BOB HOPE RECEIVES The STAMP Of APPROVAL... WHO'S YOUR FAVOURITE COMEDIAN/COMEDY ACTOR?

Regular Crivvies may recall me mentioning that I was fortunate enough to meet the legendary actor and comedian Bob Hope on two separate occasions ten years apart.  Even got a few photos taken with him and his wife Dolores on our second encounter, and have several items - photos, books, magazines, and record covers - autographed by the man himself.  Recently, I acquired an 'action figure' of Bob, and I'm always looking to expand my collection of Hope memorabilia, hence me buying the above sheet of US stamps of the British-born funny-man.

So it's probably pretty obvious that Bob Hope is my favourite comedian of all time.  What I was wondering though, is who's your favourite - in fact, who do you reckon was/is the funniest comedian that ever graced a stage, TV show or movie?  And why?  Feel free to regale your fellow Crivvies with your choice of performers in the humour stakes.

Incidentally, I've shown one of the photos of me with Bob a few times on the blog before, so just for a change here's a cropped version of it, along with a couple of others which I can't remember if I've shown before or not.  (Wouldn't surprise me if I have.)  Incidentally, I've enlarged them from reduced copies on my computer, so the quality isn't great.  It would've taken me too long to find the file/folder with my larger copies.

So again - who's your favourite actor/comedian of all time?

BABE Of The DAY - PAIGE SPIRANAC...

Paige Spiranac is a total darlin' -

it's all there in black and white (and

 blonde - don't forget the blonde).

The FICKLE FINGER Of FATE...

Posted at the request on his blog of Mark Evanier, former assistant to and biographer of Jack Kirby.  I think Mark missed a word-play trick here - I'd have titled it 'Kanigher Is Always Getting Fingered - And It's Got To Stop!'  And although I'm aware that a sexual connotation could be read into the word, I'm using it in the same way as gangsters in the '30s & '40s, when 'fingered' meant being 'pointed out' to the attention of the authorities (or rival gangsters). 

AND NOW - THE SPIDER...

Copyright REBELLION

If not for a boy called William Nodwell, I may never have learned of such classic comics characters as The Spider, The Steel Claw, Zip Nolan, Charlie Peace, Robot Archie, T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents, and probably a few others.  Or I certainly wouldn't have known about them until much later in my life than I did.  The reason for this was because it was when my mother and brother (and perhaps occasionally my father) and myself were visiting William's parents, whose house was in the row across from the one in which we'd once resided between the years 1960-'64, that I got to read William's comics.  These visits took place at occasional intervals between 1965-'70, and perhaps even continued beyond that, though, if so, me and my brother were no longer in attendance and my mother probably made such visits on her own.

Unnecessary detail as far as you're concerned I know, but remembering such trivia helps me keep such characters in the context of their times as far as my experience of them goes.  It's odd to think that, because of the circumstances, I probably associate the above strips more (or at least as much) with a neighbourhood I was then no longer living in, rather than the one I was living in at the time.  But what's all that got to do with the price of cheese?  Nothing, but when my hardback collected edition of The Spider arrived at Castel Crivens this morning, I couldn't help but feel my memories drawn back to the time when I first laid eyes on him in the Nodwell family home, lo, all those many decades ago.

I shouldn't have to give you the hard-sell on this volume, should I?  It's classic British adventure at its best, with a little help from American writer Jerry Siegel, who along with his friend Joe Shuster, created Superman back around 1933 or '34.  There's a long-standing rumour that Jerry created The Spider, but this book reveals that he only took over writing the strip for a while after co-creator (with artist Reg Bunn) Ted Cowan had written the first two complete stories.  In fact, it was Jerry who approached the publishers of Lion comic, after seeing a few issues and being impressed with The Spider.

Anyway, the book is officially available from the 14th, though I think the limited edition hardback with a superb cover by Chris Weston (above) might have sold out, so you may have to settle for the softcover edition with a different cover (if that isn't also sold out - advance orders, y'see).  Either way, what's not to like?  Check out the Treasury Of British Comics website for details.

