SPACE BLIMP Of CHRISTMAS - WHERE ARE YOU? (Updated)

I guess it must have been 1966 or '67 and getting very near to Christmas.  At one time, looking back ages later, I thought it was 1968, because I associated the time and the toy with a comic and a cafeteria, but I'm sure I had it for longer than the latter date would allow, so I could be combining two separate but similar occasions in my memory.  What the heck am I gibbering on about?  Santa and his Space Blimp, pictured above, which my mother bought for me from WOOLWORTH'S one dark evening in the '60s.  The way I remembered it for years (years after the event it has to be said) is that I had a copy of SMASH! with me at the time, and then we retired to The NORFOLK Restaurant - which was a restaurant in name only as it was actually a cafeteria.  In one hand, I had my new Santa toy, and on the table lay my copy of Smash!, in which The SPECTRE (not the DC COMICS version) dodged bullets in a shooting gallery.

Well, as I said, that's the way I used to remember it, but thinking back, '68 seems too late - I'm sure I had the toy before that.  And, without checking, I'm not sure whether that particular instalment of The Spectre was published in a December issue.  So, again, as I said, perhaps two separate events that have rolled together into one over the passing of the years - an impression more than a memory in fact.  Not that it's important to anyone but myself.  What is important is that I loved that Santa toy, and owned Santa and the reindeer head up until 1972 or '73 (the 'blimp' itself met a premature end), before I cruelly dispensed with them (and other childhood possessions) in an attempt to be more 'grown up'.  I was a fool and have regretted it ever since.  In fact, it's probably that event that laid the seeds for me being receptive to the idea of tracking down the things of my youth, of fanning the collecting spark into a flame when the opportunity presented itself a decade later.

I want this toy more than I want to marry SALMA HAYEK (when she's divorced from her present husband of course).  In this toy lies a portion of my childhood that I want back, and that's more important than an awesomely alluring sex goddess any day of the week (except Fridays).  Do you own this toy or know where I can get it?  If so, let me know at once and filthy lucre could be yours for the asking.  Don't let me down.

******

(Update: And I'm sure you'll all be glad to know I now own two of them.)

WHICH WITCH IS WHICH?

There's a story behind the little witch keyring you see in the above photo.  Not a particularly interesting story to be honest, but one I feel compelled to tell.  The original keyring I first had was bought in Largs in 1971, and goodness knows how long I actually had it for.  Probably not very long.  In 1975, I saw a batch of the same keyrings in my local FINE FARE (remember that shop?) in two variations.  The first was the same as the one above, with a green shawl (or whatever it is), and the second had an orange shawl.  I bought the green one as it was the same as my original, but when the metal chain split through the rubber ring it was attached to, I bought an orange one as that was all that was left.  I'm giving you the Readers' Digest version here, because I may have individually bought a couple of each at different times (while stocks lasted), but the rubber to which the metal chain was attached kept breaking, so my reunion with this reminder from my past was short-lived.

Still awake?  I next encountered this keyring (in its original colour scheme) in Southsea in 1981, almost 10 years after its original predecessor.  That's the one in the photo, still in one piece almost 38 years later.  Back in the '70s, I'd assumed witchy was a DISNEY character, but now I think I was mistaken in that assumption.  I suppose my primary association with this keyring is Largs, but sometimes it depends on just where my memory lands while hopping through the labyrinthean corridors of my mind.  One time, it might be Largs, another, Fine Fare, and another, Southsea - the chamber spins and stops where it will.  Though if my immediate memory isn't Largs but one of the other places, it always makes its circuitous way back to Largs after visiting the other destinations;  a journey in reverse so to speak.

So here's a question for you all, in a shameless attempt to hoodwink you into believing I was leading up to it when I started typing, and didn't just think of it this very second.  (Otherwise, you might assume - rightly - that there was no real point to this post.)  Have you ever once owned an item which you either lost, gave away, or threw out and then replaced many years later, which, when you think back, you associate with where you obtained the replacement as much as where you acquired the original?  Or vice versa - or any possible variation you can wring out of the question.  Hey, gimme a break, willya?  They can't all be gems.

CREEPY CREATIONS WILL MAKE YOU A GOGGLE-EYED GOON...

