How Alfred Hitchcock brought Avengers Endgame to the movies in 1971

Fifty-One years ago this week my comic collecting began in earnest, when I bought Batman Giant #233 from Gardeners Newsagents in Albert Road, Southsea. 

That same week Albert Hitchcock was filming a key scene of his film “Frenzy” near Covent Garden in London. I watched the film for the first time this afternoon, and the extensive location shooting of the Thames and the area in and around Covent Garden provide a captivating window into the past - a kind of disturbing “Look At Life” travelogue with a serial killer and an innocently accused man as an added bonus.

The eagle-eyed amongst those of you who are familiar with the film may have noticed the scene at 14m 57s, where our anti-hero, played by Jon Finch, enters an alley on Charing Cross Road, walking past a news stand.

© Universal Studios. "Frenzy" 1971.

Visible to the naked eye we can see Harvey Comics, Alan Class reprints, Time magazine, Private Eye, Punch, and a wide variety of other British magazines of the day. Talk about a camera into the past! 

Unlike more recently filmed period pieces which feature comics of the era (eg Catch Me If You Can), Frenzy displays actual magazines on sale at the time of filming.

The Time magazine on display is of the week of Aug 9th 1971, while the Punch is for the week of 4th- 10th Aug 1971, so we have a pretty accurate pinpoint on when this scene was filmed.

The three Harvey comics on display are:

• Richie Rich - #108 - Harvey - Aug 1971 - on sale in US May 15 1971
• Wendy - The Good Little Witch - #68  (Aug) - on sale in US May 15 1971
• Spooky #125 (Aug) - on sale in US May 15 1971

© Harvey Comics 1971

I was never a Harvey comic collector - in fact have no firm recollection of having seen them on the T&P spinner racks in Southsea, but here they are for all to see. And the dating of the filming giving some confirmation that Harvey, like DC and Marvel, were subject to a 3-month delay between US street-date and appearing on UK stands.

Of more interest to readers of this blog are the two Alan Class reprint comics:

• Creepy Worlds #123  “The Final Battle” - 5p issue - reprinting The Avengers (Marvel, 1963 series) #71 (December 1969)
• Uncanny Tales #80    -  a 1/- and 5p dual-priced issue - pre- and post-decimalisation - featuring bland Science Fiction reprints from Forbidden Worlds (American Comics Group, 1951 series) #76 (March 1959)

© Marvel and Alan Class. Avengers Endgame.

"The Final Battle" story (actually titled 'Endgame') was to be reprinted a number of times, first by Alan Class, and then in the Oct 1975 UK Avengers Weekly #109, before next appearing in the US Marvel Super Action #32 (1981). It was then reprinted in the US a further 11 times, the most recent being the 2019 True Believers reprint timed to coincide with the release of the Marvel mega-movie "Avengers Endgame", which was based on the comic.

© American Comics Group and Alan Class.

The Uncanny Tales story can make no claim for enduring in posterity, although it is graced by Al Williamson pencils. That said, Alan Class had had great success with reprinting this comic, having previously reprinted sections of it variously in Uncanny Tales #19, Forbidden Worlds #7, Astounding Stories #16 and #75, and would go on to reprint sections in Creepy Worlds #69 and #132 over the following two years! With its dual shilling/pence pricing, this particular issue may have been hanging around the newspaper rack for 6 months or more, since decimalization in February 1971.

I think that's about all I can discern from the books on display. Interesting to think that Alfred Hitchcock was the first director to bring Avengers Endgame to the big screen!

Alfred Hitchcock went to garner late career acclaim for the film, and I went on to a family holiday in Devon later that month.