CANDY'S THUNDERBIRDS...

Here's an odd one for your consideration.  From CANDY #14, April 22nd 1967, published by CENTURY 21, comes THUNDERBIRDS as you've never seen them before.  (Unless you bought the comic back in the day, that is.)  Candy was a nursery comic, and at 9d, seems rather expensive for a 20 page periodical.  I must confess to being surprised that it managed a 154 issue run, as well as numerous Annuals and storybooks.

WHIZZER & CHIPS ANNUAL COVER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Copyright relevant owner

Here's a little 'comic' relief (pun intended) in the form of part three of our WHIZZER & CHIPS Annual cover gallery.  There's just something about these colourful images that conjures up memories of the past, particularly around Christmas, when these books were usually given as Yuletide presents to eager children everywhere.

Did you have one of these bumper books when you were a kid?  Don't hold back now, share your happy reminiscences with your fellow Criv-ites.  Remember - it's your duty!

KID KLASSICS: WHEN TITANS CLASH, ETERNITY BECKONS...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Picture the scene: The living-room is lit by a standard lamp in the far corner, which casts its soft, warm glow over the fixtures, fittings and furniture - as well as the inhabitants, of which I am one.  Adding to the gentle light are the diffused rays from the coal-effect fire and the flickering images from the TV screen.  Father sits reading his paper, whilst mother stands behind him, ironing, and glancing occasionally at whatever's on 'the box'.  Sibling is out somewhere, either visiting friends or perhaps even working on his car in his lockup across the road.

As for myself, I'm sat beside a large brass 'log-box' in which was once stored coal for a 'real' fire, both in our present house and in the previous one.  On the floor, at my feet, sits a collection of comics, some of which were purchased, mail-order, from DAVE HERN of Bournemouth's WONDERWORLD COMICS, which, as far as I know, is still going strong (hopefully).

It's around 7 or 8 o'clock on a dusky Autumn evening and, outside, the 'tang' of the season permeates the air with its distinctive aroma peculiar to the time of year.  Inside, peace and tranquillity reign supreme, and all seems right with the world.  It's the year 1981 - or perhaps even '82 - and in my blissful state of ignorance, I'm unaware that, in a year and a half or so, my family will once again be moving to yet another house in another neighbourhood, with all the inconvenience, turmoil and trauma that such events always bring.  (Regular readers will know that we returned to our previous abode four years later.)

But for the moment, all is as it should be.  Contentment and harmony are the order of the day as I leisurely peruse some of my recent four-colour acquisitions.  It's entirely possible that I may be compressing separate-but-similar evenings into one, but it seems to me, looking back from this distance in time, that amongst my comics stash that night were the very ones whose images adorn this hopefully poignant post.

Sometimes, nowadays, I'll try and re-create and recapture a hint of that narcotic night so many years ago - and, occasionally, I even succeed.  However, it's only ever a brief taste, self-consciously indulged in (like a guilty pleasure) before the moment fades like a phantom's fleeting passing in the mist.  I still have the comics, but not all of the other participants of that long-ago picturesque presentation have survived to reprise their previous roles in the play.  One by one they fell by the wayside, victims of Time.  (As we all must do one day, difficult as the idea is to accept.)

And so I take my leave of you for now, in the hope that my reminiscence, accompanied by such valiant visual images, has helped to summon some memorable memories from your own dim and distant days of yesteryear.  The ghosts of the past are always present - but sometimes we must strain to see them, or hear their siren call.

BABE Of The DAY - CARLA GUGINO...

Thought you'd like to see a pic

of my girlfriend.  Of course, she's only

my girlfriend in some alternate universe,

but if that's as close as I'm ever going to

get to stunning CARLA GUGINO,

 then I'll take what I can get. 

KELLOGG'S CRAZY CRATER CRITTERS...

Remember these?  I used to have a full set at one time, but no more, alas.  I really wish that KELLOGG'S would reissue some of their great giveaways of yesteryear - some of them were very nice little collectables indeed.  Anybody got any they'd like to sell?

And thanks to the generosity of PC, I now have a full set of these little critters (different colours to the ones seen here).

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

Most of the time, I'm happy to

be single.  Then I see a goddess like

CATERINA MURINO and I wish I

were married - to her twin sister (if she

has one).  Ah, a man can dream.  With

a wife like this, you'd never want to

  leave the house, would you?  

KEN REID'S DARE-A-DAY DAVY (Guest-Starring NICK FURY, AGENT Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) - PART ONE...

POW! #1 January 21st 1967

Here are three DARE-A-DARE DAVY strips from POW!, first published back in 1967.  Drawn by the irrepressible KEN REID in his usual manic style, these pages are a visual delight to the eyes and deserve to be collected in a deluxe hardback book for posterity.  In fact, I believe someone did that very thing a few years ago, but the limited print run has long sold out, so you've had your chips, chums.

