MANY HAPPY RETURNS To MIKE NOBLE...

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One of Britain's greatest-ever adventure strip artists, MIKE NOBLE is 84 today, so let's all wish him a very Happy Birthday for making countless childhoods a far richer and much happier experience with his spectacular artwork on FIREBALL XL5, FOLLYFOOT, CAPTAIN SCARLET, The LONE RANGER, BLACK BEAUTY and a whole host of other classic comic strips over the years. 

For the first part of one of Mike's best-remembered Fireball stories, click here - and re-immerse yourself in yesteryear.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!

BABE Of The DAY - ADRIENNE BARBEAU - AGAIN...

ADRIENNE BARBEAU went

down well when she first appeared

in our 'Babe of the Day' spot - so for

all those who liked her then, here

 she is again.  (I spoil you.)

THE MARTIAN HAS LANDED...

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MY FAVOURITE MARTIAN was a TV show that lasted for three series (or seasons, as our U.S. readers refer to them) between 1963-'66 on American TV.  It must also have aired in Britain to be one of the strips in TV CENTURY 21, but Scotland seems to have missed out in that regard.  Not only have I never seen an episode, I don't know anyone in my neck of the woods who's seen one either.

The TV show (starring RAY WALSTON and BILL BIXBY) may have been inspired by the 1960 JERRY LEWIS movie VISIT To A SMALL PLANET, which had a similar premise, but it seems to have been specifically created to cash in on the popularity of sitcoms featuring unusual characters with extraordinary abilities.  (BEWITCHED and I DREAM Of JEANNIE spring immediately to mind.)

Oddly, even though I've never seen the show, My Favourite Martian (and particularly Ray Walston's image) remains one of the fondly-recalled memories of my childhood, due primarily to the strip's presence in probably Britain's premier periodical of the time.  BILL TITCOMBE drew most of the strips, I believe, and demonstrated the artistic skill and versatility for which he is so justly renowned.

Want to see more?  Let me know, pilgrims.

GERRY ANDERSON'S TV CENTURY 21 COVER GALLERY - PART SEVEN...

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Oh, all right then, you've talked me into it, you smooth-talking devils.  Presented for your perusal are another ten covers from perhaps Britain's greatest-ever comic - TV CENTURY 21.  Editor ALAN FENNELL was still in charge at this stage and the comic was still selling well, but that state of affairs wasn't destined to last forever, alas!  However, that was still to come - for the meantime let's just enjoy how things used to be when TV21 was still a force to be reckoned with.

The VALLEY - A FIREBALL XL5 ADVENTURE...

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From the pages of the FIREBALL XL5 Annual, copyright dated 1966, comes a nice little tale for your enjoyment.  This was the last of four Annuals published by COLLINS, and each of them is considered a collectors' item classic which would set you back a pretty penny these days.  And guess what, Crivs?  I've got all four of them.  Nnyaaahhh!

BORN FREE - MATT MONRO...

Here's that old London Bus driver with the

amazing voice singing one of his best known hits.

Ladies and gentlemen - MATT MONRO.

BABE Of The DAY - HOLLY VALANCE...

Dunno what HOLLY VALANCE

did after working in NEIGHBOURS,

but I sure wish she was a neighbour of

mine and I bet you do, too.  (Wish she

 was a neighbour of yours, that is.)

COME INTO THE GARDEN(S), MAUD - PART ONE...

A couple or so months back, me and my old pal MOONMANDO took a wee jaunt along to Glasgow's BOTANIC GARDENS for a look around.  I did ask if you Criv-ites would like to see the photos, but there were no bites.  However, knowing that you're a shy, retiring bunch who don't want to appear too greedy, I've decided to inflict them on share them with you anyway.

DOCTOR WHO - LISTEN...

