CALLING 'FANTASY INK' BLOG...

Every time I click on the FANTASY INK site, my computer freezes and I get a message saying 'Blogspot not responding'.  Any ideas as to how I can resolve the matter?  This is the only site this happens with, so is the problem at my end or the other?  Great site, but I can't see it.  And does anyone else have the same difficulty with access?

SPACE PATROL In TV COMIC...

Copyright relevant owner

Simply because I like to spoil you all with awesome acts of unselfish generosity, I now present some scans of a pair of comic strips from the TV COMIC Annual for 1966 (which means it came out at the end of '65).

SPACE PATROL was a show made in '62 (broadcast in '63) which had obvious similarities to GERRY ANDERSON's FIREBALL XL5.  ROBERTA LEIGH wrote and also produced the programme, and ARTHUR PROVIS was responsible for the cinematography.  Both of them had previously worked with Anderson, Leigh on TORCHY The BATTERY BOY (her creation) and Provis as his business partner in AP FILMS.

As you can see from the endpapers, the uniform colours weren't replicated in the strips, the artist probably being supplied only with black and white photos for reference.  In fact, the colours are more like the outfits of the Fireball XL5 crew, and perhaps the artist mistook one space strip for the other.  Who knows?!

Anyway, enjoy a trip back in time to the '60s as we go on patrol in outer space.

(Incidentally, to avoid confusion in the U.S. with a show of the same name, the programme was renamed PLANET PATROL for American consumption.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TV COMIC ANNUAL - FIREBALL XL5...

Copyright relevant owner

Due to the generosity for which I'm justly renowned, I herewith present a classic FIREBALL XL5 strip from the 1964 TV COMIC Annual.  Drawn by NEVILLE MAIN, it's obviously aimed at a younger readership than the classic MIKE NOBLE illustrated adventures in TV CENTURY 21, but it's still worth seeing nonetheless.  I love that cover, and it's great to see good ol' MIGHTY MOTH, who has always been one of my favourite comic characters.

PART FOUR Of FANTASTIC JOHNNY FUTURE THRILL-FEST...

Copyright REBELLION

   

I really do think that I should get some kind of award - a BLUE PETER badge at least.  "What for?" you may ask.  I'll tell you.

 

Do you realize just how difficult it is to write the intros to these JOHNNY FUTURE episodes and not repeat myself?  I'm not talking about the basic info that JF appeared in a comic called FANTASTIC back in the '60s, or that it was published by ODHAMS PRESS and drawn by the amazing LUIS BERMEJO.  No, that's the easy part.

 

The hard part is in 'dressing up' it up so that you rollickin' readers don't feel you're simply being subjected to the exact same introduction each and every strip.  I couldn't bear to think of any of you getting the idea that I'm a lazy loafer who merely regurgitates the same ol' copy you read last time.  Or the time before that, and the time before... well, I'm sure you get the picture.

 

And talking of pictures, here are the ones you've just waded through pant-loads of piffle to get to - so I won't hold you back any longer.

 

 

 

YIPPEE! PART TEN Of The MIGHTY MARVEL COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

As we emerge from our very own Time-travelling cosmic craft, we are met by yet more magnificent MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL cover images and pin-ups from 40 years ago.  By this time, the comic had only four full-colour pages, and that would be reduced to a mere two (front and back cover) before very long.  The early issues of MWOM had something special about them which later ones sorely lacked, but I persevered with the comic for the duration of its run - and what a run it was!

If you were there back in the heady, halcyon and hallowed days of Marvel at its best, then you're sure to appreciate seeing these pages again and reliving your long-vanished youth.  If not, don't fret, as the pictorial treasures presented upon this post are just as capable of transfixing the 'newbies' amongst us as those who are renewing the acquaintance.

So - let's enjoy them together, shall we?

   

MY CUP RUNNETH UNDER...

Funny the memories that spring, unbidden, into one's mind upon a sudden glimpse of a half-forgotten object that, over time, has merged chameleon-like with its surroundings and become practically invisible.  Until, that is, it metaphorically leaps from its accustomed place in an attempt to remind one of its existence, and draw an acknowledgement that its importance is yet secure after all this time.  Such a thing happened to me earlier, so let me now relate a shamelessly sentimental tale.

