940s were the Dark Age of British comics as explainmed in this post: https://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/2019/08/redefining-ages-of-british-comic_15.html

If you want the quick snippet....

British super heroes and action was rife as were the humour comics so some of the 1930s Golden Agen creation spirit was still going strong. In fact, evn today I found yet another long lost and forgotten masked character of the 1940s. I think it fair to say that Dennis M. Reader and Denis Gifford (Reader in the main) created and kept the super hero alive and well during the 1940s. Other artists did contribute to the tights and capes (and bat-wings) set.

I have to also say that Mick Anglo and his creative run started while the Dark Age turned into the Silver Age; "He created Marvel Man" and that was it. Well, that is it unless you actually know something about Anglo's career drawing and writing everything from Sci Fi to Westerns, to crime stories and humour/ He may well not have been the greatest and most slick artist ever but he made up for it in what his mind created and visualised. We owe far, far more to Anglo than 99% of the supposed comic fans know.

After many years photographs of Dennis Reader (like other creators) still allude me and it would be nice to put a face to a name and set of work.

Top of the list for creator photos are

William A Ward

Dennis M Reader

The McCail brothers

Thank You

Comic Bits 4: Covering The British Platinum, Golden, Dark and Silver Ages Of Comic Art

 

A4

80pp

colour and black and white

Perfect bound

£12.00 Until December 1st 2026 then £20.00

https://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper/comic-bits-4/paperback/product-nv555mq.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Celebrating the British Platinum, Golden, Dark and Silver Ages of Comic Art and the long forgotten masters of comic book art and in this issue we look at George H Heath, Jack Greenall, Hugh Stanley White and John R Turner who are mostly forgotten. Their work from the 1930s to 1960s shaped the face of British comics.

And lost or forgotten characters? We hve those. Who remembers Dick Gordon The Bat-Man? Cyclone? Even though he was a long lasting character who remembers The Falcon? If that isn't good enough how about delving into the early 19th century and the first indisputable pop culture icon Dr Syntax. Educational and entertaining Comic Bits 4 is for the comic historianb as well as lovers of comics.

Done and Dusted

 

It is done. Comic Bits 4 is currently awaiting my approval after I get a proof copy and then I will give the details.

The issue will be packed with information about creators unknown these days but who were real Masters of Comic Art. But above all else Comic Bits will do what it always does; put back into printcomic strips and characters long forgotten going back to the early 20th century and in one case early 19th.

It took three days to put it all together and I was fretting over the cover to 02:30 hrs in the morning but then the cover design hit me. So all done and dusted. The magazine is a mix of black and white as well as colour and the usual 80pp.

One thing I have to say that I enjoyed which made the work quicker and easier (and fun) was getting out my reference books and notes as well as comics to provide the contents.

And... I have enough m,aterial to start on  number 5 but when that happens is open to question. 

A.C.E. ?

 

Is there any online presence of Gifford's old Association of Comic Enthusiasts?

Think Comic Bits 4...and another British Bat character discovered!

 

 It is 00:30 hrs (come on you know the time) and I have just gotten up to page 53 of Comic Bits 4.  I really should be drawing but...

Anyway, I needed a sample comic strip by a specific  Golden-Silver Ages British artist. There is a mish -mash but not great quality. Then I found it. A full comic strip in good quality so I thought I'd pop over to the blog in question and see whether I could ask to use the blogger's scans. Only polite thing to do -though it is rare these days.

It was my blog. I have posted so much over three decades on British comics history that I tend to forget a lot!  I looked at the strip and thought "I still have those scans" and I do. That I found them is a miracle in itself!

Tomorrow I hope to complete CB 4 and then comes the hesitancy of designing a cover. Oh boy.

Incidentally, I have already gathered some of the material for CB 5.  Do it while you have the energy I say (the magazine you dirty minded....)

I forgot to say that other than long forgotten character discoveries...there is another British Bat-man type. Well there had to be hadn't there?

Comic Bits 4

 

 In two days working until 0220 hrs (or 2.20 am) I have just gotten up to page 34 of Comic Bits 4 -feature articles on forgotten British creators and plenty of comic strips featuring characters long forgotten.

I want to cram as much into this one as I can. CB is usually 80pp but now that we've had colour since issue 3 it is a great opportunity to present strips as they first appeared. 

I will update as and when I can so stand by!

Quick Appeal

 Does anyone have a scan of this comic. If so PLEASE get in touch hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com

Thanks

The Reprints Future

 

Just a quick note about the GA reprints to update anyone interested.

I  am always -always- on the look out for any scans of pre-1952 UK comics.  The point is not to make money with reprints because, if I am being honest, the UK Golden Age books do not sell. 

The late Denis Gifford ran the Association of Comic Enthusiasts (ACE) and I am quite sure that a few have survived like me! I also ran Yahoo and other groups dealing with Platinum, Golden and Silver agesof UK comics -there is still a Face Book group loaded with many images. Nothing.

British Golden Age Comics blog has had 207,845 views but no sales of books from those views.

UK Golden Age Heroes and Comics 87,402 views but no books sold.

The Golden Age books are all as good a quality reprint as you can get and more than one page has taken a day to clean and make readable. This is work that has been going on for decades (that thought terrifies me!) and how much have I spent on all of this to try to preserve lost comics, characters and creators?  I think in a previous post on that subject I mentioned that I got to a  certain figure and then gave up as the total amount terrified me even more than the amount of time I spent on this.

Back in..1995 I put forward the idea of a British Comic Book Archive so that everything could be stored  at a central point and accessed for free. Thios idea came up after I had to help the family of the creator of the newspaper strip, Garth, Steve Dowling, find some samples of his work. Then the family of another long gone artist asked the same thing and it goes on and on.

Artists and writers whether the old Boys Papers (and my research proved the 'fact' that these NEVER contained comic strips because they were seen as "low art" to be wrong) , Penny Dreadfuls or comics were were always paid as little as a publisher could getr away with and some struggled to bring entertainment to  youngsters and oldsters alike. They at least deserve to be remembered and I was quite happy to find out that Louis Diamond, comics publisher and writer/artist is a relation (and, yes, he got "screwed over"by Amalgamated Press rathere like I was by its successor Fleetway years later).

Based on the percentage I get from a book sale (after printer and print on demand company) I would need to sell around 100 copies of one reprint book to get the money back I paid for one of the original albums/annuals or comics.

It is definitely a passion than for profit work!

Sadly, I chose a time when the internaet has created a new generation of illiteracy where no one wants to actual;ly read a printed book...but if it's free online well -grab it!

Discoveriung lost characters is fun and I get a kick out of it every time and from now the rediscovered items will appear only in Comic Bits -far easier than working on full lenth reprint books.

Text features, artists and writers bios -if they can be found- all blended together like a good coffee (I need a cup of coffee!) and filling 80 pages each issue. I'm so excited I may buy copies myself😂