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

Images copyright DC COMICS

Another six covers from nearly 30 years ago for you to peruse for pleasure at your leisure (hey, poetry), from a time when SUPERMAN was a comic still worth reading.  I just can't get into the character anymore, unless it's in the form of back issues or reprints.  Is CLARK KENT still married to LOIS LANE nowadays, or has that been done away with?  (I hope so - it was a major mistake in my opinion.)

Anyway, enjoy these half-dozen images, and there'll be another lot along for you to savour before you even know it.

BABE Of The DAY - BETTIE PAGE...

One word sums up today's Babe BETTIE

PAGE, fellas - and that word is COR!!!

THE COMING OF THE SUPERMEN...

Images copyright DC COMICS

I picked up these three mags over a week ago, but only got around to reading them a couple of days back.  Fans of NEAL ADAMS will find them interesting, but I felt that the art looked a bit rough in places, and the script was a little disjointed on occasion.  The first issue's lettering had uneven balloon shapes, but each ish has a different letterer, so #s 2 & 3 were fine.

In #1, LOIS LANE's expression is too 'smiley' for the news she's delivering, which seems a bit strange, and SUPERMAN's face seems too 'brutish' in some panels for my tastes.  However, it's an intriguing plot and I'll probably read the next three issues to find out how it all wraps up.

Entertaining enough to warrant you spending your dosh on them, but perhaps not as dynamic as you'd expect from one of the comicbook greats.

Available now at your local comicbook store.

PART SIX Of The ADVENTURES Of SUPERMAN COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright DC COMICS

BATMAN Vs. SUPERMAN doesn't seem to be making the right sort of waves with film fans in the way that MARVEL movies do.  Too grim, too dark, and too long (two and a half hours, whew!) - whatever the reasons, DC's cinematic outings don't seem able to capture the hearts and minds of audiences in the same way that 'The House Of Ideas' celluloid superhero adventures manage to.  Any thoughts on that, peeps?

While your cogitating on the matter, here are another six sensational covers from a time when The Last Son Of Krypton was still a major draw.  If only his comicbook appeal could be transferred to the big screen, WARNER BROTHERS and cinema-goers would all be a lot happier, dotcha think?

Perhaps a sense of fun might help?  Just saying.

GUARDIANS OF METROPOLIS COVER & SPLASH PAGE GALLERY...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Having mentioned The GOLDEN GUARDIAN and The NEWSBOY LEGION in the previous post, I thought it'd be a good idea to showcase their four-issue series from 1994/'95.  I'd love to see these characters again in their own mag, but DC seem unable to resist changing things for the worse, as witnessed not too long ago in their INFINITY MAN/FOREVER PEOPLE nine-issue run.  What a waste of time and space that was.

If they were to revive these characters now, they'd probably make The Guardian a woman, and one of the Newsboys would be a girl, gay, or transgendered.  What's wrong with that, I hear you ask?  It's not as creators JOE SIMON and JACK KIRBY envisioned them, and it's not the characters that I read about in the early '70s.  Has any comicbook company ever changed a character (in a major way) for the better?  I can't think of one, can you?  If yes, let rip in the comments section.

In the meantime, enjoy the pretty piccies.

THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN COVER GALLERY - PART FIVE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Another half-dozen covers from The ADVENTURES Of SUPERMAN for you to drool over, frantic ones.  One of the things I liked about this particular period was the use of JACK KIRBY's GOLDEN GUARDIAN and NEWSBOY LEGION characters, who I'd enjoyed reading about back in the 1970s.  In my humble view, JIMMY OLSEN (wherein GG and NL had appeared) was the best thing that Kirby produced during his time at DC, and at only 15 issues, it was, sadly, far too short a run.

So feast your eyes, then leave a comment of appreciation for the talents of JERRY ORDWAY, artist extraordinaire.

   

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.)