MARVEL'S DOCTOR WHO COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

DOCTOR WHO copyright BBC TV

Back in 1984, MARVEL U.S. decided to colour the black and white stories that had been appearing in MARVEL U.K.'s DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE and release them in a monthly comicbook specially aimed at American fans of the TARDIS-travelling Time Lord.  It lasted for 23 issues and was quite an impressive mag which surely deserved to survive for much longer than it did.  However, despair ye not, true believers - through the courtesy of Kid's very own Kosmic Kube, we're now going on the first part of a journey through the past to look again at all 23 covers.

Be sure to join us in the next two parts for the remainder of these impressive images - coming soon!

A washed-out b&w photo of William Hartnell - where his toupee's hairline was unclear -
must've been used for reference for this illo.  We all know that his Doctor wasn't bald

DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

The MAN Of STEEL - COVER GALLERY...

Copyright DC COMICS.  Variant cover to #1

Back in the mid-'80s, DC COMICS decided to revamp and relaunch their most popular hero, SUPERMAN, in the wake of their 12 part maxi-series, CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS.  The face of the DC Universe was altered forever (well, at least 'til the next 'Crisis' when sales needed a boost) and JOHN BYRNE and others were called upon to revamp the line's premier superhero for a new generation.

So, here, for your entertainment and edification, are all 7 covers from the 6 part mini-series from 1986.  Enjoy!

    

Update: VOLKER STIEBER kindly got in touch to say that he'd won a specially bound copy of all six issues in a competition back around the mid-'80s.  In the style of  '60s DOUBLE-DOUBLE COMICS, the comics had the covers removed, were glued together, had another cover attached and were then trimmed.  Volker sent me scans of the finished result, along with his form letter from DC COMICS informing him he'd won a copy.

Thanks for taking the time and trouble, Volker.  Did you ever buy the 'proper' soft-cover collected edition of Man of Steel?

GADZOOKS! JOHNNY FUTURE Versus Mr. OPPOSITE - PART FOUR...

Copyright REBELLION

Let's not hold things back with my usual boring waffle.  All you really need to know is that the name of the artist is LUIS BERMEJO.  Right - grab your hats and let's go!

THE SIGNIFICANT SEVEN SINGS ITS SIREN SONG AND SOOTHES MY SOUL...

A slightly out-of-focus photo of me in Classroom 7 on May 10th 1988

Regular readers (all three of them) will know - from my many previous posts on the subject - of my overdeveloped sense of nostalgia and sentiment for all things relating to my childhood.  Here's yet another example of how my past continually calls to me, exerting its irresistible influence on my present behaviour.  I've previously related the fact that one of my primary schools is due for demolition, either before the end of the year or sometime into the beginning of the next one.

I've extensively photographed both inside and outside the school and have a plethora of photographs to look back on in the winter of my years when I eventually enter that final phase.  I was in the empty building again just the other day, and took the opportunity to remove the above letters from the door of the first classroom I was ever in when I became a new pupil on Wednesday, November 10th, 1965.

Originally the door was blue, and the plastic letters were white, but numerous coats of paint over the years had obscured the letters' ivory luminance.  I'm currently in the process of removing the various layers and restoring the letters to their pre-altered state, and when this is done I'll get a strip of wood, paint it blue and affix 'Classroom 7' to it.  Then I'll put the finished result onto my studio door as a memento of my long-vanished schooldays in a (by then) demolished building that a council 'Lend Lease' policy unfairly robbed of many more years as a more than perfectly adequate place of learning.

The numberplate of the house I lived in (77) when I attended the school is already on the door, so they can keep each other company.  Sometimes it helps to keep in mind where you came from in order to know exactly where you're headed.  (Or, indeed, to appreciate where you are now.)

CAPTAIN AMERICA: KING-SIZE 'SPECIAL' ANNUAL - COVER GALLERY... (Updated)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The time: A dark and drizzly Saturday late afternoon/early-evening in 1973.  The place: The Norfolk Restaurant in the main shopping centre of my home town.  I'd just purchased the KING-SIZE SPECIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 (among others), and borrowed the first edition of The PENGUIN BOOK Of COMICS from my local library.  As I sat across from one of my pals, each of us nursing a cup of Coke, I perused the contents of my recent acquisitions on the table in front of me.

I don't know for how long I owned that Cap comic, but back in the early or mid-'80s, I obtained a replacement for it, which I've had ever since.  Around 12 to 14 years ago (several months to a year or so apart) I happened to acquire Cap Annuals #3 & 4, leaving only #2 to fill the space in the first four issues.