In my kitchen is a cup that isn't a cup, which I've had for around 16 years.  I'm so used to seeing it that I don't even see it anymore.  That's to say, it no longer registers on my conscious mind.  It is, quite literally, half a cup, as if it's been set upon by a laser and vertically spliced down the middle. (Except it has a 'back' to its imaginary splice and isn't quite so bereft in the dimensional stakes as I might make it sound.)

It bears the legend "You asked for half a cup of tea" and functions as an actual cup for when one wants to elicit a smile from a visitor.  Not that I've ever used it for such an effect, but it has actually been used for that purpose on me.  It must be over 20 years ago now, that I was visiting an old schoolmate and neighbour, GEORGE COOPER, who lived in an area in which I once stayed over four decades ago.

I was in the habit of taking a stroll in my old environs on a Saturday morning, and would occasionally drop in to visit George and his father, who could always be relied upon to provide a cup of tea and sometimes even a sausage sandwich.  On this particular day, I replied to George's enquiry as to whether I would like a cuppa by saying:  "I wouldn't say no to half a cup, thanks very much."

He'd probably been waiting years for someone to say that.  In due course, in he trotted with a plate of biccies and proffered a cup into my outstretched hand.  Yup, you guessed it, 'twas the half cup I've just been wittering on about in my customary long-winded fashion.  Cue my obligatory and poorly-feigned 'enthusiastic' chuckle at the jest.

A handful or so years later, Mr. Cooper Senior sadly passed away, necessitating in George having to eventually vacate the premises as one of his brothers owned the house and wanted to sell it.  On one of my last visits after his dad's demise, George gave me the cup as a memento of my Saturday morning drop-ins, which, alas, were now drawing to a close due to him having to move from his childhood home.

And so the cup that isn't a cup (but is half a cup) sits on a shelf in my kitchen, bringing with it memories of another house and another time, when I'd revisit one of the neighbourhoods of my youth and reminisce with George and his father about events from so very long ago.  And now that time of reminiscing has itself become a memory, having passed into history and is now a period which I fondly recollect today.

I still sometimes go for a stroll in that old neighbourhood and have other friends living there who I can drop in on if I want to, and, indeed, sometimes I do.  However, whenever I'm back there, I always walk past George's house (which, to me, will always be George's house regardless of whoever lives there) and recall with fond affection the day I asked for half a cup of tea and was given precisely that.

And I'm surprised to find my chuckle at the event is now somehow a genuine one.

ROAD WORKS AHEAD...

Copyright  relevant owner

As you can see, I've been 'Spring cleaning' my Blog - changing the look of it to something that's hopefully easier on the eye.  However, an unexpected side-effect has arisen from changing the typeface, resulting in some older posts having odd layouts and sentence breaks - not to mention pictures which don't enlarge for some strange reason.

I'm currently working my way through trying to put things right, so any posts you visit that look out of kilter, please be patient as I try to restore them to some semblance of order.  Ta muchly. 

SO - CARDS ON THE TABLE...

When I was a lad we had a card table, which usually sat at the front of our living-room.  In our 4th house (in the town we'd moved to in 1960), my parents summarily dispensed with its services without so much as a 'thank you' for its 20-odd years of loyal fealty.  It was sold to a dealer in 1981 or '82 and bravely went off to meet its fate.

A couple of years later we moved to yet another new house, and my folks acquired another table of the exact same type as its predecessor, in every respect save one; namely, it was lighter toned than the dark-hued original and therefore more suitably complemented the assortment of other furniture amongst whose company it sat.

As I said, the table was of a variety known as a card table; the hinged top unfolded and swung round to present a green-baized surface upon which, in a different era, various card games could be played after dinner by way of rounding off a pleasant evening.  (Neither one of our tables had ever been employed for that purpose as far as I recall, rendering them somewhat redundant in that area.)

Anyway, to try and cut to the chase - as regular readers know, we returned to our former house just over four years after first vacating its premises, and the 'new' table came with us.  What's more, it took up residence in the very spot on which its precursor had once stood at the front of the room.  And why not?  It was the most obvious place.

