PART TWO Of LITTLE STAR COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

For all lovers of TOM KERR's artwork, here's a little stop-gap to tide you over until I get around to featuring the contents of LITTLE STAR (in particular, The MAGIC BUS strip that Tom illustrated inside the nursery title).  Five, count 'em, five covers all by Tom.

KID KLASSICS: SMASH! POW! IT'S FANTASTIC - AND IT CERTAINLY WAS...

Superhero images copyright MARVEL COMICS

In case you were wondering, ol' SPIDEY's web is attached to an overhead helicopter - unfortunately however, he's been hanging on since Glasgow and he's now over Blackpool, so his arms are tired.  What a great cover though, I'm sure you'll agree.

 

This was a cracker of a Summer Special, featuring SPIDER-MAN MEETS Dr. STRANGE, the origin of DAREDEVIL (abridged), The TORCH MEETS The ICEMAN, The CLOAK BATTLES The CRAFTY CROW, Mr. KNOWALL'S FUN PAGE, The SWOTS & The BLOTS, THOR vs HERCULES: WHEN TITANS CLASH!, SAMMY SHRINK, BRIAN'S BRAIN, full-colour pin-ups, plus a few other things I've doubtless forgotten.  I only have to look at this and I'm back in 1968.  Ah, happy days.

 

Unfortunately, though I little knew it at the time, the POWER era was coming to an end.  A mere three or four months later, FANTASTIC was incorporated into SMASH!, which itself only lasted in its then-present form for another four or five months - before being relaunched in March '69 as a more traditional type comic in the VALIANT vein.  That meant no more weekly MARVEL heroes (not counting TV21's dabbling with a few of them) until The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL was launched on the very last day of September, 1972.

 

Anyway, enjoy these awesome images from the only ODHAMS PRESS Summer Special ever to feature the sensational superheroes from the Mighty Marvel stable.  It's a genuine collectors' item.

 

BATMAN & ROBIN copyright DC COMICS

GEORGE LAZENBY'S RETURN AS JAMES BOND...

In 1983, The MAN From U.N.C.L.E. returned in a TV movie called 'The FIFTEEN-YEARS-LATER AFFAIR'.  ROBERT VAUGHN reprised his star role of suave NAPOLEON SOLO, as did DAVID McCALLUM as sidekick ILYA KURYAKIN.  However, there was a little surprise in that GEORGE LAZENBY also turned up as 'J.B.' - trying to sound a bit like SEAN CONNERY if my aged ears aren't playing tricks on me.

That means there were three actors playing 007 that year - MOORE in OCTOPUSSY, Connery in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, and Lazenby on the telly.  In case you're wondering what the connection is, JAMES BOND creator IAN FLEMING also came up with the name of Napoleon Solo.

Watch the clip and have some fun!

The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR COVER & IMAGE GALLERY - PART ELEVEN...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The above cover is another one that I first saw on the original American edition of the FF (#164, which I re-acquired a good few years ago), but I didn't obtain the above issue until several years after it first went on sale.  The reason being that, try as I might to find a copy, it just wasn't available in any of my local newsagents at the time.  I seem to have a notion that, when I finally tracked one down, it wasn't in the best of condition, and that I later replaced it with a superior copy.  However, I could be confusing it with an issue of the X-MEN weekly, so couldn't swear to it.  Ah, fickle memory!

Another missing ish was #35, which, again, took me several years to find, so my collection of The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR was (if you'll pardon the pun) 'incomplete' for around six or seven years.  It's always good to fill those missing gaps in a series - it's almost like winning the Lottery.  (Well, a tenner anyway.)

As you can see, issue #32 started reprinting The INVADERS, which, to be honest, seemed like an odd fit for a mag dedicated to the FF.  I'm surprised they didn't choose The THING's adventures from MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, but perhaps it was felt that a bit of variety in content might attract new readers.  It didn't work, as the mag folded a mere five issues later.  We'll take a look at them in the next (and final) post in this series.

Don't miss it, or your life won't be (wait for it) complete!