TWO SMASH HITS FOR YOU...

Joke pages in comics didn't often strike me as containing particularly funny gags.  Here's a couple of exceptions which actually made me chuckle, from a 1969 ish of SMASH!  Perhaps you'll like them too - if so, let me know.

CRIVENS' CRACKING COVERS: The ROGER MOORE ADVENTURE BOOK...

Copyright relevant owner

Just thought I'd show this cover because I like it.  It's now my ambition to have a book like this named after me.  'The KID ROBSON Adventure Book' certainly has a nice ring to it.  Any enterprising publishers out there who'd be interested?  Hello?  (Hell of an echo in here.)

WHAT IS IT (SOME) EDITORS DO AGAIN?

Copyright UNITED FEATURES SYNDICATE, Inc

Having formerly worked in comics for 15 years, and having read them for over 50, I've often found myself amazed by the gaffs some alleged editors made (or failed to notice) when it came to putting a comic together.  Here are just 6 I've seen in comics (and blogs) over the years.  Can you think of any others?  Then leave a comment in the you-know-where.

Correct ones on the left, wrong ones on the right.

Sought-after.  (Not sort-after.)

Could have.  (Not could of.)

Whet your appetite.  (Not wet.)

Heyday.  (Not hayday.)

Prerogative.  (Not perogative.)

Prodigy.  (Not progidy.)

If ignorance is bliss, then there must be a hell of a lot of ecstatically happy people around.   

FANTASTIC FIRSTS...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Above is the illustration from the cover of MARVEL's 1994 hardback volume, FANTASTIC FIRSTS (below).  A strictly limited edition, it wasn't available to the general public, though a softcover edition (with an added WOLVERINE tale) was released some years later. Unfortunately, I can't show the contents because it's too tightly bound to scan, but it contains the origins of all the main Marvel superheroes, though sadly not from particularly good proofs.

The thing that makes the book worthwhile however, is the introductions to the tales by creators mainly associated with the characters; thus The HULK has an intro by HERB TRIMPE (rhymes with 'shrimpy'), Sgt. FURY is introduced by DICK AYERS, and The SILVER SURFER by Big JOHN BUSCEMA, etc.  These personal intros have interesting reminiscences from the contributors' point of view, and make for informative reading.  The book comes in a slip-case and is quite a handsome-looking item.

My first copy of this book had trouble with the spine splitting when I opened it (a defect of the binding, not as a result of any rough handling on my part), so I obtained a 2nd copy, as imperfection irks me.  (Being perfect myself you see.)  As the first one was falling apart, I removed the cover pages (which I intend to frame at some point), and disposed of the rest, though I kept the slipcase, which now houses the first two Hulk MARVEL MASTERWORKS.

Anyway, thought you might like to see this striking illustration.  Would look good as a poster, I'd say.

And below is the book to go for if you want a collected edition of Marvel origin stories - MARVEL FIRSTS.  It doesn't have the personal intros of the above volume, but the stories are, in the main, reproduced from more accurate and archival sources.

BABE Of The DAY - ABI TITMUS...

"Gordie, where are you?"

ABI TITMUS runs into the street

looking for me, but she can relax 'cos

I've only nipped out to nab a newspaper

and a couple of cheese and onion pasties.

I'm heading straight back, Abi dear, so no

need to panic.  (Women just find me

 irresistible for some reason.)

A MAGAZINE DESIGNED To GIVE YOU - The CREEPS...

Images copyright WARRANT PUBLISHING COMPANY

If you're a fan of WARREN mags CREEPY and EERIE, then you'll be interested in this title I picked off the shelves of a comicbook store recently.  It's an excellent 'tribute' magazine, but I feel it could be improved in a few ways.  Let's get the 'minor' faults out of the way first.

The lettering.  Done by computer font, but that in itself isn't the problem - it's the spacing.  When words are italicised, any 'screamers' (exclamation marks) run into the first letter of the next sentence, resulting in the balloons and captions having a squashed appearance that's sore on the eyes.  A bigger space needs to be left between sentences to avoid this.  Occasional missing punctuation also detracts from smooth reading.

Not so minor - the plots.  The story, 'FAIR TRADE', involves a mind swap between bodies by the method of sorcery.  (Spoiler alert:)  The process reverses itself the day after the sorcerer is killed, before he'd cast his next spell which would've 'halted the physical transfer which naturally follows any mental transfer'.  Er, run that past me again?

A sorcerer transfers one person's mind into the body of another, but unless he casts a second spell, the body will automatically reunite with its mind - rendering the first spell totally redundant.  H'mm, maybe the writer needs to put more thought into his plots as this aspect is too contrived to be convincing.  (If a tale about sorcery and mind-transference can ever be convincing, but I'm sure you get my point.)

Anyway, don't be put off by me being pernickety.  This mag is like a time tunnel into the 1960s and '70s and is well worth a look.  Available from all good comics shops.  Dig one up as soon as you can.

Spot the misspelling of 'Pharaoh' in the contents above