Which brings us to the photograph which graces this post.  The photo was taken around July of 1972, a few weeks after we had first moved to this house.  In the background can be seen the original table of which I've just been so interestingly (cough) telling you about.  The framed photograph now sits atop the replacement table, creating (in my mind) all sorts of strange and curious ponderings.

We've now owned the 2nd table for quite a number of years longer than we had the first, though I still tend to think of it as a recent acquisition.  An interloper, in fact, who brazenly occupies the space more rightly belonging to its ousted antecessor.  It'd surely be more fitting to have that picture sitting on the very table seen in the actual photo itself, rather than atop a base pretender, a stand-in for the one so cruelly cast out more than 30 years ago.

H'mm, 30 years, eh?

On the other hand, maybe it's time I accepted it as one of the family.  After all, it's been around for over half my life.  And at least the original can be seen through that framed window into the past, ensuring that it yet resides, in a sense, in its accustomed spot.

So - anyone for a game of cards?

******

(Interestingly, most of the ornaments on the table in the photograph now sit on the replacement today.  How's that for continuity?!)    

DOCTOR WHO - TIME TO CLOSE THE BIG BLUE BOX FOR GOOD?

DOCTOR WHO, in its 50th year, is showing distinct signs of age, if Saturday night's offering is anything to go by.  That has to have been the shoddiest special effects I've seen in a long time, either on the programme itself or anywhere else.  Was it really beyond their budget or ability to show a convincing shot of the Doc and Clara on a space shuttle-scooter-thingy-doo-dah (or whatever it was called) and not have it look like something out of BLAKE'S 7 ?

And the plot?  O dear o lor'!  Singing lullabies to an alien 'GALACTUS' to keep it asleep so it wouldn't consume the planet the intrepid time travellers were visiting.  And how does the Doctor deal with the situation?  Essentially, talks it into submission, while taking a leaf out of Clara's book (literally) and giving the big nasty alien thingy a dose of sensory overload.  What a load of old pants!

Part of the problem, I believe, is that the writers are trying to be far too 'clever'.  Instead of 'showing', they prefer to have the Doctor 'telling' - resulting in a running commentary of just how the frock-coated fruitie and his companion are going to defeat whatever menace threatens them 'this' week.  Cue tedious exposition from the Doc as he goes over all the points that the budget (or the writers' lack of imagination) are unable to translate into visual terms.  (A coherent plot at the outset would doubtless be a huge help in reducing the Doctor's incessant and annoying chatter, it seems to me.)

When one compares '60s STAR TREK at its best (CITY On The EDGE Of FOREVER, I ain't talking Tribbles), the show had a sophistication that Doctor Who has simply never been able to match.  (Or even come close to, for that matter.)  Although created by the Drama department and not the Children's, it seems to be aimed at juveniles or sub-literate adults who have never had a girlfriend and smell a bit funny.  I hate to say it, but unless it gets its act together, maybe its upcoming 50th anniversary might be an ideal time for the BBC to wrap things up and draw them to a close.

Either that or bring back a WILLIAM HARTNELL-type Doctor (the slightly sinister version, not the benign grandfather he was turned into later) to give the show a bit of bite.  Frankly, I'm tired of a supposedly thousand-odd year old Time Lord who behaves like a giggly, chatty teenager having heaps of jolly ol' fun in the face of impending danger.  I sometimes think that '70s comedian DUNCAN NORVELLE (with his "Chase me!" catchphrase) would be the ideal candidate to play the Doctor, given the way the character is currently portrayed.*

Agree or disagree?  You know where the comments section is.

******

*UPDATE: A mere two weeks later and, indeed, the Doctor utters the immortal line "Chase me!" to the Crooked Man in the episode entitled 'Hide'.  I must be psychic.

JUST WHERE IS YOGI BEAR?

When I was 4 or 5 years old, one of my favourite toys was a LOUIS MARX friction-drive yellow scooter with YOGI BEAR riding it.  In fact, I liked it so much that I got another one for my 6th or 7th birthday.  By that time the first Yogi's scooter had disappeared, but I still had Yogi himself, and would let him have a 'backie' on new Yogi's scooter.