I have all the Davy strips in some form or other; I've virtually a complete set of Pow!, although some of them are in a bound volume and therefore difficult (if not impossible) to scan.  In such instances, if I ever post any more of the strip, some instalments will be from black and white reprints and others will be from the original issues.  I'm sure you'll be equally appreciative regardless of the source.

POW! #20 June 3rd 1967

The above strip probably wouldn't be allowed now in a comic for kids because of Davy's reference to him committing suicide.  To me, it seems that Davy actually means that the nature of the dare is 'suicidal' rather than the intent, although the result is likely to be the same.  The result in the 'real' world of course, but this is comics.  However, the wording isn't clear on the distinction, so if it were to be reprinted, the speech balloon would probably be changed. 

(Funnily enough, it's rumoured that Ken actually pitched the idea of a strip about a character who tries to kill himself every week, but it was rejected, no doubt on the grounds that it would be regarded as being in bad taste.  Years later, someone with no such sensibilities produced a strip on the theme for VIZ comic (thanks, McScotty), but as it's not a mag I buy, I can't show you an example.  (Phew!)

POW! #33 September 2nd 1967

As you can see, MARVEL's NICK FURY makes an appearance in the above strip (in what looks like a TV21 DALEK spaceship, no less), which was perfectly natural as Pow! reprinted Nick's adventures inside the comic.  (As the pair were stablemates, why not have a little fun with them, eh? )  I doubt it was ever regarded as 'the team-up of the century' or 'the battle you demanded', but it was actually quite significant in its way, in that it was one of the earliest inter-company crossover examples in comics history.

Note also the suggestion that Nick Fury is British (unless, of course, he merely means that his current mission concerns the U.K.).  All American references were usually deleted and revised in the pages of Pow! (and its companion papers), so young kids were probably unware that the reprint strips were originally set in the States. 

Want to see more of Davy?  Dare me!

The TITANS CENTRE-SPREAD POSTER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Why waste time with words you don't want to read?  Let's cut to the chase and get straight into these centre-spread pin-ups from THE TITANS weekly, first published back in the mid-'70s by MARVEL U.K.

Got a favourite?  Then let us know, frantic one.

Conan copyright CPI

SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT...

Illustration by MICHAEL FOREMAN

All children, except one, grow up.  They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this.  One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother.  I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, "Oh, why can't you remain like this forever!"  This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up.  You always know after you are two.  Two is the beginning of the end.

So wrote author J. M. BARRIE in the opening paragraph of PETER PAN.  And it's true; I know because I had a similar experience when I was three or four years old.  My mother had been outlining my future to me one day, probably preparing me for when I'd be starting primary school.  "And what happens then?" I asked, curious about what lay before me.  There then followed a description of the different stages of my life to which I could 'look forward', interspersed at each pause with "And what happens then?" from myself.  Eventually, having worked through my life from primary school to adulthood, she rested from her labours, thinking her duty done.

"And what happens then?" I again enquired, tenacious infant that I was.  She thought for a moment before replying  "Then you grow old."  The inevitable "And what happens then?" from me.  "Then you die," she said, simply.  I had no concept of death, so persisted.  "And what happens then?"  I was like a broken record, but probably more grating.  "Nothing happens then - when you're dead, you're dead," she said, matter-of-factly.

(I should perhaps here mention that my mother's response was a surprising one, given her own beliefs.  She went to church and sent me and my brother to Sunday school, and did, in fact, subscribe to the concept of the afterlife, though probably more from a superstitious point of view than from an informed one.  I can only assume that she regarded such an idea beyond my young powers of comprehension, and was speaking merely from the physical perspective.)

This greatly disturbed me, and when I was put to bed that evening, I couldn't sleep.  I eventually made my way downstairs, repeating "I don't want to die, I don't want to die!" over and over again.  It's no exaggeration to say that the notion of total oblivion had traumatised me.  My parents did their best to console me, saying that death was a long way off and that I shouldn't be concerned with it.  I eventually calmed down, but could never quite escape the dark shadow of the fate that loomed ahead of me.  I decided there and then that if growing up meant growing old, and growing old meant dying, then I would simply never grow up!  I'd be a child forever.  I stated aloud my determination and was then put back to bed, where sleep eventually claimed me.

Henceforth, whenever any friends of my parents would ask me (as friends of parents inevitably will) what I was going to be when I grew up, before I could even answer, my parents would respond with "He's not going to grow up, he's going to be just like Peter Pan!"  (This happened on more than one occasion.)  It was therefore surprising when I picked up J. M. Barrie's book in my thirties to find a similar experience to my own recounted in its opening pages.  How amazing is that?  A story about a boy with whom I'd been compared from an early age, and the very first paragraph resonates immediately.  Curiously, like WALT DISNEY's version of the character (though it's not in the book), I've never been able to click my fingers.

