JOE KUBERT'S TOR 2008 COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright relevant owner

In 1975, DC COMICS released the first issue of a new bi-monthly comic by JOE KUBERT, called simply TOR.  I bought it, but I was unaware that five subsequent issues followed in it's wake until many years later, though they were merely reprints of 1950s stories featuring the character.  I couldn't tell you how long I kept that first issue, but sometime in the late '80s or early to mid-'90s, I obtained a replacement for it, which I retain to this day.  And, just last year, in October, I managed to acquire issues 2-6 in that '70s run.

However, in 2008, DC released a new, six-issue series of Tor, again by Joe Kubert, and I bought that first issue too, meaning that I then had two first issues of the same character, divided by 43 years.  Well, guess what?  Today I received issues 2-6 in that run also, meaning that I've now completed the set just over ten years after it first came out.  Believe it or not, there was also a four-issue MARVEL/EPIC series of Tor in 1993, but I'll probably not bother with that as I didn't know about it at the time, and only learned of it back in October.

And, truth to tell, I can't claim to be a huge fan of the character (though I do like Joe Kubert's art), and only bought the original first issues because they were new number ones.  The collecting compulsion can be a powerful thing, and that's the main reason I eventually decided to complete both sets - simply in order to finish what I'd begun back in 1975 and 2008.  (It was almost like revisiting the past in the process.)

So, as I never knew about the Marvel series and never bought the first issue back in '93, I can live without them.  Having said that, if they should ever come up at a reasonable price, I may indulge myself.  After all, never say never.  Not that you're interested in any of that, you're just here for the pictures.

So - here they are...   

BELATED BEANO 2018 CHRISTMAS ISSUE REVIEW...

Copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

I've only just received it from the publishers (missed it in the shops, had to order it direct from DCT), so here's a belated BEANO review of #3964, the Christmas issue for 2018.  Not a big fan of the tat that comes with it, but perhaps kids will love it, though I suspect the ones that do will be at the younger end of the spectrum.  However, didn't mind the poster and joke book as they're the sort of things I'd have liked as a kid.

I've been buying the Christmas Beano every year since 1978 and 40 years later I'm still doing so, but I'm undecided as to whether this'll be my last or not.  40 years is a long time, but then again, 50 years has a nice ring to it and it's only a further 10 issues, so maybe I'll just keep going until 2028.  I'll wait until the next one before I make up my mind.

So, what's the verdict?  Got quite a few chuckles out of it so it gets a thumbs up, though I'm not sure I like the idea of Beanotown where all the characters live and attend the same school.  I think I preferred things when, the occasional guest spot or symbolic cover aside, each character seemed to operate in their own self-contained environment.

Also don't like the feminist agenda of having MINNIE The MINX getting the better of DENNIS The MENACE (he is supposed to be the star of the comic after all), nor the tag-line of 'She's tougher than all the boys...'  Dennis is diminished by this sort of thing and this sort of PC indoctrination on behalf of the 'sisterhood' doesn't really belong in a comic.  By all means make her the equal (as she always was) of Dennis (and ROGER and the like), but not his superior.

Still dislike the 'new look' Dennis's Dad and would prefer to see the original DAVEY LAW version.  It's been sort of suggested in a previous strip or two that Dad might be the original Dennis that my age group read when we were kids, and the current one is his son, but that wouldn't explain GNASHER & GNIPPER, nor him being contemporaneous with the original BASH STREET KIDS and other characters.  However, this sort of thing will only bother some long-time readers like myself, not the current crop of younger readers unaware of the characters' histories.

So, my usual nitpicking aside, it was good to continue a 40 year tradition and add this issue to my collection, and, overall, I enjoyed it.  I still prefer the 'classic' look of Dennis, but the art is of a professional standard and the absence of the inferior art style that dominated the doomed DANDY in its final couple of years was reassuring.  I still wish it was a standard weekly issue instead of a boxed 'special', but perhaps that's just my personal nostalgia for the past speaking.

Did you buy this issue, readers?  (And if so, are you brave enough to admit to it if you're an adult?)  Share your opinion of it in our comments section.