PART TWO Of 'NEW' SUPERMAN COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Why keep you in suspense?  Here are the next six covers in our 'new' SUPERMAN series, first published back in 1987.  The cover below was based on FANTASTIC FOUR #249, also by JOHN BYRNE, and I think he's used the design again since, as I'm sure I've got a comic by him lying around somewhere with the same cover layout.  Any memories associated with these six issues?  Then share them with the rest of us, frantic ones.

BABE Of The DAY - JORDAN CARVER...

It's jaunty JORDAN CARVER.

Drool cups on standby - you can start

slobberin' now!  (Incidentally, this is

 her rushing to a date with me!)

'NEW' SUPERMAN COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

After an extremely popular run on MARVEL's FANTASTIC FOUR, superstar artist and writer JOHN BYRNE jumped ship over to rival DC COMICS to help reshape their post-CRISIS SUPERMAN incarnation.  I seem to recall reading that he'd hoped to work for both companies, but felt pushed into making a choice because of something that JIM SHOOTER, Marvel's editor-in-chief, had said or done.  (Unfortunately, I no longer recall the precise details off the top of my head and am too lazy to look it up.)

So for a while at least, The Byrnester helped steer the good ship Superman, but, sadly, it wasn't to last.  While it did though, readers were treated to some superb covers (and interior art, but that's not included) which we're about to look at in the first instalment of this ace new series on Crivens.  So why not come along for the ride?  You're bound to enjoy it if you're a Superman or John Byrne fan!

And if you have any particular reminiscences associated with any of these covers, be sure to leave a comment.

PART FOUR OF THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright DC COMICS

In 2018, it'll be 80 years since SUPERMAN first appeared in ACTION COMICS #1.  I wonder what price comicbooks will be then, eh?  Back when Supes was celebrating a mere 50 years of continuous publishing, U.S. mags cost only 50 pence in the U.K. - wow!  Were they ever really so inexpensive?  Yup!

Anyway, here's yet another half-dozen covers from DC COMICS' The ADVENTURES Of SUPERMAN from nearly 30 years ago.  They're all excellent, but I particularly like the last two, which are extremely well-executed.  Got a favourite?  Then feel free to tell us which ones and why, MAN Of TOMORROW fans!  

LAYING OUT THE RED (ORANGE & YELLOW) CARPET...

Hard as it may be for some of you less ancient readers to believe, fitted carpets in houses were not always the norm back in the 1960s and '70s - at least, they weren't in my house.  We didn't get our first fitted living-room carpet 'til 1972, when we first moved into the very house in which I now reside as I type this strange, but hopefully interesting post.

Until then, we'd just used the same carpet from one house to another, quite regardless of whether it adequately fitted the floor space or not.  Any recesses along the sides, or extra space at the back of the room were filled with linoleum, providing a flat, smooth surface on which to play with wind-up robots, DALEK ROLYKINS, or toy cars by CORGI, DINKY, TRIANG, and MATCHBOX.

Regular readers will be fed-up hearing how my family moved to another house in 1983, but although it was a much larger house, it had a smaller living-room, so our fitted carpet from '72 was cut down to fit the dimensions of the new room.  Regular readers will doubtless also be equally fed-up hearing how, in 1987, we moved back to our former home.  We got a new fitted carpet for the living-room, and our old one was used for the hallway and staircase.

Until then, our staircase carpet, as was common at one time, ran down the middle of the stairs and was held in place by sliding clamps, embedded in the painted wooden margins on either side of the carpet.  Perhaps the concept of carpets that don't fit from wall-to-wall will seem like a sign of poverty or deprivation to anyone under 30, but it was once quite standard in British homes, regardless of a family's income or perceived social status.

Now, if you're a mere youngster, the dates I listed will seem like prehistory to you, but, to someone my age, they won't seem like that long ago.  So, to recap: First fitted living-room carpet in 1972, and first fitted stair carpet in 1987.  (And just to complete the picture, we didn't get our first colour TV until 1975 or '76.)  If you're a similar age to me, does this match your experience of growing up, or did you live in opulent splendour, with fitted carpets and colour TVs in every room?  Do tell.

What I find hard to get my mind around is that our old living-room carpet served that purpose for 15 years (in two houses), before changing careers and becoming a hall and staircase carpet, a position it's fulfilled for nearly 29 years now.  Yet it seems like only a few short years ago that it was covering our living-room floor.

How time flies, eh?   

THE BAXENDALE LETTERS - PART ONE...

Click to enlarge, then click again for optimum size

Sometime back in 1977, I sent a letter to cartoonist LEO BAXENDALE, care of GERALD DUCKWORTH, to let him know how much I'd enjoyed his first WILLY The KID book.  It's likely that I already had the second book when I received an unexpected reply (above) to my letter from the great man himself.  I was slightly astonished  that he'd taken the time and trouble to respond to one lone Scottish fan, but appreciated the fact that he had.  Not that I think I was singled out for special attention - no doubt it was his custom to reply to fans as I think reader feedback was important to him.