Images copyright REBELLION

My CREEPY CREATIONS volume arrived today, but unfortunately it was slightly damaged, making it necessary for me to resort to some digital manipulation in order to present a pristine cover image.  Never mind, those nice folks at REBELLION are going to send me a replacement copy, but in the meantime here's my own contribution to the annals of comics history - The GOGGLE-EYED GOON Of GLOUCESTER.

The top of the page credits have been redone all through the book

I remember drawing this while lying on my grandparents' living-room carpet the day after buying SHIVER & SHAKE #1, and posting it off the very next morning.  (The drawing, not the carpet.)  Twenty weeks later it appeared on the back page and, scoff all you will, that really is my actual drawing (or an enlarged tracing), which KEN REID 'slicked up' no end with his meticulous inking style.  The reason I'm certain he never completely redrew it is because there were quite a few aspects that I was unhappy with in my version which are still all-too-obvious in the published page.  Ken would surely have fixed those imperfections had he started from scratch.

The wings are far more ornately rendered than I would have drawn them, and there's a bit more detailing in the forehead creases and one or two other places, but trust me on this - the finished result can be regarded as nothing less than a Robson/Reid collaboration.  Obviously I can only conclude that Ken regarded my drawing as being of a high enough standard to work over, simply giving it a more professionally inked finish, but he left what I regarded as my mistakes intact.

It would be interesting to know if he did the same thing with other submissions, or did he completely redraw and improve them?  Unfortunately there's no way for me to judge, but if one of your entries ever saw print, perhaps you remember if it was different in any way from your original drawing?  If so, let me and your fellow Criv-ites know.

One other thing about ol' Goony;  there was some kind of art competition in a UK comic (perhaps a MARVEL one) a couple or so years later, and someone had copied my drawing and submitted it, which I saw when thumbnails of the entries were published in the winners and runners-up results.  If he got a prize for it, it really belongs to me - so if he sees this, he should send it to me at once (whatever it was), the robbing b@st@rd!

Interestingly, out of all 72 entries (the first seven were 'in-house'), there was only one other contribution from Scotland after mine - number 39's 'The Flying Haggis From Hamilton' by Iain Crosbie.  (Other creations had Scottish locations, but were sent from elsewhere.)

Anyway, if you're a Ken Reid fan, or were one of the winners of the Creepy Creations comp back in the day (or both), then this book is definitely for you.  Rush out and buy it from your local comics shop, or better yet, order it from the TREASURY Of BRITISH COMICS site today!  £17.99.

Incidentally, the internal colour images come from printed copies of the comics, but they look great, no doubt having been 'tidied up' in some computer-magical way.  If only the QUEEN Of The SEAS and DARE-A-DARE DAVY pages in one of the recent Ken Reid ODHAMS volumes (by another publisher) had been presented in the same manner, then the book would've been as good as it could be, not the 'settle-for-second-best' edition that it actually was.  (Not that it was bad, but it could've and should've been better.)

IT'S A KNOCKOUT! (NOW THERE'S AN ORIGINAL TITLE FOR A POST)...

Image copyright relevant owner

Well, it's only taken 45 (and a half) years since it was first issued for me to acquire it, but my very own copy of KNOCKOUT Holiday Special from 1973 arrived this morning, thereby completing my collection of the '70s incarnation of this title.  106 weekly issues, 2 Holiday Specials, and 13 Annuals - and I've got them all!  Now all I have to do is find time some day to sit down and read 'em.  I'm hoping to have at least another 50 years or so of life left to me (if I can't be immortal), so hopefully that'll be long enough to find a window in my busy routine to accomplish the task.  I don't recall the contents of this Special (though the cover rings a bell) so it's possible I never had it at the time, but I'm certainly glad to own it now.  Took me right back to the '70s for a moment on just seeing the logo again - great stuff.

Did you buy Knockout when you were a kid, readers?  Did you have this Special?  If so, let's hear your memories of childhood when the world seemed a brighter, cleaner, happier place.  Maybe it was just an illusion, but some illusions are worth their weight in gold if they have a beneficial effect on our lives, don't you think?  Right, don't all rush the comments section at once - form an orderly queue.