Cap in the UK: 1970s Avengers Weeklies

In the 1970s, Marvel UK tried reprinting the American books on a weekly format. Interiors would be in black and white and the size would be larger than the American standard (more like a magazine format). You can see here that they started with the 1960s stories.

Note the cover above, which wasn't used in the American books, and the one below, which was the art used for the American Avengers book. With the weekly format, they would have burned through the inventory fairly quickly. So the original story would be cut in half two cover two issues and the rest of each issue would be filled out with a back up story by another American comic.

The cover above should look familiar to long time Avengers fans. The cover below, similar to the one above, should not. This is another example of one American issue covering two UK weekly issues. But to do this, a new cover and splash page would have to be drawn up. This makes for some interesting gems to be uncovered.

One of the earliest editors of the Marvel UK line in the 1970s was a chap named Neil Tennant. In the 1980s, he became one half of the English group The Pet Shop Boys. And even later, Doctor Who actor David Tennant took his stage name from the same editor turned musician.