KID KLASSICS: WHEN SUPERMAN WAS A BUDDING SLAPHEAD - (WELL, ALMOST)...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Every now and again, I'll see a lively discussion on the merits of VINCE COLLETTA's inking and the reasons why JACK KIRBY's SUPERMAN heads were usually inked by MURPHY ANDERSON.  To me it's always seemed obvious that at least one of the reasons was that Jack couldn't render ol' Supes' kiss-curl very well, often making his hair look like a comb-over to hide a receding hairline.  (Or an ill-fitting toupee.)

Don't believe me?  Take a look at the stat of the pencilled pic below and judge for yourselves.  The words 'ARTHUR SCARGILL' spring to mind.  (Or even 'ISAIAH' - 'cos one 'eye's higher' than the other.  Boom-boom!)

IS THE WORLD GETTING SMALLER, OR AM I GETTING BIGGER?

Compare the scene above with the one below.  The above photo was taken circa 1988, the second one was taken today - from approximately the same pov as the first pic.  Look at how congested and narrow the street now seems compared to how it once was.  My town was built to accommodate Glasgow's 'overspill' and had large areas of green within and around the town to make it open and spacious, unlike the confined housing schemes of the City which had become overcrowded.

The green areas within were part of the plan, but almost 30 years ago were re-designated as 'under-developed land', which has resulted in them being crammed with just about any buildings that'll fit.  The town no longer has that open and spacious feel, and I deplore the change.  Where is it all going to end?  It doesn't look as if it's going to be any time soon.

Planners don't seem to take account of the fact that, if you build housing on playing fields, there are fewer play areas for the larger number of kids who will inhabit the area.  More homes for families to live in, but far less space for children to play.  Why can't those who make these sort of decisions see that overcrowding a neighbourhood that was originally designed and built with 'breathing space' is a recipe for disaster in the future?

Has the same thing happened or is currently happening where you live?  Then have a vent in our comments section and feel all the better for it.  Go on, let rip!

BABE Of The DAY - ABI TITMUS...

Here's awesome ABI TITMUS displaying

her spectacular... spectacles.  (Well, what did you

think I was going to say?  You were wrong!)

PART FORTY-FOUR Of FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - SUPERMAN'S PAL The NEW JIMMY OLSEN #s 142 & 143...

Images copyright DC COMICS

I'm feeling a little self-indulgent tonight, so, if you'll forgive me, I'm gonna yak about what may be a case of 'false-memory-syndrome' regarding two of my favourite JIMMY OLSEN mags by JACK KIRBY.  I'll try to make it more palatable by including a lot of great JK art, because we all know how long-winded I can be when I get my teeth into a topic.  The issues under consideration are #s 142 & 143, which I first bought sometime in 1971 or '72.  Or did I?  It would've been '72 at the latest, but at what point in the year did I buy them?  Aye, there's the rub.

I associate this page with my new house - mainly because (I assume)
I remember drawing it while sitting at my dining table

You see, I moved houses halfway through June of '72, but when I look at these two issues today, some pages take me right back to my former abode, and other pages I associate with my current residence.  How can that be?  I'm pretty sure I bought the two mags (on different days in all likelihood) from the newsagent's over the road from my old house during school dinner hour, so a variety of possible scenarios present themselves.  (First I should explain that I still attended the same school in my old neighbourhood even after flitting from the area.)

I associate this page with my old house, as well as a classroom in my
school's technical block.  (I bought the mag during dinner hour)

So I either bought the mags while yet residing in my old home, or not long after having moved to my new one.  That's the choices on offer.  If my previous dwelling, that would obviously explain the association in my memory, but if the new one, it doesn't.  Or does it?  It may simply be the case that, if I purchased the issues in my former neighbourhood not too long after having flitted, the afterglow of subconscious association yet lingered in the back of my mind.  And that would be accentuated by the fact that, having retained our original furniture, the ambience of our old living-room was continued in our new one.  (Also, I probably spent time thumbing through the mags in the shop over a period of days [at least] before I bought them, so that would no doubt reinforce my association of them with the area.)

Old house on some occasions, new house on others.  Could be
I'm remembering the first time I read it - and a later re-read

Of course, perhaps I'm overanalyzing things.  Maybe I associate some pages with my old house because I first read the mags there and they made an impression, and other pages with my new abode because, upon a later re-reading, they made a stronger impression second time around than they had the first.  Could be as simple as that.  "But what does it matter?" you ask, "and why bore us with it?"  Well, I tend to use comics as 'diaries' to a certain extent, in that I usually date past events by whatever issues I purchased at the time.  It can therefore be confusing to look at a mag and have two different associations spring to mind.

Great as this page is, panel 3 is misleading because of the downward angle of SUPERMAN's
arm, and the speech balloon seemingly indicating that the figures are 'small'.  Fact is, they're
normal size, but in the distance.  Had STAN been editor, he'd have had JACK (or someone)
reposition it.  I associate this page with my old house

However, congratulations!  You've managed to make it through to the end (I hope) of my tedious ruminations, so you can take comfort from the knowledge that you richly deserve the joy you'll undoubtedly derive from perusing the pulsating pages and panels of one of the masters of the comicbook medium - JACK 'KING' KIRBY!

Ever been plagued by such perplexities?  Any thoughts, theories, or observations on my woeful waffle?  Then let rip in the comments section, Effendis!  Lines are now open!

I associate this page with my old house...

...and this page with my new one