I knew when I saw this Yugoslavian comic book Eks Almanah cover it rang a bell. It's a heavily reworked rendition of "Jaunty" Jim Steranko's classic poster for F.O.O.M. (Friends Of Old Marvel), the short-lived fan club for the House of Ideas.
Taking a look at the original below, it's interesting to see h ow the figures have been altered. The Hulk has white hair and an odd bracelet, the Surfer has a nifty belt and an "S" on his board, the Vision appears to wear his heart on his chest, the Black Widow gets a mask, the Angel gets a star, DD gets buccaneer boots, the Torch gets a t-shirt, Shellhead is orange and green, the Thing gets glasses, Mr.Fantastic is part of the "Fantastic Three", Thor's hammer is rounded, and Cap looks for all the world like his Marble counterpart "Charlie America". Black Bolt gets bounced entirely to fit in a second Spidey.
It's almost like one of those find-the-differences cartoons you see so often in magazines and newspapers. Why they felt the need to make these changes is anyone's guess, but curious ones they are indeed.
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Actually, that IS one of those "find the differences" pages from either one of Owen McCarron's Marvel Fun Books or Marvel Fun and Games comics. (I'm leaning toward one of the Fun Books 'cause I my memory sees this pic in black and white.) So the real question is, why was that silly thing run as a cover on a Yugoslavian mag?
ReplyDeleteGreat post as always. I love a mystery!
Now there you go. I never got that activity book, so I've never seen this page. That explains a lot. But not all.
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Man, I want to read about THESE wacky guys! Forget Marvel, Heart-Vision and Nearsighted Thing are where it's at!
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's like comics from a paralell universe. I'd love to see them.
DeleteThese parallel-world heroes are haunting my imagination...what led Vision to his heart emblem, how did Thing become nearsighted, when did Cap forsake America and why, what scared the Hulk to make his hair go white, and is Natasha's mask to save her from retribution by her erstwhile masters at the KGB?
DeleteJust a thought...you say Mr Fantastic is part of the Fantastic Three on that cover. What makes you sure that the Invisible Girl ISN'T there? ;)
ReplyDeleteI quite enjoyed Marvel Fun and Games (I fondly remember a rainy afternoon indoors spent reading a John Romita interview in Fun &Games), there seemed to be second-hand copies in every second-hand book shop in my youth, but it seems very hard to find these days.