BABE Of The DAY - JANE RUSSELL...

From Picture Show Annual 1951

comes delectable Jane Russell, one of

my top babes of all time.  It's been said that

gentlemen prefer blondes, but surely not

when jaw-dropping Jane's around.

CASTEL CRIVENS NEW ACQUISITIONS... (Updated)

All images copyright relevant and respective owners

Arrived yesterday, The Legend Testers from Smash! (60th Anniversary) - though for some odd reason, it doesn't contain the strips from the Annuals, which previous collected editions of various strips published by The Treasury Of British Comics have done.  Where else would they print them?  Bit of a mistake in my view, but maybe they'll eventually do a second edition and rectify the oversight.

Arrived today, two facsimile editions of Superman Vs Spider-Man (50th Anniversary), by DC and Marvel, each with a different cover for the indecisive among you - and square-bound, just like the '70s original.  What can I say?  Buy 'em both now!  (And before you ask what happened to my recently declared intention to cut back on my buying, I pre-ordered them yonks ago before I arrived at that decision.) 

Below, available in February, the 2nd team-up between Supes and Spidey, with the original cover by Bob Larkin and a variant by Brian Bolland.  Better get your orders in now, Crivvies!  (Have to say I think Bolland has made Superman rather 'anaemic'-looking and hasn't quite captured Spider-Man's mask in profile.)

JUST WILLIAM - AND JOE...

Copyright relevant owner

Back when I was a mere boy circa 1970 or thereabouts, a friend told me about the 'Just William' books by Richmal Crompton.  (It seemed like decades before I learned Richmond was a woman and not a man.)  "They're hilarious" he said - and he was right.  He also told me about 'Alfred Hitchcock & The Three Investigator' books by Robert Arthur, though I'm uncertain as to which of the two series of books he recommended first.  I'd actually already read 'The Mystery Of The Green Ghost', but I'm unsure as to whether I was aware there was more than one, but I was soon devouring them with relish.

In the late '70s I avidly watched the Just William TV show and a few years ago bought the DVD box set, which, one night, I took round to the flat of the same friend who'd first told me about the character and we watched a few episodes together.  At some point he bought the two '70s Annuals from a charity shop (might've been before I bought the DVDs, might've been after), which prompted me to buy them from eBay as I'd certainly had the one for 1978 as a teenager, though I'm not sure about the one for 1979.

The friend was Joe, who died back in October, and I've been helping (in a small way) to pack up his stuff to be dispersed to charity shops, the local dump, and to anyone who wants any of it, his friends having had 'first pick' of what was available.  Most of the items I picked were comics I'd given him going right back to the late '70s, though there was a few things which were new to me.  Three or four days ago, I brought round to my house a bunch of books, a couple of which were the same two Just William Annuals he'd acquired a few years back.

And so the circle is complete.  It was Joe who told me about the irrepressible William Brown nearly 60 years ago, so it seems rather fitting to now have his William Annuals in my possession to sit alongside my own.  Do I need two copies of each book?  No, but I somehow don't have the heart to dispose of them as being surplus to requirements.  I'm sure Joe would approve.

Has a friend of yours ever recommended anything (movies, albums, or books) to you, which you were glad of, and which has added immense pleasure and enjoyment to your life that you might otherwise never have experienced?  And which when you look at, listen to, or read, reminds you of them?  Do tell if you'd be so good.

JACK KIRBY'S FOURTH WORLD FIASCO?

Copyright DC COMICS

Nowadays, DC Comics' Fourth World saga is sometimes hyperbolically (surely) described as 'Jack Kirby's Masterpiece', usually on the dust-jackets of books reprinting (yet again) his '70s series, and/or by rabid JK fans who think the 'King' could do no wrong.  However, not only isn't it a masterpiece by today's standards, it wasn't one back in the day either.  Some readers are prone to imbue things with a depth that simply doesn't exist, solely because there are aspects of the subject matter they don't fully understand and therefore assume must be profound, but vagueness doesn't necessarily equate with value.

Add to that, if they first read the various series back in their youth, the stories inevitably become entwined with memories of their lives at the time, and it's difficult to view things objectively if one's childhood or teenage years are involved - it's almost impossible to separate one from the other.  However, facts are facts!  Many of those who followed Jack from Marvel to DC soon returned to Marvel because Forever People, New Gods, and Mister Miracle failed to capture their interest.  In my view, only Jimmy Olsen's mag had any merit, and it was probably Superman's inclusion that swung things in its favour.

