KEN REID In WHAM!

Copyright relevant owner

"O joy!  Be still my beating heart!"  You may recall me mentioning the above tome in an addendum to a recent post on FRANKIE STEIN.  No sooner had I found out about the book than someone put a copy of it up for sale on eBay, which I bid on  - and won!  I received it today and, indeed, 'tis a thing of exceeding and unparalleled beauty.

Every KEN REID Frankie and JASPER The GRASPER strip from the pages of WHAM!, LEO BAXENDALE's 'Super-BEANO' from the 1960s - with top-notch reproduction on superb-quality paper.  Considering what it would cost to obtain the individual issues I don't already have, the book was an absolute steal - and I just can't comprehend how the seller could bear to part with it.  (Though I'm glad he did.)

Apparently, only 20 copies of the book were professionally published at the behest of a private collector whose identity remains unknown.  God bless 'im, I say!  I noticed the other day that a hardback deluxe edition of the back page DALEKS strips from TV CENTURY 21 was once advertised on eBay, but speculation was rife that it was a fraud and the ad vanished.  Perhaps, if it really existed, it was a privately-produced collection similar to the Frankie Stein one, above.

If anyone knows anything about the background of either collection, feel free to share your knowledge in the comments section.  There's no need to mention any names - the date of publication, original price, etc., will more than suffice for this interested collector.

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UPDATE: I've since been advised that the book was published in 2010.

A MOCK-ENCRUSTED MOCKERY Of A MAN! SWAMP THING COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Welcome to the first instalment in a three-parter of sensational SWAMP THING covers from the DC COMICS series of the early '70s.   Apparently,  ol' 'Swampy' and MARVEL's MAN-THING were created at almost the same time - although, because of the schedules involved in comics production, neither title seems likely to have been the 'inspiration' for the other.  In short, one of life's great coincidences, similar to the debut of a U.K. and U.S. DENNIS The MENACE strip in the same week, if not the same day back in 1951.

Created by LEN WEIN and BERNI WRIGHTSON, Swamp Thing lasted for 24 issues and was discontinued before a new direction begun in #23 could be fully explored.  In fact, when the character was revived in a new series released in the early '80s, the developments of the last two issues of the original title were completely ignored.

So. let's return to an earlier, simpler and (arguably) better age, when comics not only had the power to enthrall, excite and entertain us, but were also fun!  Wouldn't it be great if contemporary comicbooks were the same, rather than merely the latest non-eventful, underwhelming chapter of a future collected edition?  (Or am I too jaded?)

Be sure not to miss Part Two - coming soon!