COMICS - FROM BLACKPOOL WITH LOVE...

Images copyright relevant and respective owners

As has been mentioned a few times on this blog, during the 1970s the seaside resort of Blackpool was a great place to obtain, 'brand-new' and off the spinner-racks (at then current standard prices), '60s Marvel and DC comics.  I holidayed there with my parents in 1973 and '74 and picked up a nice bunch of mags to take home with me.  Unfortunately, I never kept them for very long and had to acquire replacements over the years when I decided I wanted to own them again.

In this post are the ones I remember having, though as I can't recall what year I bought which comics (with the exception of the UK ones, which are cover-dated), I haven't attempted to display them in the specific sequence or year they were purchased.  There are undoubtedly some I've forgotten, and there may even be one or two I associate with Blackpool though actually bought back home, but I'm going by the impressions that spring to mind when I look at them.

I'm certain I bought an issue of Buster during one holiday because I remember reading a Charlie Peace story, but that would take some dedicated research to discover precisely which issue it was and then search for it on eBay, so that's one for the future.  I haven't actually replaced my Spider-Man King-Size Special #6 yet, so the cover is borrowed from eBay.  (Update: I have now, and I've replaced the borrowed image with a scan of my own issue.)  I do have Prez #1, as well as World's Finest #158, but I can't remember where I've stashed them, so that's another two borrowed images; the rest, however, are from my own collection.

I'm surprised that no covers from Spider-Man Comics Weekly immediately spring to mind, as I was surely buying it at the time.  I'll check through my back issues to see if any jump out at me, and if so, I'll add them later.  Anyway, in the meantime, enjoy the images.  Perhaps I'm publishing this post too quickly on the heels of comments about comics and Blackpool in the previous post, but I thought it best to strike while the iron is hot.  I'm sure you Crivs will think of something pertinent to add to the comments section.

The main tale is reprinted from ASM Annual #1 - which I also have

I'd previously purchased this issue back home, but spied it while buying the one below.  I couldn't
swear with 100% certainty, but I'm reasonably sure I bought it again, impetuous youth that I was

If I did buy that week's issue of SMCW at the same time as the above MWOM, it would have been #19, below.  I know I had it back in 1973, so it's logical to assume I bought both issues together, as it's unlikely it would still have been on sale by the time I returned home.

This 1974 Special reprinted several episodes of the Adam Eterno strip from the first few issues
 of Thunder (which had been merged with Lion a few years earlier), edited together as one story

CRAZY #1...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

It could be anything from 30 years upwards - I honestly can't remember.  Was I living in this house or the previous one when I acquired a replacement for my original issue of Crazy #1 (bought in Blackpool in 1973) - who can tell?  However, it was a long time ago, that's for sure.  Thing is, the replacement's cover was pretty mangled, so I cut off the front cover and attached it (with Pritt) to a fold-over piece of paper to serve as a new cover, even though the insides and back were blank.  Fact is, I just preferred neatness over defacement.

Today I received a better condition copy of that first issue (an abridged reprint of Not Brand Echh #8, which I also own), but I won't be disposing of the other one - simply had it too long to so callously discard it.  Anyway, thought I'd display the contents and remind myself of that holiday in Blackpool 49 years ago, as well as show you what you missed if you didn't see this ish back then.  I thought it was all brand-new material at the time - it wasn't until years later I learned it was reprint.  Not that it mattered as it was all new to me, never having seen its original presentation.

We holidayed in Blackpool two years in a row - '73 & '74.  As well as Crazy #1, I also obtained several issues of Kirby Fantastic Fours, Buscema Silver Surfers, and also various other years-old mags (all 'brand-new', off the spinner-racks), but I can't recall whether I got them all during one holiday or if some of them were spread over the two - both times seem to meld into one in my mind.  However, one glance at any of them and I'm back in Blackpool in the early '70s, and my faraway youth seems closer for an instant, not lost in the mists of history.

Enjoy the piccie-wiccies.

BABE OF THE DAY - EMER KENNY...

