The MAN WITHOUT FEAR - PART ONE...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Oh, you lucky people.  Scanned from my own personal copy of DAREDEVIL #1 is the first part of the origin of ol' Hornhead himself.  Drawn by BILL EVERETT with an alleged assistance from STEVE DITKO, the figure on the cover and splash page is clearly by JACK KIRBY, which makes me wonder if JK designed the hero's costume.  If anyone has any information or thoughts on the matter, feel free to comment.

This origin tale is available in the new MARVEL FIRSTS: The 1960s volume, and also the softcover edition of MARVEL MASTERWORKS: DAREDEVIL Vol. 1.  No true believer should be without each handsome tome so if you don't have them already, put them at the top of your Christmas list right away.

Look out for Part Two - NEXT!

A MONSTER TO MARVEL AT - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Above and below, another four covers in the 18 issue series of MARVEL's fear-filled fantasy-fest known as The FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER - every one of them scanned from my very own personal collection.  Feast your eyes on these collectors' item classic from yesteryear and don't forget to scour my blog for the previous covers in parts one and two.  4th and final part still to come - soon.

To see Part 4, click here - to see Part 2, click here.

STAN, JACK, Or STEVE - Or Was It ALL THREE?

I sometimes feel sorry for STAN LEE.  Not that he needs my sympathy by any means, but it must be hard to constantly be on the receiving end of concerted attempts to diminish or deny even the slightest bit of creative input from him on anything he ever worked on with JACK KIRBY or STEVE DITKO - or anyone else for that matter.

There are some diehard Kirby and Ditko fans who maintain that their artistic heroes were responsible for everything good that ever came out of MARVEL in the 1960s, and that all Stan did was edit the pages and dialogue them.  Notwithstanding all the redrawn Kirby pages which seem to suggest that Stan's involvement was far more than that.

However, just for the sake of argument, let's imagine for a moment that both Kirby and Ditko created all the characters they worked on and were responsible for all the plotlines, leaving Stan's contribution as no more than scripting the tales from Jack and Steve's margin notes.  Got that notion fixed in your head?  Good.  Now consider this.  Nothing that either Jack or Steve worked on after Marvel ever had the same kind of impact as the body of work they produced while collaborating with Stan.  That would suggest that Stan's involvement, even if only 'mere' scripting, was the 'secret ingredient' that had a disproportionate effect on the finished result.

Stan Lee, in effect, was therefore the vital factor that transformed many competent but ordinary comicbooks into the dynamic Marvel masterworks that so many people fondly remember today. Had Jack and Steve scripted their own strips, it's extremely doubtful, going by their few later limited achievements, that Marvel would have become as successful as it was in its glory years.

Who came up with the idea of THOR?  Jack said Jack, Stan said Stan, and LARRY LIEBER (Stan's brother) said Stan (with input from himself - the names DON BLAKE and URU, for example).  But does it matter who came up with the initial concept?  Surely it's what's done with it that matters?  How it was 'dressed up' and first presented to the public in JOURNEY Into MYSTERY #83.  The finished result was a product of Stan, Jack & Larry, so in that sense all three can legitimately claim to be co-creators of the character.  (Larry hasn't ever made such a claim as far as I know, but I noticed he was credited alongside Stan and Jack on the recent Thor movie.)

Take DOCTOR STRANGE.  Critics of Stan seize on his frank comment that the then-upcoming mystic master's first appearance was "Steve's idea" as proof that Ditko created the character and not Lee.  However, even ignoring Lee's obvious input to the 'DR. DROOM'-type origin a few issues later, it's clear that Strange is nothing more than a reworked Droom figure (by Stan and Jack - and actually inked by Steve), so SD can hardly be said to have come up with anything new, merely regurgitating Stan's original concept.  Certainly, regardless of who first came up with the idea, Doctor Strange - as he is perceived by the comics buying public today - is as much a creation of Stan as he is of Steve.

