BABE Of The DAY - SUZI PERRY...

SUZI PERRY is another babe I know

nothing about - apart from the fact she has

something to do with automobiles.  She's one

of regular reader McS's favourite burds, and

who am I to deny him (and us) a cheeky wee

 peek at such a perfect pair of pins?

TOP TEN THINGS THAT MAKE STAN LEE AWESOME...

It's become popular in certain circles in the past few years to knock STAN LEE and try and diminish his cataclysmic contributions to comicbook culture.  Here at CRIVENS!, we share no such negative feelings towards Mr. MARVEL.  So here are the top ten things that make Stan Lee awesome.

BABE Of The DAY - RACHEL RILEY...

Time for today's glamour

(over and above my photo on

the right, that is), so here's bright-

as-a-button RACHEL RILEY to

provide it.  McSCOTTY will surely

be happy to see her, being a huge

fan of hers.  But then, who isn't? 

(Apart, that is, from CAROL

 VORDERMAN.  Heh!)

The THREE QUESTION MARKS...

The very first Three Investigators adventure I ever read

I first encountered ALFRED HITCHCOCK & The THREE INVESTIGATORS in 1969 or '70, in a book called The MYSTERY Of The GREEN GHOST which I'd borrowed from my neighbourhood library.  Read it, enjoyed it, then forgot all about it.  Until, that is, a friend told me around a year or so later about a series of books he was reading starring the same three teenage amateur detectives, enthusing wildly about JUPITER JONES, PETE CRENSHAW and BOB ANDREWS and the adventures they became involved in.

The atmospheric endpapers in the hardback editions

I don't quite remember whether I was aware, from my first encounter, that there was a series of books about the three lads, but I soon started reading the other ones and very much enjoyed them.  I have a vague recollection of beginning one book in one house and finishing it in another (after flitting in '72), as my memory seems to jump between each house whenever I think of the book.  It may have been The MYSTERY Of The FLAMING FOOTPRINTS, or The NERVOUS LION, but I'm no longer certain.

Around 15 years later, I re-read the Green Ghost adventure, and it was almost as if I was back in the house I'd lived in when I first read it, so strong were the images in my memory that were revived upon that second reading.  It's now been twice that span again (30 years) and I really must revisit my past by reading it once more sometime soon.  ROBERT ARTHUR Jr. created the characters in the early '60s and wrote quite a few of the early stories, then oversaw and edited the tales (some of which he suggested) of other contributing writers.

The first Three Investigators adventure

The kids were aged around 13 in the first series of 43 books (1964- '87), but a couple of years later, in 1989, a new series started, in which the three males were 'matured' to around 17 or 18, and mystery writer HECTOR SEBASTIAN was now their new mentor, who usually opened and closed each tale.  (Alfred Hitchcock last appeared in book 30.)  Robert Arthur's heirs objected to the new stories, and legal disagreements between them and the publishers put them on hold in 1990, after only 13 new exploits.

I haven't read all of the books in either series, and although they fall under the category of 'juvenile fiction', they also qualify as 'adult friendly' for grown-ups looking for diverting mysteries, free from sex, swearing or sadism.  If you've never read one before, why not give them a try?  If you've previously read one in your youth, you shouldn't need much persuading in getting re-acquainted.

Ah, happy memories.  I think I can see what I'm going to start collecting next.

As mentioned, I re-read The Green Ghost in 1985, in a paperback edition, below.

PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM...

And you'll be playing this song again and again, catchy little number that it is, by father and son team BING & GARY CROSBY.  Subtitled 'The Happy Tune', it's aptly named!  Why not give it a listen and see for yourself?

PATSY CLINE - IS SHE CRAZY?

She sure is!  Listen to her admit it in her

own words.  (Okay, they're actually WILLIE

NELSON's words, but why quibble?)

PART TEN OF SMASH! COVER GALLERY...

Copyright REBELLION

Here's SIMON TEST getting up to all sorts of exciting escapades on six covers of SMASH! from 1970.  This is the latest in our cover gallery featuring this titanic title from 40-odd years ago, and it was one of Britain's best periodicals for boys in an age when there was still a comics industry in this country, as opposed to the 'craft fair' that exists today.

I've mentioned before that, spectacular as these covers are, I think IPC missed a trick by not alternating the featured character from week-to-week, as it would surely have intrigued potential new readers to see a different face staring up at them from newsagents' counters from time to time.  Any thoughts on the matter?

PART TWO Of UNTOLD TALES Of SPIDER-MAN COVER & IMAGE GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

And now, another big bunch of covers and images from UNTOLD TALES Of SPIDER-MAN, a retro-mag from the 1990s which set its stories back in the days of LEE & DITKO's era of the wondrous web-slinger.  I filled you in on just about everything you need to know about the mag last time, so there's no point going over old ground.  Instead, let's focus on the difference between comics of today and what I like to call 'the good ol' days'.  In a local comicbook store recently, I overheard someone talking about the subject.  He may only have been referring to a specific title, but his comment was apropos to most contemporary comicbooks, the main purpose of which seems to be to provide content for collected editions and thereby sell the same material twice.

