A & BC BATMAN HAND PUPPET...

Image copyright DC COMICS

Do you remember the 'bat' item shown above? I recall getting a BATMAN hand puppet in Glasgow's KELVIN HALL in the 1960s (and immediately disposing of the disgusting 'confectionary' contained within), but it didn't last long.  Its thin polythene soon creased and shed colour and detail in places.

I also acquired one from a classmate, IAN ROBBIE, in exchange for a small packet of KP salted nuts (which cost tuppence) and (I think) a thru'penny bit.  The deal was struck in the school playground during a break one day, and though I'm now no longer 100% certain which one I got first, thinking about it, I think Robbie's preceded the Kelvin Hall one.  Regardless of the correct sequence of events, neither of them lasted any significant length of time.  

In real life that is, but they lived on in memory to the present day.  I ran into Ian last week, not having seen him in 20-odd years, and we reminisced about that ol' puppet he was persuaded to part  with.  To be honest, I was quite surprised that he even remembered, because in all the time I've known him (over 50 years), I don't think he's ever referred back to it before.

Perhaps one of those nuts lodged in his throat, ensuring that the item he swapped for them likewise lodged in his memory.  (See what I did there?)  Anyone else remember them?  If so, leave a comment in the you-know-where.  (It's good to share, so get typing now.)

The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN - PART THREE...

Copyright relevant owner

Two titanic TRI-MAN episodes for you this time, folks, as that gives you four SOLANO LOPEZ pages to enjoy.  JOHNNY SMALL's got his work cut out for him when - but wait!  Why tell you when you can read it for yourselves?  So what're you waiting for?  Get reading!

BABE Of The DAY - CANDY LOVING...

CANDY LOVING gazes down at

me adoringly, seconds before making a

cup of tea for me.  So it may've been only

a dream, but it seemed real enough to me.

(Obviously I had to make my own tea -

 dreams only go so far after all.)

RECOMMENDED READING: MARVEL EPIC COLLECTION - ANT MAN/GIANT MAN...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's a book for all you '60s MAREVELites who thrilled to these tales the first time around.  I read them in a weekly comic called TERRIFIC back in 1967, and also, I think, MARVEL COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS (too lazy to check).  I've also got the two MASTERWORKS volumes that present the full run, but this edition has approximately two thirds of them, suggesting that volume two will perhaps include later SCOTT LANG ANT-MAN stories.

So read the spiel on the back cover, raid your piggy bank, and then get 'round to your nearest comics shop or bookstore and acquire a copy of this valiant volume for yourself.