Judgement Day!
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So... it's 1 - 1 - '21. We're all a year further forward in our lives, but also a year down in the time we have ahead of us, which is constantly diminishing as the clock ticks. I find that my gladness in surviving yet another year is tinged with regret that I now have even fewer in front of me than I have behind. Perhaps you feel the same, or don't you think about it? Anyway, it's a sobering thought, perhaps a depressing one, so let's not dwell on it. The only reason I mention it is because I recently filled a gap in my collection of Thor comics, and it hit me smack in the kisser when I looked at the date that it was over 32 years ago since this mag first came out. I should've got it back then, but it wasn't my fault that I didn't, and here's why.
I used to have a standing order for all my comics, but every so often, ones that were supposed to be put away for me, weren't. Not sure why - maybe the shop didn't receive the requisite amount, or maybe it was just down to carelessness on the part of an inattentive staff member, but whatever the reason, it resulted in my various comics all having occasional missing issues from their runs. Every so often, I refresh my memory as to which ones I need to plug the gaps and order them from various eBay sellers, which is what I did with the above one. Still got a few more to go, but hopefully I'll get them all in the end. Or long before the end would be better, as I want to have a bit of time to enjoy reading them, as well as just actually owning them and knowing that they're there.
Oh, I've been remiss, forgive my bad manners - Happy New Year to all Crivvies and casual readers alike, and as we look forward to what the year may bring, let's also look back at The Mighty Thor #387, and some of the neat Ron Frenz art the issue contained. The mag was dated for January 1988, but went on sale around October '87 - in America at least, not sure if it was the same in the UK. That was more than half my life away, and as I look at this near new-condition comic, I can't help but wonder how 32-odd years managed to sneak past me without me noticing until now. It staggers the senses. Well, whatever remaining ones I yet have anyway.
Have a great 2021, everybody - let's hope it'll be better than last year.
23 comments:
Great art on this one! On a side note, I just got a hardcover copy of Kirby100, for a little under double cover price. As usual, I remember when it was first offered from the publisher, and I could have got it at a 20 percent discount! I am sure there are plenty of holes in my collection since 1966 (when I first started collecting) that I meant to get. All part of the joys of comics collecting! Incidentally, happiest of New Years to you and yours.
I'm slowly filling in the holes in my collection, LM, and waiting 30 years to get a mag is nothing. First of all, because it passes so quickly, and secondly, in some instances it's been 45 years. Happy New Year to you and yours also, and thanks for commenting.
A year is merely the time it takes for the Earth to revolve once around the sun so we should stop getting so hung up about it. As I get older I find the passing of the seasons to be more relevant than the passing of the years. And the idea of the new year beginning on January 1st is purely arbitrary. Why January 1st, the middle of winter? Surely beginning the new year in the spring would be more logical. And don't get me started on why this year is 2021 - 2,021 years since the supposed birth of somebody who likely never existed and even if he did I'm pretty sure he wasn't the son of God born in AD 1. A few years ago I discovered the Holocene calendar which proposes adding 10,000 years to the current year which would become 12021. This means we would begin counting the years from what is now 10,001 BC, roughly when humans began giving up their hunter-gatherer lifestyles and started farming and domesticating animals - in other words the beginning of human civilisation. Since I discovered the Holocene calendar I can no longer take our BC/AD calendar seriously and I regard 2021 as "really" being 12021.
But happy new year anyway :)
Hi, CJ. I think that Christ's existence is a pretty incontrovertible historical fact as even ancient secular historians mention Him in their writings. I've never yet heard of any respected historian doubting that He lived, though whether or not He was the Son of God is another matter. Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice I suppose. As far as calendars go, as they really only exist for making appointments and remembering birthdays nowadays (and manage to fulfill that function quite adequately), I don't get too hung up about them.
Happy 12021.
I never liked that Thor costume, the original was always my favourite although nice art by Ron Frenz who did some great comics with Sal Busema on inks (Spider-Girl a few Avengers specials etc).
Happy new year mate!
As far as our friend Jesus goes we all know certain dates and ceremonies were appropriated from the pagans. The actual date of Dec 25, the tree etc. it’s immaterial as the import thing is the message - are we not all brothers and treat people nicely.
In that spirit I wish you all a good new year stay safe.
Keep writing about comics .
I must confess that I was never wild about it myself, McS, but I guess that this ish was the one it first appeared in, something it took me 32 years to find out. I wonder if it was Marvel's way of trying to move Thor beyond the reach of Jack Kirby's claims of having created the character, by making him look different?
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And have a great 2021 as it unfolds, PS, and give Valerie my regards when next you see her. Don't worry, comics will never disappear from this blog, though they'll more likely be older issues than new ones as the only new mags I buy these days are mainly reprints.
I dub those intense moments of uncomfortable clarity when you realize the potent passage of time "hits on the coot meter". I had one when I realized that fifty have passed since the debut of the Fourth World by Kirby -- Yikes!
