WISH YOU WERE A SPACEMAN? THEN THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU...

Copyright relevant owner

Arrived today, My Fireball XL5 60th Anniversary Comic Anthology volume, containing all the XL5 strips from TV Century 21 and Countdown, plus 17 pages of new art and story by Lee Sullivan interwoven among them.  With interesting features and cover galleries, this is currently the best book in the world universe and may well remain so for a long, long time.  However, never mind what I have to say, read the scintillating spiel on the back cover, below.  (Click on image to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.)  Available from The Official Gerry Anderson Store right now!

On a personal note, it's hard to believe I watched this Gerry Anderson puppet show on its first run 60 years ago.  I think it's always been my favourite of the Anderson 21st century shows, with Stingray and Captain Scarlet a close second and third.  (Loved Supercar too, but it wasn't set in the 21st century.)  Just think - almost all of what made up the '60s, I was around when they first appeared.  The Beatles, Bond and Batman, and whatever else people of a certain age associate with that era - well, I was there!  (Okay, Batman first appeared in 1939, but his iconic status was cemented in the '60s with the Adam West/Burt Ward hit TV show.)

I think I've got most of these Fireball strips in other various reprint volumes (as well as many original issues), but it's great to finally have them all between the covers of a single deluxe hardback book.  Order yourself a copy today while they're still available. 

REGURGITATED RAMBLING REMINISCENCES...

King's Reach Tower in Stamford Street

Talking of KING'S REACH TOWER (as I was when this post was first published) reminds me of when myself and the previously-mentioned (and sadly late) KEVIN BRIGHTON were getting into the elevator on our way down to (or way back from) the seemingly football pitch-sized IPC staff canteen.  (No doubt I exaggerate, but it was bloody huge.)  As we stepped into the lift, it was so full that there was only room to stand facing in the way as the doors shut behind us.

So we're face to face with a bunch of people blankly staring out at us, while we self-consciously stared back at them.  It was too good an opportunity to miss.  I raised my hand to my mouth, cleared my throat, then said: "I suppose you're all wondering why I've called this meeting..."  A split-second's silence while the penny dropped, then the elevator erupted into laughter.

Kevin Brighton and his pal Del in the IPC canteen

I've used that line a number of times over the years in similar situations and it always gets a response.  Casting my mind back, I even recall where I first got it from.  It was around the mid-1970s and a fellow named JOHN HATTLE (my boss at the time*), was relating pretty much the same scenario as the one above (with himself as the protagonist, obviously), in the car park outside a pub near his shop where I worked.  I don't know if he'd appropriated it from a movie for his own purposes, or it was a genuine, on the spot 'ad-lib' as he stepped into a lift.  Anyway, there I was, ten years later (though it seemed far longer at the time), regurgitating a one-liner from my past.  That wasn't even the first time I'd used the line, having done so a few times since I'd first heard it.

(*Or maybe it was just after I'd recently left his employ, but was signwriting a van for him.)

However, recalling the situation today, it made me realise how often we store things away in our minds, sometimes for decades, ready for use at a moment's notice whenever the situation demands.  As someone who sometimes sports a beard, I'm used to people commenting on it when I grow it back again, usually along the lines of: "I see you've grown the beard back, eh?"  (I guess they must lead really boring lives for such an event to be considered worth remarking on.)  I usually respond with: "This one's false - the real one's in my pocket!"  It was only when watching a MAN From U.N.C.L.E. 'movie' a while back that I was reminded of where I'd nicked the line from, so many years before.

A post this dull needs glamming-up a bit, so here's Bob Paynter's secretary, Caroline

Back in 1982, I sent a 'cassette-a-letter' to a friend who was temporarily living in Bournemouth at the time.  We replayed it about a week ago* (to much merriment at the sound of my young voice) and I was surprised to hear myself tell a joke I'd only then-recently heard, and which I still tell today, thirty forty years later.  It made me realise how many of the jokes I tell nowadays are of a similar vintage.  (Note to self: Must learn some new material.)

