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

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I'm a creature of habit.  Every Saturday, back in the 1970s, myself and some pals would drop in to BAIRDS tea room on the top floor of the prestigious Scottish department store and partake of some tea and cakes.  Invariably, I'd have some newly-bought comics with me, which I'd flick through while waiting to be served.  (It was waitress service at that time.)  So some of the images you see before you I associate with that time and place.

I also associate them with my house, because once back home, I'd pore over those comics in greater detail.  At some time in the late '70s or early '80s, I gave all my CAPTAIN BRITAINs to a pal (with the exception of #1), but in the mid-'80s, I acquired a replacement set, in dribs and drabs, of the complete 39 issues.  We were living in another house by then, so that means, whenever I look at these comics today, I associate them not only with the tea room, but two different houses in equal measure.

I find it quite strange that I can look at a comic and think of my room in the house I lived at the time of my original purchase, while also almost simultaneously thinking of the room in the house I stayed when I acquired its replacement years later.  As I've said before somewhere, it sometimes seems like I've lived two lives around the same set of comics.  Bizarre or what?

However, you're not here to read my waffle - it's the comics you're interested in!  So, considerate host that I am, I'll now shut up and let you jump into the good stuff.

HOW TO DRAW COMICS THE MARVEL WAY - THE MOVIE...

For those who loved the book, here's the 'movie'.

(Copyright MARVEL COMICS of course.)

BABE Of The DAY - 'INDIANA JANE'...

"H'mm, who's the handsomest man

I know?" ponders stunning 'INDIANA

JANE'.  Well, no need to wonder about

it, gal - that'll be me!  And have I told

 you before just how modest I am?

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - THE MAN OF STEEL #1...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Two for the price of one this time around, although it's the same comic.  This was the one that launched the post-CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS incarnation of SUPERMAN,  though to my way of thinking, it was fixing something that wasn't actually broken.  This one I could live with, but the DC Universe has been revised so many times since then that I've lost interest and no longer buy any current titles.  Haven't done in many a year in fact, so well done DC COMICS for driving readers away in droves with your constant needless tinkering.

HUNK Of The MONTH - ME!

Photo taken by Ian MacNair (with my camera)

Here's a shot of my stunningly manly, handsome self from a few short years ago, when I had some of my vast collection on display.  Last year, I had to pack it all away to allow workmen to lift the floorboards to lay some new pipes, etc., and most of it is still up in my loft, but I'll get it all down again one day.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORY...

This song became BOB HOPE's signature tune,

but here's the first time he sang it, with SHIRLEY

ROSS, in the movie The BIG BROADCAST Of

1938.  And no, I wasn't around then.

BABE Of The DAY - RAQUEL WELCH...

Took this pic when me an' RAQUEL

were at Largs last year.  As you see, she's in

great nick for her age and utterly adores me.

You'll all need to excuse me now, as I have a

doctor's appointment 'cos I keep having odd

dreams I'm convinced are real.  (Get your

 coat, luv - we're off to the doc's!)

PART TEN OF NEAL ADAMS' BATMAN COVER GALLERY...

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS.  Copyright DC COMICS

Alas, we're now at the end of the trail with our NEAL ADAMS' BATMAN cover gallery, but don't despair.  I'm pretty sure that the talented Mr. Adams artwork will pop up again on this Blog in the not too distant future.  In the meantime, savour the covers on display in this post - then go back and revisit the previous nine parts in the series.  Hey, there are worse things to do with your time.

Got a favourite in this batch?  Then feel entirely free to wax lyrical over it in the comments section.

Pencils by NEAL ADAMS, inks by DICK GIORDANO

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencils & inks by NEAL ADAMS

Pencil & inks by NEAL ADAMS

ISBN:  4012-0407-4

The FINEST FEELING In The WORLD...

Image copyright DC COMICS

I've got a question for you all, but first let me waffle on for a bit.  In 1969, I bought The MIGHTY THOR #158, which was the first of a two-part story examining the origins of the thunder god.  It was around six years before I finally got to read the conclusion, which was reprinted (in two episodes) in the pages of a 1975 British weekly MARVEL title (SMCW #s 125 & 126).  Ten years later, I managed to obtain Thor #159 - along with a replacement of #158 - both of which I still have today.  It's good to eventually catch up with one's past.

Another occasion was when I finally tracked down a copy of the third WILLY The KID book by LEO BAXENDALE - a mere 31 years after the fact.  Being able to place it on the shelf alongside the previous two books (which I'd purchased when first released) gave me a feeling of immense accomplishment.  Same goes for when I obtained two missing issues for the 17 ish run of X-MEN: The EARLY YEARS a whopping 19 years after the series had finished.  Then there was the 40 years between buying the first CAPTAIN AMERICA King Size Special and finally adding #2 to my collection.

However, the record time it's taken me to track down a follow-up issue of a mag to find out how a story ends is a whopping 46 (possibly 47) years.  The periodical in question is WORLD'S FINEST COMICS #180 which I received today, acquired from eBay for a modest price.  (For the story behind its predecessor, click here.)  What's interesting (to me anyway) is the fact that the door of the room in which I've just read the wrap-up, bears the actual number plate of the house in which I lived when I read the initial part of the tale all those years ago.  (I bought the number from the then-current tenant of my former abode back in 1991.)  A nice touch of continuity, I thought.