That's why it's simply much easier (and no less accurate) to say 'by Lee & Kirby', or 'by Lee & Ditko', because the nuts and bolts of exactly who did what is probably much more complicated and may never be known.  One thing's for sure - all three creative titans were never better than when working with their respective collaborators, their body of work providing a perfect example of something being greater than the sum of its parts.

'Nuff said.

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

IF YOU ONLY BUY ONE BOOK THIS YEAR, MAKE IT THIS ONE...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

This is the book that ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS should've been.  Are you ready for this?  The first appearances or/and first issues of The RAWHIDE KID, DOCTOR DROOM, The FANTASTIC FOUR, ANT-MAN, The INCREDIBLE HULK, SPIDER-MAN, THOR, HUMAN TORCH, TWO-GUN KID, IRON MAN, SGT. FURY & His HOWLING COMMANDOS, DOCTOR STRANGE, The AVENGERS, The X-MEN, DAREDEVIL, NICK FURY AGENT Of S.H.I.E.L.D., GHOST RIDER, CAPTAIN MARVEL, CAPTAIN SAVAGE & His LEATHERNECK RAIDERS, SILVER SURFER, and more, more, MORE!!! 

This terrifically titanic tome also contains the dynamic debuts of The WASP, The WATCHER, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and SUB-MARINER in their own sensational series; KA-ZAR, and DOCTOR DOOM in their initial solo stories, plus covers galore, and even more, more, MORE!!!

All in full colour, this is the one book that no dyed-in-the-wool Marvel fan can afford to be without.  This softcover, 488 page masterpiece contains, in the main, the finest and most accurate printings of these tales since they were first released back in the '60s.  Definitely no shoddy 'restoration' work that some first printings of the MASTERWORKS series suffered from.  An absolute bargain, and the book to have this Christmas.  But don't wait - buy it today.

ISBN #978-0-7851-5864-6

SUPERMAN BREAKS LOOSE...

Built and painted by Kid Robson

For no other reason than I'm extremely proud of it, I'd thought I'd share another photo of my AURORA SUPERMAN kit from 1974.  I assembled and painted it myself, hand-painting the 'S' emblems on the costume and cape, rather than using the adhesive labels supplied.  This second release of the famous hobby kit was issued without the nameplate of the original '64 version (as were all subsequent releases), but I added a spare one as I think the model looks better with it.

This kit has been released five times over the years, and I have them all, plus an unbuilt and boxed spare of the original version.  Here are the dates and companies involved:

1964 by Aurora. * 1974 by Aurora. * 1978 by Monogram. * 1984 by MPC. * 1999 by Revell.

As I said, only the 1964 kit included a nameplate (and had moulded 'S' emblems), and the '84 and '99 kits had a different head.

Perhaps MOEBIUS Models will re-release the original kit sometime soon.

DALEKS LOVE BOOTS...

Ever noticed something in a photo that you weren't aware of at the time it was taken?  Have a look at this picture snapped back in 1996 at my local BOOTS The CHEMISTS.  There I am, in all my rugged, manly handsomeness, next to a display for the new video (remember them?) release of the Dr. WHO television movie starring thespian PAUL McGANN.  But wait... isn't that a DALEK's head in the background, protruding upside down from the ceiling?  Like I said somewhere before, those Daleks get everywhere.

  

WHAT A SHOCKING FUTURE...

Over on another blog, the host mentions a comics shop which used to trade under the name of PHOTON BOOKS in Glasgow's Woodlands Road back in the early 1980s.  It later changed its name to FUTURESHOCK and is still trading today, but here's an interesting little bit of background info.

Originally, the shop was run by NEIL CRAIG and BOB SHAW (Neil now runs it by himself), until they had a falling out over matters which I'm not privy to.  Later, Bob opened a shop just along the road from Neil, which, because it sold books (and comics) and developed photographs (that side of the business was run by a fellow called ALAN MITCHELL, I think), went by the name of BOOKS 'N' PHOTOS.

Well, actually, the official names of the two businesses trading from the same premises were SECOND FOUNDATION and SPECIALIST PRINTS, but these titles took second place to the prominence given to what was essentially a bald description of what the shop actually sold - namely, 'books 'n' photos'.  This was purely to wind-up Neil, by using a name as close to Photon Books as possible.