It's rather apt, then, that in my teenage years, my nickname became 'Kid', which I've been called ever since.  (The story behind that can be found here.)  Not everyone who knew me was aware of the appellation though, only a particular group of friends and acquaintances (and their families) who lived in my neighbourhood.  When I started freelancing for IPC's 2000 A.D. in 1985, I used it in the credit boxes because it was easier to fit in the allocated space.

"Two is the beginning of the end."  However, I refuse to grow old.  I'm going to be a "boy eternal" (as SHAKESPEARE put it) and try my best to retain what KENNETH GRAHAME calls "the spirit of youth" within me.  In the end, of course, it may not stave off expiration, but life is a hell of a lot more fun along the way.

BOBBY DRAKE - STRAIGHT AS A DIE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Let me tell you about my pal, ROBERT - or BOBBY as he was called by all those who knew him.  Bobby usually hung about with another group of friends, but they let me share in their exploits from time to time.  Bobby was slightly... different to most boys and attended a special school.  In fact, so did his four closest friends, SCOTT, WARREN, HANK and JEAN.  I knew them from when I was about eight, though they were all slightly older than me - teenagers actually.  Not that it mattered much, as they never held my junior years against me.  At some stage we drifted apart and I lost track of them.  I later heard a rumour that Jean had died, but I was never quite sure whether she actually had or not.

Today I heard that Bobby came out as gay, which surprised me.  He always seemed interested in girls and even had a girlfriend called ZELDA.  I suspect that the Professor at the special school he used to attend has convinced him by devious means to issue this claim, in some kind of PC/PR attempt to make the place seem more inclusive of different types of people.  Or perhaps it was the company he works for.  However, the Bobby I knew was as straight as they come and, to me, he always will be.  I don't care what he or anyone else says - he's not gay.  Never was, never will be.

BOB HOPE once joked that he didn't mind homosexuality being legal, just so long as it didn't become compulsory.  Poor Bobby.  It seems he's become the latest victim in the PR assault to transform the world into a place that reflects the tastes, desires and whims of a small percentage of the world's population.  It appears that tolerance isn't enough for them - they won't be content until they achieve total world domination.

Sounds like a job for the X-MEN.  The original X-Men, that is, as their creators intended them to be.  Which weren't as pawns in the hands of those with no respect for the characters' history, so cavalierly abandoned in pursuit of an agenda.

 

KELLOGG'S THUNDERBIRDS CRAFT...

Copyright relevant owner

Remember the great little THUNDERBIRDS craft that cereal company KELLOGG'S gave away in packets of SUGAR SMACKS back in 1967?  I used to have all four and thought they were absolutely superb.  Would love to own them again, so I suppose I'd better get back on to eBay.  Maybe I might strike it lucky.

Incidentally, someone is selling a broken Thunderbird 4 on ebay for a 'mere' £79.99.  What a chancer!  (Update: I've now acquired a TB2 & TB4 without having to break the bank.  Great condition too.)

BABE Of The DAY - KELLY BROOK...

                                               I'm scratching my belly,

                                                                    my feet are real smelly,

                                                                    there's nothing on telly,

                                                                    so here's lovely KELLY -

                                                                 BROOK, that is.

SEAN CONNERY ON WHAT'S MY LINE...

WHAT'S MY LINE?  Surely the answer to that is "My name's Bond... James Bond!"?  Take a look at this clip - it's pretty obvious that the panel knew who it was all along, as there's nothing 'Big Tam' says that gives his identity away in the slightest.

DON'T GET ON MY NERVS - PART ONE...

Copyright REBELLION

From the first combined issue of SMASH! & POW! (#137), September 14th 1968, comes The NERVS by the late KEN REID.  Every U.K. comics reader of a certain age knows who Ken is, and recognises his immense stature and prominent position in the pantheon of great British cartoonists and illustrators.  If you're a 'newbie' who is unfamiliar with Ken's work, before you now lies the joy of discovery of something truly precious.  Enjoy! 

SUPERMAN'S BOY FRIEND, JIMMY OLSEN...?

Image copyright DC COMICS

You're looking at a corner cover icon that JACK KIRBY drew for DC's JIMMY OLSEN magazine which, for some reason, was never used.  It's natural to wonder why, and being the inquisitive soul that I am, I did.  After all, icons were used for other Kirby DC mags, so why not this one.  (A SWAN & ANDERSON icon appeared in its place.)

Could it be that, when reduced, it kind of looks as though Jimmy is trying to grab his pal's hand as they skip gaily side-by-side?  Perhaps DC bigwigs felt that the image was just a tad too 'camp' for their greatest superhero and his best buddy, but whatever the reason, it was never used at the time, only turning up in print years later in, I think, a TWOMORROWS publication.

Of course, nowadays, in an age when some prat in pursuit of an agenda dares suggest that Supes should be turned gay or bisexual so that certain minorities can feel good about themselves, it may well yet see service if such a thing should ever come about.  Let's hope not, eh?  Not even a nice bit of Kirby art is worth messing with a legend.

(And let's face it - CLARK BENT doesn't have quite the same ring to it.)