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We start with the story that began it all. On your left is a page from
MARVEL COMICS #1, reprinted in the October '97 tpb, THE GOLDEN AGE OF MARVEL COMICS.
The page on the right is from the MARVEL COMICS #1 hardcover reprint from 1989.
Marvel editor, Tom Brevoort, told me that Bill did the first two Sub-Mariner stories
using craft-tint paper, which uses line screens to create areas of gray.
The 1989 MARVEL COMICS #1 job was recreated by bleaching and retouching copies from
an original copy of the book. Tom then said the film he used in 1997 TGAOM was originally
shot from a copy of MOTION PICTURE FUNNIES WEEKLY, in which the strip was run in black
and white; hence, superior reproduction on the craft-tint effects. Because Bill added
an additional 4 pages to the story when it was run in MARVEL COMICS #1 (included in the
'89 reprint), there are no better copies of them, and they did not include the final
four pages in the '97 TGAOM. I think we can see Tom's point, when you look at the page
on the right. MUCH better in the '97 version. Notice the style of Bill's drawing of
the Sub-Mariner. It would change over the years, and quite a bit in the next few.
Of course, MARVEL COMICS #1 is from 1939. Perhaps Bill spent much more time on this
initial story, and wasn't as rushed.
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