Because I'd once been a signwriter, I was asked to do the sign for above the shop, painted on two plywood boards in the comfort of my own home.  I was really quite proud of it because, although it was hand-painted, it looked for all the world as if it were perspex.  Unfortunately, I only owned a HANIMEX 110mm camera at the time, so the accompanying photos aren't too sharp.  The photo was taken by myself the day the sign was placed above the shop, sometime back in '83 or '84.  Look - you can see Alan, Bob and me in the reflection on the shop window next door.  The other two were taken outside my house before the sign was transported into Glasgow.

I'm not sure it's clear in the photos, but the large white lettering had a thin red outline around it.  Sure takes a steady hand for that sort of detail, I can tell you.

******

UPDATE: Sad to hear that Neil died in July 2014.  His shop in Woodlands Road is still there, but not currently trading as far as I know.  Perhaps his widow has plans for it - time will surely tell.

The SIGNIFICANT SEVEN...

I have an interesting (if annoying) capacity to see significance in the most trivial of things.  For example, on my seventh birthday, we moved into a house numbered seventy-seven, in which I had seven birthdays and seven Christmases.  When I started my new school across the road, the first classroom I was in was room seven, and when we moved from that house years later, it was on the seventh month of the seventh year on the fourteenth (two sevens, same as the house number) day.

Something else that has a surreal significance to me is that, many years later, I bought the actual number plate of my old house from the then-current tenant, which has been on the door of my study for what is now well into the twenty-first (three sevens) year.  But that's not so much what impresses me.  What does is the fact that I've now passed that aged number plate many more times since it's been on my study door than I ever did when it adorned the house I once lived in so long ago.

I don't know why, but - to me - that just seems strangely significant.

ADS YOU THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER SEE...

I cut this from a magazine a few years back.
Those Daleks, eh? They get everywhere.

To The LONGBOATS... The MOST FAMOUS 'VIKING' Of ALL!

Alas, alack, woe is me!  I am cast down and utterly despondent.  Oh, despair!  And what is the reason for my melancholy mood, the more kindly amongst you may wonder.  I'll tell you.  As far as I'm aware, I've only ever been to Largs (in Ayrshire) three times in my life.  At least, that is to say I've holidayed there three times, but perhaps I've passed through or near to it over the years without being aware of the fact while in a friend's car en route to somewhere else.

The years I'm specifically referring to, however, are 1968, '69 & '71, when I was 9, 10 & 12 years old respectively.  On at least two occasions, my family attended The VIKING CINEMA in Largs, once to see Those MAGNIFICENT MEN In Their FLYING MACHINES and also, I think, The MAGNIFICENT SEVEN - though I can't recall which of the two we saw first, not that it matters.  (However, come to think of it, it's strange that both movies had the word 'magnificent' in the title.)

The Viking Cinema was a truly, er... magnificent art-deco establishment, with a sturdy mock-up of the prow of a Viking longship protruding from the front of the building.  I recall standing on it and thinking what it must've been like to sail the seven seas in days of yore, doing a spot of pillaging and... well, I was just a boy, so I was probably ignorant of the other activity for which Vikings were infamous, so we needn't go there.

Over the years, I've often thought back to those holidays, fully intending to revisit Largs again and once more stand on the deck of that prow and relive my boyhood memories.  Imagine my dismay then, when I learned only an hour or so ago, that The Viking Cinema closed on August 4th, 1973 (a mere two years after my last visit to Largs) and was demolished in 1983.  (Apparently it had been turned into a bottling plant in the intervening years between closure and demolition.)

Now, not only is it devastating to learn that a childhood landmark no longer exists, but that it ceased to exist so far back in time as to be separated from my actual experience of the place by only a metaphorical hair.  All the years that I've imagined it still functioning as a cinema (or, if closed, only having done so relatively recently), have all been based on nothing more than the ghost of a memory - a fantasy even.

