Published this very day in 1963, The Avengers #1. Famously, the title was put together at considerable speed by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee et al to hurriedly take the place on the printing schedule of a disastrously late new Daredevil title. If the resulting debut issue wasn’t consistently polished, it really was an awful lot of fun. That in itself was a considerable success.
But of course, none of those concerned in its creation could have possibly guessed they were laying the foundation stone of a multi-billion media franchise. 2019’s Avengers: Endgame is reported alone to have grossed $2,799,439,100 worldwide-wide. It terrifies me to guess how little of that has headed in the direction of the many comics creators who have helped make The Avengers such an enticing and profitable property to adapt.
Surfin’ With The Astronauts continued to edge – and I do mean ‘edge’ – its way up the US album charts in this week in 1963. It would peak at #61 at the end of this month. Sadly for those of us seeking something more fantastical, the band were in fact a trunks-wearing surf outfit with not a spacesuit or rocket capsule in sight. But there was a cover of Lee Hazlewood’s Batman on the LP to make it all just a smidgen more out-there.
“Coney Island Goes ‘Canaveral’”
The second of August 1963’s editions of Variety reported on developments already underway at the new Astroland attraction on Coney Island. It was all happening, the trade magazine explained, to exploit the age’s “fierce concern with rocket propulsion, satellite launchings and lunar landings”. Coney Island, according to the article, was a “vortex of supersonic space-spinning and detonating speed” with several “canny showmen (turning ) the seaside amusement zone into a giant sized ‘go’ version of Cape Canaveral”. The theme of Astroland, we were told, was “A Journey Into The 21st Century”. Already in place for summer 1963 were “the Cape Canaveral Satellite Jet (creating) the effect of a ride to the Moon”, at 25-50 cents a ride, and, at 25 cents per punter, “The Colonel Glen Skyride (transporting) Alabama Ave. astronauts in plastic bubble-domes some 80 feet above the park to the broadwalk”.
Astroland would survive into the 21st century, finally closing on September 7th 2007.
The Almanac Of The Fantastical will return tomorrow…
The Almanac Of The Fantastical 