The EXPLOITS Of SPIDER-MAN COVER & IMAGE GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Back when MARVEL U.K. was still Marvel U.K. and not PANINI, they produced a pretty nifty monthly mag called The EXPLOITS Of SPIDER-MAN.  I faithfully bought it from the first issue 'til the LEE/DITKO Spidey stories were discontinued, though I returned in time to purchase the final ish.  One number eluded me, however, that being #5, which left a gap in my collection for a whopping 21 and a half years - until today, that is.

To celebrate finally filling that empty space, I've decided to do a cover and image gallery so that you can re-experience this comic from the '90s, or see for the first time what you missed if you weren't around back then.  Spidey, of course, still appears in his own British mag today (as well as various U.S. ones) so do yourself a favour and pick up a copy for yourself the next time you're in WHS.

As for issue #5 (which you'll see in the third instalment), it's strange to think of all that's changed in the intervening years, and how many friends and family have died since that comic first went on sale.  And now it's part of my collection at last, rolling back Time's cascading curtain to an earlier moment in history - when I was almost half the age I am now, yet seemed to have at least ten times as many years ahead of me than the entire population of planet GALLIFREY in its bustling heyday.  Just where does the time go?

Oops, I'm rambling again.  Never mind - just enjoy the pulse-pounding piccies in all their glory!

DOCTOR WHO - BEHIND The SCENES (1974)...

Copyright BBC TV, the Estate of TERRY NATION and relevant and respective owners

Having dug out my 1974 VALIANT Annual to scan KELLY'S EYE for a previous post, I thought I'd see what else it contained before I tucked it away again.  And you're in luck - if you happen to be a DOCTOR WHO fan, that is.  What follows is a six page feature on JON PERTWEE's incarnation of the TARDIS-travelling Time Lord - so hang on to your hats - we're about to jump back forty years into the past.

Incidentally, TERRY NATION later confessed that his account of how he thought up the DALEKS' name was a 'creative fib'.  Which should've been obvious right from the start, really, as no encyclopaedia covers the letters DAL to LEK - they're not even in proper alphabetical sequence.  See, you learn something new on this entertaining and educational blog every day (unless you knew it already, of course).