PART FOUR OF BUSTER, SON OF ANDY CAPP...

Images copyright relevant owner

Carrying on from where we left off, let's take a look at the final part of the 1968 issue of BUSTER which I've been serialising over the last few weeks.  Apart from a few ad pages, you now have a complete issue of ANDY CAPP's lad's very own comic to peruse at your leisure.

 

MICKY MARVEL'S MULTI-GUN first appeared in the issue dated for January 20th, 1968, and ended a year later on January 18th, 1969.  The strip was drawn by CARLOS CRUZ GONZALEZ, who'd illustrated quite a few features for IPC/FLEETWAY and also D.C. THOMSON.  He was one of the artists who drew DAN DARE in the relaunched EAGLE back in the '80s. 

So, just what can I tell you Crivs about CRUNCHER, The TINY TERMITE With The BIG APPETITE?  Well, for a start, he was a... er... termite, and he had... er... a big appetite.  That's about it really.

I've included some ad pages just to give you a taste of the times.  Anyone know how many of these games are still available today?  (Probably all of them... if you haunt the charity shops.)

BIG CHIEF POW WOW was, in some ways, a return to LITTLE PLUM territory for LEO BAXENDALE.  The character debuted in the cover-dated September 14th, 1968 issue and concluded in the one dated for January 31st, 1970.

Look at the above ad.  Nowadays, a CORGI TOYS MONKEEMOBILE from the '60s would probably set you back at least a couple of hundred quid for a good condition model in its original box.  Bet you wish you'd kept yours, eh?  Too late, it's gone.  Get used to it.

The HAPPY FAMILY (does such a thing exist these days?) was drawn by the always excellent REG PARLETT.  Apparently, early episodes were reprints of a strip called The HARTY FAMILY, which had first appeared in TV FUN, but whether or not it was based on an actual TV series, I'm far  too lazy to try and ascertain.  The strip made its first appearance in Buster in the cover-dated issue for August 17th, 1968, and took its final bow in the issue dated January 4th, 1975.  Though whether or not it was an uninterrupted run I'm unable to say.  ('Cos I don't know.)

Another ad - I doubt the readers were ever too enthused about the exploits of RACE REVELL, though the model company which spawned him still exists to this very day.

NUTTY SLACK  is a type of coal, as well as a brittle toffee sweet containing nuts.  However, in the case of the character appearing in Buster, he's exactly what it says on the "tin" - a gentle grappler.  First turning up in the issue dated for September 10th, 1966, he ended his run in the December 28th, 1968 issue.  Drawn by DOUG MAXTED, who also illustrated HIS SPORTING LORDSHIP in the new SMASH! comic from 1969 onwards.

CAPTAIN SWOOP first appeared in a short-lived comic called GIGGLE (of which I have the bound volume of FLEETWAY file copies from the period), moving over to Buster when the two comics merged on January 13th, 1968.  (Issue dated 20th.)  It was a translated reprint from a French comic strip, and managed to hold on until the issue dated for April 19th, 1969, whereupon it retired into history.  Whether or not the original strip still runs in France is anyone's guess.

Anyway, there you have it.  A complete issue of Buster (minus a few ads) from 1968.  Hopefully, you've enjoyed this glimpse into the past as much as I enjoyed my red-hot date with SALMA HAYEK last night.  (Whaddya mean dreams don't count?)

******

See Part Three here.

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COMING SOON: The first appearance of SWAMP THING! 

SUPERMAN - OUT OF THE CLOSET...?

Yeah - the 'S' does stand for 'straight' - whaddabout it?

I promise - we'll get to the final part of BUSTER, SON Of ANDY CAPP before too long.  First, however, I can no longer sit back and say nothing about the latest attempt to sway public opinion on a controversial issue by those who believe that anyone who doesn't see things their way is a hate-filled bigot who is out of step with the majority.  I fully expect to lose a few followers with this post, but if they can't accept that other people are as entitled to hold and express an opinion as they are, then that's their problem, not mine.

DC COMICS recently announced that an established superhero is to be retconned as gay when he is reintroduced into current continuity sometime in the near future.  MARVEL COMICS recently published an issue where the gay character NORTHSTAR was due to marry his boyfriend and contained a close-up of the two men kissing, and also of Northstar carrying his lover in an 'over the threshold'-type position.  I haven't seen the issue itself, only a report and the above-described two pictures on a comics news-site.