Update: Just checked - both editions are now listed on the site, though I could see no sign of them when I wrote this post earlier.

A 'FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST' REPOST: The WAY It BEGAN...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

I bought my original copy of the above mag - FANTASTIC FOUR #126 - in a newsagent's in Hamilton, Scotland, on Friday, October 6th 1972.  I should've been at school, and would've been if not for the fact I'd already been off ill for a day or two and there was no point in going back on the last day before the weekend.  I therefore remained absent, and - as I was feeling slightly better as the morning wore on - my father took me with him when he journeyed into Hamilton on some errand or other.

I also picked up another copy of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #1 that afternoon (released only the Saturday before), the second issue being due out the next day.  I well remember the fun I had comparing JACK KIRBY's version of the FF's origin with JOHN BUSCEMA's - it sure was difficult to decide on just which interpretation was best, although Big John's was perhaps a tad more dynamically rendered.  Having said that, he was channelling Jack's solid storytelling principles through his own style, so Kirby deserves a share of the credit, I suppose. 

This was ROY THOMAS's first issue as regular scripter of the FF.  He'd written some fill-in stories before, of course, when STAN LEE was on vacation, but this was his 'debut' as the quartet's ongoing scribe now that Stan had been promoted to president and publisher with little or no time for writing.  At least, that was the plan, but Rascally Roy's increased duties as newly appointed editor-in-chief meant that he soon had to turn the regular scripting chores over to someone else.  (Step forward twenty-year-old boy-genius, GERRY CONWAY.)

This issue was intended to be a new beginning for the fabulous foursome, and the title managed to offer some respectable stories before losing its impetus somewhere along the line.  Eventually, the comic began to tread water, until writer/artist JOHN BYRNE came on board with issue #232 in 1981.  His 'Back to Basics' first issue succeeded in revitalising the flagging series and managed to restore some much-needed credibility to the title's famous front-cover tag-line - "The World's Greatest Comic Magazine!"  FF fans everywhere were mighty grateful.

However, with that landmark 126th issue back in 1972, the heady hint of promise hung heavy in the air, and - for a while at least - the expectations of the faithful were not disappointed.

BABE Of The DAY - PAIGE SPIRANAC...

No need for too many words

when stunning Paige Spiranac

is around, Crivs - just sit back and

admire the view.  (And I sure ain't

 talking about the background.)

A 'FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST' REPOST: The RUNAWAY SUPERBOY...

Copyright DC COMICS

SUPERBOY #146 is another comic I had as a boy which I never got to read the conclusion of in the next-but-one issue.  (Again, just like WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #178, the succeeding publication was an 80 Page Giant which featured reprints of earlier stories.)  The wrap-up of the Superboy adventure came in number 148, but I've never read it in the forty-odd years since I first obtained the original comic featuring the first part of the story.  (Or if I have, I've long since forgotten it.  I don't think I have though.)

If my flashback faculty is faithfully fulfilling its function, I got this ish the same day as X-MEN #45, both bought for me by my bruv on or around the time of his 14th birthday in December 1968.  I recall comparing the full-colour X-Men story with its b&w reprinting in the pages of bombastic British publication, FANTASTIC, shortly before it finished its 89 issue run.  I think I also flicked through FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #6 in the same shop on the same day of purchase of the other two.

The shop still exists*, although it's changed hands quite a few times over the years - and it's been decades since it sold any U.S. comicbooks.  However, one glance at Superboy #146, X-Men #45, or FF Annual #6 (even though I didn't buy it) and I'm once again back in that shop as it was in 1968, when I was a mere ten year old boy.  Many years later, as an adult, I finally obtained that FF mag, but it cost a lot more than it would have back in the '60s.  Couldn't tell you where I got it from 'cos I can no longer remember.  Not that it matters, I suppose, because it's too firmly associated with that shop from my childhood days.

And perhaps that's how it should be.

(*Update:  Well, it did when this post was first published in 2012, but closed its doors around three and a half years later.  It's now a fast food outlet.)

