The EXPLOITS Of SPIDER-MAN COVER & IMAGE GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Back when MARVEL U.K. was still Marvel U.K. and not PANINI, they produced a pretty nifty monthly mag called The EXPLOITS Of SPIDER-MAN.  I faithfully bought it from the first issue 'til the LEE/DITKO Spidey stories were discontinued, though I returned in time to purchase the final ish.  One number eluded me, however, that being #5, which left a gap in my collection for a whopping 21 and a half years - until today, that is.

To celebrate finally filling that empty space, I've decided to do a cover and image gallery so that you can re-experience this comic from the '90s, or see for the first time what you missed if you weren't around back then.  Spidey, of course, still appears in his own British mag today (as well as various U.S. ones) so do yourself a favour and pick up a copy for yourself the next time you're in WHS.

As for issue #5 (which you'll see in the third instalment), it's strange to think of all that's changed in the intervening years, and how many friends and family have died since that comic first went on sale.  And now it's part of my collection at last, rolling back Time's cascading curtain to an earlier moment in history - when I was almost half the age I am now, yet seemed to have at least ten times as many years ahead of me than the entire population of planet GALLIFREY in its bustling heyday.  Just where does the time go?

Oops, I'm rambling again.  Never mind - just enjoy the pulse-pounding piccies in all their glory!

DOCTOR WHO - BEHIND The SCENES (1974)...

Copyright BBC TV, the Estate of TERRY NATION and relevant and respective owners

Having dug out my 1974 VALIANT Annual to scan KELLY'S EYE for a previous post, I thought I'd see what else it contained before I tucked it away again.  And you're in luck - if you happen to be a DOCTOR WHO fan, that is.  What follows is a six page feature on JON PERTWEE's incarnation of the TARDIS-travelling Time Lord - so hang on to your hats - we're about to jump back forty years into the past.

Incidentally, TERRY NATION later confessed that his account of how he thought up the DALEKS' name was a 'creative fib'.  Which should've been obvious right from the start, really, as no encyclopaedia covers the letters DAL to LEK - they're not even in proper alphabetical sequence.  See, you learn something new on this entertaining and educational blog every day (unless you knew it already, of course).

BABE Of The DAY - MARILYN MONROE...

Here she is, Crivs - the babe

you've surely all been waiting for...

MARILYN MONROE!

CAPTAIN KIRK Versus The GORN - TRAILER...

I saw this YouTube clip over on FLASHBACK UNIVERSE Blog and thought all you Tekkies (or is it Trekkers these days?) would enjoy a good laugh.  You've got to hand it to WILLIAM SHATNER - he's certainly not afraid to send himself up.  (No doubt the money helps.)  Anyway, take a look and enjoy.

KELLY'S EYE From VALIANT ANNUAL 1974...

Copyright relevant owner

In the mid-1980s, the original artboard for the above Annual cover used to sit in the office of BATTLE ACTION FORCE in KING'S REACH TOWER, the (former) headquarters of IPC Magazines Ltd.  I used to see it when I was collecting or returning work on my weekly visits to London when I was a full-time freelance lettering artist more years ago than I care to recall.  I didn't own the Annual then - it was a later acquisition, and it was likely the familiarity of the cover that made me buy it, but it's a nice book to have on its own merits.

KELLY'S EYE was a long-running strip that took on aspects of Dr. WHO at some point down the line.  It was an interesting premise: TIM KELLY was invulnerable as long as he wore the mystical EYE Of ZOLTEC, capable of withstanding the full explosive power of an actual nuclear bomb.  The strip first appeared in KNOCKOUT, switching over to VALIANT when the former merged into the latter in February 1963.  Tim Kelly returned as a guest in the UNIVERSAL SOLDIER strip in the pulse-pounding pages of 2000 A.D. (1987), but it's for the Valiant strips that the character is best-remembered by readers of a certain age.

One of the more ridiculous aspects of the original strip was the way Tim repeatedly announced to both friends and foes alike that the jewel was the source of his powers, something you'd think he'd keep to himself.  True, his statements were really directed at readers, to remind them of just how he accomplished his amazing feats (in case, presumably, they forgot the intro box immediately after reading it), but these proclamations were rather too frequent and conspicuous to seem entirely natural.  (Even less so than normal comics' dialogue, that is.) 

Anyway, just for you, here's a complete 7 page full-colour adventure from the above Annual, released in August/September 1973.  The weekly comic managed to survive until it was eventually subsumed by BATTLE PICTURE WEEKLY in April 1976.  And thus came to an end the glorious 13-and-a-half-year run of one of this country's finest weekly periodicals for boys.

YOGI BEAR - GOING TO WAIST...

Copyright HANNA-BARBERA Productions, Inc

As regular readers will know, I'm a big fan of YOGI BEAR and have been ever since I was a small kid.  Back in 1989 I bought the above HANNA-BARBERA FUN BOOK, which contains a variety of H-B characters in a mixture of colour and black and white tales.  I thought you'd all enjoy this clever little three-pager starring the bold bruin and his little chum BOO BOO.  If you're a fan of such stuff, it might be worth hunting this thick volume down on eBay - it'd make a nice addition to your bookshelf.

DANNY & BRETT - The PERSUADERS...

Images copyright relevant owner.  Art by FRANK LANGFORD

And now another story from the 1972 PERSUADERS Holiday Special.  I'll say this for POLYSTYLE PUBLICATIONS - they sure used good artists on their adventure strips (and their humour ones too, of course).  Had the TV show lasted more than one series of 24 episodes, there would doubtless have been further Persuaders Holiday Specials, but as far as I can determine, there was only the one - and what a one it was.  ROGER MOORE went on to star in seven JAMES BOND movies and TONY CURTIS didn't really do much of note afterwards, but, after all, he was a bona-fide Hollywood legend and could afford to rest on his laurels.

"Yonder lies de castle of my fadder."

I now return to you to our regularly scheduled comic strip.

  

AM I LOSING YOU?

Here's the mighty JIM REEVES singing live on TV.  Grab yourself a cuppa,

sit back, put your feet up, and enjoy some easy-listening music at its finest.

BABE Of The DAY - BRIGITTE BARDOT...

Two words are all that's

necessary - and those two words

 are BRIGITTE BARDOT!

PART FOUR Of The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR COVER & IMAGE GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

"Oh, good!" I hear you cry.  "Another batch of COMPLETE FF covers and images for us all to feast on."  Yes, your generous host has caved in to popular demand (he lied) and served up another helping of one of MARVEL U.K.'s better comics from the 1970s.  I was totally delighted when this comic first came out because I hadn't kept my early MWOMs and this mag gave me another chance to collect the classic FANTASTIC FOUR adventures.

Years later, of course, I re-acquired all the paper covered issues of Marvel's first foray into U.K. publishing, but I still kept my Complete FFs, as they had their own charm about them.  It's just a shame that PANINI's FF monthly was discontinued a year or two back, as I was looking forward to seeing JOHN BYRNE's tales of the cosmic quartet in uncut, full colour reprints in a U.K. magazine.

Anyway, until part five in this sensational series, enjoy the pulse-pounding pages on view before you - on this, the best blog you've ever read in the history of an alternate universe somewhere.  (I hear it's popular on the BIZARRO World.)

  

BABE Of The DAY - JANE RUSSELL...

JANE RUSSELL again.  What

can I say?  My only excuse is that I

fancy her madly.  So sue me.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS To MIKE NOBLE...

Copyright relevant owner

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.)