JAMES BOND PAPERBACKS... (Updated)

Images copyright PENGUIN BOOKS

You're looking at a set of PENGUIN paperback covers by RICHIE FAHEY, which were originally released in the States in 2002/'03.  In 2006, they were published in the U.K. (including introductions by various writers), and a new complete collection of IAN FLEMING's short stories was issued in the U.S. in 2008.  They were also issued as a Centenary boxed set in 2008, which didn't include the Quantum Of Solace (The Complete James Bond Short Stories) volume at the foot of this post, which is sold separately.  However, four of its nine stories appear in the volume just above it, despite only two being named in the title.

JAMES BOND novels have never looked so good!

BABE Of The DAY - ELKE SOMMER...

Here you go, chaps - ELKE SOMMER.

All I can say is, it's no wonder the West was

wild with women like her.  Yeeeehaaa!

KLASSIC KIRBY KOMIC KOVERS: The SANDMAN #1...

Image copyright DC COMICS

SIMON & KIRBY reunited, so that fact alone makes this issue a collectors' item.  This was a different SANDMAN to the one that the famous creators had introduced in the '40s, and was originally intended only as a one-shot.  However, it must've sold reasonably well, as five more issues appeared, but Simon was absent from them.  MICHAEL FLEISHER took over the scripting chores, with ERNIE CHUA (as Chan) drawing #s 2 & 3.  Kirby returned to draw #s 4-6, inked by MIKE ROYER, and, in the final issue, WALLY WOOD.

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...