CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!

A cascading cornucopia of cool comics, crazy cartoons & classic collectables - plus other completely captivating & occasionally controversial content! With nostalgic notions, sentimental sighings, wistful wonderings, rueful reflections, remorseful ruminations, melancholy musings, poignant ponderings & yearnings for yesteryear! (To say nothing of a few profound perplexities & puzzling paradoxes thrown in for good measure.) Plus a bevy of beautiful, bedazzling, buxom Babes!

Wednesday 27 December 2023

RANDOM COVER GALLERY OF VARIOUS DC AND MARVEL BOOKS ON MY SHELF...

While racking my brains for a post to do, I noticed some 'books' on the shelf by my side and decided to scan the covers and publish them - just for you. True, some or all of them may have been shown individually on the blog before, but I reckon they can stand another outing in service of giving you Crivs something nice to look at, so here they are. Have you got any of them, or have you ever had any and would like to reminisce about what you thought made them so great - or not so great if such be the case? Then the floor is all yours!

9 comments:

lord mikolaj said...: I have all of these except Man bat and the Fantastic Four one, tho I may have had it long ago. I have loved Byrne's art since his Charlton Comics years, and it was Alan Moore's Swamp Thing that got me back to collecting after a 9 year absence. I remember buying the first Detective Comics with Man bat and what a thrill seeing Neal Adam's art. I used to have all the old Fantastic Four comics, I know the Galactus story by heart. Love the Superman books. Great collection.; 27 December 2023 at 03:29
Andrew May said...: Thanks for posting these, Kid, as I always love looking at covers, whether or not I've ever owned them. In all these cases it's "not", although I was aware of some of them. But the Fantatic Four book at the end looks a bit of an oddity. Unlike the others it doesn't have a company logo, the title lettering is very bland, and the cover art doesn't look very "Marvel" in style. So it looks almost like an unauthorised book - what's the story behind it?; 27 December 2023 at 08:57
Kid said...: Thanks, LM, nice to see other discerning readers and collectors who appreciate good books and their covers. I didn't get into Byrne until he became writer/artist on the FF, but I've enjoyed most other things he worked on since then. His mid-'80s Superman mags were nice.

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The FF book (1981) is by Ideals Publishing Corporation, AM, and has a 'scholarly' aspect in that it has a few text pieces about the stories and characters, almost as if preparing students for an exam. There were also books with Spider-Man, Hulk, and Captain America.; 27 December 2023 at 09:23
Colin Jones said...: Kid, did you know the Wombles are back but on Radio 4 this time. On Monday-Friday this week and on New Year's Day there's a new Wombles story, read by Richard E Grant, at 6.15pm on Radio 4.

I don't have any of those books (you'd be shocked if I did!) but, as Andrew said, it's nice to see the covers.; 27 December 2023 at 14:25
Kid said...: Yea, I knew about it, CJ, but I doubt I'll be listening to it as The Wombles are too much associated in my mind with Bernard Cribbins and won't seem the same without him. (To illustrate how badly my memory is atrophying, I had to look up Bernard's name just as I came to type it as I'd completely forgotten it.)

Yeah, nice covers.; 27 December 2023 at 14:47
Colin Jones said...: Kid, did you know The Wombles began on February 5th 1973 - only five days before SMCW #1 came out?; 27 December 2023 at 15:37
Kid said...: I probably knew at one time, CJ, but had long-forgotten. Funny thing is, it seems now as if The Wombles were around ages before SMCW, not just 5 days.; 27 December 2023 at 15:59
Fantastic Four follower said...: Firstly A merry Christmas to you Kid and all your contributors.Nice selection of books.The Batman books are a particular favourite of mine with mainly Adams reprints.Hard to believe he was once the new 'Kid' (pun intended)on the block and now he is gone.Time can sometimes play tricks on all of us but I read those stories over 50 years ago and unlike many other comics they stand the test of time.They are some of the best comics ever produced and it is Marvel that I have always loved but they were very special.You have put me in form to re-read the best Batman comics ever..which were of course the Neal Adams issues of Batman, Brave and the Bold and Detective!If memory serves me,I believe he only did 8 full issues of each those 3 titles between 1969 and 1973.Amazing coincidence if I am correct considering his influence.Obviously tons of covers but just 24 comics.Wonderful memories.Happy New year to all of you.Keep up the good work.Appreciated.; 27 December 2023 at 16:15
Kid said...: And it should go without saying, Triple F, that your comments (as well as everyone else's) are also appreciated, but I'll say it anyway. It's amazing that, at only 24 Batman stories, Adams is probably better remembered for his work on the character than you'd think he'd be, so he obviously made a huge impression. One of my favourites is 'The Secret Of The Waiting Graves', which, if memory serves, was his first Batman tale, and certainly the one that re-established the dark, creature of the night aspect of Batman's character. Hope you had a great Christmas and have an even better 2024.; 27 December 2023 at 16:31

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

(Although, if you don't allow copying on your own site, then you really shouldn't be copying from others, should you?)

And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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Please also note that this blog is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to, any organisation, business, or group, and is wholly independent.