BABE Of The DAY - JAMELIA...

Now appearing on STRICTLY

COME DANCING on BBC 1 (so I'm

told), here's lovely JAMELIA to send

all you Crivvies into a spin.

PART TWO Of PETE'S PICK Of The POST...

Copyright relevant owner

Another eight back pages of jokes from TV EXPRESS WEEKLY to hopefully give you a chuckle on this dreich Monday morning* in the less-than-merry month of October, Crivvie comics fans.  Supposedly introduced by popular presenter and DJ of the day (with a not always convincing illustrated likeness) PETE MURRAY, the comic was a brave attempt to compete with HULTON PRESS's EAGLE. 

It never quite rose to those heights, but RON EMBLETON's art (not seen here) was certainly the equal of FRANK HAMPSON's, in my estimation.  Wouldn't it be nice if both periodicals were still on the go today?  Along with TV21 and TV COMIC.

(*Well, it was morning when I composed this post.)

RON EMBLETON'S CAPTAIN SCARLET...

Copyright relevant owner

Here's a very nice piece of RON EMBLETON art, featuring CAPTAIN SCARLET and his fellow SPECTRUM agents, along with some of the craft used by them in their epic battle against the MYSTERONS.  It's the combined image from the back of a set of cards produced by ANGLO, which accompanied a particularly disgusting piece of confectionery back in the '60s, when the puppet programme was on TV. 

A DALEK CHRISTMAS...

I hadn't long started my new school and 'twas coming up for Christmas when my class was tasked with each creating a calendar for the approaching New Year of 1966.  This consisted of sticking a picture onto a piece of card and then attaching a calendar tab to the bottom of it.  I used a photo of The DALEKS, cut from the cover of an issue of TV CENTURY 21, the most likely candidate being #36, which I'd bought back in September while still in my old home and attending my previous primary school.

The reason I recall the event is because, surprisingly, I had no concept of the years changing number every January 1st and was slightly perplexed by the 1966 calendar tab.  My mother explained that it was currently 1965, which would become 1966 on the last stroke of midnight on December 31st .  For some reason I regarded 1965 as 'forever' and thought that the year would return to that number at some point in time not long after.  When I asked if this was so, my mother informed me of my misconception.

Yes, it's true - I was a remarkably thick child for my age, but, hey - I'd never had to write and date a letter, so what did I know about such things?  Well, nothing, obviously.  Incidentally, although I say that #36 was most likely the issue I culled the cover from, it could possibly have been from issue #s 23 or 28, as I think I'd cut and saved the Dalek pics from them.  We'll just say it was #36 though, as it was the most recent issue with a Dalek cover and therefore most probably was.

Of no interest to anyone but myself, but it's my blog and I'll reminisce if I want to.  Got any memories of this cover?  Then feel entirely free to share them with your fellow Criv-ites if you want to.   

HAVE YOU EVER TASTED A DALEK?

Copyright BBC TV and relevant owners

The above issue (#28) was only the second time that The DALEKS had appeared in a main colour pic on the cover of TV CENTURY 21, taken not from the TV series, but the DOCTOR WHO & The DALEKS movie.  The first time was #23, again from the movie, previous photos being small black & white or tinted pics from the BBC programme.

I always remember page 13, because my mother clipped out the chocolate Dalek recipe, and it remained tucked away inside one of her cook books for many a year.  I don't recall her ever making any, but I may give it a go myself one of these days.  Unfinished business.

So if you've never tasted a Dalek before, you may like to try making one for yourself.  You have the instructions - now... "BAKERATE!"

DALEKS BAGATELLE...

DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

I used to own this little beauty when I was a kid.  MARX TOYS did a lot of great stuff in their day, a shame they're not still around.  Anyone else have this DALEKS bagatelle?  (Update November 2024: And now I own it again.)

BABE Of The DAY - ANGELINA JOLIE...

Wow!  Look at those lips.  ANGELINA

JOLIE must've spent hours sucking porridge

through a straw to develop a kisser like that.

 Well worth it though, don'tcha think?!

PETE'S PICK Of The POST - PART ONE...

Copyright relevant owner

Here's a novelty post - some back covers from TV EXPRESS WEEKLY featuring readers' jokes, supposedly picked by popular radio DJ and TV presenter of the period, PETE MURRAY. Back in the mid-'80s, the depute editor of BUSTER told me that readers' letters were so thin on the ground, some weeks they just made them up.  Makes you wonder how many of the jokes on these pages were genuine readers' contributions that picked up £1, eh? 