   

Update: I've now got the conclusion to the above tale, which you can read about here.  Before you jump over to have a look, below is the cover (replica edition) of #147, the Giant reprint issue, so that you've got all three issues in sequence.

A 'FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST' REPOST: The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #18...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

I was buying a lot of comics in 1984 - from any place I could get 'em.  Newsagents, comicbook shops, Glasgow's Virgin Mega-Store; you name it, if it sold comic-books, I was probably in there at some stage scooping them up.  The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #18 was one I purchased from R.S. McColl's in the main shopping centre of my home town.  Its primary attraction for me was that it was scripted by STAN LEE (from a TOM DeFALCO plot) and that Spidey was drawn in an imitation DITKO-style by RON FRENZ.

What an utter joy it was to read this tale - it simply sang, such is Stan's mastery of words when it comes to making a story move along at a rip-roaring pace.  I enjoyed it so much that I actually read it again the next day, and could only rue the fact that Stan didn't write more often.  Say what you like about 'The Man', but he sure knows how to inject an infectious sense of fun and adventure into almost any tale and this one was certainly no exception.  Over the years, whenever I've wanted to re-experience the thrill of seeing just how well a superhero comic can be written, I've returned to this issue again and again.

I know I've bored you with the topic of time before, but it really amazes me that I first read this story a kick-in-the-pants off 40 years ago - it just doesn't seem like it. The R.S. McColl's shop I acquired it from is long, long-gone, the premises having housed several different businesses in the intervening years between then and now. Yet, when I look at the cover, I can clearly remember buying it as if it were only a couple of weeks back, so distinct is the memory of it in my mind.

  

As I said, back in the early '80s, I was buying a whole lot of comics, but I only regarded two of my regular titles as being absolute 'must-haves'.  The first was The FANTASTIC FOUR, written and drawn by JOHN BYRNE, and the second was MARVEL TALES, reprinting the classic run of Lee/Ditko Spider-Man stories.  These were the 'dynamic duo' of the monthly Marvel output, but occasionally there would be an issue of another mag which was up there with the best of them.  Such a one was The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #18.

I can honestly say that my copy is in practically the same condition as the day I bought it, which is more than I can say about me.  It's at times like this that I find myself wishing I had a hideous portrait up in the attic of the same mystical properties as Dorian Gray's.  Of course, some wag is sure to say that any portrait of me is bound to be hideous.  It reminds me of the time an artist asked his subject whether he thought his newly-completed portrait did him justice.  "Its not justice I require," said the eminent subject - "it's mercy!"

And on that note, I'll leave you to look up the price of the above ish on eBay.  If you don't already have it in your collection, now's the time to track it down and treat yourself to a fun read.

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.

******

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?

A CAUTIONARY TALE Of PRIDE BEFORE A FALL... (Or: WONDER At The POWER!)

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

When I were but an 8 or 9 year old lad (he said in his best Hovis TV ad voice), only two of my friends were prepared to indulge my superhero roleplaying shenanigans by dressing up in homemade costumes and running around the neighbourhood pretending to fight crime.  (The only 'crime' was our costumes, 'cos they were dreadful.)  John was the first, and he was Robin to my Batman, and Philip was the second, and he was Wonder Man to my Power Man (or it may have been vice-versa).  The latter two names were nicked from The Avengers tales reprinted in Terrific, a black and white weekly comic by Odhams Press which featured Marvel stories.  I think they were originally villains, but we converted them into heroes to better fit our purpose.

Believe it or not, I came in for quite a bit of stick for my costumed activities, being the object of some ridicule from a few older local kids - who were much more interested in playing football and the like, as opposed to embracing more fantasy-orientated pastimes like I did.  I realise now that their scorn was probably a facade to preserve their street cred with their pals, as I've since spoken to one or two other people who likewise cavorted as the Caped Crusader when they were a similar age to myself, give or take a year either way.  The difference, in one instance anyway, was that they confined such roleplaying to their back gardens and didn't take it out into the surrounding environs where they'd be subjected to the scrutiny of their peers.

