PART TWO Of TV EXPRESS COVER GALLERY...

Characters copyright relevant and respective owners

Some lovely RON EMBLETON artwork from before his days on TV CENTURY 21.  Who'd ever have thought that BIGGLES would be the cover star on a comic, eh?  Anyway, I'll leave you to admire the pretty piccies - don't forget to come back for part three.

FINAL PART (TWELVE) Of PLAYMATES From FAR-AWAY PLACES...

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

At last!  The final 'playmates' page from LITTLE STAR comic. TONTO the TOUCAN seems to be the star of this entry, despite ROSA getting star billing - and that's how it should be.   So sod off, Rosa, you're not wanted here.  It's drinks all round for everyone else - and guess what, Crivvies?  Tonto's taking care of the bill!  (Nah, that 'joke' works better with ducks or geese, doesn't it?  Oh well, I tried.)

******

(Though the word 'bill' does also apply to perching birds.)

MORE YOGI & HUCK...

Copyright relevant owner

From the pages of TV EXPRESS WEEKLY (or one of its name variants), comes another couple of strips featuring HUCKLEBERRY HOUND and YOGI BEAR.  I'd guess that not too many American readers will have ever seen these before as I believe they were produced in Britain, rather than being mere reprints of U.S. material.   If you know different, let me know in the comments section, HB fans.

The BLUE DOG & The BROWN BEAR...

Copyright relevant owner

Again, from TV EXPRESS WEEKLY, comes a page (in two halves) featuring HUCK & YOGI in their very own strips.  This likely won't interest you one tiny bit, but there was a boy (ROBERT or ROBIN GOLDIE) in my class in primary school who was the double of Huck - as was his sister.  No, they didn't have blue skin or tails, but the pair of them had the exact same expression.  Every time I see Huck I think of them.  Strange but true.

BABE Of The DAY - JANE RUSSELL...

Here's a Babe who's no 'plain-Jane',

even though her name is actually Jane -

JANE RUSSELL, to be precise.  It looks

like her dress could do with some buttons

and bows, but who's going to complain

 about that?  Certainly not me!

PLAYMATES From FAR-AWAY PLACES - PART ELEVEN...

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

They should have made the dolphin that week's playmate, I think.  Far more interesting than that little grandstander CANDY, who's doing her upmost to upstage the magnificent mammal (who we'll call DOLLY) by simply holding a fish out to grab.  What's so clever about that?  It's Dolly who's doing all the work.

Just as well I wasn't there.  I'd have grabbed Candy by the ankle and dangled her over the pool for Dolly the dolphin to do some devastating damage to the dim and dizzy little damsel - like eat her.  Or do you think that's a bit harsh?  Sounds like a good plan to me.  Save the fish - feed a child to a dolphin today!

Hooray!  Only one more playmate page to go!

******

(Danny or Dolly?  Confused?  See the comments section.)

TV EXPRESS WEEKLY COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Characters copyright relevant and respective owners

This popular periodical had several title variations over its nearly 7 and a half year run.  The first was JUNIOR EXPRESS, then JUNIOR EXPRESS WEEKLY, followed by EXPRESS WEEKLY, then TV EXPRESS WEEKLY, and finally simply TV EXPRESS.  It started life as a newspaper for children in 1954, changing to a comic not too long after.  'TV' was later added to the title when it started to publish strips based on popular television shows of the time.

Back in the mid-'80s, an IPC editor gave me a stack of file copies of the comic, which I kept for around 25 years or so.  I'd never seen the comic as a child so I eventually parted with them so that others could appreciate them the way they deserve to be. First though, I scanned the HANNA-BARBERA strips and the covers of the smaller issues, photographing the larger ones.

Anyway, hopefully you'll enjoy the first part of this gallery and decide to come back for the other posts in the series.

And below is an issue from the title's earlier incarnation.

HE AIN'T NOTHIN' BUT A HOUND DOG...

Copyright relevant owner

Y'know, I always felt a little sorry for HUCKLEBERRY HOUND.  There he was, the star of a hit TV series, and one of his support acts becomes more popular and is then awarded a show of his own.  However, before the eclipsing of Huck by YOGI was complete, he still had a strip in TV EXPRESS WEEKLY.  Here are four of them.

BEAR Of The DAY - YOGI BEAR...

Copyright relevant owner

I can't remember if I've posted these three particular YOGI BEAR comic strips from TV EXPRESS WEEKLY before, and I'm just far too lazy to check, so here they are anyway.  The baseball player whom Yogi was named after, passed away at the age of 90 a couple of days ago (LAWRENCE PETER 'YOGI' BERRA), but hopefully the cartoon bruin will always be around.

Nothing reminds me of my childhood as much as Yogi.

   

PART TEN Of CAPTAIN BRITAIN COVER, SPLASH PAGE & IMAGE GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

A change of plan, Criv-ites.  I'd intended to complete this series in two more parts (including this one), but there are so many images that I've now decided to do it in four, so there'll be three more after this post before we finally reach the end of the road.  RON WILSON was now the penciller of CAPTAIN BRITAIN's adventures (and had been since ish 31), and the changeover from JOHN BUSCEMA wasn't immediately obvious.  In fact, I didn't realize at first until I read it in the credits, so well done Ron for maintaining the look of the strip.

Anyway, if you were around in 1977 and reading Captain Britain, you now have the opportunity to relive happy days of yesteryear by perusing these pandemonious pictures from the past.  Enjoy.

   

I remember looking at this page and admiring Susie's 'classy chassis' while sitting in the
cafeteria on the top floor of BAIRDS department store on a Saturday afternoon in 1977

SUPERMAN SAVES LOIS - AGAIN...

Okay, let's be honest - overall, SUPERMAN

RETURNS was a bit of a stinker, but it managed

some good moments.  Here's the best one.