NEW COINS FOR OLD...

If you're around my age, you'll no doubt remember L.s.d. from back in the 1960s.  No, not the hallucinogenic drug of which hippies were reputed to be so fond, but Britain's system of currency (pounds, shillings and pence, from the Latin, 'librae, solidi, denari') before decimalisation was officially introduced in 1971.  (Although usually pronounced and written as 'L.s.d.', apparently the proper way to render it is '£sd'.)  



What most of us tend to forget however, is that two years before 'D-Day', some decimal coins were introduced into our £sd currency.  In 1968, the five, ten, and fifty 'new' pence coins were issued, mingling quite happily with the threepenny (pronounced thruppenny) bit, sixpences, shillings and florins (two shilling piece), until the new decimal system officially took over.  The old sixpence (tanner) continued in circulation until 1980, and shillings and florins were interchangeable with their counterparts for many years after, until the size of the new coins was reduced in the early '90s.

When I bought the above set around twenty years ago, I was amazed by how many of my pals claimed to remember it, saying that they were given one of these little blue plastic wallets at school.  They can't all be mistaken, so I can only assume that I was off the day they were handed out because I definitely never received one.  I didn't even know they existed until I saw them in a coin catalogue back in the early '90s.

So, if you were one of the lucky ones who received a decimal coin set as a child, enjoy this look back at a moment in time which I never got to share - and then feel free to reminiscence about it in the ever-lovin' comments section.

PART SEVEN Of FANTASTIC COVER GALLERY...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

And once again, for your delight and delectation, we present you with yet another half-dozen comic covers (and their bombastic back-page pin-ups) from the late, lamented ODHAMS PRESS POWER COMICS publication from the latter half of the swinging 1960s - FANTASTIC.  Yes, Fantastic - both the comic and the era.  If you were around back then and purchased this Power Pack paper, enjoy reliving the heady days of your youth.  If not, then allow yourselves to imagine what it was like to live through the era of 'the three Bs' - The BEATLES, BOND, and BATMAN.  Plus, of course, MARVEL COMICS - in their British Power Comics incarnation.

I associate all of these comics with the house and neighbourhood where I lived at the time, but a couple of them I have more specific memories of.  For example, I remember surreptitiously reading #38 during lessons in one of the annexe huts at school, and studying the cover while showing it to a friend in the playground during the mid-morning interval.  And I recall purchasing #39 on the Saturday my parents took my brother and me along with them to watch The SOUND Of MUSIC (two years after it was first released) in the LA SCALA cinema (now gone) in Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street.  If I remember correctly, I purchased a DANDY from the bus station kiosk that day as well.

Anyway, have fun re-experiencing whatever childhood memories of your own that the accompanying images may conjure up - the present will still be here when you decide to return. 

See Part Six here.

PART SEVEN Of TERRIFIC COVER GALLERY...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

And now, for all you pulsatin' POWER fans out there, here's another five fabulous covers from the titanic TERRIFIC, published by ODHAMS PRESS back in 1967.  There are only ten more issues to go in this super series before you've seen the complete set of all forty-three comic covers and their back-page pin-ups, so stay tuned for the next part - coming soon.

Regular readers may remember me mentioning the 'cellar' in my back garden in which I sometimes sat when it rained, reading a pile of comics.  Sometimes, on sunnier, drier days, I would sit on a rug just outside that cellar door, and that's the image which springs to mind whenever I look at the cover of Terrific #31.  These covers are a window into the past, and I look through them often.  Why not do likewise?  You'll be surprised to see that what you thought was a long-vanished view still exists.

  

For Part Six, click here, and for Part One, click here.

The AWESOME ORIGIN Of The 'FIRST' SWAMP THING...

Copyright DC COMICS

I doubt there can be many readers who are unaware that ALEC HOLLAND wasn't the first unfortunate individual to become a "muck-encrusted mockery" of a man... a SWAMP THING!  That dubious gift of fate goes to ALEX OLSEN, who - in The HOUSE Of SECRETS #92 (July 1971) - fell victim to the all-consuming jealousy of DAMIAN RIDGE, his co-worker and supposed friend, who resented him being married to LINDA, whom Damian had secretly loved and coveted for, oh... ever such a long time.

However, if I assumed that most of you already knew these things, then I'd have nothing to write about, so I'll imagine, dear readers, that you're only aware of the second incarnation of Swamp Thing, who debuted in the first issue of his own magazine in November of 1972, and who was a bio-restorative research scientist working for the U.S. government along with his wife, LINDA HOLLAND.