Alas, alack, I may never again be able to stand on the deck of The Viking in actuality, but, in the coming years, I'll do so - often - in the evergreen and eternal land of memory.

******

And, in case you were wondering why a Scottish town would have a Viking-themed cinema, it's because the long-haired rascals tried to invade us a few centuries back (October 2nd, 1263 to be exact) and we gave them a good gubbing.  (Thor's hammer, in the guise of a stick, must still have been lying in that cave in Norway, which is probably why he couldn't help them out.)  The cinema was in tribute to our well-deserved victory and their defeat - not that we like to rub it in or anything.

******

Apparently, after being removed from the building, the ship's prow was taken to the Isle of Cumbrae and remained there for years. If anyone has any information as to whether it's still there or not, feel free to get in touch.

******

Update: I finally revisited Largs in 2014.  You can read about my return to my three-time holiday haunt here. 

  

TOLD YOU WE SHOULD HAVE GOT A SONY...

I probably shouldn't be posting some of my early work as most of it was a bit rough and it shows.  However, even allowing for the deficiencies, some of it isn't too bad for a teenager and would have been improved with only a bit of 'polish'.  (A bolder, more confident outline for a start.)  The above is one I did for a local business back in the '70s and, yes, I was paid for it.  I did quite a few for this company (all for newspaper publication), but this is the only one I kept a copy of as it was the first.  Which is a shame, now that I think of it, because some of them were quite good.

CALLING FELLOW BLOGGERS...

I've noticed recently that when I try and submit comments to various people's blogs, they disappear into oblivion.  (My comments that is, not the people or their blogs.)  What's more, there seems to be a random factor involved; sometimes I can leave a comment where it had been denied previously, sometimes it's vice versa.

Anyone else had this problem?

******

Update: I think I've got the problem sussed.  Thanks to those who responded.

TRICK OR - SHRIIIIIIIIEEEEEEKKKK!!!

'Tis the merry month of October and Hallow'en will soon be upon us.  Even we oldies who haven't been out guising in many a long year are not immune to its unique charms, and can yet recall the Hallowe'ens of our youth with fond nostalgia.  I remember having a cardboard YOGI BEAR mask, purchased from WOOLWORTHS (actually I had two; one in 1963/'64 and again in '66), and I'd love to be able to get my hands on another one some day.  Unlikely I know, given the inherent fragility of the item.  (Update: Got one 11 years after first publishing this post.)

Anyway, I was digging through the files recently and, much to my surprise, discovered a photocopy of the original pencil version of my FRANKENSTEIN monster portrait from the early '80s.  Regular readers of this blog will have already seen the inked and cropped incarnation of this drawing, but the pencilled portrait has its own charm and is of sufficient interest to merit an outing here.

So, just imagine... you hear a chapping at your front porch.  Grabbing a few apples and some monkey nuts, you prepare to endure yet another rendition of 'three wee witches on the green' as you open the door and are confronted - not by a gaggle of giggling guisers - but by the image above, looming at you out of the fog.

And if that doesn't cure you of your constipation, then nothing will.  

ARE YOU ONE OF THE 'IN' CROWD?

Here's an alternate version of a newspaper ad I did for a hair & beauty salon back in 1984.  I don't know if the above variant was ever printed, but the second version (below) was - and is scanned from the newspaper it appeared in.  Knowing it would be printed extremely small, I tried to keep it as simple as possible to compensate for the usual murky reproduction to which newspapers were then prone.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT SO FAR?"

British audiences require no introduction to MORECAMBE & WISE, who, for many years, were probably Britain's best-loved comedy duo, rivalled only by The TWO RONNIES.  Eric and Ern's TV Christmas Specials got record-breaking viewing figures that many a programme today would kill for.  While the pair were still at the peak of their success, publishers WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON released a hardback book, The MORECAMBE & WISE SPECIAL in 1977, with W.H. ALLEN & Co., Ltd releasing the softcover edition (under the imprint of STAR BOOKS) a year later.

