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Y'know, it might sometimes take me forever to get around to things, but I eventually get there in the end. Take DC's BEOWULF and TOR comics as an example. I remember buying at least the first issues of each title back in the mid-'70s, but regardless of however many issues I bought of both series, I'm reasonably sure I never had all six in each set. Some years back, I bought #s 1-3 of Beowulf and #1 of Tor, and it's only now that I've finally acquired the remaining issues I needed to complete my collection of those two titles. A staggering 40-odd years after the fact, I can finally catch up on what I missed as a teenager. Hopefully it'll be worth the wait.
For Christmas 1978 I received a book called "Mysteries Of The Unknown" which was divided into 3 sections - monsters, ghosts and UFOs. The monsters section mentioned Beowulf and it was the first time I'd ever heard of him.
ReplyDeleteThe book was a hardback but the three sections were available separately as paperbacks - in fact, I'd already bought the UFO one.
I think I first heard of Beowulf at school, CJ. That book rings a bell - I might have it. Is it based on Arthur C. Clark'e TV show, and does it have a crystal skull on it?
ReplyDeleteColin, I had that book too, it was a hand-me-down from my older cousin and I loved it. Do you remember the picture of the skull that you stared at for 30 seconds then looked at a black wall to see a huge ghostly skull floating in front of you? One of my favourite books ever!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember what happened to my hardback copy but I got hold of a paperback version a few years ago.
Was it the Arthur C. Clarke one, DS?
ReplyDeleteI really liked those Beowulf comics that DC published lovely art and a some amazing covers. One of the few comics that I managed to get (almost) every issue of at newsagents (mostly as I thought issue 5 was the last edition -I think that may be the first time I have seen issue 6) - surprised this character hasn't been revived (unless it has and I missed it that is). I bought Tor issue 1 (and 4)as well but despite it having Joe Kuberts amazing art the character and concept was one I wasn't that fond of.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally I had a mini nostalgic "turn" yesterday (I thought I would bore you with as it was so vivid) . I was having a half days leave and went to Glasgow to meet an old friend I hadn't seen for ages, as usual he was late so I popped into Forbidden Planet for a look around. After about 30 mins trawling the shelves and seeing nothing of interest (under £30) for myself,I picked up the latest "Amazing Spider-Man" . Oblivious to everything with my headphones on (listening to a music mix from my ipod) a 70s track came on ( T-Rex's "Metal Guru" - love it) as I turned around in my owd world music blaring with my Spidey comic in my hand I was faced by an old style spinner rack full of those "True Believer" MARVEL reprints with 70s covers etc and for a second I was back in 1973 (seriously) was soon jolted back t0 2018 as my mate called on my mobile to say he was in town though - but I bought 5 "True Believer" comics (£1 each) not the best from that time but good reads.
Beowulf was okay (read 1-6 yesterday), PM, but I got irked by speech balloons pointing to the wrong person on a few occasions. Received Tor #3-6 today (got #2 yesterday), but I note that they're mostly, if not all reprint. (Only #1 had new material.) Number 2 is actually the '50s number 1, so it's good to have anyway. Don't know about Beowulf, but Tor was revived not too long before Joe Kubert died - there was a 6 issue series by DC, all new I believe. I got the first one when it came out, going to track the rest down soon.
ReplyDeleteI've been buying a lot of those True Believers and I think it's great to see them again. As you say though, not all of them are the best from the time, but I love the '60s issues. Incidentally, don't know if you saw the FF #1 facsimile edition (it was originally going to be a TB, but got cancelled) - it's one you really should add to your collection. See my review of it on the blog a couple or so weeks back.
Kid, the Mysteries Of The Unknown book had nothing to do with Arthur C. Clarke - the book came out in 1978, two years before the TV show Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World.
ReplyDeleteDave, the floating skull rings a bell.
UPDATE: out of curiosity I just googled usbornebooksmysteriesoftheunknown and found the very book! Google images shows pages from the book including the skull mentioned by Dave. And there was also the cover of the separate UFO book I mentioned!
ReplyDeleteAh, right. Not the book I have then. Ta for the info, CJ.
ReplyDeleteFunny you should mention the Arthur C Clarke book, Kid, cos I've got that one too!
ReplyDeleteI also have Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World on Dvd, the episode about Bigfoot brings me out in a rush of nostalgia as much as any comic, as I remember watching it one Saturday afternoon with my dad in the 80s and discussing it with my best friend at school the following Monday.
I used to watch the show from time to time, but, oddly for me, have no particular memories of any individual episodes. I think I bought the book in a church jumble sale many, many years ago. Must dig it out and take another look at it - it's been a while.
ReplyDeleteEvery week the beginning of 'Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World' showed Clarke walking along a beach in Sri Lanka (where he lived) and the narrator (Gordon Honeycombe) said Clarke had invented the communication satellite. I was very impressed by this fact until I later discovered the truth - Clarke had written about something similar to the communications satellite in one of his sci-fi stories from the late 1940s which is rather different from "inventing" it.
ReplyDeleteIn an interview Arthur C. Clarke was once asked if he was gay. He replied "I am rather jolly". It was his polite way of saying "F*ck off and mind your own business".
Now that you've reminded me, I vaguely remember the beginning of the show. I just looked up his entry in Wikipedia, CJ - I think you'll find it interesting. According to what it says there, he 'proposed' a satellite communications system. It also touches on other aspects of his personal life. Give it a look.
ReplyDeleteBeowulf brings back memories of High School when I got extra credit for a Beowulf piece i drew for English class. Also, Marvel published 6 issues of new Tor in 1993, then DC reprinted the '50s stories in hardcover before Kubert died.
ReplyDeleteThat's news to me about Marvel/Epic's Tor - obviously I missed that series in 1993. There were three hardbound editions apparently, reprinting the original St. John Publications series, the DC series and the Marvel series. (Just looked it up.)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed that Beowulf series. I didn't get all six issues either, but I was fascinated with the story of Beowulf about that time. It was really well done and deserved better than it got.
ReplyDeleteI only found the first issue of Tor. Around that time, my local comic book store (the neighborhood grocer) stopped carrying comic books, which might have been why I didn't get all of the Beowulf issues. I bought anything that Joe Kubert drew, so I would have had those if I'd been able to get my hands on them.
What's interesting to me, G, is that the writer of Beowulf, Michael Uslan, went on to be one of the producers of the Batman and Swamp Thing movies (having written some Batman and other mags), and had also taught a university course on comics, so it'll be interesting to see if he'll ever do a Beowulf movie.
ReplyDeleteAs for Tor, that first ish sort of stands alone, because the next five were reprints of the '50s stories and are therefore almost a separate series. The first issue was intended as a newspaper strip, but was never published, so it was reformatted into the comicbook that was Tor #1.
Incidentally, they're available on eBay and are fairly inexpensive.
Update: Actually, the proposed newspaper strip was reformatted into 6 comic-sized pages and was published in the original Alter-Ego #10 in 1969. It was extended to 16 pages for Tor #1 in 1975, presumably the extra pages being new material.
ReplyDeleteI remember Uslan writing a couple of Shadow stories around the same time. I would love to see a real Beowulf movie. I read the translation by Seamus Heaney that was popular a few years back and it really got me interested again.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've read it since my schooldays, G. I'll have to take another look at it. Haven't seen the movie from a few years back.
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