(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - SHIRLEY EATON...

"SHIRLEY, you don't need the gun -

you can do anything you like to me!"

IN THE MISTY MOONLIGHT...

JIM REEVES demonstrates how a song

should be sung.  Aspiring singers take note.

Ready?  Okay, take it away, Jimbo!

BOB HOPE & BING CROSBY CAMEOS...

Does exactly what it says on the tin - enjoy!

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - MADELINE SMITH...

Magnificent MADELINE SMITH tries

to stare me out and make me blink first.  Won't

work, 'cos I'm not even looking at her eyes.

P-P-P-PICK UP A PENGUIN...

Saw this great story in The DAILY EXPRESS by LAURA HOLLAND back in March and thought you might enjoy it.

When an elderly fisherman picked up a stricken penguin he never thought they would be best pals for life.

Now his feathered friend swims 5,000 miles each year to see the Brazilian man who nursed him back to health.

Retired bricklayer and part-time fisherman Joao Pereira de Souza saved the penguin after he found him on rocks in 2011.

The black-and-white bird was starving and covered in oil and Mr. de Souza spent a week cleaning his feathers.

He named the penguin Dindim and rebuilt his strength by feeding him fish before releasing him back into the sea.

But loyal Dindim did not want to leave and spent another 11 months with the fisherman in his village on an island near Rio de Janeiro.

He disappeared after he had grown new feathers - but astonishingly returned the following June.

Dindim has now returned five times, each time spending eight months before setting off again.

Magellanic penguins usually live along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts in the cold waters off the southern tip of South America, but some end up as far north as Rio.

Experts believe that climate change is causing colonies to move farther north to be nearer to fish.

Despite numbering in their millions, the species is listed as near-threatened owing to oil spills which kill more than 40,000 a year off the coast of Argentina alone.

The flightless birds, which live for about 25 years, are known for their loyalty and mate for life.

Experts believe Dindim goes to breed off the coast of Argentina and Chile before making the 5,000 mile round trip back to Mr. de Souza.  A recent video has captured the pair's love for one another, showing the penguin just like any other affectionate pet.

Dindim is seen nuzzling up to the 71-year old and playfully pecking his face.

"I love the penguin like it's my own child and I believe the penguin loves me," Mr. de Souza told a Brazilian TV network.

"No one else is allowed to touch him.  He pecks them if they do.  He lays on my lap, lets me give him showers, allows me to feed him sardines and to pick him up."

He added: "Everyone said he wouldn't return, but he has been coming back to visit me for the last four years.

"He arrives in June and leaves to go home in February and every year becomes more affectionate as he appears even happier to see me.

"I'm flattered Dindim is happy to exchange his home with thousands of other penguins every year to find his way here to spend one-to-one time with me.

"It's a very special relationship."

Biologist Joao Paulo Krajewski, who interviewed Mr. de Souza, said: "I have never seen anything like this before.  I think the penguin believes Joao is part of his family and probably a penguin as well.

"When he sees him he wags his tail like a dog and honks with delight."

Mr. Krajewski said professionals who work with animals try to avoid forming bonds in order to reintroduce them into the wild.

But he added: "In this isolated case the authorities allowed Dindim to stay with Joao because of his kindness."

  

BABE Of The DAY - HEATHER THOMAS...

Should stunning HEATHER

THOMAS ever be looking for a guy

to fall for, then I'd be up for it.  H'm, so

would that then make me the 'fall

 guy' ?  (See what I did there?)

KIDS KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - 1ST COMBINED ISSUE OF WHIZZER & CHIPS & KNOCKOUT...

Images copyright relevant owner

KNOCKOUT lasted two years, WHIZZER & CHIPS lasted 21.  This combined ish happened when the former was just over three-and-a-half years old, and the latter was two.  If only they were both still with us today.

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - MADELINE SMITH...

It's lovely MADELINE SMITH

again, gazing lovingly at me lying in my

scratcher.  (Doubtless my delicate turn of

phrase is just one of the many reasons

she thinks I'm so wonderful.)

CALVIN & HOBBES - 'NUFF SAID!

Copyright relevant owner

One word will suffice - and that word is "enjoy"!

MAKE YOURS MARVEL!

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Four great MARVEL mags.  Try one today!

MARVEL FAN? SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Want to save money?  Who doesn't!  Read the screed and

subscribe today!  6 issues for a mere £12 - what's not to like?

The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN - PART SEVEN...