So what's the point of this self-indulgent reminiscence you may be asking yourselves.  Only this:

We really are products of our past, aren't we?

(*Well, it was only a week ago when I first published this post ten years back.)

******

Sadly, King's Reach Tower has lain empty for a few years since IPC Media moved out in 2007.  I understand there are now plans to add six floors, reclad the exterior, and turn it into luxury apartments.  I'll always remember it as it was though. 

ROBBIE COLTRANE, R.I.P.

Actor Robbie Coltrane

The sad news that actor Robbie Coltrane died yesterday cast my mind back to the fact we had a family connection to him (of sorts), which is perhaps worth recounting again in this repeat of an old post.  I never knew Robbie himself, but I remember his father (our doctor) coming to my house, and my mother taking me to his Practice in Rutherglen (where she and her parents were from).  Anyway, rest in peace, Robbie, and if you were even half the gentleman your dad was, then you must've been a very fine gentleman indeed.

****** 

Isn't it funny the things that stick in your head as the years go by?  I remember one day, back in the late 1960s, my brother asking our parents about his middle name.  It turned out he shared the same middle name as our grandfather on my mother's side.  This led me to ask from whom mine had come.  "You're named after Doctor McMillan", I was told.

DOCTOR McMILLAN - Doctor IAN McMillan - (now sadly deceased) was our family doctor whose Practice was in Rutherglen.  I remember him as a tall, thin, kindly-faced gentleman, with grey or white receding hair and spectacles (or maybe that was his partner, though I'd have seen both of them, I'm sure).  I also recall sitting in his waiting room on occasion, and, before that, him coming out to our house to attend to me when my mother splashed a kettle of boiling water on me when I was an infant.  Don't worry, it was an accident.  (Well... that first time anyway.)

Doctor McMillan was the kind of doctor older people often lament doesn't exist anymore.  On many an occasion, I'd hear my mother extolling his virtues as a doctor and as a person to visiting friends.  Both of my parents thought extremely highly of him and were much saddened when he died.  They held him in such genuine regard and affection he must've been a very fine man indeed.  It's safe to say, as far as my parents (and doubtless his other patients) were concerned, a lot of doctors have since been measured against him - with no doubt quite a few found to be severely wanting.

Imagine my surprise then, when, sometime in the early '80s, I read a profile about actor ROBBIE COLTRANE in a local newspaper and discovered he was the son of our old family doctor.  Robbie's real surname is actually McMillan - he took the name Coltrane from the famous jazz saxophonist JOHN COLTRANE.  I wonder if John put up much of a fight?  (Little joke there.)

So there you go.  I'm named after Robbie Coltrane's dad.  What's even more strange is my father was called Robbie.  Thoughts of a NEW GENESIS-APOKOLIPS 'pact' spring to mind, but as to which one of us is ORION and which is MISTER MIRACLE I'll leave for others to decide.

(You must've known I'd squeeze some kind of tenuous comicbook link in there somehow.)

******

Got a favourite Robbie Coltrane movie or TV performance?  Pay tribute to the big man in our comments section, should you feel so inclined.

THE SAVAGE SUB-MARINER #67... (Updated)

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Hell's bells, I just received a bit of a shock, Crivvies.  I mentioned in a previous post that I'd recently purchased Prince Namor, The Savage Sub-Mariner #67, and that I had a reprint of the comic given away with a figure of ol' Subby a few years back.  I'd have guessed around 7 or 8, but looking at the indicia after digging it out 10 minutes ago, I see it was published in 2002 - 20 years ago.  The original mag came out in 1973 and I had a copy of it at the time (and by copy, I don't mean reprint, facsimile, or replica), so I bought the one with the action figure (no, Melvin - it's not a doll) nearly 30 years after the first printing.

