It all started in March 1975 with Giant-Size SVTU number 1 featuring Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner. Of course, it had the obligatory 70s "And Now the Iron-Masked Master of Menace Thinks Back..." line that leads to the reprint that allegedly propels the story forward.
But it was still cool. The new stuff was written by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema. So far, so good, right? Issue 2 of GS SVTU, published 3 months later, had a full original story, again by Thomas, but this time the artists were Mike Sekowsky and Sam Grainger. Clearly, Marvel was a bit too ambitious with the GS part of this, as they inexplicably have a reprint of Amazing Spider-Man 8 included in this issue! Huh???
Anyway, fast forward 2 more months to SVTU number 1! Doctor Doom! Sub-Mariner! And some new characters - Attuma! Dr. Dorcas! And the Terrible Tiger Shark! This time out, we have Tony Isabella doing the writing, and George Tuska & Bill Everett doing the art chores. They even throw George Evans into the mix with the second part of the story.
And so it went. Each issue, you didn't know who would deliver the goods - but each issue was entertaining. Later issues added the Red Skull to the mix! All that was missing was the Green Goblin. Too bad he was dead (at least at the time he was).
And just look at some of the great names that lent their considerable talents to this excellent title: Sal Buscema, Jim Shooter, Bill Mantlo, Herb Trimpe, Jim Mooney, Steve Englehart and Keith Giffen.
Maybe I was just at the right age and very impressionable. Whatever it was, I can say that I still think this is one of my favorite 70s titles. It was a fun 19 issues - and what more can you ask for when it comes to comics? Fun is exactly what all comics should strive for.
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Awesome! I just found out that there is an Essentials that collects all these issues and more! I may have to get this myself! You can get them all in one place! Lucky you!
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