A 'FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST' REPOST: The INFLATABLE FLASH!

Copyright DC COMICS

We were on holiday in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, in 1970.  I still recall the comics I bought that year (which you can read about here and here) in the little seaside town, and also a comic purchased by my brother - The FLASH #190.  I remember him enthusing over the story: Flash is injured and confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk or run.  So he constructs some miniature transistor circuits and affixes them to the inside of his inflatable Flash uniform which he operates by remote control from the comfort of his wheelchair - whilst, invisible to the naked eye, he propels it around at super-speed.  Unlikely, but entertaining nonetheless.

I recall that holiday for another reason also.  The CHAMPIONS cards, issued as collectables related to the ITC TV series from a year or so before, were no longer available in my own neck of the woods, but were still on sale in one little newsagent's near Rothesay.  I bought myself another set of them (disposing of the disgusting confectionery that accompanied them) and, once back home, I perversely cut off the white margins on the cards, which lay strewn about the insulation in my loft for a couple of years.  When we moved house in 1972, on a last minute whim, I collected all those that I could see and deposited them in the loft of our new home, where they likewise lay around for many a year.

I should explain that when I say Rothesay, I use the name inclusively for Port Bannatyne also, as back then, I was unaware of the distinction.  To me (accustomed to the longer walking-distances of a new town), they were only a short stroll apart and I, in my ignorance, would have regarded them both as the same place.  Our holiday home that year seemed to lie somewhere between the two.  (For the statisticians amongst you though, Port Bannatyne lies two miles north of Rothesay on the same Isle.)

Anyway, as with most of the comicbooks I have, I've now had the replacement for this issue far longer than either myself or my brother ever owned the original. One glance is all it takes me to return me to an enchanted fortnight on a beautiful Scottish Isle over 50 years ago.  If you have any memories associated with this particular comic, feel free to share them in the comments section.

   

A 'FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST' REPOST: 'ENCHANTED TIMES'...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Yet another previously published post that received no comments first time around, Crivvies.  Let's hope it can capture your interest enough on its second outing to inspire some input from you.  Don't let me down.

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And here's another little belter of a comic from out of the dim and distant, fog-enshrouded mists of time.  Actually, that last bit's a lie - because I can recall having my original copy of this comic as if it were only... well, not quite yesterday, but last week at least.  That's due to the fact that, not long after acquiring it, I was ill and confined to my bed for a day or two, and I remember re-reading the comic tucked up in bed with only a bedside light to illuminate my literary pursuits.

Feeling slightly better after finishing #143 of The MIGHTY THOR's Asgardian adventures, I got out of bed with the intention of going downstairs to the bosom of my family.  My brother assisted me, but I took a sudden dizzy turn at the top of the stairs and had to be returned to a horizontal position under the warm, cosy, enveloping blankets I had just abandoned mere moments before.  No wonder the issue is burned into my memory - who would ever forget a night like that? 

This tale was reprinted in SMASH! around the same time I had the American original, and I recall comparing the layout in the British comic to the U.S. one.  (MARVEL strips were resized, two pages to one, for their U.K. reprintings in three of the five POWER COMICS from ODHAMS PRESS, of which Smash! was by this time the sole survivor.)  Many years later, I learned that VINCE COLLETTA had started to ink this issue, but for some reason BILL EVERETT took over.  If you look carefully at the splash page, you can see the mix of the two different styles.

The issue was also later reprinted in ORIGINS Of MARVEL COMICS in 1974, and when I got my hands on a copy soon after it became available in Britain in '75, I was overjoyed to once again see this fondly-recalled tale from my boyhood.  True, only six years or so had passed since I'd owned the original comicbook, but that was over one third of my life away at that point and consequently seemed much longer than the same period of time would likely appear to me nowadays.  (All to do with proportions I guess, but what do I know?)

The scans you see here are from a copy I obtained more years ago than I care (or am able) to remember.  It's certainly close to half my life away anyway.  One look at that cover and I'm a child once more, back in my bedroom in Belmont again, reading the comic by the soft light of a lamp, with the outline of the room's few furnishings faintly visible as they stand guard in the gloom beyond.  (So much for those who say my childhood is behind me; truth is, it never truly left me. It's the same for everyone, I imagine.)

Anyway, feel free to forget my self-indulgent waffle - just so long as you enjoy the scans herewith presented and are perhaps reminded of your own first, long-ago encounter with this cataclysmic comic, then I can savour the satisfaction that comes from a job well done.

Altogether now: "For Odin, for Asgard!"

TOM & JERRY - CARTOON HEROES WITH FEET OF - PORCELAIN...

Assuming that my memory of events is correct, one of the joys of being a teenager - or even a kid for that matter - in the UK back in the '70s, was a regular Monday to Friday evening double bill (usually) of Tom & Jerry cartoons on BBC 1, right after (or was it before?) a current affairs programme called Nationwide.  Has there ever been consistently funnier cartoons than T&J?  I think not.  I happen to have every classic (by that I mean the well-drawn ones) Tom & Jerry cartoon in a DVD box set, though it's been years since I watched them.  In fact, I think I only viewed a few before putting them away, with the intention of returning to them before too long.  That was probably around 14 or 15 years ago and I still haven't found time to dig them out again.  One day soon, I hope.

Anyway, because I'm a Tom & Jerry fan (can there be anyone who isn't?), I recently picked up this porcelain set by Wade to add to my collection.  I don't have too many pieces of T&J merchandise - a pair of Marx wind-up figures, a couple of diecast cars (by Ertyl I think) that were tie-ins to a movie back in the '90s, and also a couple of 'furry' figures of the duo, but that's about it.  Anyway, the Wade figures are excellent, so I thought I'd share them with you here.  They're regularly available on eBay, but usually without the box, so consider yourselves the recipients of a rare treat in seeing the complete package.

Are you Tom & Jerry fans, dear readers?  Then wax eloquent on why you like them so much - if you'd be so good.  In fact, to widen the scope, what do you consider the funniest cartoons of all time?  Bugs Bunny was always good, as was the Pink Panther - what were your favourites?