'SMASH'-ING NEWS For LIONEL HANCOCK...

Copyright relevant owner

It's good news for Lionel Hancock, a 'Crivens!' reader who was looking for the instalment of The LEGEND TESTERS from SMASH! #20.  I knew I had the comic in my bound ODHAMS file volumes (which I wouldn't be able to scan without risk of damaging the spine), but couldn't remember if I had an individual issue. Turns out I did, after emptying a cupboard to check, so here it is, LH - all yours.  Click on the images to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.  Then left-click and use the 'save as' facility to store them in your computer.

You know, there are some comics bloggers who refuse to help out others who are looking for a favourite strip from childhood.  It's their comic, they say, which they paid for, so if someone else wants an image from it, let them buy their own copy! This conveniently overlooks the fact that not all old comics are readily available, and even ones that are, the prices asked for them are not always ones that people feel comfortable paying (or can afford).  It also ignores the fact that, in a lot of cases, they bought their comics years ago when the cost of back issues was far lower, whereas prices have skyrocketed over the years since they purchased their copies.

Also, those selfish bloggers publish other old strips on their blogs, and some of them are bound to be ones that someone's been looking for.  Therefore, what's the difference if somebody asks for a specific image?  To refuse on the stated grounds is just pure bloody-minded selfishness in my view.  Or posing.  Why not simply say that they don't have time to look through their vast collections for individual comics in order to supply images to the many people who request them?  That wouldn't be a lie, because I certainly couldn't (and wouldn't be prepared to) do that if I were getting deluged by requests for particular strips on a regular basis.

Anyway, LH, happy to be able to help you out on this occasion (but don't get greedy).

EVER THINK ABOUT 'CONDENSATION'...?

How do you condense a 12 year period into a couple of days?  You decide to watch all ROGER MOORE's JAMES BOND movies in a two day film-fest.  I haven't done it yet, but I intend to do so at some stage before I get too much older.  Roger played Bond from 1973 to 1985, which was very nearly half my life up to when he relinquished the role.  Consequently, that 12 year duration seems far longer than a similar period would appear to me today.  For instance, the last 12 years have gone by (wait for it) faster than a fart from The FLASH, so 2005 feels far more recent than it should do.

That 12 years from '73 to '85 saw a lot of changes in my life; the usual kind that everyone experiences to be sure, but no less memorable on an individual level for all that.  I was a schoolboy for Roger's first two Bond outings, worked in a variety of jobs (with periods of unemployment) for the next four, and was a full-time freelancer for his swan-song.  I was also living in a different house for the last two films.  Friends came and went during that time, the face of my town was transformed (not always for the better) over the period, and world events would require several paragraphs to do them justice.  (Relax, I'll spare you the details.)

The same thing can happen with books, too.  For example, I've bought the hardback volumes of The BROONS and OOR WULLIE every year since the series first came out in 1995 (for '96) - 22 years ago.  Apart from the fact that it doesn't seem anywhere near that far back, it's an odd feeling to see such a short area of shelf space representing 22 years of one's life.  How can 22 years fit into a width of less than two feet? Ach, well, no use labouring the point, but the fact that the collected acquisitions of a person's entire life could probably be fitted into one room (if it was all boxed and stacked floor to ceiling) testifies to just how insignificant a dent we make in the overall scheme of things.

Anybody else ever ponder such things? Feel free to contribute your thoughts, theories, feelings and philosophies to our comments section.

IT'S A 'KOCK-UP', BUT NOT ONE OF KIRBY'S...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

See the above tier from page 10 of the main tale in JOURNEY Into MYSTERY #83?  Of course you do, but take note of what that STONE MAN From SATURN (I think his name is Nigel) is saying in the last panel.  "Strange - - a moment ago the sky was clear!  Yet now there is a storm brewing!"  Actually, as you can see in the tier below from page 8, moments before, THOR had been trying out the powers of his hammer and had thunder, lightning and a tornado on the go, so how did they miss that?  (Eh, what did you say?  They were in their spaceship listening to The ARCHERS on the radio?  Okay, I'll buy that.)  Seriously though, LARRY LIEBER (who dialogued the tale) slipped up there, but we'll forgive him because it's such a classic origin story.  So JACK's off the hook this time, but there's always tomorrow.