YOU GOTTA HAVE HOPE...

The one and only Bob Hope

 October 13th, 1984

That was the day I ful-

filled my ambition of

drinking in a pub called

THE RED LION. (Okay,

it was only a Coke, but

it still counted.) I had

always wanted to do so

since reading the name

in THE WIND IN THE

WILLOWS many years

before, when MR TOAD

had sauntered into a pub

of the selfsame title and

ended up stealing a
motorcar.

Not that I had the

intention of doing

anything similar

('though I could've

nabbed an ashtray as a memento if I'd wanted to) - it's just that there was some-

thing about the name that appealed to me. It conjured up images of  old world

charm, of another era when things seemed simpler and more pure. Ruddy faced

'gentlemen' crouched 'round a roaring fire, quaffing from flagons of ale held non-

chalantly in their weather-beaten hands, as coachmen and travellers, filled and

fortified, prepared to embark on the next leg of their journey.

I repeated the feat two or three years later, when I had lunch with the

assistant editor of IPC's BUSTER in a Red Lion pub just across from

Downing Street in London. That was still in the future however; for now

the heady rush that came from watching JOHN LOWE score the first-ever

televised nine-dart finish in history (on another pub's TV later that evening),

and then meeting the legendary BOB HOPE before attending his show

at THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE an hour or so afterwards.

I met Bob again in 1994 at THE GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT
HALL, and had my photograph taken with the great man and his wife. I
have his autograph several times over, on records, books, magazines and
photos. Above is the one he sent me a few weeks before his concert in
Edinburgh on that magical and eventful night back in 1984.

THE STEADY STRANDS OF SUN - PHEW!

 

Art by Neal Adams

The past few days
have been of the
gloriously warm,
sunny, summer kind
that we imagine all
the summers of our
childhood to have
been like, and as I
stepped off the train
from Glasgow early
yesterday evening
with THE DEADLY
HANDS OF KUNG
FU #12 in my
possession (bought
from a back issue
shop), my mind
drifted back to a
similar gloriously
warm, sunny, summer
late afternoon of 36
years before, when - as a teenager - I had first purchased my original copy
of this magazine.

I had also obtained the very first MONSTER FUN Holiday Special at
the same time. (IPC were quick off the mark releasing this one, because
the weekly publication had only been out for a very short period - a matter
of weeks, in fact.) I remember that it reprinted the very first SAM'S SPOOK
strip by LEO BAXENDALE, which had first appeared in SMASH! in Jan/
Feb of 1971. It still sported the "starts today" blurb on the top left-hand sid
 of the logo, no doubt the result of an editorial oversight as such blurbs
were normally removed from out-of-sequence reprintings.

(NOTE: My memory of this was confirmed when, a week after typing
the above, I managed to obtain a back issue of this comic also. The cover
and Sam strip have been inserted below. Click to enlarge.)

 

 



Art by Rudy Nebres

Back in 1975, a friend had been

with me when I acquired these
two publications, bought at
some stage on a day out to
Glasgow. When we got back, I
accompanied him (still clutching
my comics) as he visited his
sister's parents-in-law, who
resided not too far from the
house I had lived in when
Sam's Spook first made his
debut, and from which I and
my family had moved only
three years before (1972).
It's because of this that I
associate these comics with
my previous neighbourhood
just as much as I do with my then (and still) current one. Funny thing,
memory, eh?



Art by George Perez, Rico Rival, and
The Tribe

The main reason I had bought

this particular DHOKF issue
was for THE MAN WITH THE
GOLDEN GUN cover and
article, having seen (with the
same friend) ROGER MOORE's
second JAMES BOND movie
only a few months before. (The
film had it's UK premiere on
19th Dec '74, but my local
cinema wouldn't have screened
it 'til the beginning of '75.)
Reading it again last night for
the first time in nearly 40 years,
I was surprised to discover how
much of it I remembered - right
down to actual sentences and
paragraphs. The mag also contains
a couple of comic strips (SHANG-CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU and SONS
OF THE TIGER), with some nice artwork by RUDY NEBRES and GEORGE
PEREZ, plus a Bond pin-up by GRAY MORROW.



