COME INTO THE GARDEN(S), MAUD - PART ONE...

A couple or so months back, me and my old pal MOONMANDO took a wee jaunt along to Glasgow's BOTANIC GARDENS for a look around.  I did ask if you Criv-ites would like to see the photos, but there were no bites.  However, knowing that you're a shy, retiring bunch who don't want to appear too greedy, I've decided to inflict them on share them with you anyway.

DOCTOR WHO - LISTEN...

Copyright BBC TV

Last night's episode of DOCTOR WHO showed some signs of being a return to form for STEVEN MOFFAT.  When I first saw that he'd written the story my heart sank, because, although he authored some of the better episodes under RUSSELL T. DAVIES, the ones penned under his own tenure have been pretty naff and his name usually ensures that some mincing, farcical, over-the-top BLACKADDER-type tomfoolery is in store.

Last night, however, there was tension, suspense, drama, with not quite so much comedy as before - at least for the first half hour or so.  Then it all collapsed to reveal yet another self-indulgent piece of geekery which tied CLARA into the Doctor's childhood in yet another self-referencing, too interested in its own history, look how clever we're being, up its own @rse narcissism.

Also, it's yet another of those stories that creates all kinds of paradoxes.  If the contemporary Clara influenced The Doctor when he was a child (a crying, snivelling, frightened - and let's be honest - irritating one at that) into growing up into the person he is today, then how could he be that person when she first met him?  It's meant to be clever, you see, but it just comes across as another poorly thought out-details don't matter-it's the effect that counts type of meandering yarn that Moffat is now so infamous for.

I couldn't help but feel that the Doctor was being given some kind of quasi-religious back story with this tale, with his childhood self sleeping in a barn and growing up to become the 'saviour' of the universe.  Started well, but degenerated into the usual disappointing geek-fest that the show needs to shrug off if it wants to still be around in another fifty years.

Agree?  Disagree?  Don't care a fig?  Go on - tell us all how you feel!

"The ENEMY Of EARTH!" FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - PART THIRTY-ONE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Funny how the memory starts to go as one gets older.  Things that were once remembered with certainty become clouded with doubt, and other options start to suggest themselves as alternate possibilities.  Case in point: As detailed in a recent post, I recall buying SUPERMAN #238 in 1972 and retiring to a local cafeteria to read it.  (For details, see part 30 in this 'favourite comics' series.)

However, I also recall buying, from the same newsagent's, issue #237 perhaps a week or so either side of its companion (comics sometimes went on sale out of sequence in this country, so I could've bought the later mag first) and also availing myself of the cool confines of the same cafeteria.  On one of those occasions a girl from my class in school tried to engage me in conversation at my table, but I beat a hasty retreat, not really being the slightest bit interested in available schoolgirls of my own age.  (Unattainable screen goddesses were more my thing.)

So here's my problem (if only they were all so easy).  Because of the similar circumstances in which I purchased these two mags, I'm no longer 100% sure which one I had on the day I got a free COKE from a guy with his family at the next table.  (The same day as in the above paragraph.)  As I said before, the cover of #238 fits the memory perfectly, but I also tend to associate the contents of #237 with the event.  Actually, not even that's strictly true; the covers and contents of both issues fit the recollection - both vying for supremacy at different times.

So, I've decided to give that other issue equal time, just in case it was the actual comic in question relating to the anecdote with which I previously regaled you in an earlier post.  That way, I'm not denying it its rightful moment in the spotlight, nor refusing it the association it deserves in my memory banks (should such actually be the case).  Perhaps one day I'll have a "Eureka!" like moment and suddenly recall with startling clarity exactly which of the two mags was the one involved, but, for the present, you and I get the best of both possible worlds.

So enjoy a few select pages from this classic issue - I hope your memories and associations of it are crystal clear.

    

This page and the next:  I still recall how thrilling I found this sequence when I first read
it in '72.  I even knew what the 'single bound' reference alluded to in Superman's history.
Classic storytelling at its very best!

And guess what?  After browsing through the issue to choose the pages for scanning, my memory has been somewhat refreshed: I'm now pretty sure that it was this issue I had on the day I got a free Coke and was 'accosted' by the girl from school.  Because of the erratic distribution system, I can't say whether I bought the mags in sequence or not, or how far apart, time-wise, they were purchased.  It seems like it was about a week or so, but it could have been weeks or perhaps even just days.  Never had this trouble with British weeklies.