Someone recently proposed on his blog that SUPERMAN should be portrayed as gay or bisexual.  Considering the stushie that would surely ensue were it suggested that a gay person (real or fictional) should be 'turned' straight, it was rather a daring (even impertinent) proposition on his part.  That way, he claimed, gay, bi, or transgendered people would feel more included in society.  Apart from this being rather patronising to the gay, bi and transgendered community (and insulting to the rest of us), I consider it to be completely unnecessary.

Superman breaking free - from the 'confines' of his traditional
heterosexuality?  Seems it's not enough to be straight these days

If you're gay or bisexual and want to believe that Supes and his 'best pal' JIMMY OLSEN have something 'extra' going on in between CLARK's off-panel 'sessions' with LOIS LANE, then you're perfectly free to think so.  If, on the other hand, such a scenario would never occur to you, then there's nothing to suggest otherwise.  Everybody can believe what they want, read into it what they want, and everybody's happy.  There's absolutely no need to change the status quo. I don't need a 'Scottish, few pounds heavier than he should be, tad over average height' superhero to enjoy a well-written comicbook (or to feel 'accepted' or good about myself) so why should a small minority of extremists be allowed to hijack comics in order to pursue their own personal agenda?

Are you gay, bi or transgendered?  Honestly, I don't give a sh*t, but don't keep bleating on about it.  If you don't insist on making an issue of it everywhere you go, then chances are that nobody else will either.  If someone chapped your door one night and asked if they could watch you 'at it', you'd quite rightly chase them away faster than a BARRY ALLEN hand-job.  The fact is most people just aren't interested in what you may or may not get up to - they don't want to know - in real life or comicbooks.

At a time when comicbook sales are in drastic decline, publishers would do well to reconsider the audience they're aiming for.  When comics were primarily cheap, mass-marketed entertainment for kids and teenagers, with nothing that could potentially offend anyone, they sold in their millions.  However, now that they've become an over-priced, glossy-papered product (seemingly more concerned with peddling propaganda than entertaining people) and sold only in an ever-diminishing outlet of speciality shops, they have to resort to cheap publicity stunts on contentious issues in an attempt to punt their wares.

Not every form of public entertainment needs to be transformed into a forum or arena for pursuing or promoting any one group's own pet cause or personal interest - whatever they happen to be and regardless of their sexual, social, religious or cultural orientation.  Militants - whatever your 'issues' are - take them elsewhere, huh?  And give the rest of us a break!

Now, who's going to be the first brave soul to agree with me?

JOURNEY INTO BLOGGERY...

"Yeah...I'm lookin' at YOU!"

While we're waiting for the final instalment of BUSTER, SON OF ANDY CAPP, permit me to make a brief detour.

Sometimes I despair of some of my fellow bloggers.  Presenting themselves as fair, open-minded enquirers after truth who welcome all forms of diverse opinion to theirs (in regard to subjects on which they themselves have invited comment), they then reveal themselves to be biased, small-minded extremists who don't really want to hear what others have to say - unless it's to tell them just how right they are on whatever they happen to be banging on about at the moment.

If someone is going to raise a controversial issue on their blog then they should be prepared to receive some controversial replies - ones they might even be offended by.  However, I've often found that when a person claims to find a point of view offensive, what they're actually offended by is the idea of someone having an opinion contrary to their own.  (How very dare they!)

The fact is, some people just don't like to be disagreed with - especially when they're simply not very good at defending their propositions to begin with.  And that's regardless of whether said proposition is absurd, questionable, or entirely reasonable.  One thing I've learned from Bloggerland is that, very often, when someone asks a question, the only answer they're interested in hearing is the one upon which they've already decided.  It seems that everyone else's purpose is simply to support their fragile and insecure belief in themselves.

Feel free to agree or disagree - I won't be offended. 

PART FOUR OF 'A TOUCH OF CLASS'...

Images copyright relevant owner

The above cover holds two sets of memories for me.  The first one is when I initially read an earlier printing of this issue in the late 1960s when visiting family friends in our former neighbourhood.  I even remember most of the stories inside, especially NOMAN in The SYNTHETIC STAND-INS.  Cut to several years later, and I'm perched on the porcelain in a toilet cubicle of a local cafeteria (after enjoying a luverly cuppa char and a scone) with the latest incarnation of this ALAN CLASS classic (bought not from the hospital shop, but a town centre newsagent), reliving my previous recollections of the comic and creating some future ones at the same time.