So, where does the shock come in?  I just can't believe it was 20 years ago I bought the one shown below, as it doesn't seem like anywhere near that time - how wrong can a fella be?   (Though it's always possible I didn't obtain it 'til a year or two after it came out.)  I'm not quite sure whether the interior pages were printed from scans of the published '73 issue, or the original colour negatives (or maybe a bit of both), but the reproduction is bright and clear, and renders my acquisition of the original almost redundant if I just wanted the story to read*.  However, it's the ads and letters page which makes the difference, as all true collectors know.

(*Update: Actually, the original ish prints a couple of pages out of sequence, whereas the reprint has them in the proper order, so that's a plus.)

Anyway, thought I'd let you see both versions, along with the figure (again).  Any of you Crivvies got either of these comics, and what did you think of Namor's new costume?  And have you ever been astonished to discover that something which you thought was a relatively recent acquisition has actually been in your possession for a far longer part of your life than you realised?

This version of the cover was how it was originally drawn, but was amended to make Namor's
costume in the published cover (first image) slightly darker and give it more visual impact

For a better comparison, click to enlarge, then click again for optimum size

I suspect (can't recall) Namor's belt and wrist bracelets
were once the same gold colour as his trident, but have
'tarnished' over time.  Whaddya think, Crivvies?

DC AND MARVEL FACSIMILE EDTIONS...

Copyright respective owners.  (DC COMICS and MARVEL COMICS)

Here's a few fairly recent releases of Facsimile Editions by DC and Marvel that you might be interested in acquiring.  The bottom of the art on the covers of Action Comics #1 and Detective Comics #27 has been extended to compensate for the differences in page size between mags back then and now, but you'd think they'd get someone who knew what they were looking at to perform the task.  The bottom of the guy's elbow on AC #1 doesn't look quite where it should be (making the arm a tad too long), and the raised lower arm of the gunman on DC #27 is on the outside of his upper arm, instead of the inside.  Those flaws apart, they're well worth acquiring and that's my very own copies you're looking at.

It's worth noting that these reprints excite me more than any modern comics I can think of - and I already own various versions of the stories, in individual and also collected formats.  What does that tell you about contemporary comic mags, Crivvies?  Feel free to wax lyrical in the comments section.

In case you were wondering, the barcode is on the back cover

SUSAN STORM - MULTIPLE TIMES OVER...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Above is a recent comic I bought purely because of the cover.  It portrays various versions of Susan Storm, alias the Invisible Girl, who, for reasons too complicated to go into, pretends to be married to Reed Richards.  Thankfully, however, I can see right through her, and I know she secretly loves me and longs to be my wife.  I'll wait 'til she asks though, as I don't want her to think I'm easy.  (Now, how do I get out of these long-sleeved pyjamas tied at the back.) 

KULL The CONQUEROR/DESTROYER OMNIBUS...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CPI

Kull The Conqueror magazine had a rough time from its earliest days in the comics publishing world.  The Marvel mag was cancelled three times (inclusive of its final issue) in its 29 issue 'career', which began in 1971 and ended in 1978.  Also, its name was changed from Kull The Conqueror to Kull The Destroyer with its 11th issue, which is why the Omnibus edition carries the latter name instead of the former, the mag having been known under the 'Destroyer' appellation for 19 issues as opposed to 'Conqueror' for a mere 10.

Ross Andru (penciller) and Wally Wood (inker) drew #1, and Marie (penciller) and John Severin (inker) drew 2-9, with #10 being pencilled by Marie and inked by Frank Chiaramonte.  During the comic's first period of cancellation between #s 2 & 3, a Kull 5-page story (The King And The Oak) graced Conan The Barbarian #10, and a 10-pager drawn by the Severin siblings appeared in Monsters On The Prowl #16.  And lest I forget, there was an out of sequence 'try-out' Kull story in Creatures On The Loose (previously Tower Of Shadows) #10, illustrated by Berni Wrightson which preceded Kull's own mag.