Let's not waste time with words - let's just

unite in awed adoration of the enchanting Emer

Kenny - simply 'cause she's gorgeous.  (And she

thinks the same about me, incidentally.)

THE EBAY STORY BEHIND THE GOOFY SCOOTER... (UPDATED)

Well, you saw the above Goofy toy in the previous post, but, boy - the hassle I had from the seller with this.  He described it as 'near mint' condition on eBay, but there were a few splits in both rubber tyres and the friction-drive mechanism didn't run smoothly.  Then I discovered one of the wheels wasn't affixed to its axle properly and wobbled.  It was really the Goofy figure I wanted, because I'd had my original for years, long after the scooter had been consigned to the toy scrapheap, but the replacement wasn't cheap and I felt the seller had been remiss in not describing condition in precise detail.

I therefore contacted him to let him know about the flaws and this was his reply:

OK firstly I'm sorry about that I did not realise because I did not check....and secondly I will give you a refund...Would you be happy with £10 !!!

I suggested £15 and he went silent on me, so I sent him several photos of the wobbly wheel in different positions.  (I'd first taken a video of the fault, but found I couldn't send it via eBay messages.)  When the seller eventually got back in touch, he claimed eBay were experiencing difficulties and he was therefore unable to send a refund, instead asking me for my bank details.  I responded saying that I was reluctant to do this, but that he should be able to refund me through PayPal.

Not according to him, as, allegedly, PayPal asked him to supply my bank details, which is obviously a load of old pants because PayPal already has them.  All he had to do was type in the amount and press 'send' or 'pay now' (or whatever it says) and the money goes straight into my account.  I was thoroughly fed up by this time, but there'd been another development.  While testing the scooter by gently running it over my carpet, part of the rubber tyre fell off (see bottom pic), the result of the splits in the rubber being unable to cope with contact with the floor while in motion.

I therefore sent the seller a photo and suggested £20 would be a more realistic refund given the extent of the damage.  I was reluctant to return the toy as I've been looking for one for years, and I hoped to be able to effect a repair of sorts, but felt the price should reflect the condition.  Not unreasonable I would've thought.  However, the seller, perhaps emboldened by a few beers (it was Friday night) started to get cheeky.  Here's what he said in one of his responses:

Stop winging (sic) about a wobbly wheel and a split tyre nothing g (sic) a little glue won't fix... my five year old grand daughter cries over less things..and I can only pay you when ebay fix there (sic) problems... then maybe when you fix the tiny issue you will stop crying  

A wobbly wheel and decaying rubber tyres on a friction-drive toy are not what I'd call a 'tiny issue', so I told the seller I was fed-up with his prevarication and insolence and would be opening a case against him.  (It was by now Saturday morning.)  So I did, and won it within a very short time, but the seller contacted me and asked me to get in touch with eBay and let them know that he'd now offered to refund me, and then he would pay me.  What?  He was wanting me to close the case before he'd sent the refund?  Must think I zip up the back.

When I'd first received the toy, I gave it a cursory perusal before rushing out to a dental appointment, but not before giving him positive feedback because I was impressed by the next day delivery.  However, when I returned and examined it more fully I discovered it was far from the near mint condition he'd claimed it to be in.  I eventually added to my feedback to reflect its true condition, but not until after the seller had been messing me about for a day, and coming up with all sorts of excuses for being 'unable' to refund me.  Sore at losing the case, he responded to my feedback with a tissue of lies and some spurious insinuations.

Here's what he wrote in reply to my feedback:

The buyer is over reacting to a tiny split on the tyre... plus when the toy left me there was no wobbly wheel ...something sinister going on.  Anyway I have blocked him from buying off Me in the future.

A redundant gesture as I'd never buy anything from him again, which he must surely have realised.  (The above comment has since been removed by eBay.)  And how can he say there was no wobbly wheel when it left him, as he claimed earlier he hadn't checked the toy before sending it?  Was he lying when he said he hadn't checked, to make out he didn't know it was faulty when he actually did, or was he lying when he said it didn't have a wobbly wheel to insinuate I was lying?  Both his claims can't be true, but I'll leave you to decide which one was the lie.  One thing's for sure - he's the only one involved in 'something sinister', not me.

