The UK "Titans" comic was launched 48 years ago on 25 October 1975. In common with most British Marvel titles the "Titans" was a black and white anthology, however unlike almost any other comic the "Titans" was printed in a landscape format (bound around the short edge rather than the long edge). This meant that each 32 page comic contained up to 60 pages of reading material. The "Titans" ran for 58 issues before being merged into the “Super Spider-Man” title (with # 199) which itself had moved to the landscape format with issues 158. By issue 228 "Spider-Man and the Titans" had reverted to the more traditional portrait format and with issue 230 the"Titans" name was taken off the "Super Spider-Man" title.
Above, The Inhumans (originally published in “Amazing Adventures” #1, August 1970 ) as presented in the landscape format. Despite the abundance of comic material on offer each week including Captain America, Captain Marvel, Inhumans, Sub-Mariner, S.H.I.E.L.D, X-Men, Ghost Rider, the FF and many more, the Titans was never a big favourite of mine. This was not just because of the format but also due to the fact that the title never seemed to have a settled cast or any regular "star"feature.
As was the case with most British comics the first issue featured a free gift. In this case, the "Titans" featured one of my all time favourite free gifts the above full colour John Buscema poster. This was originally used for the 1975 "Mighty Marvel Comic Con" - I only ever kept the first issue of the "Titans" and few scattered issues and can't recall if there were any other free gifts with issue 2 or 3? - poster image from ebay.
The new landscape format also meant that when the title used the original US covers a lot of cut and pasting was required along with the redrawing of the background art in order for the original illustration to fit the new format as can be seen by the above issue of "Titans" (#27) and the orignal cover from FF #84 (cover from the Grand comic database). This may explain why most Titans covers were (for the most part) pretty poor originals.
The "Titans" spawned 2 annuals in 1977 and 1978 (published in the traditional portrait format). In 1980, the title was briefly revived under Dez Skinn when it was published as a monthly pocket book (featuring Captain America, Iron Man and Thor).This series ran for 13 issues between September 1980 and November 1981 before the title was eventually returned to comic book limbo.