Marvel #7
Marvel (Lug) #7, cover-dated October 1970, holds a precise structural landmark in the history of French-language comics: it is the final issue of the short-lived Éditions Lug series to appear in its original small pocket format and in two-colour (bichrome) printing, making it the physical boundary between two distinct production eras of the title. As the closing chapter of the only run that first brought Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, and Captain Marvel to French readers in any form, it stands as a capstone to a foundational — and ultimately censored — attempt to naturalise the Marvel Universe in France. The breadth of characters it carries (spanning the Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Captain Marvel casts simultaneously) captures the anthology ambition that Lug pursued before the series was shut down after just thirteen issues.
In "Alliés au Prince des Mers," Peter Parker is sidelined by a relentless flu while Doctor Octopus kidnaps Betty Brant, hoping to lure Spider-Man into a trap. With the hero incapacitated, the villain defeats and unmasks Peter, but no one believes the real Spider-Man is just a sick kid pretending—until the web-slinger recovers and takes on the wild beasts Ock unleashed from the zoo. Written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Steve Ditko, this 1970 adventure brings a classic clash of wits and wills, with a cover by Jack Kirby and Jean-Yves Mitton, inked by Chic Stone and Mitton.
When Peter comes down with a brutal flu, Doc Ock seizes the chance to kidnap Betty Brant, hoping to lure the Spider-Man into a trap. After overpowering the web-slinger and exposing his true identity, the public assumes Peter’s just pretending to be Spidey to look brave. Once recovered, the web-slinger must face off against the wild animals Doc Ock unleashed from the zoo—now turned loose to hunt him personally.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Marvel (Lug) launched on 10 April 1970 as Éditions Lug's second attempt to bring Marvel Comics to France, born directly from the wreckage of Fantask, which had been banned by France's censorship commission after only a handful of issues. Marcel Navarro's Lyon-based house had been persuaded to license Marvel material in 1968 by Claude Vistel, who had encountered it during a trip to New York. The pocket format adopted for the first seven issues — necessitating a drastic re-cutting and reformatting of the original American pages — was the same approach Lug used for its near-simultaneous launch of Strange, and it imposed significant visual compromises on art originally designed for a much larger page. With #7 the editorial team closed out that first phase; from #8 onward the title expanded to a 17 × 24 cm colour format, and the collected album reprinting issues #5–7 was released the same month with a Captain Marvel poster inserted to mark the occasion.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published 10 October 1970 by Éditions Lug (Lyon, France); cover price and page count unconfirmed by available sources.
- Final issue of the series in small pocket format and two-colour (bichrome) printing — issues #1–7 were all bichrome; from #8 onward the magazine moved to full colour at the larger 17 × 24 cm size.
- Part of a 13-issue run (April 1970 – April 1971) that was the second French-language publication to translate and reprint Marvel Comics, following the banned Fantask (1969).
- The series is documented as the first French publication to feature Spider-Man (L'Araignée); this run introduced the character to French readers before he was transferred to the long-running magazine Strange.
- Content drawn from concurrent American series featuring the Fantastic Four (Les Quatre Fantastiques), The Amazing Spider-Man (L'Araignée), and Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell / Carol Danvers / Yon-Rogg); specific issue numbers of US source stories for #7 are not confirmed in available sources.
- Issue #7 was collected, together with #5 and #6, in Album N°2 (Éditions Lug, October 1970), which also included a Captain Marvel poster — reusing the same illustration as the cover of Marvel (Lug) #2 — to signal the series' shift to its new larger format.
- The entire 13-issue run was ultimately halted by France's Commission de surveillance des publications destinées à la jeunesse, which reportedly objected to the monstrous appearance of La Chose (Ben Grimm / The Thing).
- After the series ended, Spider-Man's adventures were transferred to Strange, and Captain Marvel's serialisation followed later, ensuring continuity of French readership for both characters.
Cast · 40 characters
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints The Amazing Spider-Man #12 (1964), Fantastic Four #33 (1964), Fantastic Four #34 (1965), Fantastic Four #36 (1965), Marvel's Space-Born Superhero! Captain Marvel #5 (1968), Strange #10 (1970), Marvel #8 (1970)
Reprinted in Marvel #6 (1970), Strange #10 (1970)
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