Now, here's the thing.  As far as I recall (and it's usually pretty far), I only ever bought the first ish of Kull and I don't remember ever seeing any further issues until I acquired #s 2-11 (in stages) many years later.  That's not to say I was completely unaware of all the character's early adventures as I read several of them in b&w when they were reprinted in the UK 18-issue weekly, Savage Sword Of Conan in 1975, but Kull #1 was the only US issue I had at the time, purchased brand-new circa 1973 when it first(?) arrived on UK shores.  I yet remember the day I bought it and from which shop, and perusing its four-colour contents on the way home.

However, to get to the point, with my recent purchase of Marvel's Kull Omnibus volume (from 2021), I've now returned to the '70s and read every Kull tale published in that decade (or transported the '70s to the present day - you can take your pick) and a sense of accomplishment fills my soul.  As I'd never read the majority of them before now, I feel as if I've engaged in the act of time travel and completed a long-unfinished task, however fanciful that may sound.

Anyway, if you're a Kull fan, you'll likely enjoy this massive tome, with first-class reproduction that far exceeds the Dark Horse collections scanned from published issues around 10 or so years ago.  Take a look (below) at what's included in this latest collection and grab one while they're going.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Fantastic Four #224 was given an extra number of strip-pages, but with the tale already having been prepared with a lower page-count, reprints of pin-ups were used to fill the void.  (The next issue, #225, had a longer tale.)  I've published the fourth pin-up out-of-sequence (above) as I'm a big Susie Storm fan (and ladies first, right?), but I now realise I've got this pin-up several times over.  It first appeared in FF #10, which I've got, Fantastic #17, which I've also got, and MWOM #11 - yep, got that one as well.  The page has also been reprinted in Marvel Masterworks, Omnibus and Epic Collection volumes (all of which I have) so I'm not short of this particular image.

Anyway, thought you all might like to see the extra pages from FF #224, just in case you don't have the issue yourselves.

Cover of issue in which the feature page pin-ups were reprinted

50-YEAR FABULOUS FLASHBACK - The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #1... (EXPANDED)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS.  Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA

My senses reel as I realise that the above comic - The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #1 - came out a staggering 50 years ago today, though 'today' was a Saturday back then on the 30th September 1972.  What's that?  The date on the comic says 7th October?  Yes, I know - that was the way of things back then - most comics carried the date of the following week so that they'd have a full seven days' shelf-life before any unsold periodicals were returned.

This was a great comic, and a step up from various earlier reprint weeklies that had previously presented such Marvel tales.  For a start, MWOM had a few colour pages, as well as spot-colour, to distinguish it from the black and white ODHAMS PRESS publications from a few years before.  What's more, the number of colour pages actually increased a few issues later, beating its competition hands down for visual impact.  That didn't last too long though, and the internal colour was eventually phased out well before the mag's first year had elapsed.

However, the early issues of MWOM, containing The INCREDIBLE HULK, The Fabulous FANTASTIC FOUR, and The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN were something special to British readers who bought the title at the time.  Over the ensuing weeks some readers called for full colour throughout, saying the comic could go monthly to accommodate this, but it was explained UK comics were geared towards weekly publication and full colour on every page would be far too costly.  How times changed, as before the pandemic, UK Marvel mags (published by PANINI) carried around 76 pages, and each one was in full colour and the same size as the US mags.

And what's more, MWOM was still around until November 2019!  Okay, it hadn't been published non-stop since 1972, but it was revived in 2003 and had nearly a 17-year run comprising several volumes.  (A previous revival in 1983 lasted only 17 issues.)  So enjoy looking at how it all started (and dig that crazy free gift transfer), and remember, if you were around at the time, what it was like to wake up on an autumnal Saturday morning 50 years ago, and then rushing to the newsagents to buy this brand-new comic before it flew off the shelf.  Ah, happy days!

Not that I rushed out to buy it, though, as I hadn't seen the STAN LEE-voiced TV ad (though I did later - either that night or the next day), so it came as a surprise when I spotted the comic on an exterior magazine wall-rack at the side of a newsagent's door, just along the road from Glasgow's famous BARROWLAND market (aka The BARRAS) where I and my parents were heading on that particular Saturday morning.

