Saturday 4 March 2017

ROLLICKING REPOST: NOW COMES... COLOSSUS!


Copyright REBELLION

Whenever I first read a book, the images that form in my head are indelible.  Even if I re-read the book twenty years later, the exact same imagery is conjured up in my mind as before - though sometimes a more careful contemplation of the text might reveal that what I'd envisioned was perhaps not in perfect accord with the mental picture the writer was trying to paint.  (It's usually pretty close though.)

What do I mean exactly?  Well, if a writer's description of a location is similar enough to one I'm familiar with, then that's where I'll think of whenever I read the associated piece of text.  For example, KENNETH GRAHAME's WILD WOOD (from The WIND In The WILLOWS) is an amalgam, to me, of two different woods in two different neighbourhoods where I lived as a youth.  Exactly which wood depends on precisely which paragraph (or sentence) I'm reading, but one descriptive passage will suggest one wood, and another the other one.  These images formed in my brain when I first read the book, and these are the images that remain with me to this day, no matter how many times I re-read it.

So what's that got to do with this strip from the FANTASTIC Annual for 1968 (issued in August/September of 1967)?  Well, what I've just waxed boringly about in the preceding preamble is pretty much the same when it comes to comic strips.  With one difference of course, as comic strips have their own accompanying set of images which don't require much, if any, interpretive contribution on the part of the reader.  However, comic strips still carry with them their own associations of where and when they were first read, so they leave their own indelible impressions on a reader's mind in a similar way to what novels do.

For instance, I so associate the COLOSSUS strip - drawn by the amazing Spanish artist JOSE ORTIZ MOYA - with the house and neighbourhood in which I stayed when I first read it, that I'm right back there again in a heartbeat on sight of this particular tale.  Regardless of however many homes I've lived in (or ever will live in) since my initial exposure to this story, whenever I've re-read it over the years, it's always that first house I find myself thinking of each time I pore over this astoundingly awesome Ortiz artwork.

Anyway, it goes without saying that you all deserve a gold BLUE PETER BADGE for having to wade through the previous paragraphs of self-indulgent tosh to get to a point that should've taken only a few sentences.  You know me though - in love with the sound of my own computer keyboard.

If you think you recognise the art style, you'd be right.  As well as drawing Spanish strips and working for WARREN PUBLISHING, Jose also drew strips such as The THIRTEENTH FLOOR and The TOWER KING for IPC MAGAZINES.  He did much more than I've mentioned here of course, and fans of the man and his work might like to read more about his career by looking him up on WIKIPEDIA.  Sadly, he died aged 81 on December 23rd, 2013, but he leaves behind a rich legacy of absolutely amazing artwork.

Anyway, congratulations - you've scaled the final plateau. Now you can enjoy this 12-page strip by one of the comic strip medium's true masters.      











8 comments:

John Pitt said...

The images take me back to Christmas morning, 1967, where I received this in my pillow case, along with, if my memory serves me right, the Marvel annual ( text stories ), Captain Scarlet annual, Captain Scarlet Story Book and The Angels Story Book. Also, during that Christmas holiday, I cycled 7 miles through the snow to W.H. Smith's in the nearest town to also buy the Captain Scarlet and Angels Sticker Fun Books, out of my Christmas money to go with them!
I had my Dad's transistor radio on in my bedroom, listening to the Christmas charts. Amongst the top ten were: -
Beatles - Hello Goodbye
Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
Monkees - Daydream Believer
Bee Gees - World
Scaffold - Thank U Very Much
Four Tops - Walk Away Renee
Apart from that, I can't remember very much, associated with those images, I'm afraid.

Kid said...

That's quite a lot to be going on with, JP. Some people wouldn't even remember having the Annual.

John Pitt said...

I was being smug, Kid!
Some memories are strong for me. This was one of them.
Other times, as you know, my memory gets it TOTALLY wrong!
65 and 67 were really good Christmases for me, present-wise!
And yet 66 in between, I cannot remember much about, other than Tom Jones was number one!

Kid said...

The green, green, grass of home. Got the single.

WOODSY said...

Wow, Colossus! What a story and thanks for posting Kid. I love the Fantastic Annual 1968, one of most memorable annuals from my childhood, along with Project SWORD and The Impossibles among others. Everything about Fantastic was great especially the Thor story and the strip about the special rifle, which was a deadringer for my beloved Johnny Seven One Man Army toy, which I may have got the same Christmas. Not sure. About ten years ago I managed to pick up another copy of Fantastic 1968 at a local boot sale and re-read it straight away!

Kid said...

Yeah, it's a great Annual, isn't it? I'm lucky enough to have all three Annuals, the Summer Special, and all 89 issues of the weekly. Shame there was never a Terrific Annual though. Ah, those were the days, eh? I miss them.

John Pitt said...

And I still cannot remember what I got the previous Xmas, Kid? Other than the Dalek Outer Space Book. Strange that this was the only annual that year. I was very keen on the TV Batman as well around that time, but no Bat toys?
Perhaps I asked for accessories for my bike?

Kid said...

I'm not sure what I got for almost any of my Christmases, JP, except for a Callisto figure around 1969. Of course, I'll remember the toys I had, just not whether I got them for Christmas or not. As for The Dalek books, never had any of them at the time (not even sure if I knew about them), but I got 'em all now. Two copies of each of the first two.



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