A TRUE TALE Of BIRTH AFTER DEATH...

Images copyright DC COMICS

1974.  The date trips off my tongue with such familiar ease that it still seems fairly recent to my mind.  Hard to believe, then, that it was actually 38 years ago when I was still a mere lad.  Back then, DC COMICS had a title called BLACK MAGIC, which reprinted SIMON & KIRBY tales from a magazine of the same name published in the 1950s.

I remember buying the first issue with such startling clarity that I almost feel as if I went to bed last night as a 15 year old boy and woke up today the age I am now.  Life really does go by so fast, alas.  However, it's a story in the second issue that made a big impression on me which has lasted to this day - "BIRTH AFTER DEATH".

It purports to be a true account of events leading up to the birth of SIR WALTER SCOTT, the famed Scottish novelist, playwright and poet born in Edinburgh in 1771, who died in Melrose at the age of 61 in 1832.  (ROB ROY and IVANHOE being but two of his works.)

Although I've checked, I've never been able to find any corroborating evidence to back up the tale, but I find it hard to believe that Simon & Kirby would simply have made the whole thing up.  I remember reading the comic (on the day I bought it) in the graveyard of a local centuries-old church, complete with the burial vault of a once-prominent family from ages past.  Creepy but apt, don't you think?  Obviously that's why I associate the tale with the place today.

1822 portrait of Scott by Raeburn

Anyway, have a read and make up your own mind.  Fact or fiction?  To me though, it's one of those stories that - if it isn't true - it ought to be.

******

UPDATE: Simon & Kirby's story is true after all (with just a little artistic licence in regard to minor details).  From THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL, Tuesday, October 18th, 1932, comes the following account.  (Thanks, Tongalad.)

Sir Walter Scott's Mother Buried Alive Five Years Before His Birth

Old Essay Reveals She Was Rescued From Tomb Due to Ghoulish Sexton

London England - The astonishing fact that Sir Walter Scott's mother was declared to be dead and was actually interred five years before Sir Walter Scott's birth is recalled in a letter to the Daily Express, sent by George MacDonald, Birmingham.

"Her weird sepulchral experience," says MacDonald, "is described as follows by a great essayist of many decades ago."

Buried in Vault

Here is the description:

"Miss Rutherford, while lying in a trance and declared by the physicians to be dead, was laid away in the family tomb in the great vaults under the parish church.

"At night the ghoulish sexton stealthily entered the tomb, opened the casket and proceeded to rob the elegant and entombed lady of the jewels which were on her person according to the then prevalent custom.  Finding some of the finger rings too tightly fixed, the unconscionable thief took his pocket knife and slashed the flesh from the fingers.

"Came to Life"

"The sudden shock and flow of blood caused a reaction of the vital forces, and the reanimated lady opened her eyes, uttered an exclamation of amazement and attempted to rise up.

"The guilty and horror-stricken rascal's hair rose straight upon his head, and with the yell of a desperate madman he rushed forth, thus raising the alarm which brought help and rescue to her.

"She lived many years subsequently, none the worse for her awful adventure which occurred five years previously to the birth of Sir Walter."

******

Click the link below (provided by Tongalad) to see the actual newspaper's front cover:

http://news.google.com/newspapersnid=1499&dat=19321018& id=uahQAAAAIBAJ &sjid=2SEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5668,6482729

Unfortunately, the above link appears to be no longer active, though it was for years. 

HAS THE BUBBLE BURST?

As far back as I can recall, I've always had a thing for Bubble Cars.  I remember being on holiday one year when I was about three or four - in Ayr perhaps - and trying to win one from a grappling machine.  (Or what- ever they're called.  You know the thing I mean - one of these plexiglass cases found in amusement arcades and [nowadays] shopping malls where you direct a crane-type grappling arm and try and lift the prize desired.  There must be a name for them, but if I ever knew it I've forgotten.)

Anyway, the owner of the amusement arcade, seeing my disappointment at not being able to secure a dark red Bubble Car, beckoned me to follow him (don't panic, my parents were with me) and, going behind a curtain into the back of the arcade, gifted me with a friction-drive Bubble Car of my very own.  Perhaps that's what started my lifelong love of such vehicles, although it doesn't explain my initial desire to acquire one from that machine in the arcade.  Maybe I just liked the shape and the colour. Anyway, regardless of what started me off and whether it was before or after this momentous moment that I developed my appreciation of them, that was the very first Bubble Car I ever owned.

I acquired my second one when I was about eleven or twelve.  It was a CORGI TOYS diecast HEINKEL Bubble Car in a bright orange. I'd have preferred a red one, but the shop (R. S. McCOLL'S) had no such animal, so an orange one it was.  To date, I only have ten Bubble Cars in all (six on display in the accompanying photos), two being three-wheeled affairs, the remainder having a full complement of four.  Yup, believe it or not, some Bubble Cars were actually of the four-wheeled variety, which may come as a surprise to you.