I couldn't talk my folks into buying it for me on the way in, but I'd managed to wear them down into submission by the time we made our way out an hour or so later.  We were soon ensconced in the cosy confines of a comfy cafe, and it was with great joy that I pored through its contents over a glass of cola and reacquainted myself with the paper pals I'd first met in the pulsating pages of WHAM!, SMASH!, and POW! way back in what even then seemed like the dim and distant days of the '60s.  Suddenly, life was exciting again.

DEZ SKINN once revealed that Stan had told him the comic's original title was going to be The WONDERFUL World of Marvel (after the Disney TV show of almost the same name), but thankfully 'twas not to be.  Besides, MIGHTY and MARVEL go so well together it seems the obvious choice, so I'm amazed that any other name was even considered.

 

If only they still published comics like this today, eh?  Wouldn't that be something?!

******

And just think - around 15 years later I was freelancing for Marvel UK, lettering strips in such titles as Doctor Who Magazine, Galaxy Rangers, Dragon's Claws, Cartoon Time, The Transformers, Death's Head, Rugrats, Count Duckula, Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters and others that escape my memory for the moment.  (I'll add more as I remember them - if I do.)  [Update: Now done!]  Ah, yes, also lettered 2-page Spider-Man and 2-page Hulk strips for promotional advertising purposes, but can't recall precisely what.

 

Iron-on transfer as it would be seen on T-shirt

The 'centrespread' as one image.  Click to enlarge, then click again for optimum size

IF THE SHOE FITS, WEAR IT...

The year was 1978, the month and day are lost to history.  It was, as they say, 'chucking it down', and by the time I arrived at my place of employment, I was drenched to such an extent that it looked as if I'd been for a swim in the sea fully dressed.  I worked in the warehouse of a large department store, so the display dressers gave me some dry clothes to change into, plus a pair of moccasin-style shoes from a store dummy.  (From one dummy to another you're thinking, right?  Cheek!)  I was allowed to keep the shoes, which I mainly used as slippers back home as they were so comfortable, though I occasionally wore them outside.

Sometime in the mid-'80s I had them resoled and reheeled, but when that was done and even before I got to wear them again, I noticed that the stitching which gave them a moccasin-style appearance (and kept the tops on) was a little the worse for wear, so I removed it with the intention of redoing it myself.  Trouble was, I couldn't find a suitable replacement for the original stitching and the shoes were consigned to the back of my wardrobe until such time as I could find a thread, cord, or lace which would do the job.  Every so often I would remember the shoes, but my attempts to source a suitable stitching material remained unfulfilled.

36-odd years passed - faster than a fart from The Flash (to use my patented catchphrase) - until a couple of nights ago I decided that, more than half my life later, it was time to restore my 'moccasins' to somewhere approaching their former glory.  I decided just to use ordinary string and, a couple of hours later, my shoes were whole once more.  Then I saturated the string with brown shoe polish, gave the shoes a good buffing, sprayed them with a shoe protector and then rested from my labours.  And Kid saw the result of his work and it was good.

As you can see in the photo below, the new soles and heels from 36 or so years back have no wear on them, so this is likely the first time I've actually worn them since 1985/'86 or thereabouts.  It doesn't feel that long to me, so I've essentially wiped nearly four decades off my personal life clock and returned to an earlier time, at least in my mind.  Honestly, it feels like only around a week or so since I last wore them in their slipper capacity around the house and I'm filled with such a sense of accomplishment in finally managing to complete an unfinished task from so long ago.

So, here's a question for the rest of you Crivvies.  What's the longest it's taken you to finish something after you started it?  Days, weeks, months, or years?  And what was it, and why the reason for the delay?  Tell all in our comments section now (if you'd be so mad good).  Update: Since first publishing this post I've bought a darker polish to apply to the stitching as, on reflection, I thought the medium brown I used was too light.  However, you'll just have to imagine what the shoes look like now as I can't be bothered taking new photos.