Copyright BBC TV

Last night's episode of DOCTOR WHO showed some signs of being a return to form for STEVEN MOFFAT.  When I first saw that he'd written the story my heart sank, because, although he authored some of the better episodes under RUSSELL T. DAVIES, the ones penned under his own tenure have been pretty naff and his name usually ensures that some mincing, farcical, over-the-top BLACKADDER-type tomfoolery is in store.

Last night, however, there was tension, suspense, drama, with not quite so much comedy as before - at least for the first half hour or so.  Then it all collapsed to reveal yet another self-indulgent piece of geekery which tied CLARA into the Doctor's childhood in yet another self-referencing, too interested in its own history, look how clever we're being, up its own @rse narcissism.

Also, it's yet another of those stories that creates all kinds of paradoxes.  If the contemporary Clara influenced The Doctor when he was a child (a crying, snivelling, frightened - and let's be honest - irritating one at that) into growing up into the person he is today, then how could he be that person when she first met him?  It's meant to be clever, you see, but it just comes across as another poorly thought out-details don't matter-it's the effect that counts type of meandering yarn that Moffat is now so infamous for.

I couldn't help but feel that the Doctor was being given some kind of quasi-religious back story with this tale, with his childhood self sleeping in a barn and growing up to become the 'saviour' of the universe.  Started well, but degenerated into the usual disappointing geek-fest that the show needs to shrug off if it wants to still be around in another fifty years.

Agree?  Disagree?  Don't care a fig?  Go on - tell us all how you feel!

"The ENEMY Of EARTH!" FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - PART THIRTY-ONE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Funny how the memory starts to go as one gets older.  Things that were once remembered with certainty become clouded with doubt, and other options start to suggest themselves as alternate possibilities.  Case in point: As detailed in a recent post, I recall buying SUPERMAN #238 in 1972 and retiring to a local cafeteria to read it.  (For details, see part 30 in this 'favourite comics' series.)

However, I also recall buying, from the same newsagent's, issue #237 perhaps a week or so either side of its companion (comics sometimes went on sale out of sequence in this country, so I could've bought the later mag first) and also availing myself of the cool confines of the same cafeteria.  On one of those occasions a girl from my class in school tried to engage me in conversation at my table, but I beat a hasty retreat, not really being the slightest bit interested in available schoolgirls of my own age.  (Unattainable screen goddesses were more my thing.)

So here's my problem (if only they were all so easy).  Because of the similar circumstances in which I purchased these two mags, I'm no longer 100% sure which one I had on the day I got a free COKE from a guy with his family at the next table.  (The same day as in the above paragraph.)  As I said before, the cover of #238 fits the memory perfectly, but I also tend to associate the contents of #237 with the event.  Actually, not even that's strictly true; the covers and contents of both issues fit the recollection - both vying for supremacy at different times.

So, I've decided to give that other issue equal time, just in case it was the actual comic in question relating to the anecdote with which I previously regaled you in an earlier post.  That way, I'm not denying it its rightful moment in the spotlight, nor refusing it the association it deserves in my memory banks (should such actually be the case).  Perhaps one day I'll have a "Eureka!" like moment and suddenly recall with startling clarity exactly which of the two mags was the one involved, but, for the present, you and I get the best of both possible worlds.

So enjoy a few select pages from this classic issue - I hope your memories and associations of it are crystal clear.

    

This page and the next:  I still recall how thrilling I found this sequence when I first read
it in '72.  I even knew what the 'single bound' reference alluded to in Superman's history.
Classic storytelling at its very best!

And guess what?  After browsing through the issue to choose the pages for scanning, my memory has been somewhat refreshed: I'm now pretty sure that it was this issue I had on the day I got a free Coke and was 'accosted' by the girl from school.  Because of the erratic distribution system, I can't say whether I bought the mags in sequence or not, or how far apart, time-wise, they were purchased.  It seems like it was about a week or so, but it could have been weeks or perhaps even just days.  Never had this trouble with British weeklies.

BABE Of The DAY - HONOR BLACKMAN...