The above issue wasn't one of the comics my friend returned to me many years later (as related in an earlier post), as he'd already returned it a little while after I gave him the rest of my Class collection.  It just held too many memories to discard so lightly, so I asked if I could have it back and it's remained in my possession all this time.  I now have the original TOWER COMICS issue as well, having obtained it several years ago.

I'm pretty sure that I probably first read the other comics on one of those visits to my old neighbourhood - that's what springs to mind anyway when I look at them.  Again, I have some (if not all - I'll have to check) of the original Tower versions of these issues, and it's great to see them in colour and with superior printing to the Class reprints.

I'm also fortunate enough to possess all six volumes (seven contains non-Tower stories) of the DC reprint series of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS ARCHIVES, though, annoyingly, they omitted the Tower logo from the covers.  They're still well-worth having if you're a fan of the characters though, and are no doubt far cheaper than a complete run of original issues.

  

Well, that wraps things up on this particular series of posts for now.  I hope you enjoyed them, and that some of your own personal reminiscences relating to these comics were rekindled by reading mine.  Even if that's not the case, the covers are worth looking at for the incredible WALLY WOOD artwork alone.  See you next time, pilgrims!

******

COMING SOON:  Part Four of BUSTER, SON Of ANDY CAPP.  Don't miss it.

'A TOUCH OF CLASS' - PART THREE...

Images copyright respective owners

A nice JACK KIRBY illustration (above) kicks off the latest instalment in our series of cataclysmic ALAN CLASS covers.  With the exception of the issue below, I have no memories associated with these comics beyond purchasing them back in the late '70s.  I assume I probably bought them in the hospital shop referred to in previous posts, but one or two of them may have been obtained elsewhere.  The issue below is a replacement, but my original copy was one I bought in the aforementioned shop, because I recall sitting on a bench to look at it (maybe along with a couple of others, though not necessarily any in this post) on the way home.  The cover is by Jack Kirby and DICK AYERS.

It's quite disconcerting to realise that, as we get older, our powers of recollection begin to fade in some instances.  Of course, it could simply be that some things don't make much of an impression at the time, which is why it's harder to recall anything in particular about them later.  I'm not used to looking at a comic cover without having a host of memories associated with it - but, with four of these five comics, the only memories they conjure up are of my room in which I read them all those years ago.  JOE SINNOTT performed the artistic duties on the one below.

The cover below is by a pair of comic greats from yesteryear - JACK KIRBY, who pencilled it - and STEVE DITKO, who performed the inking chores.  Two for the price of one - what more could anyone ask for?

I'll have to re-read the issue below - I find myself strangely intrigued by what the secret of "The ABYSS" might be.  I'm beginning to wonder if I actually read all of my Alan Class comics before giving them away to one of my pals, who returned them to me over thirty years later (with, as already noted, the exception of SECRETS Of The UNKNOWN #158).  Anyway, next time we'll take a look at four - count 'em - four WALLY WOOD T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS covers by Alan Class - don't forget to be here.

PART TWO OF 'A TOUCH OF CLASS'...

Images copyright respective owners

In a previous post, I once mentioned a quote I'd heard on the radio which ran something like this: "The memories of childhood are without time and without end".  I've never been able to track its source so if anyone knows, please let me know.  The point is though, as folk of a 'certain age' will be all too aware, it's often difficult to remember exactly when and in what order things happened many years after the fact.  Sometimes it seems that I had one big Christmas when I was a kid because my memories of them all tend to blend together.  I have to rely on other factors to separate one from another - such as the date on a comic, what shows were on TV at the time, which alien universe was I off saving at that particular moment, etc.  (H'mm, wonder if they'll buy that last one?)

Why do I mention this?  Well, the above cover is one I remember from sitting on the bench beside the 'burn' which I referred to in part one of this 'series'.  At this late stage in the game, I can no longer recall if it was on the same occasion or an earlier or later one.  I was very much a creature of habit - trot along to the hospital shop, buy an ALAN CLASS comic (or three), stop at the bench by the burn on the way home to read it.  My first instinct is that it was the same day, but I can't be sure.  Does it matter?  Well, not to you it doesn't, but as you'll have noticed by now, these posts are somewhat self-indulgent exercises, allowing me to revisit my past and wallow in the nostalgia that it occasions.