Art by Gray Morrow

I often think back fondly

to that particular summer
day - and many another
day from long ago also.
(Perhaps I may even have
warm recollections of
yesterday in the years to
come - I hope I've got at
least another 50 ahead of
me.) Little did I then realize
that my friendship with the
pal I had known since I was
7 would barely last another
six years, but such is life -
something to look forward
to in blissful ignorance
of what may happen, and
to look back on in fond reminiscence (hopefully) of what did.

I hope all your summers turn out to be gloriously warm and sunny -
even if it's only in memory.

BATMAN - WITH ACCESSORIES...

Above is an extremely rare LOUIS MARX BATMAN figure from the
'60s. I had two of them (at different times) when I was a kid, and have very
happy memories of playing with them, especially the second one I received
for Christmas in 1966 or '67. (Could even have been '68.)

Marx had a soldier figure out at the same time (in fact, I believe it pre-
dated the Batman figure), which, funnily enough, had the exact same face
(minus the black mask - a sticker - on the face in the picture.)

I had a great time dressing 'little Bruce' up in his various pieces
of equipment and subjecting him to all sorts of imaginary ordeals and
adventures. (I've just realized exactly how perverse that sentence sounds,
so I'll deny it in court. Someone please tell me I wasn't the only one.)

Incidentally, despite the claim on the card, the only thing about
Batman's legs that moved were his boots, which turned at the join from left
to right - or all the way 'round if you preferred. Hardly what one would call
fully-articulated.

Anyway, if you were fortunate enough to have had one of these
figures as a kid, here's a look back into the past - happy reminiscencing.
(If you didn't, this is what you missed.)

YOU'LL BE THUNDER-STRUCK...

Issue #1

 



Issue #2

 One of my favourite comics as

a boy was THUNDER, containing

such gems as ADAM ETERNO,

STEEL COMMANDO, BLACK

MAX, GAUNTLET OF FATE,

and various others, including a

couple of one-page humour strips.

Looking back at my collection, over

40 years later, I'm surprised by how

boring the covers were - perhaps

the most effective were issues 2 &

3 - and it was probably the comic's

inability to stand out on the news-

agent's counter which contributed

to its remarkably short lifespan

of only 22 issues.

 

 

Issue #3

Thunder's most impressive strip

was undoubtedly Adam Eterno,

the man who couldn't die - unless

struck a fatal blow by an object

made of solid gold. (So a glancing

blow on the back of his head from

a gold-plated cigarette lighter was

hardly going to bring him down.)

Adam survived for quite a few

years, first when Thunder was

absorbed by LION, and then when

Lion was merged with VALIANT -

before disappearing into comics

limbo and the fond memories of

former readers lucky enough to

have caught this short-lived

comic thunderclap.

Below: The first-ever instalment of Adam Eterno from Thunder #1.

 

See also http://kidr77.blogspot.com/2010/10/sound-like-thunder.html

and

http://kidr77.blogspot.com/2011/12/thunder-at-christmas.html

NOTHING SUCCEEDS LIKE SUCCESS...

 

Art by Ian Gibson

 

I've just watched a programme called SCOTLAND'S AMAZING
COMIC BOOK HEROES on TV. How nauseating to see a particular
ex-editor gush sycophantically about one of two currently high-profile
writers he once described to me as "a couple of pretentious w*nkers!"
when they contributed to the comic on which he used to work. Funny
how those who never had a good word to say about someone suddenly
change their tune when the person becomes famous and successful -
especially if there's 5 minutes screen time on the telly to be had.

And why was PAT MILLS, the creator of 2000 A.D., 'airbrushed'
from the comic's history and not given a mention? (Apart from the
fact that he's not Scottish that is?)

THE CAMPY CAPED CRUSADER GOES WEST...

Adam West as THE BATMAN 

Yeah, don't worry about the title - it doesn't make much sense.
(Grabbed your attention 'though, didn't it?) Look at the above photo - I
can't help but think that it actually goes some way in capturing the dark
and mysterious aspect of BATMAN as he was originally envisioned. It
makes me wonder what the result would have been had the TV Producers
decided to go down that avenue instead of the one they ultimately chose.
Would it have been as successful as it was? Who knows? One thing's for
sure, however - the childhoods of  kids in the '60s would have been
markedly different. Anyone got any thoughts on the matter?
 

Adam's screen test costume

ONE TO LOOK OUT FOR...

Artwork by Jack Kirby

Due to be released any time soon is the above little beauty.
Keep an eye out for it and if you see it before I do, give me
a shout. Just love that cover!