ALAN MOORE grafted his own take onto the character back in the '80s, and ol' Swampy's probably undergone a few more revisions since then.  Truth to tell, I'm currently completely in the dark over the current status of Doc Holland's alter-ego - DC seem to change the histories and continuities of their characters faster than ALAN SCOTT can scream "I'M FREE!" in his best JOHN INMAN voice.

However, whether you're up to speed on on what's happening to ol' tuber-tonsils or not, whether you can differentiate between all the subsequent versions since Alec Holland first crawled out of the mire back in the early '70s or are as completely clueless as I am, I thought you'd still enjoy seeing the story that spawned - The STARTLING SAGA Of The SWAMP THING!  Enjoy.

The above tale, plus the first 'baker's dozen' of the original Swamp Thing saga by LEN WEIN, BERNIE WRIGHTSON and NESTOR REDONDO are reprinted in the excellent DC COMICS CLASSICS LIBRARY volume, entitled ROOTS Of The SWAMP THING. Wein only wrote the first thirteen issues before moving on to pastures new, so if you were thinking of buying a book about our favourite bog-birthed man-monster then it has to be this one.

ISBN: 978-1-4012-2236-9.

PART FOUR Of BUSTER, SON Of ANDY CAPP...

Images copyright relevant owner

Carrying on from where we left off, let's take a look at the final part of the 1968 issue of BUSTER which I've been serialising over the last few weeks.  Apart from a few ad pages, you now have a complete issue of ANDY CAPP's lad's very own comic to peruse at your leisure.

 

MICKY MARVEL'S MULTI-GUN first appeared in the issue dated for January 20th, 1968, and ended a year later on January 18th, 1969.  The strip was drawn by CARLOS CRUZ GONZALEZ, who'd illustrated quite a few features for IPC/FLEETWAY and also D.C. THOMSON.  He was one of the artists who drew DAN DARE in the relaunched EAGLE back in the '80s. 

So, just what can I tell you Crivs about CRUNCHER, The TINY TERMITE With The BIG APPETITE?  Well, for a start, he was a... er... termite, and he had... er... a big appetite.  That's about it really.

I've included some ad pages just to give you a taste of the times.  Anyone know how many of these games are still available today?  (Probably all of them... if you haunt the charity shops.)

BIG CHIEF POW WOW was, in some ways, a return to LITTLE PLUM territory for LEO BAXENDALE.  The character debuted in the cover-dated September 14th, 1968 issue and concluded in the one dated for January 31st, 1970.

Look at the above ad.  Nowadays, a CORGI TOYS MONKEEMOBILE from the '60s would probably set you back at least a couple of hundred quid for a good condition model in its original box.  Bet you wish you'd kept yours, eh?  Too late, it's gone.  Get used to it.

The HAPPY FAMILY (does such a thing exist these days?) was drawn by the always excellent REG PARLETT.  Apparently, early episodes were reprints of a strip called The HARTY FAMILY, which had first appeared in TV FUN, but whether or not it was based on an actual TV series, I'm far  too lazy to try and ascertain.  The strip made its first appearance in Buster in the cover-dated issue for August 17th, 1968, and took its final bow in the issue dated January 4th, 1975.  Though whether or not it was an uninterrupted run I'm unable to say.  ('Cos I don't know.)

Another ad - I doubt the readers were ever too enthused about the exploits of RACE REVELL, though the model company which spawned him still exists to this very day.

NUTTY SLACK  is a type of coal, as well as a brittle toffee sweet containing nuts.  However, in the case of the character appearing in Buster, he's exactly what it says on the "tin" - a gentle grappler.  First turning up in the issue dated for September 10th, 1966, he ended his run in the December 28th, 1968 issue.  Drawn by DOUG MAXTED, who also illustrated HIS SPORTING LORDSHIP in the new SMASH! comic from 1969 onwards.

CAPTAIN SWOOP first appeared in a short-lived comic called GIGGLE (of which I have the bound volume of FLEETWAY file copies from the period), moving over to Buster when the two comics merged on January 13th, 1968.  (Issue dated 20th.)  It was a translated reprint from a French comic strip, and managed to hold on until the issue dated for April 19th, 1969, whereupon it retired into history.  Whether or not the original strip still runs in France is anyone's guess.

Anyway, there you have it.  A complete issue of Buster (minus a few ads) from 1968.  Hopefully, you've enjoyed this glimpse into the past as much as I enjoyed my red-hot date with SALMA HAYEK last night.  (Whaddya mean dreams don't count?)

******

See Part Three here.

******

COMING SOON: The first appearance of SWAMP THING! 

SUPERMAN - OUT Of The CLOSET...?

Yeah - the 'S' does stand for 'straight' - whaddabout it?