SUSPENSE #150 (above) is a new 'add in' to this post, as I've only recently acquired it (November 2019), but I used to have it back in the '70s - though I'd forgotten until I saw it again on eBay.  Upon re-reading it, I immediately remembered some of the strips, which confirms the reliability of my memory when it comes to previous ownership.  Some good stories, though there's one with a plot so contrived and ludicrous as to defy belief and make one wonder how it ever got approved for publication.  Perhaps it was a choice between printing the strip or having blank pages, but I'm not sure that the latter option wouldn't have been an improvement.

The comic below is one I recall seeing in its original '60s incarnation on a visit to our previous neighbourhood to visit a friend of my mother, whose son had once hung around with my brother when we lived there some years before.  I even remembered the cover story - "I'VE GOT TO PROTECT NETTIE!", though it wasn't drawn by cover artist KURT SCHAFFENBERGER, but by PAUL REINMAN.  Alan Class regurgitated the same comics over many years, though the page count was cut over time, necessitating a reduction in content.

If I remember correctly, at the same time I first read this comic, I also read a story about a runner who raced DEATH every so many years in order to continue living. If he outraced Death, he won an extension until the next occasion.  (He was far older than he appeared, having lived way past his normal lifespan.)  However, Death had once almost caught him, leaving glowing skeletal hand-prints on his back.  I associate that story with the above issue, so I was disappointed not to see it when I bought the comic in the mid to late '70s.  Either it was dropped from later editions, or it was in another Class comic that I read back when I first read this ish - one without so memorable a cover (to me at least) as the one above, obviously.

(Update: I've since learned that the tale was entitled The MAN Who OUTDISTANCED DEATH, first seen in 1952 in STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES #4, published by FAWCETT.  It was reprinted in SPELLBOUND #62, an L. MILLER comic that was in the same format as the AC comics, which would explain why I thought it was one years later.  As Class later acquired Miller's printing plates and inventory, it may well have reappeared in an Alan Class title.)

I have no real memories of the above cover, apart from owning it thirty-odd years ago.  It could have been one I read as a child in the '60s, but nothing about it prompts a memory so I may well have been seeing it for the first time when I bought it back in the '70s.  It contains some nice DITKO stories, so it's well-worth having.  Anyway, that's enough tedious reminiscing from yours truly for the moment.  Hopefully, your own happy childhood or teenage memories have been stirred by reading about mine, so join me in part three for another look at some classic covers from Alan Class.

However, before you do, take a look at the other 'Johnny-come-lately' below - CREEPY WORLDS #191.  As with Suspense #150, I'd forgotten I once had this one until I saw it on eBay and its cover rang an instant bell with me.  My original copy may have been priced at only 10 or 15p, but it's the exact same in every other respect.  This comic contains the first GORILLA MAN tale, the sequel of which is printed in the mag that leads off this very post.  (Well, you know the old saying - 'the first shall be last, and the last shall be first'.)  Needless to say, I snapped it up, enabling me to add it here at long last, but hopefully you'll consider it well worth the wait.  Right, now you can go and visit part three.

'A TOUCH OF CLASS' - PART ONE...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's a nice cover that brings back some happy memories for me.  There used to be a hospital shop in my home town from which could be obtained comics and magazines that were extremely difficult or impossible to find in other outlets.  Black and white MARVEL and WARREN horror mags?  This shop had 'em.  ALAN CLASS comics?  This shop had them, too.  The above comic was obtained from the hospital shop some time between 1976 and '78, and I remember sitting on a bench next to a burn (a Scottish word for a watercourse, from a large stream to a small river) and reading it on my way home.  (I should perhaps add that I only visited the shop as a customer and not as a patient, lest you become overwhelmed with sympathy for my seemingly poor constitution.)

It was my custom as a teenage youth to clear space in my ever-expanding collection from time to time, whenever I needed to make room for new comics or simply because certain issues had supplied as much enjoyment as I thought possible and were now no longer essential to requirements.  Consequently, I regularly passed on comics to one of my friends, who was an eager and appreciative recipient of my cast-offs.  Occasionally I'd regret parting with an issue or two and he seemed perfectly happy to relinquish them back into my fickle care.  Amongst the many mags I bestowed upon him were all but one of my AC titles, and I presumed that was the last I'd ever see of them.

Cut to thirty-odd years later, and, as related in an earlier post, the aforementioned pal turns up at my front door one night clutching various carrier bags full of comics: "I thought you might like these back" he explained.  I didn't want to appear greedy so didn't reclaim all of them, but amongst those I did were eleven surviving Alan Class mags I'd last seen more than three decades before.  (Though no sign of the one containing Mr. GREGORY And The GHOST, which I also remember reading on that bench back in the '70s.  It would've been nice to re-acquire that one too, but he never kept every comic I gave him, alas.)  Added to the one I'd kept, I now had an even dozen.

