Oddities: Captain America fans

Mrs Rusty and I have been lucky enough to attend the famous San Diego Comic Con on three separate occasions -- in 2008, 2011 and 2014 -- and it's always been a great holiday, but mostly that's because one of my oldest friends lives just outside San Diego and getting to catch up with himself …

In-Shallow Profile: Foom #8

My first proper taste of comic-book fandom -- other than the atrocious comics I drew for myself -- came from Marvel with the December 1974 issue of their in-house fanzine Foom. Foom is an acronym for "Friends of Ol' Marvel" because, well, of course it is. Stan Lee, right? It was a quarterly publication that …

Marvel UK 70s & 80s Leftovers Timeline

A few weeks ago we looked at the Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly family trees, so here's a timeline of the remaining Marvel UK comics of the 70s and 80s. Why only the 70s & 80s? Why, that's simple! Beyond the 80s it's a scary nightmarish quagmire, that's why. Marvel UK was …

Branding: Spider-Man Comics Weekly

In the first part of this highly-acclaimed-by-me series, we looked at how the Doctor Who Weekly comic evolved into the Doctor Who Magazine magazine. This time, it's the turn of another staple of the Marvel UK publishing group, Spider-Man Comics Weekly. A spin-off from The Mighty World of Marvel -- launched four months earlier -- Spider-Man …

The MWOM & SMCW Timeline

"The what timeline?" I imagine that I hear you ask. Wonder no more, chum: those four-letter words that look a bit like they might be the names of Welsh TV stations are the commonly-used shortcuts for The Mighty World of Marvel and Spider-Man Comics Weekly, the first two titles released by the British wing of …

Most Popular Posts of 2018!

Rusty Staples was launched only about eight months ago as the fly crows, but already it's in the top 100% of the most popular comic blogs ever! Amazing, I know, but there you go: you wonderful people know awesomeness when you see it! Now, to welcome in the year 2019, I'd like to take you …

Captain America: The Great Gold Steal

A follow-up to The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker, which was the first novel based on a Marvel comic, Captain America: The Great Gold Steal was published by Bantam Books in July 1968. Clunky title aside, it's actually a rather good adventure. It's better written than the Avengers novel, but the plot's a little more …

Pocket-Money Comics: Captain America

Captain America Publisher: Marvel UK Issues: 59 First issue: 25 February 1981 Last issue: 7 April 1982 Absorbed: Marvel Action, Marvel Super Adventure By February 1981, Marvel UK had been running for nine years and had published over thirty different titles, to varying degrees of success (for example, the 1975 weekly edition of The Savage …