Interestingly (to me at least), that holiday in Ayr was also where I obtained my very first TV COMIC publication - a TV Comic Holiday Special.  At that time I had no idea it was a special edition of a weekly comic, not discovering this fact 'til a year or two later.  In truth, if it hadn't been for MIGHTY MOTH on the cover and DICK MILLINGTON's artwork inside, I would never have associated my first purchased issue of the weekly with the earlier holiday special.  It was the look of Mighty Moth I remembered, not the name of the comic.

Although my parents never owned a Bubble Car, they did acquire a NOBEL car in 1964 or '65, which did sort of suggest a hint of the shape of one.  (See photo below.)  We had this car for at least three or four years, possibly five, and in all that time I only ever saw its twin once.  As far as I'm aware, no toy company has ever issued a scale model of this uniquely-shaped automobile, which is a shame as I'd dearly love one.  (Are you reading this, Corgi?)

So there you have it.  Another rambling reminiscence in which probably no-one apart from myself is even remotely interested.  At least I've recorded these childhood memories for posterity, which - should my memory fade with time - I can return to in the future and remind myself of precious moments I'd forgotten.

******

Update, July 2015: I recently learned that a German company called BUDIG released a limited edition, white metal model of the car around 2008, and I managed to obtain one from Rotterdam on eBay.  Here are three of the seller's photos of the one I bought.

HAPPY EASTER MONDAY, BUSTER...

Copyright REBELLION

Fifteen years ago, the Easter copy of BUSTER went on sale, surprisingly with no mention of the celebration on the cover.  Sadly, there would be only two more similarly-themed issues to go before the comic's demise at the end of 1999 (dated into 2000).  For the last few years of its life the fortnightly periodical was mainly reprint, though Buster's strip itself was new material, drawn by JIMMY HANSEN.

   

The ODD-BALL strip below is doubtless a reprint, and is drawn by comics legend TERRY BAVE.  Odd-Ball first appeared in WHIZZER & CHIPS back in 1969, eventually ending up in Buster when the two comics merged in October 1990.

RICKY RAINBOW first appeared in the short-lived NIPPER (for nippers), launched in January 1987.  When it merged with Buster eight months later, Ricky was one of the strips which survived the amalgamation.  Once again, the strip below is most likely a reprint and is drawn by Jimmy Hansen. 

 Have a Happy Easter Monday.  Scoffed all your chocolate eggs yet?  (Buuurrrrp!)

KLANKS AND SPARKS...

Copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

If Scottish publisher D.C. THOMSON & Co, Ltd had any kind of equivalent to London's FLEETWAY/IPC's mechanical man ROBOT ARCHIE from LION, it was probably BIG KLANKY from The SPARKY comic.  Drawn by BOB WEBSTER, Klanky made his first appearance in the 75th issue and bowed out in #499.  Klanky was an alien robot befriended by Earth children ERNIE and SUE HUGGINS and is fondly remembered by Sparky readers of the time.  What follows is a tale from the 1968 Annual (on sale from around August/September 1967), so sit back, relax, and indulge yourself with a nostalgic trip into yesteryear.

THE WHAM VAN MAN...

Still on the subject of collectable vehicles, here's one that LLEDO released quite a few years ago in a series devoted to comic papers past and present.  At one time WHAM! was my favourite comic (though it was actually 7d when I started buying it) - mainly because of The FANTASTIC FOUR within its pages.  When I saw this van, I simply had to have it - in remembrance of happy childhood days.  Here's hoping it also reminds you of yours.

And, just for fun, here's the cover to the first issue.

TOYBOX TREASURES Of The PAST: The RINKY-DINK PANTHER (Mark II)...

Pink Panther copyright relevant owner

A couple of months back, I took my DINKY PINK PANTHER car off display, put it back in its box and tucked it away in a cupboard.  Remember the one with the big black rubber wheel in the middle of the chassis?  You pulled a plastic strap through it, causing the wheel to spin at great speed, placed it on the ground and watched it disappear into the horizon - or against a wall with maximum force.

Yeah, that's the one.  There was a series of other cars (by another manufacturer) with the same feature of course, but the Panther-mobile (if that's what it's called) is the one that everyone of a certain age seems to recollect.  Anyway, I'm not about to make a mess of my room by dragging everything out of the cupboard to find it, so, until I do, in the meantime you'll have to be content with the Mark II version.  (In case you're wondering, I stashed the original away because I was worried about the rubber wheel deteriorating in the arctic conditions of my room - the rubber arms of my MATT MASON MOON SUIT suffered just such an inglorious fate.)

The first version of the car was manufactured by Dinky which, as most of you will know, was a MECCANO company, and it appeared in toyshops sometime around 1972.  At some point Meccano and Dinky parted company, so when the second version of the car appeared around 1979-ish (I think), it no longer bore the Dinky name on the base, but rather that of its once-parent company - Meccano.  The mould had been altered to remove the large wheel from the centre of the car, and the car itself, as well as the Pink Panther driver, were in a lighter shade of pink than Mark I had been.

