POPEYE COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright KING FEATURES SYNDICATE

I bought the above comic when it first came out because the cover was based on ACTION COMICS #1, but I recently acquired a few subsequent issues from someone I know.  "So why not do a gallery?" thought I.  No sooner said than done, so here it is.

I'm not sure which covers are standard and which are variants, although I suspect that the ads feature the standard ones, but you can argue that out amongst yourselves.  The mag was cancelled with #12, so I might track down the remaining issues to complete the set.  If I ever do, I'll post them.

I've reprinted an old post after the last cover because it details my own (unofficial) association with POPEYE when I was a mere schoolkid.  Consider it a bonus, wanted or not.

The other cover to #1

This one's a mistake - it's actually the cover to #5

It's worth seeing again

You saw the ad, now here's the full cover

******

"I YAM WHAT I YAM!"

When I was at secondary school in the '70s, my main claim to fame was drawing POPEYE.  My classmates were always pleading with me in earnest tones, "Draw Popeye, Robson, draw Popeye!"  They were entranced by the sailor's image coming to life on the page (in the back of a school jotter usually) with only a few deft scribbles.  The celebrity status accorded me, the adulation bestowed upon my exalted self, the esteem in which I was held - it was almost intoxicating as I strode heroically through the school corridors.

"Look!", cried awestruck lesser pupils as I passed, prostrating themselves in obeisance, "Tis the Mighty Robson, he who is to be regarded as unto a god by we lowly mortals!  All hail the Mighty Robson!"  Even teachers aligned themselves with the 'Cult of Robson' as it came to be known; I often used to hear them refer to me (in hushed tones and from a respectful distance naturally) as "a bit of a cult!"

Well, okay - I might, perhaps, have indulged in just the slightest bit of hyperbole halfway through that little reminiscence, but only a tad.  The reality was pretty close to how I recall.  (Cough!)

Anyway, I've continued to draw Popeye from time to time over the years, and above is a picture I whipped up for someone-or-other in the 1990s.  DUNN KWIK is one of many pseudonyms I use on occasion, the afore-mentioned being reserved for stuff produced in a bit of a hurry.  Still - not too shabby, is it?   

RECOMMENDED READING: CAPTAIN AMERICA - MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY - MARVEL EPIC COLLECTION...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's a book I'm enjoying at the moment, although I'm only about a third of the way through.  CAPTAIN AMERICA - MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY is one I think all you cavortin' Crivites will like too, so rush 'round to your local friendly comicbook store and drop your dosh on the counter in exchange for your very own copy.  Quick - before they're all gone.

   

BABE Of The DAY - TYRA BANKS...

TYRA BANKS shows off her odourless

armpits and says "Hey, take a sniff, fellas!"

 Form an orderly queue now, no pushing!

MOONMANDO'S GLASGOW 'GLOSSIES' (EXPANDED)...

On a recent trip to the West End of Glasgow, me and my ol' china Moonmando had a wee suanter roon' the place while he snapped a few photies.  Thought you might like to take a look at 'em.  (You can see me lurking about in the first three.)

And below is one of the above photies (as we say in Glasgow) after Moony had played around with it using digital technology.

WHEN THE SCARLET WITCH WAS GREEN...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I'm assuming that whoever coloured the interiors of The X-MEN #4 didn't do the cover as well, else it's a bit strange that the costumes of QUICKSILVER and The SCARLET WITCH don't match up.  Green for WANDA on the cover instead of scarlet, and a mercury-blue for PIETRO instead of green.  Almost the same thing was repeated on the next two covers - I say "almost" because Wanda's cossie was right on #6, but not Pietro's.  Funnily enough, a few years later, as a member of The AVENGERS, Pietro's costume became that same silvery-blue.

The cover above is a scan of the actual published issue, the one below comes from a MARVEL MASTERWORKS volume.  I think the slight differences in hue can be attributed to the different printing processes and paper used, rather than the way they've been coloured.  Besides, there could sometimes be a colour variation between copies of the same issue back in the '60s & '70s, due to the vagaries of printing.

  

Below is a side-by-side view for easier comparison.  (Click to enlarge.)

I'VE GOT IT TAPED...

Back in the late '70s and throughout the '80s and early '90s, I kept in contact with friends living in England or abroad via an interesting variation of the 'Cassette-a-Letter'.  Rather than just record a 10 or 15 minute voice message, I'd turn it into an hour long 'radio' show, with records and comedy clips punctuating my meandering monologues about what I'd been up to.

I called these shows 'Groan With Gordie', and soon some of my pals adopted the habit themselves.  'Boak With Brian' and 'Ramble With Campbell' were the sorts of titled tapes that popped through my letterbox at semi-regular intervals.  I still have all of the ones I received, though I suspect that the ones I sent have long since been consigned to the dustbin of history.