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"Shout - hoo-ray!  And let each one of the crowd try and shout it very loud, in honour of a comic strip of which you're justly proud, for it's TRI-MAN's - great - day!"  (Thanks to Kenneth Grahame's Mr. Toad for the use of that line, and humble apologies for ruining the meter.)  Yup, another four pages of JOHNNY SMALL's superhero alter-ego to thrill and astound you, o panting panelologists!  Get reading!

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT: WHAT'S ON SALE OR COMING UP...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Looking for your MARVEL fix?  Then you're bound to

find something in the above list.  Grab at least one today!

AND DOOM COMES CALLING...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Psst!  Wanna know a secret?  The latest SECRET WARS

saga is now being played out in PANINI's line of MARVEL

Collecters' Edition mags.  Keep your eyes peeled for 'em.

RECOMMENDED READING: MWOM #26...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

On sale now - The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #26.

Worth £3.50 of anyone's money for the great cover alone.  Pick

up your own copy in WHS or any good newsagent today.  (And

don't forget to pay for it.  You'll feel good for being virtuous.)

PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL...

Here's JIM REEVES in fine voice, singing PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL.  And you know what?  It usually does.

KNOCKOUT BOOKMARK...

Looking for a bookmark, Crivvies?  Well, here's one that was given away in a weekly issue of KNOCKOUT back in the 1970s.  All you have to do is print it out and it's yours.  (Isn't that good of me?)  Then you can use it to mark your place in any books you're reading when you take a break.  Not that I really had to explain that as I'm sure you all know what a bookmark is for.

GOOD MORNING SELF...

Here's JIMBO with a nice little song from

 the 1966 DISTANT DRUMS album.  Enjoy.

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS - MARVEL SUPERHEROES #1 (353)...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL had three incarnations throughout the 1970s.  First as MWOM, which then morphed into MARVEL COMIC with #330, and finally as MARVEL SUPERHEROES, a monthly mag which bore little resemblance to the weekly it had sprung from.  In 1983, MWOM returned for 17 monthly issues, then dropped out of sight until 2003 when it made a triumphant return in a full-colour monthly that's still around today.

"Make Mine Marvel!"

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - MADELINE SMITH...

Interesting outfit, MADDIE.

Not as interesting as who's wearing

 it though.  "I'll give it foive!"

BABE Of The DAY - SALMA HAYEK...

Here's the simply stunning SALMA

HAYEK, waving to me and saying "Kid, I

love you - you're the handsomest, sexiest

man I've ever seen!"  She's one smart cookie

is Salma, and would never tell a lie.  (Not one

as big as that anyway, so it must be true.

There's no point arguing about it.)

KLASSIC KIRBY KOMIC KOVERS: FANTASTIC FOUR #12...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

The first time The THING fought The HULK, but certainly not the last.  Note that Hulkie has only four fingers (including his thumb) and three toes on each hand and foot, something that JACK KIRBY wasn't always consistent with.  (Didn't he have four toes sometimes?)  The fact that the Green Goliath was grey in his first appearance was ignored for well-over 20 years before being retroactively adopted into his continuity, so I wonder if the same thing will eventually happen as regards the number of digits on each extremity?

Only time will tell I suppose.  (Or has it told already?)

SUPERMAN By WAYNE BORING...

Image copyright DC COMICS

This drawing (or its double) was originally used as the splash page of SECRET ORIGINS #1 (mid-'80s), but WAYNE BORING later redrew the 'S' as the Earth 1 emblem, as the published issue had the Earth 2 SUPERMAN symbol.  It may've been ROY THOMAS (or perhaps JOHN MORROW) who commissioned the change from Wayne, but you can be sure I'll let you know exactly who it was when one of you cavortin' Criv-ites tells me.

Nice art though, innit?

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - MADELINE SMITH...

H'mm - MADELINE SMITH,

doing what the gal does best - looking

amazing.  Let's all give Madeline a big

 hand, lads.  It's the least we can do.

PART SIX Of The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN...

Copyright relevant owner

We're now halfway through The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN's awesome adventures as far as page-count goes.  You'll notice that the quality of reproduction is variable in places, as SMASH! was printed on cheap paper and sometimes the art was faded or smudged.

I've tidied them up as best I can without labouring too long over them, but at least they're readable and should serve to rekindle a few memories for all those who are old enough to have read these stories back in the day.  (That means you, JP.)

Any comments you'd like to make, you know the drill.