Below are the photos I sent him revealing what he calls a tiny issue.  Doesn't seem to be concerned that his description of near mint was very far from the case.   

Anyway, let's name and shame the seller as it's what he deserves after his his deceitful shenanigans.  His seller name is 4corgirockets and his first name is Cliff - so think twice about buying anything from him lest it doesn't match his description.  In my case he said he'd give me a refund and then came up with excuse after excuse for not being 'able' to because of eBay and PayPal.  There must be some reason why he tried so hard to avoid refunding me through the usual channels.  Didn't seem to have a problem once eBay ruled against him though, eh?

Oh, incidentally, I've since repaired the toy to an acceptable standard, but I'll have to keep a lookout for replacement tyres as the decay on the original ones has set in.  I've no way of guaranteeing that other bits won't drop off in the future.  I had the choice of it being a damaged toy or a repaired one, so I chose the latter option.  However, no way in hell was it a near mint one.

The good news is that following its repair, the toy now races over the carpet like a demon.  Just gently rev it up and off it goes - result!  Now that I know it works as it should, it'll get tucked safely away in its box until I want to steal another wee look at it it to remind me of an earlier time in my life.  After all, that's what such things are for.

******

(Update:) Incidentally, the seller has been bombarding me with desperate eBay messages since I first published this post, childishly threatening me with solicitors and the police for simply relating the facts.  His ravings are now becoming increasingly insulting and abusive, indicating, I'd say, that he's several sandwiches short of a picnic.  He's certainly a stranger to reality in the way most other people experience it.  I've simply stopped reading them now, which is bound to annoy him when he reads this update.  (And still they come, as I can see from my inbox.)

GOOFIN' AROUND...

Another 'old friend' from childhood dropped in today as a permanent resident at Castel Crivens, over 50-plus years since I last saw him.  So welcome back to Goofy and his yellow friction-drive scooter, the exact same model that Yogi Bear rides, both produced by Marx Toys back in the '60s.  As you can see if you compare one with the other in the above photo, the exhausts are slightly different between the two, but there's a reason for that.

Marx, when it produced the Yogi scooter in the early '60s, didn't supply it with an exhaust; that was a later addition to their other scooter-driving TV, movie, and cartoon/comicbook characters.  Not quite sure why, because I don't think that's where a scooter's exhaust pipe would be; more than likely it would protrude from under the back end and wouldn't be so prominent.

I made Yogi's exhaust, which is held in place by double-sided tape, and it was only because I remembered my original Goofy scooter having an exhaust that I added one to Yogi's.  You see, I imagined that the one I had as a kid (I actually had two, but purchased at different times) must've had an exhaust because I remembered Goofy's scooter having one, but obviously I was mistaken.  The fact that Yogi's scooter has no apertures for an exhaust to plug into confirms this fact.

Anyway, I don't suppose this post will be of much interest to many of you, but I like to celebrate whenever I'm reunited with an item from my past so hopefully you'll indulge me.  And if any Crivvies had any similar toys when they were young, feel free to tell us all about them.

FASTER THAN A FART FROM THE FLASH - COVER GALLERY... (UPDATED)

Copyright DC COMICS

If I remember correctly, I own the first two or three years worth of the post-Crisis '80s Flash series, but I can't recall where they're stashed at the moment so you'll have to settle for these dozen covers.  The first two are from facsimile editions, the third might be from a collected edition, most of the remaining nine are my original copies bought back in the day, with the exception of 187, 190, & 196, which were bought years later (and years ago).  190 was a replacement for my original copy bought in Rothesay in 1970.

I know Jay Garrick was the first Flash, Barry Allen the second, and Wally West the third, but the only one I ever really liked was Barry.  Who's your favourite Flash (and you can't say Flash Gordon), and why?

(Update: I've now added the front and back covers of The Greatest Flash Stories Ever Told.  Forgot I had it, to be honest.)