WHEREVER I LAY MY HAT, THERE'S MY GUN...

Now, here are two great collectables from the '60s that you don't get to see every day.  (Unless you own them already that is.)  A JR 21 (J. ROSENTHAL/CENTURY 21) THUNDERBIRDS 100 shot variable direction water pistol, and a BERWICK THUNDERBIRDS hat.  I've had these replacements for many years now, far longer than I ever had my original ones as a kid.

You'll never know how much I resisted temptation to pose with these toys for a photo to accompany this post.  (Well, you know now, 'cos I just told you.)  Maybe one day, when I'm less handsome and not so likely to make anyone jealous, I'll put up a pic.  However, if you'd rather never see such a photo, all financial contributions will be carefully and confidentially considered.

DEATHWATCHER!

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

I recently acquired CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL #5 in order to fill a gap in my collection, but before I tucked it away in my filing cabinet, I decided to give it a read - and boy, am I glad I did!  Entitled DEATHWATCHER!, this is a fascinating tale which I can't really say anything about without ruining it for you if you haven't yet availed yourself of its four-colour delights.

Written by DAVID MICHELINIE and drawn by GENE COLAN, it comes from an era when, if comics were good, they were very good.  One can almost believe this was a comicbook adaptation of a movie, because it's extremely cinematic in conception and execution and tears along at a rip-roarin' pace.

Complete in one issue*, it makes a change from many of today's comicbooks, where you pick up the latest issue of some mag or other - and can't recall whether you've read the one before it or not.  What was the story about again?  I can never seem to recall what happened last time (when I do actually read them) because the stories seem so utterly underwhelming nowadays and take forever to get nowhere.

(*As were most Annuals at the time, so no surprise there.  Years later, Annuals sometimes continued in other titles' Annuals in one big inter-connected story.)

This comic was a refreshing change - 20 minutes or so of escapist entertainment that provided a pleasant diversion in my daily routine.  If more comics were like this today, more people would be buying them.  If you've never read it, track it down on eBay now!  It'll be well worth your time.