So here, to start things off, is the first of a series of Alan Class covers (derived, of course, from various American titles by different publishers) for you to feast your eyes upon.  Hopefully it may stir pleasant memories of happier, more innocent times in your life, too.  A brand-new hospital with an interior shop now stands close to where the originals were once located, though somehow, whenever I look at those Alan Class covers, it's not too difficult to imagine that things are exactly the same as they were back in my teenage years. 

KIRBY'S "BULLETS FOR BIG AL!"...

Copyright DC COMICS

I didn't think it was fair to tease you in my previous post with a mention of KIRBY's '70s mag In The DAYS Of The MOB without giving you a little taste of it.  So pin your peepers on these powerful pages, pencilled by JACK ('KING') KIRBY and inked by VINCE ('The PRINCE') COLLETTA.  Start saving those shekels now for the inevitable (we hope) deluxe hardcover edition of the bygone classic from which this tale is extracted.

And below is the double-page spread from above as it was meant to be seen - in all its panoramic splendour.  Click to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.

THE SPIRIT WORLD OF JACK KIRBY...



The new book.  Art by Neal Adams (based on Kirby design)

What can one say about JACK KIRBY that hasn't already been said by those far more proficient at bending words to their will than I'll ever be?  I'm a huge fan of the man and his work - but without the tendency to deify him in the way that some fans do.  You know the sort of thing I mean - "Jack's art should have been printed directly from his pencils", "Jack should've been allowed to be his own editor", "No one else should've been allowed to dialogue his stories", etc.  You've heard it all before, I'm sure.

The fact was however, that Jack - although he was a brilliant storyteller when it came to laying out a comicbook - had a tin ear for dialogue, making his scripting somewhat less than the dynamic, pulse-pounding match for his pencilling that it should've been.  Also, Jack's artwork in later years sadly began to suffer from an accumulation of 'shorthand' techniques he'd developed to allow him to draw so many pages on a monthly basis throughout his long career and not miss a deadline.

The original magazine

Over time, his rendition of musculature and anatomy departed from any semblance of reality as his figures became squat, stocky and far less fluid than had once been the case - while shadows cast on any floor bore absolutely no discernible relation to whatever object was supposedly responsible for them.  Say what you like, but the pinnacle of Jack's career was the work he produced with STAN LEE at MARVEL COMICS, when Stan was responsible for 'punching up' the stories with his scripting, and capable hands like JOE SINNOTT, VINCE COLLETTA and DICK AYERS (to name but three) added their not inconsiderable talents to softening some of the harsher 'eccentricities' of Jack's art while enhancing its strengths.

Which finally brings me to DC's recent release of Jack's SPIRIT WORLD one-shot magazine from 1971.  This was a companion mag to In The DAYS Of The MOB (which I hope DC will also reissue in the same deluxe format), both of which were attempts by Jack to venture beyond the boundaries of mere comics-for-kids with proper, 'legitimate' magazines that grown-ups would buy.  MARK EVANIER reveals the details behind those attempts (and their failures) in his informative introduction to the second portion of the book, so I won't spoil your anticipation of reading it for yourself (if you're going to buy a copy) by repeating them here.

Interior page from magazine.  Inked by Vince Colletta

I'm lucky enough to own both of Jack's DC/HAMPSHIRE mags from the '70s, but the draw for me with the deluxe edition of Spirit World was that it also contains material originally prepared for what would've been the second issue of the mag (which, sadly, was never published).  These tales were later re-sized (on some pages), coloured, and then printed in some of DC's monthly supernatural/mystery themed comicbooks.  It's not recorded whether Jack or MIKE ROYER was responsible for the 'drawing up' (re-sizing) which is evident on various panels, but some of it is rather clumsy.

However, nice as it undoubtedly is to see these other tales, I have to admit that they're somewhat underwhelming in both the artwork and writing departments.  Mike Royer, while himself an accomplished artist and inker, was under instruction to render Jack's pencils just the way they were, with no changes or alterations - so it's hardly his fault that the pages are very far from examples of Jack's art at its best.  The scripting is dull and leaden, and does nothing to lessen the commonly-held perception that Jack's strong points did not include dialogue and exposition.  One can't help but wonder what these stories would've been like had Stan or ROY THOMAS been in charge of the writing duties.