Here's a publicity photo of 'eavenly HONOR

BLACKMAN as PUSSY GALORE.  You're all on

your, er... 'honour' not to snigger now, hear?

MEDITATIONS On BEGINNINGS & ENDINGS...

It may come as no surprise to any of you, but from a very early age I was much given to looking back on the past.  My remembered past, obviously, as I wasn't interested in or capable of reminiscing about events which pre-dated either myself or my ability to recall them.  When, aged five, I moved from one house to another just a few short minutes away, I made it a point to return to my previous street on a regular basis so I could re-experience the nearby woods in which I'd once played and again take in the expansive view from the top of the hill.

Over the years (and houses and neighbourhoods), I always found it comforting to return to the places of my youth and reconnect with them from time to time, and for almost the first three decades of my life, most of these hallowed haunts remained essentially unchanged.  Each time, the experience was akin to the hushed awe and reverential atmosphere so exquisitely described in The PIPER At The GATES Of DAWN chapter in Scottish-born author KENNETH GRAHAME's beautiful book, The WIND In The WILLOWS, first published in 1908.

It was almost like returning to the dawn of creation, when everything must have seemed magical and mystical, and from which every living thing derives its strength and power.  Revisiting the environs of my early childhood recharged and revitalised me in some way, but it also somehow made events from even only a few years before seem like a far-distant era - at the exact same time as making them, paradoxically, closer than a lover's kiss.  I suppose, to a seven year old, three years is more than half one's remembered life, and perhaps half one's life seems just as long or as short at any age.  Does that make any sense?

   

Then things started to change.  First it was lampposts being supplanted by newer, thinner models, placed on the inside of the pavements instead of at the kerbs.  Then it was the paving stones, replaced with tarmacadam, dark and dismal in the gloom of the night.  Next, it was building on fields and green areas, and the removal of swing-parks, resulting in open, spacious, well-planned neighbourhoods being transformed into crowded, claustrophobic, concrete ghettoes.

Earlier this evening I decided to retrace a certain route to my first primary school.  Sometimes, as children, we'd take a detour into a swing-park and then through some woods which led to the school.  The swing-park is an empty space and the trees were cut down some years ago, the fallen giants now littering the overgrown trail they once used to shade.  On previous occasions over the years, visiting the area was like a pleasant journey into yesterday and a salve to my soul.  That these places could always be relied upon for the same simple welcome seemed like one of life's unchanging truths, but, alas, that is no longer the case.

I'd always thought, in my declining years, the locales of my boyhood would still exist and I'd be able to revisit them one last time, and find solace in the fact these spots would yet be around for future generations to enjoy similar experiences to my own.  I'm now only too well aware when my final bedtime comes, sadly, that won't be the case.  The only hope left to me is, should I awaken on 'the other side', I'll find all those familiar places waiting to greet me and welcome me home.

Night has fallen and the daylight seems a long way off.  Is that my name I faintly hear, carried on the whisper of the evening breeze? 

BABE Of The DAY - URSULA UNDRESS, Oops, ANDRESS...

Thought by many to be the ultimate

BOND GIRL, blonde beauty URSULA

ANDRESS certainly set the standard.  But

how many who came after measured up to

her?  Feel free to make suggestions in our

ever-hungry comments section.

PART FOUR OF TOPPS 1966 BATMAN CARDS...

Images copyright DC COMICS & TOPPS

Those who've commented on this sizzlin' series so far have all been in favour of seeing more cards, but to be honest, they don't seem to have caught on with the majority of all you cavortin' Criv-ites.  These TOPPS BATMAN cards from 1966 are highly sought-after collectors' items, and were reissued in a deluxe set in '89 (from which these scans come), so chances are that if you had them back in the '60s (or '80s), you'll enjoy seeing them again.  Just one thing though - let me know if you do, will you, so that I'm not wasting my time scanning them for an ever-diminishing, uninterested audience.  Good lads.