I promise - we'll get to the final part of BUSTER, SON Of ANDY CAPP before too long.  First, however, I can no longer sit back and say nothing about the latest attempt to sway public opinion on a controversial issue by those who believe that anyone who doesn't see things their way is a hate-filled bigot who is out of step with the majority.  I fully expect to lose a few followers with this post, but if they can't accept that other people are as entitled to hold and express an opinion as they are, then that's their problem, not mine.

DC COMICS recently announced that an established superhero is to be retconned as gay when he is reintroduced into current continuity sometime in the near future.  MARVEL COMICS recently published an issue where the gay character NORTHSTAR was due to marry his boyfriend and contained a close-up of the two men kissing, and also of Northstar carrying his lover in an 'over the threshold'-type position.  I haven't seen the issue itself, only a report and the above-described two pictures on a comics news-site.

Someone recently proposed on his blog that SUPERMAN should be portrayed as gay or bisexual.  Considering the stushie that would surely ensue were it suggested that a gay person (real or fictional) should be 'turned' straight, it was rather a daring (even impertinent) proposition on his part.  That way, he claimed, gay, bi, or transgendered people would feel more included in society.  Apart from this being rather patronising to the gay, bi and transgendered community (and insulting to the rest of us), I consider it to be completely unnecessary.

Superman breaking free - from the 'confines' of his traditional
heterosexuality?  Seems it's not enough to be straight these days

If you're gay or bisexual and want to believe Supes and his 'best pal' JIMMY OLSEN have something 'extra' going on in between CLARK's off-panel 'sessions' with LOIS LANE, then you're perfectly free to think so.  If, on the other hand, such a scenario would never occur to you, then there's nothing to suggest otherwise.  Everybody can believe what they want, read into it what they want, and everybody's happy.  There's absolutely no need to change the status quo.  I don't need a 'Scottish, few pounds heavier than he should be, tad over average height' superhero to enjoy a well-written comicbook (or to feel 'accepted' or good about myself), so why should an extremist minority be allowed to hijack comics in order to pursue their own personal agenda?

Are you gay, bi or transgendered?  Honestly, I don't give a sh*t, but don't keep bleating on about it.  If you don't insist on making an issue of it everywhere you go, then chances are that nobody else will either.  If someone chapped your door one night and asked if they could watch you 'at it', you'd quite rightly chase them away faster than a BARRY ALLEN hand-job.  The fact is most people just aren't interested in what you may or may not get up to - they don't want to know - in real life or comicbooks.

At a time when comicbook sales are in drastic decline, publishers would do well to reconsider the audience they're aiming for.  When comics were primarily cheap, mass-marketed entertainment for kids and teenagers, with nothing that could potentially offend anyone, they sold in their millions.  However, now that they've become an over-priced, glossy-papered product (seemingly more concerned with peddling propaganda than entertaining people) and sold only in an ever-diminishing outlet of speciality shops, they have to resort to cheap publicity stunts on contentious issues in an attempt to punt their wares.

Not every form of public entertainment needs to be transformed into a forum or arena for pursuing or promoting any one group's own pet cause or personal interest - whatever they happen to be and regardless of their sexual, social, religious or cultural orientation.  Militants - whatever your 'issues' are - take them elsewhere, huh?  And give the rest of us a break!

Now, who's going to be the first brave soul to agree with me?

JOURNEY Into BLOGGERY...

"Yeah... I'm lookin' at YOU!"

While we're waiting for the final instalment of BUSTER, SON OF ANDY CAPP, permit me to make a brief detour.

Sometimes I despair of some of my fellow bloggers.  Presenting themselves as fair, open-minded enquirers after truth who welcome all forms of diverse opinion to theirs (in regard to subjects on which they themselves have invited comment), they then reveal themselves to be biased, small-minded extremists who don't really want to hear what others have to say - unless it's to tell them just how right they are on whatever they happen to be banging on about at the moment.

If someone is going to raise a controversial issue on their blog then they should be prepared to receive some controversial replies - ones they might even be offended by.  However, I've often found that when a person claims to find a point of view offensive, what they're actually offended by is the idea of someone having an opinion contrary to their own.  (How very dare they!)

The fact is, some people just don't like to be disagreed with - especially when they're simply not very good at defending their propositions to begin with.  And that's regardless of whether said proposition is absurd, questionable, or entirely reasonable.  One thing I've learned from Bloggerland is that, very often, when someone asks a question, the only answer they're interested in hearing is the one upon which they've already decided.  It seems that everyone else's purpose is simply to support their fragile and insecure belief in themselves.

Feel free to agree or disagree - I won't be offended.