"You've got to read them all together or they don't make any sense!" was what he said, referring to a continuing story-arc in a series of issues of the same title.  And he's right.  I can't be bothered with all that.  When I pick up a comic, I want it to be self-contained, or - if it's a continued story - to be no more than three or four issues at most.  That was the good thing about the comics of a now-vanished era; there may have been a continuing sub-plot to keep the reader interested, but the main storyline was usually done and dusted in one ish.  The only comic I know of that does this today is DAREDEVIL in PANINI's The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL.

Got any thoughts on the matter?  Then you know where the comments section is.  In the meantime, enjoy the piccies from a comic that knew how to give readers what they wanted.

THE STORY OF THE JAMES BOND THEME...

Does what it says on the tin.  Enjoy!

BABE Of The DAY - KIM KARDASHIAN (AGAIN)...

KIM KARDASHIAN - all I know

about her is she's in some US TV show

I've never seen.  Hey, that's all I need to

 know - that, and the fact she's a babe!

DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!

Remember these little items?  I used to go crazy for them as a kid.  I've got a modern equivalent, bought a few years ago in Glasgow, but one day I must track down an original one.  I've got the baking powder all ready and waiting.  (Update: now got one.)  Anyone else recall these great little free gift toys?  Let's hear all about it.

YET ANOTHER AMAZING FANTASY - THREE, IN FACT...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Okay, so here's a question for you Crivs - exactly how many issues were there of AMAZING FANTASY?  Including, of course, the issues originally called AMAZING ADVENTURES and AMAZING ADULT FANTASY.  Fifteen, right?  Wrong!  Eighteen, in fact.  That's because, back in the mid-'90s, MARVEL published another three issue continuing the numbering from what had once been the final AF featuring SPIDER-MAN.  What you're looking at here is Volume 1, Numbers 16, 17 & 18, thirty-two years after the fact.  These adventures are set between AF #15 and ASM #1, and your collection isn't complete without them.  Straight on to eBay with you.

And below is the most famous issue in the series.

BABE Of The DAY - KATE WINSLET (AGAIN)...

Am I imagining it, or does KATE

WINSLET more than slightly resemble

MADONNA when she was a little younger?

Regardless, she's a pure babe, so here's a

 pic of her for you lads to drool over.

HE'LL HAVE TO GO - OR, IN GLASGOW PARLANCE, "GET HIM TAE FECK!" (NO, I DON'T MEAN JIM.)

Here's JIM REEVES lip-syncing to his biggest hit, HE'LL

HAVE TO GO.  It was unusual for Jim not to sing 'live', when he

could, so the reason for the lip-syncing is a bit of a mystery.  Maybe a

guest spot on a show with not enough space for his backing band?

Anyone know?  (Anyone care?)  Still a brilliant song though.

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD - FF #306...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Recently, I posted a gallery of some FANTASTIC FOUR covers - #s 297 -312, to be precise.  However, there was one ish missing from my collection - #306 - whose image I had to borrow from eBay to fill the gap.  I don't know why that particular number had eluded me back in 1987, and although I'd always intended  to track it down, I somehow just never got 'round to it.  Funny how a whopping 28 years can slip by without one noticing, eh?

However, the long wait is over.  I bought one a few days back and it arrived today, so I'm an ecstatically happy chappie.  Here it is, along with its splash page to celebrate the momentous occasion.  I was only half the age I am now when I should have bought this ish, and I was living in a different house in another neighbourhood - in a whole different century, in fact - but fate has finally rectified the oversight and united us at last.  (Well, fate, eBay, and two-odd quid, to be precise.)  Praise be to the Internet.

Okay, frantic ones - feast your eyes on these two images featuring the FF's fabulous foray into the fantastic.  It's what comics (and blogs devoted to them) were invented for!

PART SIXTEEN Of COMIC COVERS 'SNAP'!

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

In case you didn't know, The MIGHTY THOR #126 was the first ish not to bear the JOURNEY Into MYSTERY masthead which had graced its cover for the previous 125 issues.  Not that it matters much, because it's really the art we're here to look at today, not the name of the mag.  So look to your heart's content, and see if you can spot what those clever MARVEL chappies have done with the cover of #458.  The clue is in the name of this blog post, if that's any help to you.

Any preferences, frantic ones?  Which and why?

BABE Of The DAY - KATE UPTON (AGAIN)...

You're on the beach and you suddenly

collapse from the heat.  As you slowly come

round, you see the beautiful KATE UPTON

bending over you, about to administer the kiss

of life.  So what would you do?  It's obvious,
isn't it?  You'd faint again from the shock

of disbelief, is what you'd do.