So, was it worth the wait?  Well, it's nice to finally know what happened, but the issue was never going to make the same impression on my consciousness as that of its predecessor, simply because I'm not as impressionable as I was at 9 or 10.  One look at the first part of the tale and I'm back in my old house again, the intervening years yet to occur, but I haven't had WFC #180 long enough for it to conjure forth any associated images in my mind.  That'll take time.

Anyway, enjoy the cover and a few pages from this latest acquisition to my cataclysmic comics collection.  And here's the question I mentioned at the beginning of this post: What's the longest period of time it's taken you to find and fill a missing gap in your collection?  Can you beat 46 years?  Do tell, if you'd be so good.

Is this the first U.S. splash page to continue from the cover?  If you know of any others, spill...

BUT YOU LOVE ME, DADDY...

The studio version of this song featured JIM REEVES and 9 year old STEVE MOORE, but if I recall correctly, there was a demo version with DOROTHY DILLARD.  This one combines Steve's & Dorothy's contributions.

BABE Of The DAY - KELLY BROOK...

KELLY BROOK combines the look

of a genuine sex goddess with that 'girl

next door' quality.  Let me tell you, if the

girl next door to me looked like Kelly,

 I'd be wanting to live next door.

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - TV CENTURY 21 1965 SUMMER EXTRA...

Copyright relevant owner

Don't ask me what went wrong with the cover of TV CENTURY 21 SUMMER EXTRA, released back in the summer (natch) of 1965.  (Or should that be 2065?) Why, what's wrong with it you might be asking.  'Make your own GARTOON characters' says the cover blurb.  Catch that?  'GARTOONS', not 'CARTOONS'.

There are at least three possible explanations, so let's speculate for a moment.  It's just a mistake is the most obvious one, but let's stretch it out for a bit, because I need to fill space and, when it comes to what I write,  I'm my own biggest fan.  (No surprise there then, eh?)

The cartoonist's name is 'Garfield', or 'Gartshore', or something beginning with 'Gar', so it's intended simply as a pun.  Not convinced?  Nah, neither am I.  How about this?  The designer had run out of the letter 'C' in his LETRASET rub-down transfers - used a 'G', intending to turn it into a 'C' - and then got distracted or just forgot.

Right, that's all I can think of, but if you've got a better idea, impress your fellow Criv-ites with it in the comments section.

KLASSIC KOMIC (ANNUAL) KOVERS - THE BEANO BOOK 1967...

Image copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

Ah, The BEANO BOOK 1967 (released in '66).  To those people of that 'certain age' I'm always referring to, this cover will usher them straight back to the 1960s faster then you just read this intro.  The '60s - the era of The BEATLES, BOND, BATMAN - and The Beano.  The comic was never better than it was then - although if you read it in the '50s perhaps you'd disagree.  No matter.  I'm the boss around here and I overrule you, so there!  (Ha!  The unlimited power that comes from having a blog.)

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - TARZAN'S FIRST DC ISSUE...

Copyright relevant owner

The preceding 206 issues of TARZAN had been published by DELL COMICS (1-130) and then GOLD KEY, making DC's first ish #207 - but, hey - the number 1 in big letters always looks good on a cover, so this 1972 mag had both sets of numerical identification on its JOE KUBERT eye-grabbing illo!

LET'S HAVE A MONSTER MASH-UP...

Images copyright TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING

Just look at this superb book all about the monster craze of the 1960s (which actually started in 1957 and lasted until the early '70s).  It's called MONSTER MASH and covers practically every aspect of the subject that people of a certain age are bound to find fascinating.  (If you're quick, you may still be able to buy a copy at your local comicbook store.)

BABE Of The DAY - KELLY BROOK...

It's a little known fact KELLY BROOK

fancies me. True, it's on a parallel Earth in

an alternate universe in another dimension,

 but that surely counts for something?

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - DETECTIVE COMICS #359...

Images copyright DC COMICS

DETECTIVE COMICS #359 introduced BATGIRL to the BATMAN family.  What was Bats thinking of?  He should have copyrighted the franchise and charged BARBARA GORDON to use the name.  Doesn't matter that BRUCE WAYNE is already a millionaire - it's the principle of the thing.

BABE Of The DAY - LYNNE FREDERICK...

Well, do you believe in ghosts,

Mr. Blunden?  The lovely and (alas)

 late LYNNE FREDERICK.

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - BUSTER #1...

Copyright REBELLION

Lasting nearly 40 years, BUSTER, in its heyday, was one of the most successful British weekly comics of all time.  The lead character was initially the son of ANDY CAPP, a daily comic strip by REG SMTHE which appeared in The DAILY MIRROR, but this connection was soon forgotten.  Not difficult to do, considering that Buster's mum looked little like FLO, Andy's beleaguered wife.  Were we to assume that Buster was the illegitimate son of Andy and another woman?  If so, how subversive!

Regardless, Buster was a hit - with or without Andy as a father.  However, all things have their time, and Buster the comic breathed its last at the end of December 1999.  By then it was a fortnightly, so it was dated into 2000 when the next issue - if there had been one - would've appeared.  It's hard to believe that it's been over 15 years since Buster comic's demise and, aside from one reprint special a few years ago, Buster and has pals haven't been seen since.  Could Buster one day live again?  It seems unlikely.

******

It appears that Buster was supposed to be Andy & Flo's kid after all, as announced on page 7 of The Daily Mirror on Saturday, May 21st 1960.

WHEN YOU WERE SWEET SIXTEEN...

Ah, The MILLS BROTHERS - now they

knew how to sing.  Go on, have a listen.