MIGHTY MARVEL COLLECTORS' EDITIONS CHECKLIST - ON SALE NOW!

DEADPOOL UNLEASHED #12

Copyright MARVEL COMICS.  Published by PANINI

A brand-new era of Deadpool madness begins!  Deadpool accepts a job offer to kill a monster on Staten Island, little realising that it will lead to him becoming... King of the Monsters!  By Kelly Thompson & Chris Bachalo!  Plus: more outer space mayhem with the Deadpool Corps!  Deadpool and Lady Deadpool take on some alien uglies and the Champion too!  By Victor Gischler & Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld!

Featuring material first published in Deadpool #1 and Deadpool Corps #1-2.

Available Now!

£4.50.

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ESSENTIAL X-MEN #26

Nate Grey has enough power to imprison Apocalypse and transform Magneto into his servant!  Time is running out as the X-Men fight to save humanity!  Also, Psylocke must battle her former love, Angel!  By Matthew Rosenberg, Ed Brisson, Kelly Thompson & RB SIlva!

Featuring material first published in Uncanny X-Men #5-7.

Available Now!

£4.50.

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DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE #550

Copyright BBC TV.  Published by PANINI

Issue #550 celebrates Doctor Who’s mid-70s classics.  Highlights include: • Showrunner Chris Chibnall and former producer Philip Hinchcliffe – together at the Doctor Who studio • Director Michael E Briant on The Robots of Death • Sadie Miller remembers her mother, Elisabeth Sladen • Review of Series 12 • A diary and scrapbook of 1976-77 • Dr Who and the Hell Planet • The Fact of Fiction on Tooth and Claw • A look at Exploration Earth: The Time Machine • Part Two of The Piggybackers, a brand-new comic-strip adventure!

PLUS: 1977-style poster magazine • TARDIS control-room diorama • Talons of Weng-Chiang music-hall poster • Six collectors’ cards • Four-part Big Finish download.

Available Now!

£9.99.

Note: I'm unsure whether these mags are currently available in shops, though it's possible they might be on sale in some supermarkets who usually stock such titles. However, I believe they are available mail order from the Panini website.

FEELING SHEEPISH? HAND-CLAPPING EVENT IS BAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

I see that the NHS hand-clapping event has been scheduled again, for tonight at 8 p.m., despite it doing nothing at all to supply nurses, carers, and key workers with protective apparel, masks, gloves, etc., as well as the necessary equipment to help safeguard both them, their patients and the public.  Yesterday, my taxi driver told me that his wife, who's a nurse, thought such gestures were total codswallop, and he wasn't 'April Fooling' me.  At least tonight I'm forewarned so am unlikely to be disturbed from sleep as I was last week, but what about those just off a shift who are in desperate need of a kip before returning to work?  That's all right though, as long as we feel good about ourselves while 'virtue-signalling' our alleged appreciation, we can conveniently ignore taking all necessary sensible precautions which would not only protect ourselves, but would alleviate the strain on overstretched resources.

I still see kids playing out in the streets together, and ask myself what on earth the parents are thinking.  Sure, let junior out in the back garden to stretch his or her legs once a day, but anything else is risking him or her catching Covid-19 and giving the NHS yet another patient to tend to and strain their already limited resources even more.  Switching lanes for a moment, there's been a lot of attention paid to the fact that some people are 'panic buying', but it appears to be an inevitable repercussion of advising the public to stay home and not go out.  Obviously they're going to think that in order to stay in, they need to increase their stock of necessities to see them through their period of 'house arrest'.  I haven't indulged in panic buying, but that means I have to go to the shops every other day in order to buy milk, bread, toilet rolls (if I can find any) - I'm condemned whatever I do.  (Just a shame the revamped Dandy is no longer available, 'cos I could've wiped my @rse with that.  H'mm, maybe not, the paper was too shiny and would simply have smeared excrement all over my nether-cheeks.  It would've been a case of sh*te spreading sh*te, which is rather ironic when you think about it.)

Anyway, getting back to the point, there can't be an NHS worker anywhere who doesn't already know how much the public appreciates them.  (It's the government - regardless of whichever one is in power - that they feel under-appreciated by.)  They're on the front line every day, dealing with death and the dying, and have relatives of the afflicted and the deceased telling them in extremely emotional and heartfelt terms just how much they're appreciated, so they really don't need any empty gestures like people hand-clapping on the doorstep.  Instead of drawing attention to yourself, why not draw attention to the NHS and key workers by making a donation to an organisation or charity that supports them.  That's far more practical and requires real action that will make a difference, as opposed to the minor inconvenience of opening your front door and effectively saying "Hey, look at me, folks - am I a good person or what?"  Well, your appreciation may be genuine or it may not, but instead, try putting your money where your mouth is!  That'll make a real difference and show nurses, doctors, and carers, etc., that your appreciation is genuine, and not mere pointless posturing.

After Eight Update: Oh, and here's another thought.  Last week, one of my local chip shops had a sign on their door saying no more than 2 customers at a time.  Yet behind the length of the counter were around 10 staff, all in close proximity to one another.  Delivery drivers were congregated at the end of the shop, and assistants had to pass inches from them to go through to the back in order to get things.  The shop has now started doing only deliveries and collections, yet is still packed full to the brim with staff.  You can bet that at least some of those people would've been out clapping tonight, but by their work-environment behaviour they're not only putting themselves and their colleagues at risk, but also NHS staff who will have to treat them if they become infected.  Way to go, peeps - that's the way to show your 'appreciation' - not! 

TOO SOON? TV TORNADO ANNUALS COVER GALLERY OMNIBUS... (Updated)

Characters copyright relevant and respective owners

Having already shown you the front covers of the four TV TORNADO Annuals almost as I received them (with the exception of the 3rd), it's now time to display them in their proper sequence along with the back covers also.  I've now completed the set 53 years after the first Annual was issued, although I didn't acquire my first (which was the one for 1970, issued in '69) 'til around 1986 or '87.  That means it took me around 33-34 years to acquire all four of them.

Interestingly, even though I never had any of these books when they first came out, owning them now feels, to me, a bit like dipping back into the '60s and '70s and experiencing something I missed out on at the time but have finally caught up with.  So it's a bit like time travel in a sense, because something that comes from the period of my youth, even though not owned by me back then (the Annuals that is - I had the odd weekly comic) is now part of my life - and feels as though it always has been.

Does that make any sense, or have I conveyed it in my usual vague, not quite on-the-mark manner?  I'm sure that most of you are smart enough to grasp what I'm getting at though, so buy yourselves a big bag of jelly babies as a reward.  (Along with a big box of Aspirin for the headache I've just given you.)    

And below are the two guys (l-r) who gave me the Annuals for 1970 and '68 - in that order and 34 years apart.  Going from the issues of NIPPER lying on the floor and the BEANO calendar on the wall, this photo was taken sometime in February '87.  Unknown to me at that moment, six months later I was to return to the previous house in which I'd lived for 11 years, just over three and a half years earlier.