MONSTER Of The MONTH - FRANKENSTEIN...

The best FRANKENSTEIN Monster

of all - British-born BORIS KARLOFF.

DOCTOR WHO - AN ANNUAL EVENT...

Images copyright BBC TV

Actor DAVID BRADLEY (as WILLIAM HARTNELL) holds aloft the very first Dr. WHO Annual - or does he?  In actual fact, it's a re-imagined version for the 2013 programme, An ADVENTURE In SPACE And TIME.  The cover of the published 1965 book is below.  Note that it doesn't feature a DALEK, though the original mock-up of the cover (which didn't much resemble the finished item) did.

And below is the very cover mentioned in the above paragraph.  Maybe it was ditched because of the red (or so it looks to me) TARDIS.

BABE Of The DAY - MICHELLE KEEGAN...

MICHELLE KEEGAN is playing

'hide and seek'.  I'd better tell her she's

meant to stand behind the pillar in that

case, not in front of it.  Or perhaps she

wants to be found?  (By me!)

CRIVENS' ALTERNATIVE COVERS: THE MIGHTY THOR #144...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Above, the published cover of The MIGHTY THOR #144, pencilled by JACK KIRBY and inked by VINCE COLLETTA in 1966.  Below, the rejected original cover, inked and lettered by MIKE ROYER in 2000, followed by a 1975 reprint of the above ish.  Some diehard Kirby fans often criticise any changes to his art, resenting even the slightest variation from the original.  I've even seen the change to the baddie's mace in the above cover being questioned, but to me it's blatantly obvious why - the original looked like a cartoon duck's head!

Thor would've laughed himself to death on sight of it, before it had even hit him.  The fact is, STAN LEE often knew best.  As for the rejected cover, it's a belter sure enough, but perhaps it was felt it made Thor appear to be losing the battle, or was considered just a little too difficult to ink.  (Mike Royer later showed that wasn't so.)  Any theories as to why it was rejected?  Let's read them in our ever-lovin' comments section, frantic ones.

SPACE - THE FINAL FRONTIER...

You'll never know just how much I suffer for my 'art', Criv-ites.  "Art?" you say, "isn't that a rather pretentious word for a mere blog?"  Maybe as regards my written content, but not for its 'cosmetic' appearance as regards the paragraphs of text.  I spend a good deal of time trying to keep everything consistently symmetrical and well laid out, but I hadn't allowed for the effects that different browsers have on the layout, or even the fickle nature of individual browsers, which infuriatingly differ from one minute to the next.  Wait and I'll explain.

If I finish a post and it looks perfect on one browser, it might not look quite the same on another.  Also, if you access this blog from Facebook, the layout is haphazard and nothing like it looked when I pressed 'publish' at my end.  Even on the same browser, the font size changes slightly every so often, throwing my carefully prepared spacing out of kilter.

AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

So if you see any little (or even big) departures from the norm in the spacing of an occasional sentence or paragraph, and find yourself thinking: "H'mm, ol' Kid's been a bit careless there", chances are that it's down to the vagaries of Blogger, not myself.  Honest.  Try accessing it on a few different browsers and you'll see precisely what I mean.   

CRIVENS' CRACKING COMIC COVERS: STAR WARS WEEKLY #71...

Image copyright relevant owner

Seeing this cover on eBay fairly recently, reminded me that it used to adorn my bedroom wall back in the late '70s - mainly due to the fact that I found the picture of PRINCESS LEIA seriously sexy.  Know what?  I still do!