CAPTAIN BRITAIN COVER, SPLASH PAGE & IMAGE GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

You asked for it!  You pleaded for it!  You demanded it!  But I'm still not going anywhere, so you'll just have to get used to me being around here on Bloggerland for a long time yet!  However, don't despair, because here's a post you're bound to like - the first instalment of a fantastic CAPTAIN BRITAIN cover, splash page and image gallery to thrill and astound you!

Just look at the artists on view - BUSCEMA, STERANKO, LIEBER, and, of course, the late, great HERB TRIMPE, who was CB's very first artist when Cap made his debut way back in October of 1976.  Wow!!  A mere kick in the pants off 40 years ago, when Herb was yet in his mid-'30s and one of the shining stars in the Merry MARVEL firmament.  A whole lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, but the good Captain is still around today, something of which Herb would surely be immensely proud!

So prepare to refresh your magical memories of the long-ago days of your youth, as we plunge head first into a pulsatin' plethora of pulse-pounding pictures which you're sure to swoon at.  And if by some chance you're seeing these awesome images for the very first time, then I envy you!  You're in for a titanic treat that you won't soon forget.  But that's enough prattling preamble from me - wonderment aplenty lies ahead and shouldn't be delayed.

Excelsior!

A TRIBUTE To GENE COLAN...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Back in 2008, three years before he passed away, MARVEL COMICS, in conjunction with The HERO INITIATIVE, released a 100 page Special called A TRIBUTE TO GENE COLAN.  As everybody and their brother knows, Gene Colan was an artistic master of light, shade and atmosphere.  True, sometimes his figures looked as though their limbs were sprouting from odd points on their torso and, in his later years, his perspectives could be a little wonky, but, those weaknesses (and banana fingers) aside, Gene was, in his heyday, one of the undoubted comicbook greats of all time.

Doubtless his occasional lapses were down to the glaucoma which impaired his sight for the latter part of his life and made the act of pencilling difficult.  In fact, given that he was virtually blind in one eye and suffered tunnel vision in the other, it should have been impossible, so it's all the more remarkable that he could draw as well as he did.  It's almost akin to a paralysed man being an accomplished gymnast, but Colan turned out page after page of incredible art for decades, much to the delight of his many fans across the globe.

Anyway, if you're a fan of great comicbook art in general, or Gene (the Dean) Colan in particular, this ace mag is one you might want to have in your collection if you don't own it already.  Five great tales of Mighty Marvel Magnificence at it's finest.  So what more can be said, apart, that is, from "Face front", " 'Nuff said" and "Excelsior!"?   Oh yeah - "Make Mine Marvel!"

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - CATERINA MURINO...

Here's all the relevant info you

need to know about CATERINA

MURINO, Italian actress who was

in BOND film CASINO ROYALE

 - she's a complete BABE!!!

HULK ARTIST HERB TRIMPE PASSES AWAY...

HERB TRIMPE, former penciller of THE INCREDIBLE HULK and MARVEL comicbook artist extraordinaire, has passed away at the age of 75.  Herb was also the original artist on CAPTAIN BRITAIN and illustrated a number of other iconic characters during his career, being the first artist to draw WOLVERINE (though it was LEN WEIN and JOHN ROMITA who came up with the idea and design for the X-MEN's most popular member). 

Who can forget Herb's wonderful artistic collaborations on the Hulk with JOHN SEVERIN, one of the chief delights of comicbook publishing back in the 1970s?   Herb was a giant of a man and a giant of an artist.  Considering his stature and where he surely is now, he's probably thinking at this very moment that "Heaven is a very small place!"  Rest in peace, Herb.

******

HERB TRIMPE -

Born:  May 26th 1939 - Died:  April 13th, 2015.

BETTIE PAGE COMICS...

Images copyright DARK HORSE COMICS

The ol' memory may be going, I'm afraid.  I thought I'd already featured this comic in a previous post, but I can't find it on the blog.  So, just to be on the safe side, I thought I'd better do it again (or the first time, if I haven't already done it).

I'm not sure whether the above art by the late DAVE STEVENS was originally drawn as an imaginary comic cover then turned into a real comic by DARK HORSE, or was simply a pin-up (sans masthead) utilised fifteen years later when the comic was published, though for some reason I have the impression it was the former scenario.  This is the only ish in my collection, but I think there were at least another two issues.

BETTIE PAGE, as every fully paid-up perv will know, was a '50s pin-up model who had the uncanny ability of being nude without appearing to be naked (if you know what I mean), so natural and unselfconscious was she in her 'birthday suit'.  In later life she suffered from psychiatric problems and tried to stab three people, for which she spent some time in a mental institution.  Before all that, however, she had been PLAYBOY's 'playmate of the month' in the January 1955 issue.

Unfortunately, the tremendously talented Dave Stevens died at the ridiculously young age of 52 on March 11th, 2008, and Bettie Page herself passed away nine months later on December 11th, aged 85.  If you're a fan of Bettie (or Dave), this is one you might want to consider tracking down on eBay.  Shouldn't be too expensive.