Curiously, MARVEL never seemed to be consistent in naming their bumper extravaganzas; sometimes they were called 'Specials', other times 'Annuals'.  (And to confuse readers further, THOR not only had a series of King-Size 'Specials/Annuals' devoted to him, but also a run of four SPECIAL MARVEL EDITIONS*.)  Some King-Size mags began as 'Specials', then morphed into 'Annuals', and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that it likewise happened in reverse.  (*Though that was actually the title - in the singular - of the mag, as it turns out.)

Today, I finally got my grubby mitts on the second issue of the title, thereby completing my quartet of Cap's Special editions.  As you can see, the cover has what looks like the spine on view, as if the comic hasn't been bound properly, but the issue is actually a normal stapled comic (with 52 pages), as opposed to the glued and thick-stapled format of #1, 3 & 4.  It was likely intended to be a thicker Special at the time of preparation, before the decision was made to cut the page count, and perhaps there was no time to amend the cover before it was sent to the printers. 

So, it may have taken me 40 years to obtain the next comic in sequence after the one I first bought back in '73, but I got there in the end.  And here's something else to consider - back in the early '90s, my local library had a book sale, from which I purchased the actual, self-same copy of The Penguin Book of Comics I'd first borrowed on that rainy Saturday evening so very long ago.

If you have any personal reminiscences associated with the comic covers on display, feel free to share them in the comments section.  With any luck, I can then delude myself into believing that I'm not the only soppy sentimentalist and nutty nostalgist who haunts the bloggersphere.  Any takers?  Step right up!

UPDATE: Originally, I owned issues #1, 3, 4 & 6, so when I acquired #2 I was very well pleased.  However, a nagging voice then assailed my ears - "Why not get #5 and have the first six Specials/Annuals?"  Well, sure sounded like a good idea to me, so I promptly tracked down a copy and added it to my collection.  (For a magazine which was meant to be published yearly, it's interesting to note that only five issues were released over a ten year period.) 

So, here's issues #5 & 6 to round of the first half dozen Cap 'Special Annuals'.  Don't ever say I'm not good to you.

And here's the cover of Kirby's 1976 BICENTENNIAL BATTLES Treasury Edition for good measure.

GUYS & GUISERS...

Copyright REBELLION

Yeah, I know Hallowe'en is done and dusted, but the mood still hangs heavy in the air.  Way back On October 25th, 1969, the third issue of WHIZZER & CHIPS went on sale, with a GUY FAWKES mask as a free gift.  It looks like the artwork of TOM KERR to me, but regardless, I remember rushing over to the newsagent's shop across the road from my house to buy it, the minute it opened in the early hours of that Autumn morning a whopping 44 years ago.  (The comic bears the date of November 1st, but British comics were traditionally dated up to a week ahead to give them a longer shelf-life.)

Handy how both Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes Night were covered by this issue coming out in advance of the two occasions. I wonder if the mask was used by 'guisers' on October 31st, and then 'recycled' for use on their 'guys' on November 5th?  If so, quite a few of them probably perished on top of a bonfire in parks and gardens the length and breadth of the U.K.

The mask seems smaller than I remember, though that may just be down to me being bigger nowadays than I was back in 1969.  If anyone has the mask, could they measure from the top of the head to the tip of the beard and let me know the result?  That way I'll know for sure whether mine is an original or a replica.  If it's the latter, it's very nicely done.  (As was I.)

(Incidentally, the exact some mask had been given away with an issue of BUSTER back in 1965.)

X-MEN: The EARLY YEARS - COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The first issue I purchased of X-MEN: The EARLY YEARS was #4.  I started buying the mag regularly and soon acquired #1 from a comics dealer, leaving only #s 2 & 3 to fill the gap.  However, I never quite got around to getting them before the series was cancelled with #17.  That was back in '94/'95.  Occasionally, I'd browse through the comics and remember that I still required two back numbers to complete the set - then I'd put them away and forget again.  I already had the stories in various printings, so I really didn't need them, but there's always something about absent issues which compels the true collector to seek them out - eventually.

Yesterday, 19 years after first buying the title, I finally took possession of the two missing mags required to complete the run.  It was with a sense of accomplishment, but somehow also of sadness, that I opened my cupboard doors, united the comics with their comrades and crossed that particular task off my 'things to do' list. 19 years, eh?  I wish I could erase them from my mileometer, but, truth to tell, it doesn't seem that long ago.  And somehow, paradoxically, it seems like an eternity away.  Maybe one day I'll be able to understand that.

So, I now have all 17 of them - which means what, exactly?  Well, for a start, it means that I can now give them their very own Cover Gallery post on this blog.  There are other gaps in my comics collection I've yet to fill, one of which is winging its way to me even as I type these very words.  It's CAPTAIN AMERICA SPECIAL #2, finally acquired a whopping 40 years after I first purchased #1.  Don't worry - I'll be bound to do a blog post on it when it arrives as I'd hate for you to miss out!  (Wotcha mean, "Don't trouble yourself!"?)