When Terrific was launched in April 1967 it came with a free Iron Man T-shirt transfer, and there is is above. My mum ironed it onto a T-shirt for me when I was 8 years old, back in 1967. Clearing out some stuff the other day I discovered I'd kept the section of the T-shirt, cut out and perfectly preserved (after it had been washed of course) like some sort of Turin Shroud. So I thought I'd show it here.
Here's a photo below of me in Blackpool in the summer of 1967 wearing it, and eating a plate of shrimps. As you did in Blackpool in the sixties. The colours of the transfer look too pale on the photo but you can see how vivid they were in the image above. (The background of the actual transfer is more of a fluorescent orange but that doesn't pick up too well on a scan.)
...and I couldn't end this post without showing a scan of the cover to Terrific No.1 of course! As is evident, the colours on the cover image were not an accurate portrayal of the actual transfer but it's interesting to compare. (Well, interesting if you're into 1960s free gifts of course!) I suppose they contrasted it more to make a bolder cover image.
How's that for just about the most trivial post you've seen here? :)
I too had the transfer lovingly ironed on to a T shirt by my mum, though I was a mere youngster of 7! (though turned 8 the next month). So great you still have it all these years later.
ReplyDeleteLuckily I didn't have any white T-shirts at the time so I've still got my transfer on the tissue paper it came with. Same with the Spider-Man transfer from Pow! :)
ReplyDeleteWow!
DeleteYou've just reminded me, Phil, that I also have a bit of shirt that has my 1967 Spider-Man transfer on. :)
ReplyDeleteI still have the intact unused Hulk and the Spider-Man transfers that were free in MWOM though in 1972, as I was 13 then so a small superhero transfer on teenager's T-shirt would have attracted some funny looks.
I wonder if a modern 13 year-old would wear super-hero transfers on a T-shirt ? Superheroes are supposed to be cool now and in the mainstream, part of the zeitgeist etc but is that true I wonder ? Would a 13 year-old today really feel any more comfortable with Spider-Man on his T-shirt than in 1972 ?
ReplyDeleteDepends on the design perhaps. Those free transfers were quite small so would look silly on T-shirts for bigger kids.
ReplyDeleteHow do you reckon Iron Man gets that chain to snap at the point where there's a 90 degree bend in it?
ReplyDelete(I have no life and wonder these things sometimes)
Excellent post Lew and great photos (and memories for you). I never had the Terrific transfer but had the POW! “Spider-Man” one which I ironed onto the only light coloured shirt I had (not a t-shirt a cream long sleeved shirt with a zip up collar ) it did not look good on it .
ReplyDeleteI would say that 13 years old’s today would and do definitely now feel comfortable wearing a superhero t-shirt (and all the more if it’s a retro one). Certainly in the Glasgow area (I suspect all of the UK) I have seen loads of kids (and adults) wearing them (and the associated super hero bags and caps as well) my office is full of 20 – 60plus year olds wearig trhem on dress down Fridays. In fact Primark (and other stores like H&M etc) has a pretty cool (and cheap) successful line of Marvel and DC t shirts, hoodies etc that are really popular with all ages. As a 13 year old I would not have worn a super hero t shirt (in 1973) as pals would have “slagged” me off for being a big wain (kid) even although they read the comics themselves. Saying that, at the ripe old age of 56 I occasionally wear my Superman logo t-shirt and not a thing is said to me (well to my face at any rate )
Hi there to all members of the Power Pack!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have all the comics, albums, summer special & fun book...I have none of the free gifts from any of the 5 titles. These are very rare & expensive...I am tempted to start searching though! Wonder which are the rarest?
Cheers guys!
Peter
I'm not sure which are the rarest, Peter. I kept most of mine. You'll find photos of them and various other free gifts at this link and associated pages:
ReplyDeletehttp://lewstringer.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/free-inside-part-7.html
I can still picture my mother in the kitchen ironing on this transfer onto a white t-shirt. I was at a comic fair @10years ago and found one of these free gift lovingly kept for prosperity hidden in a Jimmy Olsen 60s DC comic. Best £5 I ever spent!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a great find, Ken! I bought a load of Scorcher comics last year and found a Sun page three girl folded up and hidden inside one of them. Not quite the same but it goes to show you never know what you'll find inside old comics. (I found a squashed wasp inside an old Beezer book once. It's guts splattered all over the pages. Threw it straight in the bin.)
ReplyDeleteThat page 3 girl was obviously hidden from disapproving parents. Funny how a teenagers interest can stray from 'Billy's Boots' to busty birds in a few short years! There again did you check overleaf? There may well have been an interesting article on Britain's entry into the Common Market or the Cod Wars - articles that any teenage boy would want to keep and ahem read under the covers!
ReplyDeleteWell I used 'page three' as a generic term. It was actually the centre pages featuring a topless model and the television listings were on the reverse. I didn't keep it as I didn't want to think where it had been. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lew, a bit late, but I had the transfer too, but I let my Mother iron it on my younger brother's tee shirt. Unbeknown to him, she had kept hold of it as a souvenir. When we lost her, around the same time as yourself and Paul McS, my brother came across it whilst sorting her effects out, so it is now back where it belongs, but he CERTAINLY couldn't get into it now!! :-) Now, much catching up to do....
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