BABE Of The DAY - SUE STORM...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Lovely Sue Storm graces our Babe

spot today.  Okay, she might be only a

drawing (by Alex Ross, no less), but she

certainly 'draws' my attention.  Very few

 men could fail to notice her charms.

WANT SOME MORE FANTASTIC FOUR...?

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's the last of my recent FF acquisitions that I never bought (or even saw) at the time of publication (with the possible exception of #363, can't quite recall), just to round things off on this theme for the moment.  (Though if I did buy 363 back then, I'll still have it somewhere.)  Take a look at #224 below - nicely drawn cover, but still not without its glaring flaws.  Firstly, ignore the guy at the back as he's meant to be extra-tall, but take a look at The Thing.  Even allowing for his 'slouching' posture, he's far too small in relation to both Reed and Johnny.  In fact, if Johnny were to stand up, he'd dwarf even Reed, so Bill Sienkiewicz, talented artist though he is, fumbled the ball on this occasion.  Dynamic pic of Doctor Doom on #330 by Buckler & Sinnott - very Kirby-esque.  Got a favourite?  Then let's hear it, Crivvies.

PART TWO Of The FANTASTIC FOUR MAGS THAT NEVER WERE (COVER GALLERY)...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS.  An okay cover from Kirby, but not one of his best

As explained in part one, these comics 'never were' (in my house) only in the sense that I never actually owned (or even saw) most of them when they were first published all those dim and distant decades ago.  It's only in the last few weeks that I've managed to fill the gaps in my existing FF collection, which in itself consists of replacements acquired years ago of the original mags I bought back in the '70s.  So part of that decade (comics-wise) which I never experienced at the time has now, retroactively, been absorbed into my memories of those halcyon days of yore.    

Now, I hate to admit it (so, luckily, hardly anyone ever reads this blog), but I was always a bit of a 'paper pin-up perv', in that 'good girl art' was, for me, often the deciding factor when it came to choosing a comic from the teeming ranks which graced the spinner-racks of my hometown newsagents.  I had an instant crush on Susan Storm, alias The Invisible Girl (first one who asks what I saw in her can leave now) when I first laid eyes on her in b&w in UK weekly comics Smash! and Wham!  For the historians among you, sequentially, Wham! came first, but the FF's origin was published simultaneously in both papers, and at the time, I was buying Smash! on account of the Batman strip it also featured.  (I soon started getting Wham! as well when I realised the FF appeared weekly.)

It will therefore come as no surprise to anyone that one of the reasons I decided to plug the gaps in my FF run was because of some of the covers featuring Susie in all her alluring feminine beauty.  She still rings my bell, even in my current condition of decrepit old f@rt, who's too past it to draw even a first look from a real-life female, never mind a second one.  Anyway, see if you can spot the covers in which Susie specifically attracts my attention and say if you likewise feel her allure tugging at your heartstrings - or any other part of your anatomy.

So, yeah, it's perhaps a bit odd to find line drawings of a 'four-colour' female attractive, but it could've been worse.  It might've been Ben Grimm's lumpy orange epidermis that made my heart beat a little faster and that would've been seriously weird.  Anyway, I now declare the comments section open - may God bless her and all who sail in her.

The perspective of the buildings on the left-hand side is wrong, Ben's too small and Thundra's
body is far too distorted.  It pains me to say it, but this is substandard fare from Jack Kirby

The car looks as if it's parked on the pavement and Ben's too high in the air.  Also, the
 sizes of the bystanders in the background aren't consistent with the space they occupy 

Yet another Kirby-Klunker.  The figure of the Torch is poorly drawn and once again Ben
is too small in relation to the figures behind him.  Kirby's talent had deserted him

This cover certainly has 'impact', though could've been better.  I think this was Jack's final
cover for the FF's regular monthly mag, but if you know of any others be sure to tell me

John Byrne spotted a flaw in this tale's concept.  The Thing is a monster, so how can there be
a monster version of him?  He realised Ben had become too much of a cuddly 'teddy bear' in
appearance over the years, and 'roughened' him up when he became writer/artist on the mag