CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: CRIME'S HUMAN ERASER

Saturday, 10 January 2015

CRIME'S HUMAN ERASER - IT'S THE RUBBER MAN...

Let's see now... there was PLASTIC MAN, The ELONGATED MAN, ELASTIC LAD and MISTER FANTASTIC - Americans all and proud of it, I'm sure. However, Britain also had its own stretchable crime-fighter in the form of The RUBBER MAN (rendered as one word, RUBBERMAN, in the strip, if not the title) who was every bit as flexible as his pals across the pond. (And let's not forget DCT's PING, The ELASTIC MAN, a 1930s humour strip which pre-dates them all.)

I can't say for certain who produced the strip you see in this post, but it may've been written by KEN MENNELL and possibly drawn by ALFREDO MARCULETA - if anyone knows for certain, feel free to chip in. This particular strip appeared in the 1968 SMASH! Annual and is typical of the kind of adventures in which bendy JIM HOLLIS found himself involved, in his quest to find a cure for his condition.

When I look back, Rubberman seems to have been a significant comic strip feature of my childhood. After the MARVEL reprints, ol' Rubby, along with RONNIE RICH, BAD PENNY and BATMAN, are the characters I most associate with the original Smash! However, I was surprised to read somewhere that the strip was in only eleven issues of the weekly comic - not counting the ones in the '68-'70 Annuals.

One day, I'll have to go through my back numbers and count the Rubberman strips for myself - eleven issues just doesn't seem right (or possible) somehow. Perhaps it was eleven separate adventures, each of which consisted of several episodes - that seems just a little more likely - anyone know for sure? It'd save me a crawl through the comics.

Anyway, in the meantime, enjoy this strip from the '60s. The plot may be a bit of a stretch, but it's sure to rub off on you!

4 comments:

John Pitt said...: Many thanks, Kid. Not having had the annuals, I've never seen this strip before. Rubby was one of my favourite UK strips in Smash, along with Brian's Brain and I didn't discover any of the US stretchies till slightly afterwards. As for only eleven weeks, I would have bet money he was in for much longer than that. It just goes to show how time seems to travel much more slowly when you're a kid.; 11 January 2015 at 11:50
Kid said...: It doesn't sound right to me either, JP, but may be true. When I can be bothered, I'll dig through my back issues and count the strips. It could be that he was 'rested' after 11 issues and returned later. We shall see.; 11 January 2015 at 12:00
Anonymous said...: Haven't seen this for over 45 years.....wonder what happened to my 1968 Smash annual?; 17 June 2018 at 08:20
Kid said...: I nicked it from you when you weren't looking. Don't worry, I've looked after it.; 17 June 2018 at 10:40

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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