You'd think I'd be used to it by now as it happens so often, RJ, but each time it does, it's like the very first time. Don't think I'll ever be able to grasp just how quickly time flies by, however often I'm reminded of the fact.
The sudden realisation of the passage of time has become a regular occurrence for me as well. 50 years ago seens to be the big one, the aforementioned publication of Kirby's New God's that Rip had in his blog was a bit of a shock to me as well and locally in Glasgow it was 50 years ago that the Ibrox disaster happened when 66 football fans were crushed to death at the very end of a match. I vividly recall what I was doing and what was on TV at the time that happened like it was yesterday .
Yeah, it's bloody scary. McS. It's like going to bed as a 10 year old and coming down to breakfast the very next morning the age we are now. How does that happen? And, even scarier thought, if the last 50 years have gone by so fast, how fast is the time we have left going to flash by? Especially as it seems to go faster the older we get. And on that note I'll shut up before I depress everybody even more.
This year will be the 50th anniversary of me starting infants school so I too am now beginning to remember events from 50 years ago!
On a happier note, it's been snowing tonight so technically it's a white Christmas as the festive season doesn't end until January 6th. I'm about to watch the Likely Lads 1974 Christmas special on YouTube and I've got a Stollen cake and a bottle of beer for tomorrow. It's still Christmas!
We got snow a few days back and it hasn't entirely cleared away (it's turned to ice), so Scotland has had a White Christmas too, CJ. It might be snowing now for all I know, as I haven't looked outside for a few hours. The LL Christmas Special is a classic, as was every episode of the two '70s series and the '76 movie.
And the Steptoe & Son Christmas special was on Boxing Day so the final episodes of TWO classic series were broadcast just two days apart. I was looking at the schedule for Christmas Eve 1974 on BBC Genome and I noticed there was a Disney version of 'Kidnapped' starring Peter Finch and James MacArthur which I don't think I've ever seen. And during that week I would also have been reading POTA No.10 a mere five weeks after I first discovered Marvel comics.
Kid, I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago and I heard somebody claim that Christmas is now a bigger event in Scotland than Hogmanay. Is that true? My father would have been amazed to hear such a statement!
Interestingly, the Christmas Special was broadcast more than 8 months after the series had ended (on 9.4.'74), so it was a bit of a wait for fans of the show. Can't recall if I've seen that version of Kidnapped myself, CJ, but I'd have been reading POTA #10 on the same day as you. I'd known about Marvel since 1966, when some of the strips had appeared in the UK Power Comics by Odhams Press.
Well, 'Christmas' lasts longer I suppose, because it seems to start in September or October going by when stuff starts appearing in the shops, but I'd be surprised if it was 'bigger' than New Year for those who like a bevvie. Having said that, how do you measure it? By the amount of alcohol sold on the run-up to both events, or some other method? So, honest answer, CJ - don't have a clue.
I think Christmas is probably more special now in Scotland than Hogmanay due to the fact that , barring COVID pubs are open 24/7 now ( well have been for decades) so it's less special to go for a drink and people move around more for jobs etc so family and friends are not all in the same town or city streets as they used to be (ie a less friendly or close society) so you don't see the amount of first footing you used to with folk going into each others houses, but I would say it's still very popular it's just evolved to larger scaled up events or much more intimate party's where only immediate family and close friends celebrate the new year together. As long as Oor Willie and the Broons are published we will always have Hogmanay in Scotland though 😃
Yet, even before Covid, McS, a lot of pubs in Scotland were struggling, with some in my town only being open on certain nights of the week. Something to do with alcohol being cheaper in supermarkets and Off-Sales than in pubs themselves perhaps? A lot of Scots seize any excuse for a bevvie (that's a double 'v', not a 'w') that's going, and the New Year certainly provides that in spades. I think the last time anyone first footed us was back in 1982 - maybe even earlier. That was a neighbour, Mr. Rowan, who died a good few years back unfortunately.
Last proper hogmanay party I attended was in the 80s as well , obviously as I was younger and liked a wee party. We tend to go away a few days after Hogmanay head to the Highlands or pop over the border to the Lake District and get a hotel have a meal etc. 100% on supermarkets and drink, I rarely drink at home so forgot that option.
We never had a party, McS, but my parents stayed up to see the bells in. Mr. Rowan was the next door neighbour, so he'd pop in to wish us Happy New Year, have a quick dram, then back to his house and family. Being a lifelong teetotaller, New Year celebrations hold no attraction to me, never have done. I'm glad it's all over for another year.
Actually, following on from one of my comments above, this ish WASN'T the one where Thor's new costume first appeared. While I was putting it in sequential order among a bunch of Thor comics in one of my cupboards, I noticed the costume on earlier covers - though I didn't bother checking to see precisely which number it made its debut.
From memory, that Thor costume debuted around #378, and I think Tony Stark made it for the Big Viking Fella.
You're probably right, DS. I should've checked when I had the comics out, but you know me - too lazy.
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