These days, of course, there's no need for cassette tapes to keep in touch with anyone.  Skype and the Internet now enable people to have easy access to friends or relatives dotted around the world - almost instantaneously in some cases.  So the advent of emails ended an era for me, and my recorded 'radio' shows shuffled offstage and into far too early retirement.

It's more than likely that I enjoyed recording my tapes far more than the recipients ever enjoyed listening to them, but it was something that I looked forward to doing.  "What should I talk about?  What songs and clips shall I play?", etc.  The new revolution in technology may have changed the way people maintain contact nowadays, making it far easier and quicker, but for any benefits gained, there's always something lost in the swap-over, in my humble estimation.

Let's pause as Gordie sadly gives one last groan in melancholy remembrance of a now-vanished age that will likely never be seen again. 

PART TWO OF THE BAXENDALE LETTERS...

Way back in the mid-1980s, I wrote to comics legend LEO BAXENDALE (c/o of GERALD DUCKWORTH publishers) and offered to letter any strips he was doing  for free.  (Not that there was anything wrong with his own lettering, but I thought it might save him some time.)  I never heard anything back and it's likely that Duckworth's never forwarded my letter in the first place.  However, in January of 1992, I had occasion to get in touch with him again and happened to enquire if he'd ever received my letter from a few years before.

I got a nice handwritten 9 page response, which is rather amazing when you think about it.  What other comics legend back then would have gone to all the time and trouble to do that?  Very few, I'd wager.  Because Leo's letter offers some interesting insights into what he was doing at the time, I thought all you crazy Criv-ites might like to read it, so here it is in all its unexpurgated glory.  Leo's handwriting is a bit hard to decipher in places, so I've provided a transcript  to make reading easier.

Incidentally, when Leo says that the WILLY The KID Annuals sold around 80,000 per book, he's referring only to the first two; the third only had a print run of 10,000 and, as a result, is difficult to find and is much sought-after.  Have you got one?  I've got all three, so yah-boo to you!

******

Incidentally, A.V.F.B. refers to the title of Leo's 1978 autobiography, A VERY FUNNY BUSINESS.  (Duckworth.)

TRANSCRIPT:

      Eastcombe.  Saturday 7th. March '92

      Dear Gordon,

      Many thanks for your letter of 14th January, and I hope you won't mind

      that my reply is belated.  (I've had a lot on in recent times)

      I can't remember whether Duckworths ever forwarded your letter to me,

      but it's 14 years since A.V.F.B. was published, & a lot's gone on since then...

      Immediately after A.V.F.B. and the third Willy the Kid Book were published

      in the Autumn of 1978, Duckworths decided not to continue with any more

      (though sales of the Willy Books were respectable @ circa 80,000 each, being

      low-priced hardback annuals didn't make them v. profitable, & Duckworths

      are mainly (smallish) academic publishers, so they fell back exhausted.)

      At exactly that point (Autumn 1978) I was approached by the Managing

      Editor of the Dutch Magazine 'Eppo' to write and draw Willy the Kid strips

      for him, which I did for the next 18 months.

      The lettering on these (being of course in Dutch) was translated and

      lettered in Haarlem, not far from Amsterdam.

      Then I began a High Court action over the rights in my creations for The

      Beano (Bash Street, Minnie the Minx etc), and this action in Chancery

      lasted for 7 years, from May 1980 - May 1987.  There was a pre-trial

      settlement in May 1987.

      Naturally, I did no drawing in those years, as the legal work took all my

      energies.)

      I had decided to stop drawing after that, & in fact didn't do any for 2 3/4

      years, until I happened to call in The Guardian for a drink with Richard

      Boston, & the editor asked me to create a weekly strip, which I did -

      "I Love You Baby Basil!".

      After two years on this strip, I've just decided to have a break from weekly

      production (the last Basil appeared in today's Guardian) & give my eyes a

      rest.

      In 1987 I set up my own imprint, Reaper (as in Grim Reaper) Books.  So

      far I've published 3 books (all written by me)...well, it's a step up from

      Samizdat, & is fun.

      The first (1988) was 'The Encroachment', an A4 paperback about power

      & ideology in history, & part autobiography.

      The second (1989) was "On Comedy;  The Beano and Ideology" - an A4

      paperback, a racy account of my 9 years for The Beano, but dealing in

      much greater depth than in A.V.F.B., with what was "going on" in the

      drawings, and in my head while I was creating and drawing them.

      The third book, published last year, was a v. swish hardback, "I Love

      You Baby Basil!" (The Collected Strip Cartoons from The Guardian

      March 1990 - March 1991) and with a 5,000 word Prologue which

      deals with the history of the previous ten years (I encase* everything in

      history nowadays.)

      Again, many thanks for writing, Gordon, and my best wishes for the

      future with your work.

      With kind regards,

      Leo Baxendale.

(*That's my best guess - I can't make out the word at all.)  

BABE Of The DAY - SOPHIA LOREN...

SOPHIA LOREN - doing what

she does best - looking amazing!