So, until I get back into that cupboard, here's the slightly more aesthetically-pleasing model for your eager eyes.  I've still got the bubble-card package it came in, but that's in the cupboard along with the other car, so you'll have to live without it for now.  CORGI TOYS also produced a Pink Panther item - Panther on a motorbike - I'd have shown it here, but guess where it is?

Right first time. 

TERRY NATION'S DALEK ANNUALS...

The DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

DOCTOR WHO has been one very lucky guy.  If it hadn't been for The DALEKS, it's unlikely the programme would have survived on TV more than a few years after its debut back in the 1960s.  It was the pepper-pot tyrants who virtually created (or at least consolidated) the merchandising arm of the BBC, ensuring the show's survival as a potential cash-cow ripe for financial exploitation.

The Daleks have been immortalised in many different incarnations over the decades.  Transfers, bump'n'go toys, friction-drive, model kits, bubble bath, wallpaper, remote-control, clockwork, banks, games, playsuits, pencil tops, badges, jigsaws, bagatelles, greetings cards, comics, writing paper - you name it and they've probably been it.

This time, however, it's the Dalek Annuals I'm focussing on, and in particular the annuals of the '70s.  Presented here, for your consideration and appreciation, are the front and back covers to the four publications which appeared on newsagents' shelves from 1975 to 1978 - each for the subsequent year obviously.

Look at them, study them, but most of all enjoy them.  Nice, aren't they?  Not all that long ago, the '70s Annuals could still be bought for a reasonable price, but they're now commanding higher amounts.  I suspect that a few uninformed eBayers noticed what the '60s books were fetching and just assumed that the '70s ones must be worth something similar.  

And, for all you completists out there, here are the three books from the 1960s.  The first one introduced the Emperor Dalek, later seen extensively in the back-page TV CENTURY 21 strip, as well as those handy little hoverbouts the Daleks used.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL 'KID-ITES'...

Copyright REBELLION

As Good Friday is upon us, it's only fitting to present you with an Easter-themed treat.  We therefore unveil the April 13th (dated 20th) 1968 issue of one of Britain's best-loved comics of the past - SMASH!  At this time, Smash! was publishing MARVEL and DC strips within its pages - namely, DAREDEVIL and BATMAN & ROBIN.  I've included the first pages of each strip to give those who weren't around at the time an idea of how the pages were resized to fit the dimensions of a British weekly comic.

Also on view are THE SWOTS & THE BLOTS, RONNIE RICH, and GRIMLY FEENDISH - and that's only a small selection of what was on offer in this great issue.  Weren't around in 1968, eh?  See what you missed?!

HAPPY EASTER!

SUPPRESSED - The WASP In A WIG...

Copyright relevant owner

When Victorian author LEWIS CARROLL (the non de plume of CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON) wrote the classic sequel to his famous book 'ALICE'S ADVENTURES In WONDERLAND', entitled 'THROUGH The LOOKING GLASS And What Alice Found There', he originally included an 'episode' about a wasp in a wig which was excised before the book was published in 1871.

Apparently, illustrator JOHN TENNIEL thought the concept was "altogether beyond the appliances of art" and suggested that if Carroll wanted to shorten the book then here was his opportunity.  Carroll took his advice.  The galley proofs, whose existence was unknown to Alice experts, appeared for auction in 1974 and were first published in the above book in 1977.

If you're a collector of Lewis Carroll's works, your Alice volumes are incomplete without this little chapbook.  What's that?  Don't have a copy?  Then that's why eBay was invented.  I got mine in GRANT'S bookshop in Glasgow's Union Street in 1977/'78.)  With a Preface, Introduction and Notes by MARTIN GARDNER, plus a convincing reconstruction after Tenniel by KEN LEEDER, this is an indispensable addition to any bookshelf.

ISBN: 0-333-23727-7

SUSAN STORM - NEKKID...

Above is a delightful pic of SUSAN STORM from the FANTASTIC FOUR - completely nekkid.  This was taken before she married REED RICHARDS, which is why I use her maiden name.  Unfortunately, unless you have a special set of spectro-analysis spectacles, you won't be able to see her, as she was invisible when this photo was snapped against  a back- ground of unstable molecules.  I can provide a pair of these glasses for a mere £40, inclusive of post and packing.  Another £40 secures the other nine photos in the series.  Get in touch if you're dumb... er, I mean smart enough to recognise a bargain when you see one.

EMMA PEEL? SORRY, BUDDY - YOU'RE IN THE WRONG PLACE...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

With the imminent release of the new AVENGERS movie upon us, now might be the time to re-acquaint yourselves with the origins and history of the super-team from their earliest four-colour appearances back in the 1960s.  Allow me, therefore, to recommend the MARVEL OMNIBUS edition of the group's first 30 issues, painstakingly restored from the best sources available, along with pin-ups, letter pages and loads of bonus features.

What else could you possibly want to spend your money on?  Rush out and get your copy today!

ISBN #978-0-7851-5846-2