Sunday, June 30, 2019

The Avengers #14: The Newton edition


Newton Comics' The Avengers #14 is cover-dated February 1976:


The cover was originally published on Marvel Comics' The Avengers #18:


The story contents are as follows:

When The Commissar Commands!, originally published in The Avengers #18, July 1965

If I Fail, A World Is Lost! [Part 1], originally published in Tales of Suspense #66, June 1965

The splash page to When The Commissar Commands! is modified:


In order to incorporate the indicia it is cropped at the top, deleting The Mighty Avengers! banner, and cropped at the bottom, erasing a small portion of the credits. Compare to a scan of the original page, as reprinted in my copy of Marvel Masterworks Vol. 9 The Avengers Nos 11-20, 1989 [First Printing]:


It is otherwise reprinted without any significant modifications.

Only the first six pages of If I Fail, A World Is Lost! are reprinted in this issue, and given previous Iron Man backup features had previously been subjected to all manner of butchery, it is pleasing to be able to say that although it is incomplete, the portion reprinted is unadulterated, apart from a minor intrusion on the final panel advising it is Continued Next Issue.

This issue contains a Dracula poster:


This was originally published as the cover on Marvel Comics' The Tomb of Dracula #14:


Unfortunately the colouring on the poster makes the ghostly transitional bat figure virtually indistinguishable from Dracula's cape, as it was on the cover of Newton Comics' Dracula #9:


This issue includes two in-house advertisements:

The Invincible Iron Man #1

Doctor Strange #10
This is a pre-production image.

The Avengers #14 was advertised  in other Newton comics:


This ad is scanned from Newton Team-Up #2.

The contest expiry date is 21 February 1976. Contest dates could be unreliable in this period, but if we take the contest expiry date and cover date at face value, the likely publication date of this issue is 7 February 1976.

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