Sunday, 6 April 2014

BRITAIN'S FANTASTIC MAN Of TOMORROW Is BACK! PART ONE...

Copyright REBELLION

From the pages of Britain's FANTASTIC, we now enter the home run in re-presenting the adventures of former MISSING LINK, the incredible JOHNNY FUTURE!  Illustrated by Spanish artist LUIS BERMEJO, the final episode appeared in Fantastic #51, the week before it subsumed ODHAMS' companion POWER COMIC title, TERRIFIC.  A victim of having to make way for MARVEL reprints in the combined weekly, Johnny is nonetheless still fondly-remembered to this very day.  Now you can see why!

Only 12 more episodes to go - don't miss 'em!



Extra Bonus:  Below is a patch that was pasted over the original head on this episode's first page.  That means whoever now owns the art for these pages is missing the 'published' head.  It came into my possession when I acquired the original boards for the subsequent episode nearly 30 years ago.

SMASH! COVER GALLERY - PART FIVE...


Copyright REBELLION

I'd imagine that American readers aren't much interested in U.K. comics they've never read (or even heard of), but British readers of a certain age are bound to get a big thrill at seeing the covers of one of the fondly-remembered comics of their childhood - SMASH!  Looking again at these covers takes me back to an earlier era, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds himself recalling days of long ago as though they were only yesterday upon sight of these images from the 1960s. 

At 40 pages per weekly issue, with each page containing twice the content of a U.S. comicbook, Smash! was certainly great value for money at a mere 7d  (about 3 and a half pence in decimal currency).  If only such days could come again, and Great Britain could once more revel in a thriving comics industry, as opposed to the rather lacklustre remnant we have today.

If you've any thoughts on the matter, or any personal reminiscences about Smash! (like wistful recollections of a specific cover), then the Criv-ites comments section is waiting to hear from you.  Come on now - don't be shy!