I've been trying to track down a replacement for many years, but so far with no success.  The closest I've gotten is to the above picture of the box in a HANNA-BARBERA TREASURY book I purchased a few years back.  If any of you happen to own this toy or know where I can obtain one, please get in touch.  I'd even settle for seeing a photo of it.  If you can reunite Yogi with his childhood pal, let me know in the comments section.

******

And thanks to the kindness of 'J', I can now show you some photos of Yogi himself, sitting astride his yellow scooter.  I hope to be buying this very item quite soon, so I'll keep you posted on what transpires.  This is the first time I've seen this toy since I last owned my two as a child, so it's amazing to see it again.

PART TWO Of The BATMEN From SPACE - A FIREBALL XL5 ADVENTURE...

Images copyright relevant owner

TV CENTURY 21, at its peak, was probably the best-selling comic of the '60s.  I doubt that any weekly comic afterwards ever came close to matching it in terms of sales.  It was the last great boys' paper of its kind and it's extremely unlikely that anything will ever eclipse the impact it made on its youthful readers of the time.

The reason for its success was obvious - mainly full-colour adventures of TV favourites seen only in black and white on relatively small screens in the corners of Britain's living-rooms.  What young lad wouldn't thrill to reading about MIKE MERCURY, STEVE ZODIAC, TROY TEMPEST, and the rest of the GERRY ANDERSON pantheon of puppet heroes in exciting weekly episodes in their very own paper periodical?

  

Add to that mix, just for good measure, the metal-clad mutants from SKARO - The DALEKS - and the deal was sealed!  There was hardly a boy in the country who wouldn't brave hell or high-water in order to get his hands on a copy of the colourful, cataclysmic comic of the future.

STINGRAY was undoubtedly the real star attraction of TV21, as it was then the newest SUPERMARIONATION success on TV.  However, plans were already afoot for the as-yet-unseen THUNDERBIRDS to take over the prized double-page centrespread, with LADY PENELOPE laying the groundwork for the upcoming great event.

My favourite strip though (along with The Daleks), was probably FIREBALL XL5, especially the episodes drawn by MIKE NOBLE, who took over from original artist GRAHAM COTON from issue #6.  However, the first five instalments by the aforementioned Mr Coton had an undeniable charm and atmosphere, which made a great impression on me as a mere youngster.  As mentioned in Part One, these stories have never been reprinted* in any comic, magazine or book since they were first published an astounding 48 years ago.  (I'm hoping SIGNUM BOOKS will remedy that situation in one of their upcoming magnificent CENTURY 21 volumes of reprints.)

*Update: Until they appeared in the Fireball XL5 60th Anniversary Comic Anthology in 2023.

So until then, enjoy reliving your past with these posts.  Or, if you haven't seen the strips before, welcome to the future.  We may now be living in the early stages of the 21st century, but TV21 was dated a hundred years ahead - 2065 - so it'll be another 52 years before these stories can be considered contemporary comics classics.

  

PART EIGHT Of SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

For all those reliving the early '70s through the pages of SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY, here's another instalment in this sensational series to thrill and amaze you.  Personally, I was a very happy chappie when SMCW #23 went on sale, as it contained a titanic tale I'd first read in the pulsating pages of the FANTASTIC Summer Special 1968 - "SPIDER-MAN Meets DOCTOR STRANGE!"  The mighty STAN LEE and awesome STEVE DITKO at their finest, and no mistake!

Each presentation of the story has it's own distinct set of memories and association for mes.  When I look at the resized b&w Fantastic Summer Special, I'm once again back in the '60s, in the house and neighbourhood where I lived at the time.  However, when I see SMCW #23, it conjures forth images of the '70s and the house and area in which I yet reside today - as well as recollections of the initial act of remembering having read the earlier version of the tale.  Like looking through a window into a room with another window - through which you look into another room,  if you know what I mean.  (And if you do, explain it to me.)

       

At the time, the five year gap between the two comics seemed like an immense gulf in some ways, whereas, nowadays, five years seems like only a heartbeat away.  In fact, sometimes I find it hard to believe I'm actually living in the 21st century.  However, enough of my self-indulgent sentiment - hopefully you too will experience the joy of revisiting yesteryear, when the future was yet an undiscovered country and childhood stretched ahead into the far distant horizons.