Please, DC - this one next

Having said all that however, the book is a nice little addition to any Kirby fan's library (despite its somewhat distracting inability to maintain the density of tone from page to page - especially on the b&w ones), but sadly it doesn't represent Jack at the top of his game.  It has to be said though, that Jack not at "the top of his game" usually still offered something worth looking at.

One final word - I'm surprised that DC chose to publish Spirit World first, instead of In The Days Of The Mob, which is the more interesting of the two magazines in my opinion.  (Though that could be due to the nostalgia factor associated with me actually owning the latter in the early '70s, whereas I didn't obtain the former 'til many years later when I was an adult.)  Regardless, let's just hope that sales are good enough to warrant DC releasing the companion publication in the very near future. 

THE STARTLING SECRET ORIGIN OF THE FANTASTIC FOUR...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

(Today's post is taken from Roddy Weed's blog and is

published with full permission - take it away, Roddy...)

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Hi, fans - I'm RODDY WEED and I'm back yet again with a few fascinating facts (that you already know) and loads of fantastic throwaway theories to amaze and astound you ('cos they're so far-out) on this, the world's greatest blogazine - DIAL 'B' For BULLSH*T!

Think you know the origin of the FANTASTIC FOUR?  Well, I, Roddy Weed, am about to give you the real, honest-to-goodness lowdown on the true origin of the fab foursome created by STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY in 1961.  For instance, did you know that the actual prototypes of the FF were ROBIN HOOD & His MERRY MEN?  Hard to believe?  Well, I, Roddy Weed, writer of the greatest blogazine in the history of the world, am going to prove it to you right now.

ROBIN Of LOXLEY, also known as the outlaw ROBIN HOOD, had four main comrades in his band of SHERWOOD FOREST followers.  Namely, LITTLE JOHN, WILL SCARLET, FRIAR TUCK, and MAID MARION.  Pay attention now, while I exclusively reveal the astounding, irrefutable conclusions of many minutes of painstaking research and several seconds of convoluted contemplation on the pertinent points which prompt my cataclysmic claim.

REED RICHARDS is clearly based on Robin Hood because he's the leader of the group in the same way that Robin is chief of his merry men.  Also, his stretching ability mirrors the expanse-spanning reach that Robin's arrows allow him in his quest for justice, enabling him to smite his enemies from a distance.

BEN GRIMM is obviously an amalgam of Little John and Friar Tuck; John is grim-miened (hence Ben's surname) and a man of great strength, while Tuck, despite his ungainly appearance (just like Ben's) has a heart of gold and is possessed of a noble spirit that echoes his modern-day counterpart.  Likewise, Ben's orange-hued epidermis is reminiscent of Tuck's ruddy complexion.

JOHNNY STORM is undoubtedly Will Scarlet - the colour of his fiery alter-ego being the living embodiment of Will's surname.  Just like Will, Johnny is sometimes a bit hot-headed (wilful even), further confirming the uncanny similarities 'twixt the two men.  No doubt Will often used flaming arrows to lay his enemies low just as Johnny has done when tossing fireballs at the bad guys.

SUSAN STORM is inarguably the modern-day equivalent of Maid Marion.  Firstly, she's the only permanent female member of the group (like Marion) and, furthermore, she eventually wed the group's leader, providing persuasive proof that the FF were (perhaps - maybe - probably - oh, what the hell - definitely) inspired by and based upon Robin and his outlaw band.

Unconvinced?  Consider PRINCE JOHN then.  Patently the archetype on whom the FF's arch-foe, DOCTOR DOOM, is based.  Just like John, Doom lives in a castle; just like John, who conceals his true persona under the guise of benign ruler of a country, Doom hides his true visage under a mask.  And in the same way that John hates Robin and his band and tries to kill them, Doom's mission is to wipe Reed and his team from the face of the Earth.

The similarities are simply stunning, and 'tis only I, Roddy Weed, who - despite all these glaring clues staring everyone in the face for years - has recognised their significance and pieced them together using my highly imaginative and creative cranium (and a few reefers) to educate and enlighten your dull and dreary lives and save you from the tedium of your vapid, pointless existence.

This is I, Roddy Weed, creator of the world's greatest blogazine, signing off for the foreseeable future - so that you'll all miss me and pine for my return.  (What will you do without me?)