Just over 20 years later (1989), when Michael Keaton's Batman movie was a blockbuster hit, it seemed that everyone and their brother was wearing a Batman tee-shirt.  I took great satisfaction in the realisation that I'd been a couple of decades ahead of them, a real 'trailblazer'.  However, for much of my teenage years I grew up thinking that, a couple of pals aside, I was the only person my age who read superhero comics.  It just didn't seem to be the 'in-thing' among 'ordinary' teenagers.  So for a long time I believed that my comicbook collecting interests were the solitary pursuit of a select few who were destined never to meet, and was a guilty pleasure that shouldn't ever be admitted to outside of a close circle of friends.  Imagine my surprise then, when I attended my first-ever comic mart in 1982, and saw men in their 40s, 50s, and older, searching through boxes on tables looking for some never forgotten cherished treasure from their youth.

And you know what?  I thought it was sad.  Small, nerdy, dishevelled-looking men with combover hairstyles and milk bottle spectacles, who one could all too easily believe had never had a girlfriend (or any relationship with a female of the species outside of platonic) in their lives.  "How could they allow themselves to turn out like that?" I thought.  Well, now I know.  Okay, I still have a luxuriant head of hair that is doubtless the envy of many, as well as my own teeth, and I'm a fairly tall, handsome manly-man who doesn't look as if I'd blow over in a strong wind, but - as opposed to the youth in my early 20s that I was back then, I'm now older than most of the people at whom I couldn't help but be silently aghast, at that mart (in Glasgow's Royal Stuart Hotel in case you were interested) all those years ago.

In fact, having believed that comic collecting was the hobby of those cast in my own image - i.e., quiet, insular, inhibited, thoughtful individuals who were beyond the common throng of ordinary mortals, and was a 'secret', magical interest that only a few select adherents were privy to - I was extremely surprised to find that hundreds of other types of folk from all walks of life also shared my love of four-colour (and b&w) printed periodicals.  It was a shock to discover that what I thought was a 'private garden' was open to everyone - high, low, good, bad, rich, poor, old, young, etc., etc.  I must confess that it took the shine off it for a while, as something that I considered exclusive to me wasn't, in fact, exclusive at all.  Some of these people seemed downright weird, not quite right, and it was with alarm that it struck me that I was probably perceived of in the same way by those who mocked me for playing at Batman as a lad and reading comics at any age.

Now I know what you're thinking - what a terrible snob!  And you're right!  In the ignorance of youth I felt that my hobbies, pastimes, interests, etc., helped mark me out as the individual I thought I was, and that I had a virtual monopoly on them.  Maybe you were the same?  Then comes the day when you find out that you're really not that special at all, and you're just another small, insignificant cog in the huge wheel of life, and that what you saw as your own personal playground (whether it's comics or anything else) is not confined to, or reserved for, your sole pleasure.  Now I'm the sad old guy who should know better, searching for reminders from my past on the Internet and elsewhere, in pursuit of my expired youth, labouring under the delusion that I can somehow reclaim it.  I'm hoist with my own petard.

So what are your thoughts, Crivvies?  Did you once hold similar views as my younger self, or were you always aware that, underneath a few superficial differences, we're all the same?  Jock Tamson's Bairns as it were.

A 'FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST' REPOST: SWAMP THING #1...

Copyright DC COMICS

Here's yet another pulsating post that received no comments at the time of it's original publication.  How could such great artwork go unheeded?  Or was it mainly my personal reminiscences that failed to inspire you Crivvies to respond?  Whichever, here's your chance to make up for your woeful neglect of what was part 43 of my 'Favourite Comics Of The Past' series.  Surely it's one of your favourite comics too?  Tell us why.