As for the other three - convoluted plots, uninteresting and uncharismatic characters, clunky dialogue and dry exposition, well, they didn't exactly make for a satisfying read guaranteed to bring readers back for the next issue.  Nowadays it's asserted in certain quarters that the sales figures weren't actually as bad as was later claimed, but why would DC cancel mags that were making money?  Remember, Kirby was being paid slightly more than the usual rate and he had two assistants to pay (out of his own pocket), so one inarguable fact is that DC wouldn't have 'suspended' the Fourth World comics if they were selling well and making a profit.

Did DC hope that by employing Kirby, Marvel would flounder without him?  It must've occurred to them if they believed the rumours that Jack was behind every good thing at Marvel and Stan Lee was merely a hitch-hiker, but the one thing Jack proved with his DC mags was just how essential an ingredient Stan was to the recipe.  One thing to remember is that comics were regarded as ephemeral entertainment for kids and teens, not classic literature.  Has there ever been a superhero series of comics that could legitimately be described as a 'masterpiece'?  Well, I suppose that's debatable, but Kirby's Fourth World definitely wasn't it.

PLASTON TARDIS TIMES TWO...

As a kid, I had what I now realise was an inadvertently destructive habit of removing stickers and labels that weren't positioned properly from newly acquired toys, and then trying to replace them in a neater, more symmetrical way than when they'd left the factory.  Matchbox Flying Bug?  If that 'cross' on the bonnet was in any way squint, off it came and was reapplied.  Same for the Bat emblem on my Marx Poseable Batman and any other plastic or metal toy you care to name, such as Dinky's TB2.  Trouble is, of course, they didn't always come off in one piece, and even if they did, they'd probably be creased and wrinkled and tend to curl when replaced, leading me to dispensing with them entirely.  So why mention this now, you may be wondering.

Simply because I was too young and cack-handed to accomplish my attempted 'repairs' back then, but it's a different bag of badgers these days now I'm a grown-up (okay - allegedly).  Around a year or so ago, I obtained a Plaston TARDIS to replace the one I owned in boyhood, but the Police Public Call Box sticker was absent.  If I recall correctly, it went around the front and both sides (the back didn't have one to avoid covering he coin slot), but I was only interested in restoring the front part of the label, so I simply made one, using pics of one on the Internet as a guide.  (I can always add the side parts of the label at a future date if I want to.)

Talking of the coin slot, it would appear that the money bank was manufactured with an indentation of where the slot was meant to be, then cut by hand in the factory in none-too-neat a manner, leaving a lot to be desired in the aesthetic stakes (see seller's photo of my replacement, below).  Not only has it been cut squint, the surrounding area has also suffered some damage in the process (or perhaps by the original owner using a knife to remove coins via the slot) and doesn't look too pretty.  I decided to take a craft knife to it and tidy it up, by removing any excess plastic (which was already damaged, remember), and I think it's far more pleasing-to-the-eye than it was before my handiwork.  

Seller's photo, before.  Click to enlarge for more detail

That's the result of my modification below, which is now neater and allows for easier insertion of coins than it used to.  Did I regret it was no longer as originally manufactured back in the '60s?  Well, yes, to a degree, but I consoled myself with the fact that the previous damage was now absent and it looked more like it should've been done back then.  Guess what, though?  I recently bought another one on eBay (before my decision to try and cut back on my purchases), and though the coin slot was neater than its predecessor, it had no labels adorning it like it was meant to.  (Some other kid maybe removed then because they were roughly misapplied.)

Buyer's (that's me, folks) photo, after

It would've been relatively simple to photograph my first replacement and then produce similar labels, but I decided to make it more like it should've looked by creating more 'authentic' labels reflecting the TARDIS from the TV show.  So that's what I did, as you can see in the first photo at the top of the post.  Incidentally, Plaston later produced a more accurate version of the Time machine (though in a lighter blue), but as I never owned this one, I've decided to forego adding it to my collection.  However, I've included a few pics of it obtained from eBay so you Crivvies can see the difference.  Another company later released a copy of it in yellow - another one I'll be giving a miss.  (The design of the first one's back and sides didn't match the front.)

The coin slot on my 2nd TARDIS - as originally rendered

Anyway, admittedly nothing much to this post (crap, NB?), but I always feel compelled to give you Crivvies something to read, even when I have nothing much worth writing about.  Can't have you dropping in and have nothing to offer you, can I?  That would never do.  Anyway, feel free to comment, should you so desire.