LION 1980 HOLIDAY SPECIAL...

Copyright REBELLION

Here's a ZIP NOLAN tale and a MOWSER page from the 1980 LION Holiday Special.  Betcha you'd all love to see the ROBOT ARCHIE and The SPIDER confrontation, but I'm holding off on that for the moment.  After all, you need something to look forward to.  Incidentally, this Lion Special only had 64 pages, which was 16 short of the 80 page 1974 Special, which itself was 16 fewer than the year before in '73.  (I can't say precisely which year the page count dropped from 80 to 64 as I don't have the '75 - '79 issues.)  Page numbers went down and prices went up, which is, I suppose, why Holiday Specials eventually faded from the scene.  

THE BRAINLESS BULLY (Updated AGAIN)...

I received a comment the other day to one of my posts from last week.  This is what it said: 'Thank you for all your hard work scanning comics like this.  It must take you AGES and cost you so much money out of your own hard earned cash to buy the old comics to show us.'  (You can read my response here.)

As you can see, it positively drips of sarcasm and insinuates the very opposite of its apparent meaning.  My suspicions were immediately aroused as to who'd be so obsessed with me that they'd go to the bother of submitting such a comment, and I've now had those suspicions confirmed.  I've just received screen grabs from a blog, wherein the writer goes on about how much hard work is involved in scanning and how he mainly uses only comics from his own personal collection, and a Twitter account by the same writer, wherein he takes a pop at me.  Let's look at what he Twitters on about, shall we?

The first comment is in direct response to my recent post on DOCTOR WHO (in which he actually quotes me, so no doubt then as to who he's taking a dig at), and the second distorts my claim that the only two surviving weekly comics from the time this country had a vibrant comics industry are The BEANO and 2000 A.D.  Here we see the tedious, infantile carping that this arrogant individual is prone to in regard to myself.  He's done this before of course, not only on his own blog and Twitter accounts, but also on other people's.  Sometimes he's had second thoughts and removed the posts (if not to hide his 'aggression', then at least his smug, pompous, supercilious self-righteousness), but he just can't seem to leave well enough alone.

I'm advised that he's also recently introduced a new character into one of his strips who is supposed to be a mickey-take of people who share my views on comics (that'll be the vast majority then), but I confess to being more than generous in my view - he's likely got a particular individual in mind.  As for his pejorative use of the word 'grandad', I believe he's the same age as myself, so he's surely insulting himself here as well.

Anyway, nice to know that I'm so much in his thoughts at this time of year, but for the record, I've got a life and I'd bet it's a grand sight better than his.  Were I tempted to be offended by his ad hominem attacks, I'd take consolation from the fact that I'm not bald and obese, and have actually had girlfriends (real ones, not inflatable ones like his) from time to time.  That's probably the true root of his 'attitude'.

As for New Year resolutions, I don't have to make any - my life's perfectly fine as it is.  Anyway, have a great time when it comes, readers, and wishing you all a 2018 that is pillock-free.

******

1st Update: Within a very short time of me publishing this post (and running true to form) this individual tweeted the following comment:

"I should have known that as soon as I posted those tweets about grumpy gits, one paranoid individual would take it personally on his blog.  Pitiful and annoying.  Give it a rest and drop the grudge." 

Is anyone apart from a few lick-spittle sycophants actually fooled by his disingenuous, well-practised, wide-eyed 'innocent victim' routine?  It's obvious from his comments (wherein he quotes the actual content of one of my posts, remember) that he actually did know (as I usually respond to such remarks), and precisely who he was (primarily) taking a pot-shot at.

The number of times he's done this (he has an established history of doing so) are far too many to be down to simple coincidence - or any alleged paranoia on my part (despite his absurd suggestion of such).  H'mm, must be trying to drum up more attention for himself.  Pathetic.  If anyone's got a grudge, it's him, the sad pillock.

******

2nd Update: Ah, it's clear to me now - he's got one of his self-published thingies coming out soon.  Does anyone else see a pattern emerging here?  He did the same thing last time when he published several 'anonymous' comments on his blog and then tried to suggest they were all from me - by 'tweaking' things I'd said about self-publishing on my own blog.  The timing's a dead giveaway.  Or are we really expected to believe that it's mere coincidence? 

MOWSER STRIKES AGAIN...

Image copyright relevant owner

Here we go again with yet another episode of MOWSER's long-running feud with JAMES the butler.  Impeccably drawn by REG PARLETT, I wish some of today's lesser cartoonists would take a leaf out of his book when it comes to composition and storytelling.  A deceptively-simple style, it never fails to raise a laugh on the visual aspects alone, even if the basic plot wasn't always as outrageously funny as Reg made it appear.  (Though most plots were pretty darn funny.)

Incidentally, this is a resized reprint with some panels 'extended' by a lesser hand, so try and ignore those parts.

BLIMEY! PART FOUR Of The TITANS COVER COMPARISONS - FANTASTIC FOUR #90...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

You're all loving this series so far, I hope!  I know I am!  The above FANTASTIC FOUR issue (#90), was the first instalment of a four-part adventure, and one of the classic tales of the '60s.  A few years later, it was reprinted in The TITANS (#33), and the cover was redrawn to suit the different page size of the UK 'landscape' format.  I'm lucky enough to have both versions in my immense collection of comics, which is why I can show you them here.  Got a preference, frantic ones?  Then say which and why in the comments section. 

EVERYBODY LOVES A BIT OF PUSS, EH? IT'S MOWSER...

Image copyright relevant owner

Reprinted (and resized) from a weekly issue of LION, this MOWSER strip appeared in the 1973 LION & THUNDER Holiday Special.  As usual, the art was by the phenomenally-talented REG PARLETT, who had a gift for making every single panel look funny.  This was due to the expressions and body language of the characters, as well as the way the scenes were composed.  One of Britain's best artists, and one of our country's funniest strips - what a combination!

CRIVENS! IS THERE NO END TO THIS TITANS COVER COMPARISONS SERIES? PART THREE - FANTASTIC FOUR #89...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

And again.  Is there no stopping me?  Nah, this is too much fun!  Submitted for all you Crivs' contemplative consideration and comparison, FANTASTIC FOUR #89 and The TITANS #32.  Y'know, I reckon that with a tighter inking job on the redrawn versions, they'd have been almost as good as the originals, despite the alterations necessitated by the different page dimensions.  What do you think, frantic ones?

Incidentally, I received an 'anonymous' comment recently from someone who seems to have a bee in his bonnet about the images that other people use on their blogs - this blog in particular.  (You can see the comment here.)  So, just to be clear, all covers shown in this series so far have been from comics in my own collection.  So there, 'Mr. Anonymous'.  (You'd think someone would have better things to do with their time.)