I guess there must have been a demand for it recently, because a facsimile edition of the original hardback volume was published in 2009.  If you missed it and can't live without it, you'll no doubt be pleased to learn that the POUNDLAND chain of stores currently have loads of the book in stock for - surprise surprise - £1.  If you were a fan of the twosome back in the '70s, the book is a nice little reminder of a vanished era and can still raise a chuckle or three.

Comics fans in particular will be interested in the four page comic strip featuring Eric & Ernie, drawn by TERRY WAKEFIELD and  written by DENIS GIFFORD.  At a mere pound, how can you lose?

2012 ANNUALS FOR ONLY £1...

Copyright D.C. Thomson & Co., Ltd

The companion book to the BEANO & DANDY Celebration of DENNIS The MENACE, namely The BROONS & OOR WULLIE 75th Anniversary Edition, is currently available in all good bookshops, priced £12.99.

However, WH SMITH's has a special offer on at the moment - buy any one annual, get another for only £1.  That means one can obtain both books for a mere £13.99. (UPDATE: This has now been superseded by a 'buy one, get one free' offer.)

(FURTHER UPDATE: As of Dec 27th, all Annuals are £1.99 while stocks last.)

As well as the first ever appearances of The Broons and Oor Wullie, the book also includes a Broons CD and an Oor Wullie calendar, pictured below.

What are you waiting for? Get down to your nearest WH Smith's today!

However, don't neglect your local SAINSBURY'S, who are selling the 2012 BEANO ANNUAL and DANDY ANNUAL for £5 EACH (R.R.P. £7.99) or a mere £8 for both of them.  This offer also includes other annuals, but I didn't see the Dennis or Broons & Our Wullie books on sale there.

(UPDATE: On Dec 24th, all Annuals were priced £3 each.  It's extremely likely that any remaining stock has been reduced even further since then.)

 

CAPTAIN SCARLET HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED... S.I.G.

When I was a boy in the mid-'60s, there was a set of dab-on DALEK transfers available.  I recall having that super set on at least two separate occasions a few years apart and I'd love to own it again one day.

Another set of terrific transfers I had as a lad was CAPTAIN SCARLET, and a few years ago I was lucky enough to re-acquire a sheet from some source or other.  Because they were dab-ons, they were referred to as 'dabbities' in Scotland, and, I assume, other parts of Britain also.

For all lovers of nostalgia, I thought I'd share my set with you here.  No, don't mention it.

LEGIBLY LETTERED LOGOS LET LOOSE...

Copyright REBELLION

When I was a regular contributor to 2000 A.D., lettering such strips as STRONTIUM DOG, ROGUE TROOPER, and a whole host of other strips from time to time, ALAN McKENZIE (the best deputy editor the comic ever had) often asked me to design and letter various special logos for story titles and upcoming new series.

On view are three suggestions for a series featuring Scottish Strontium dog, MIDDENFACE McNULTY.  I forget which of them was eventually chosen, but each one was completely hand-lettered by myself.  Anyone lettering comics using computer fonts today who can't also do it by hand (if required) isn't a real lettering artist in my view - they're only typists.

"YOU'VE HAD YOUR CHIPS, SON..."

1st part of double page spread

One of the other things I produced for the establishment mentioned in the previous post was a rules and regulations poster for their delivery drivers.  Having taken enough money from the 'parent company' on past projects, and because it wasn't for public consumption, I cut them a special deal on this one.  If memory serves, I did this for six months' supply of fish suppers, the cost of which, had I paid for them, would've far exceeded what I could have legitimately charged for the work involved, so I really came out ahead on the deal.

2nd part of double page spread

Here's another piece I did for the same company, but this time for another of their businesses.  This was produced for their leaflets and newspaper advertisements, and everything on it was done by hand, with the exception of the Letraset numbers on the right.

And the illustration below was done for another chip shop owner, for his bags, menus, and fliers.

Hardly international publishing, true (with which I was involved at the same time), but lucrative nonetheless.

(Incidentally, the images are scanned from poor quality photocopies; I've tried to punch them up a bit, but they're still not as sharp as they could be.)