******

One of my favourite newsagent's back in the '70s was an R.S. McCOLL's in the Old Village quarter of my town.  It was situated next door to an old-fashioned tearoom called The WILLOW, which was like a LYONS tearoom from the 1950s.  Nowadays, what was The Willow is part of a Chinese or Indian restaurant, and the newsagent's is now a GREGGS, both of whose original incarnations I miss in equal measure.  Roll on that Lottery win so that I can buy and restore them to their former glory.

Just some of the comics I recall buying in that particular McColl's were The DEMON #1, SECRET ORIGINS #1, JOURNEY Into MYSTERY Annual #1, KULL The CONQUEROR #1, as well as this post's favourite comic of the past - SWAMP THING #1. Doubtless there were many other mags (some of them British) I bought in that much-missed shop, but these are the ones which spring to mind at this moment.  So let's take a look at some of the pages from that classic issue of Swamp Thing - comics don't get any better than this.

And if you have any memories of (or observations on) this magnificent mag, then share them with the rest of us.

And below is a pic from the '50s of the tearoom and newsagent's. The Willow's premises had a windowed extension just out of view to the left of the tree to accommodate more tables and chairs. 

REFLECTIVE REPOST: WHAM! In The '70s - NOT QUITE DEAD YET...

Copyright REBELLION

Hard as it may be for some of you to believe, several of my pulse-pounding posts garnered no comments when first published.  Had I lost my touch in the writing department ("What touch was that?" I hear you ask), or was it just a case of there being something good on the telly that night, hence my post going unnoticed?  Anyway, everyone deserves another chance, so here's your opporchancity to redeem yourselves for last time, as I present again the following piece.

******

Weekly comic WHAM! had barely managed to drag itself across the doorstep of January '68 before suffering the inglorious fate of being merged with younger stablemate POW!  At that time, Wham! was one of my favourite comics (alongside sister publication FANTASTIC), so I was none too pleased to see it relegated to the position of support act for another pulsating POWER PACK periodical.

There were six 'proper' Wham! Annuals published by ODHAMS PRESS, the last being issued in '70 for '71.  Strangely, though, the name Wham! survived the demise of the Power era  (and the transformation of 'last comic standing' - SMASH! - into a VALIANT clone in March 1969).  In 1971, Wham! Annual 1972 was released by FLEETWAY, and - apart from the logo - bore absolutely no resemblance to any of its half-dozen predecessors, containing, to the best of my knowledge, not one single strip that had ever appeared in the weekly title.

Whereas the six Odhams Annuals had contained mostly humour strips, the Fleetway version was mainly an adventure book, and any readers buying it because of warm memories of the weekly (or earlier Annuals) must have been bewildered by the unfamiliar content.  Where were The TIDDLERS, FRANKIE STEIN, or The HUMBUGS?  Just where was The PEST Of The WEST?  Gone South by the look of it - along with FOOTSIE The CLOWN, GLUGG and SAMMY SHRINK.

There were two further Annuals in the series, though this time as combined titles - WHAM! And POW! Annual 1973 (on sale Aug/Sept '72) and 1974 (issued Aug/Sept '73).  Strictly speaking, the books should have been called Pow! And Wham!, because that was the name of the merged weekly - not vice versa.  (I guess Wham! received top billing because it had been released first and had published more weekly issues.)

I had originally bought Wham! comic for the MARVEL reprints of The FANTASTIC FOUR, and by the time the last two of these three Fleetway Annuals came out, I was reliving the FF's adventures in The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, alongside The HULK and SPIDER-MAN, which had once appeared in Smash! and Pow! respectively.

Strange now to think that (unnoticed by me at the time) some of my once-favourite comic titles continued in name for years afterwards - although the superhero spectaculars that had made them so compulsive were being published in another periodical that was now at the top of my comics list.  In my mind, Wham! and Pow! had died in the '60s - to think that an Annual for them was issued in the same years as the first two Marvel Annuals is, to me, simply astounding.

It's similar to archaeologists believing that two creatures were separated by an immense period of time, only to discover fossils of them in the same strata of rock and realizing that they both co-existed (even though one of them was just about to become extinct).

However, that's enough fanciful nonsense from me - enjoy the accompanying images.