I've had a few letters from Bax over the years, which I've still got.  Not that we were pen pals or anything, or that he considered me anything other than a fan and customer of several of his books, but back when I was assistant editor of The ILLUSTRATED COMIC JOURNAL, I had occasion to contact him a few times and he always took the time to courteously respond.  There's nothing 'confidential' about them, so I may post more of them in the future as no doubt they're bound to be of interest to other Leo Baxendale fans.

So keep your peepers peeled for pending posts of pertinent epistles.  And if you've ever received a letter from the legendary Leo (or met him, even), tell your fellow Criv-ites all about it in the captivating comments section.  Go on, get typing.  (Sadly, despite Leo's hopes, the third Willy book was the last one to see print so I assume sales weren't as expected.)

RECOMMENDED READING: The GOLDEN AGE Of DC COMICS...

Images copyright DC COMICS

"The first shall be last" - and so it transpires as we finally look at TASCHEN's great book, The GOLDEN AGE Of DC COMICS - 1935 - 1956.  As well as all the superb images you'd expect (you can see some of them below), there's also an exclusive interview with JOE KUBERT.  Written by PAUL LEVITZ, this terrific tome belongs on the bookshelves of every true comicbook collector, so you have no excuse for not dashing 'round to your nearest comics shop or bookstore, plonking your pounds on the counter, and saying "Slap me with a wet fish and call me Bob - and gimme that super DC book!"

In fact, why not buy all three volumes?  Then you can say you're doing important research on the history of DC whenever the wife asks you to take her out to some swanky restaurant for the evening.  Think of all the dosh having these books will save you in the long run.  You know it makes sense, so rush out and buy them today!

RECOMMENDED READING: The SILVER AGE Of DC COMICS...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Another of my recent acquisitions is this magnificent volume by TASCHEN, devoted to The SILVER AGE Of DC COMICS - 1956 - 1970.  With an exclusive interview with NEAL ADAMS and absolutely loads of great images, why wouldn't you want to rush out and buy this right away?  What's that?  Your girlfriend's birthday's coming up and you need to get your priorities right you say?  Decisions, decisions.  Well, I'm sure you'll make the right choice - and don't worry - you'll soon find yourself a new girlfriend.

Available in your local comicbook store even as I type this!

FEARLESS TOMY ROBOT WALKS OVER OVEN...

Regular readers will know that I've shown a

photo of my wee TOMY robot before, but here's

a brief clip of him in motion.  "It's alive!"

RECOMMENDED READING: KIRBY COLLECTOR, BACK ISSUE, & ALTER EGO...

Copyright relevant owners

Was in a local comicbook store relatively recently and came away with a big batch of goodies.  Amongst the pile of stuff I acquired were the four mags you see before you - comics nostalgia at its very best.  So get along to your nearest shop and buy your own copies before they sell out.  You wouldn't want to live the rest of your life without them.  (Hard-sell?  Me?  Nah!)

It's APRIL - So Time For A Post About The WOOLWORTH'S SANTA...

Yeah, I'm aware it's not Christmas (though it will be before you know it), but I've been meaning to do this post for a while.  Not that it contains any earth-shaking content (when do they ever?), but I feel like wallowing in nostalgia for a bit.

The Santa in the above photo is from a set of four I bought in WOOLWORTH'S back around the mid-'80s.  Every year since then they've been trotted out to add to the festive cheer in the living-room, adorning the wall-clock above the fireplace for many a Christmas now - 'though I originally hung them from the old tree (which pre-dates my arrival on the planet).

It's a classic Santa Claus design, very similar to the one associated with COCA COLA.  And though I didn't acquire the figures until the mid-'80s, I can easily imagine them as part of the Christmases of my boyhood back in the '60s, accentuating the yuletide mood of houses that they never once saw the insides of.  Strange that, eh?

Anyway, I assumed when I bought them that they were a relatively new product at the time ('cos I'd never seen them before), but perhaps they're an old item that appeared in shops every Christmas for decades.  Does anyone else have them, and if so, can you recall roughly what year you first got them?  Let me know in the comments section, will you?

(And remember - it's only eight months to Christmas.)  

KLASSIC KIRBY KOMIC KOVERS: The INCREDIBLE HULK #5...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

I first read this tale in an issue of SMASH! back in the 1960s.  Re-read it (and saw the above cover for the first time) in MARVEL COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS #6 not long after.  It was reprinted in an early ish of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL in the early '70s, as well as appearing in the comic's Annual around the same time.  One of my favourite HULK stories - one glance and I'm a kid again.  How about you?

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

Lustrous hair, come-to-bed-eyes,

seductive mouth - but that's enough

about me!  Cop a load of this lovely

 lady - CATERINA MURINO.

LION'S ROBOT ARCHIE: The JUNGLE ROBOT - PART FIVE...

Copyright REBELLION

Oh, the things I do for you Criv-ites.  From LION #s 10 & 11, another two episodes of The JUNGLE ROBOT, starring ROBOT ARCHIE.  The original owner had scribbled in blue ink on the other side of the first page of the second strip (as well as directly onto the second page) and it had bled through, obscuring parts of of the art in some panels.  I had to painstakingly remove as much of the vandalism as possible with the limited computer technology I have at at my disposal, but it took absolutely hours.  I could only do a few minutes at a time as I tire easily, but I hope you think the results are worth it.

If not, I expect you to lie and tell me what a great job I did.