CRYING IS MY FAVOURITE MOOD...

Here's another JIM REEVES classic to soothe

your shattered senses.  This is an overdubbed demo

recording, but the RHAPSODY IN BLUE type piano

outro, present on the demo and a more recent overdub,

seems to have been shortened.  Still, it's a great song

that I'm sure lovers of good music will enjoy.

BATMAN - From The '30s To The '70s...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Towards the end of 1972, two new publications appeared in my favourite bookshop, W. & R. HOLMES.  They were the SUPERMAN and BATMAN collections, From The '30s To The '70s (though they had the apostrophes in the wrong place).  I bought the Superman edition right away, but I didn't buy the Batman one until 1979, when it was re-issued along with its companion volume in the wake of the 1978 Superman movie starring CHRISTOPHER REEVE.

A good many years back, I managed to acquire first editions of each tome to sit alongside the '79 reissues, but though I've showcased the Superman book on this blog, I don't recall ever featuring the Batman one.  I can remedy that oversight right now by showing you the front and back covers, but not the interior pages, alas, without risking damage to the spine.  (Unfortunately, there's some dust under the protective cover, but I can't be bothered taking it off to clean.)

Although I didn't buy the book in '72, I thumbed through its pages many times whenever I was in the shop, so whenever I look at it nowadays, it evokes memories in me of the early '70s when I was still a young teenager with a larger slice of life ahead of me than behind me - the reverse of which is now the case.

Funny how happy memories are often accompanied by the shadow of sadness, don't you think?

JIM LOVES YOU MORE...

Time for yet another song from MR VELVET,
otherwise known as JIM REEVES.  This one's called
I LOVE YOU MORE, which is a nice sentiment, but
not exactly something anybody would ever say to me.
That's because nobody loves me more than myself.
(But you'd already guessed that anyway, right?)

POWER RECORDS PRESENTS : The FANTASTIC FOUR - "The WAY IT BEGAN!"...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Around the mid '70s, either in the countdown to me leaving school or not too long after having started work, I bought a book and record set advertised in the pages of the British MARVEL weeklies.  Power Records Presents - "The WAY IT BEGAN!", which was a reprint of The FANTASTIC FOUR #126 with an audio dramatization on a 7 inch 45 RPM single of the comic's content.  I'd bought #126 back in October 6th 1972, but no longer had it, so I jumped at the chance to own it again in some form (I now have several copies of  the mag).

The text was abridged and altered in some places for the reprint, but it was a great idea to give the comic a little 'life' by having actors (or perhaps just one actor doing different voices and either speeding them up or slowing them down) perform the parts of the various characters - and, in the main do them just as readers had doubtless imagined them to sound like.  At least, I certainly thought so!  (The MOLE MAN in particular was spot on.)

So here's what the reprint and record looked like, and if you're interested in hearing how the single sounded, click on the links at the bottom of the post.  Happy listening!

JOHN BYRNE MARVEL PIN-UP PAGE...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Just had to show this simply because it's brilliant.  JOHN BYRNE  is one of the few artists who can re-create the 'flavour' of '60s Marvel with seeming ease.  I well-remember the JACK KIRBY page from FF #9 on which this pin-up is based, and it encapsulates my memories of re-reading the classic tale in an issue of MARVEL COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS back in 1969.  The pin-up first appeared in SUB-MARINER Annual #3, 1993.