PART TEN Of The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR COVER & IMAGE GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I remember buying the American ish of the FF (#161) that sported the above cover from a shop in Rutherglen in 1975, the same shop from which my maternal grandfather bought me a little plastic chariot in 1963 or '64.  So whenever I look at that cover, I think of that particular shop.  I wonder if it still exists today, so many years later?  I must find out.

I once possessed all the original U.S. 'modern' issues that were later reprinted in The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR comics you see here, but I'm not sure if I still had them when they showed up again (in b&w) in the British weekly.  (I replaced the U.S. issues years afterwards though.)  It only managed to hang on for 37 issues, but it was one of the better mags from MARVEL U.K. I thought, and deserved a far better fate than was its lot.  Or did you think it was a pile of poo?  Let us all know.

The main attraction for me was the classic '60s content reprinted in the back of the mag.  Early LEE & KIRBY tales are probably what I like best about Marvel, and I find it nigh-impossible to resist new presentations of them whenever they appear today.  Amongst the group of pals that hung out with me in the '70s was a lad called RICKY STEVENSON, aka 'BRITT', who, surprisingly, also bought the Fab Four's comic every week.

I say "surprisingly" because Britt aspired (and failed) to be a bit of a 'hard man', and reading superhero comics didn't really lend itself to that image.  I only recently learned that he died a few years back, and although we were never what could be described as close friends, I find myself rather saddened by the news of his demise.  I suppose that when part of our past disappears, we can't help but feel slightly diminished in some way, odd as it may seem.  An unwelcome reminder of our own mortality perhaps?  Not something we like to think about, is it?

So here's to the FF, the sizzlin' '70s, and also to Ricky.  Whenever I get around to re-reading these comics, I'll be sure to remember him as I recall seemingly happier and more innocent times of my long-gone teenage years.  Feel free to record your own reminiscences, if any, about this great British weekly in the comments section.

        

Here's a dinosaur for PC - just because he likes them

TV EXPRESS WEEKLY COVER GALLERY - PART FIVE...

Characters copyright relevant and respective owners

Try not to weep, wail, or gnash your teeth, frantic ones, but this is the final post for the moment of TV EXPRESS WEEKLY covers.  Remember, most of these images were scanned from my own personal issues before I parted company with them to make space.  I now wish I'd scanned more of the interior pages, but the HANNA-BARBERA strips were the only ones that really interested me.  I do have scans of some of the back cover joke pages, which I'll post if anyone else really wants to see them.  Anyway, I'd love to prattle on some more (you all know how much  I love to read my own words), but I'm overcome with emulsion.

  

And now, enjoy the covers on display for your pondering perusal.

And, finally, here are a couple of covers from before the comic had 'TV' added to the title.  Look at that terrific RON EMBLETON WULF The BRITON strip - spectacular stuff.

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - ACTION #1...

Copyright REBELLION

Hitting the shelves of newsagents' across Britain in February of 1976, ACTION #1 was a more anarchic, savage type of comic than it's predecessors like VALIANT and LION.  Within a relatively short time it was attracting the wrong kind of attention from the media for its graphic depictions of violence, and was withdrawn from circulation and then relaunched as a more anaemic, less potentially offensive periodical until it was merged with BATTLE in November of 1977.  However, legend has it that it inspired PAT MILLS to create one of the U.K.'s longest-lasting comics, 2000 A.D.

KEN MORRISON'S VERSION OF FIREBALL XL5...

Like FIREBALL XL5?  Then you'll probably

love this.  If not, your life must be awfully dull.  Get

with the programme, Melvin.  Ready to launch.

PART TWO Of KIT CARTER'S CLARKS COMMANDOS...

Copyright relevant owner

Oh goody, another six episodes of CLARKS COMMANDOS (dunno why there's no apostrophe in Clarks), illustrated by TOM KERR.  Credit where credit is due, I always say, and Tom certainly deserves credit for entertaining thousands of children every week with his marvellously drawn strips in a variety of comics back in the '60s and '70s.  In fact, he was no doubt also drawing comics before and after those years, but that's when I mainly recall his work from.  How about the rest of you?