TWELFTH & FINAL PART Of The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN...

Copyright relevant owner

Well, it's the end of the road for TRI-MAN, SMASH! fans, as we present the final two episodes of his weekly adventures.  After imitating the SPIDER-MAN formula for most of its run, the strip now seemed to be borrowing an element from SUPERMAN, with TODD BLACKER determined to prove JOHNNY SMALL's superhero alias, much like LOIS LANE trying to expose CLARK KENT's secret identity.

However, it never happened!  Tri-Man was only seen once more in the pages of the Smash! Annual for 1971 (on sale in 1970), in a RON TURNER-illustrated tale which, in all likelihood, had been completed before the superhero's final weekly story recounting Todd's discovery of JS's secret.  You can read that full-colour Annual adventure by clicking this link.  Th-th-that's all, folks!  Bid Johnny goodbye.

  

The PERILS Of eBay - SELLER STUPIDITY Or SMALL-MINDED SPITE?

Save us from some eBay sellers.  Saw a comic, described as VF+, which I needed to fill a gap in one of my collections, and bought it for a paltry sum.  I could see from the photo that it matched the description, but the seller despatched it in a thin 'padded' envelope with no cardboard backing - result?  A bent and crumpled comic that had been reduced from its 30-year-old VF+ condition to a far lesser category.

This is surely incompetence.  How someone can send a single comic in a thin envelope and expect it to arrive in an undamaged state is simply beyond comprehension.  Writing 'Please Handle With Care!  Please Do Not Bend!' is not what I'd consider adequate steps to properly protect fragile contents.  Packages of this sort travel in sacks with all sorts and sizes of other mail sitting atop them, so the chances of surviving the rigours of transport undamaged are slim to non-existent.

Was the seller annoyed that my winning bid (out of two) was a mere £1.89 (plus £1.50 p&p) and decided to extract a spiteful revenge?  (After all, at such a low price, it's hardly worth the bother of returning the item for a refund.)  Or is it simply that he's a numpty without a clue, and shouldn't be trading on eBay?  What think the rest of you?

And if any of you Crivvies have similar tales of such stupidity, vent your frustrated feelings in the comments section.  You'll feel much better for getting it off your chest. 

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

MADDIE slipped on the grass, and when

I reached out my hand to help her up, she said:

"Why don't you join me down here, big boy?"

Rock on, Tommy!

BUTTONS 'N' BOWS...

Now this is what I call entertainment.  BOB HOPE, ROY ROGERS, and (wow) JANE RUSSELL.  TRIGGER's parked outside the saloon, so don't go worrying about him - he's fine.

HOW TO PHIL A BLOG POST...

Just to clear things up, this is PHIL, a fairly regular commenter.  What I want to know is, is this the Phil who's still commenting nicely (as I assume), or is it the Phil who's sending me abusive comments because I suspected someone else was impersonating him in order to get comments published?  (I'd be surprised if it is.)  Whoever is sending rude remarks has blotted their copybook on this blog - forever.  How some people using the same first name as others expect me to tell between them is beyond me.  (Use surnames as well perhaps?)

RECOMMENDED READING: DARWYN COOKE'S 'DC: THE NEW FRONTIER'...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Sometimes I'm late to the party.  Case in point - I didn't know about The NEW FRONTIER until relatively recently, when someone recommended it to me.  Even better, he gave me a copy of this brand-spanking-new edition, which I've just finished reading.  As you'll know, not that long ago, DARWYN COOKE succumbed to cancer at the far-too young age of 53, which means that the comics-buying public is denied any new epics from this supremely-talented creator.  (And, sadder yet, his family and friends no longer have the living presence of someone they dearly loved.)

But his work endures, and I feel obliged - nay, privileged - to readily recommend this superb superhero extravaganza to all you eager Criv-ites out there who yearn for something truly satisfying to read.  Trust me, this is no mere hype - you'll absolutely love this tale, especially if you recall with fondness the SILVER AGE DC titles to which this awesome epic pays affectionate homage, while at the same time being entirely suited to the tastes of a contemporary audience.

Sadly, Darwyn is off exploring the real 'final' frontier, but he blazed a trail through this one with his fine works of comicbook (and animation) excellence.  Do yourself a big favour - rush right 'round to your local comicbook store and plonk your paltry pounds into the palm of the purveyor of this most worthy and valiant volume.

Honest - you won't regret it!

PART TEN Of KIRBY 'KOCK-UPS' - A THUNDERING 'THOR' HEAD...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

It's arguable where the 'Kock-Up' is - is it in this page or the ones that followed it in JOURNEY Into MYSTERY #83?  You see, JACK KIRBY drew one kind of helmet on the splash page, but a different kind in subsequent pages.  Take a look - a helmet with a fin, above, one with a point, below.  Still wonderfully drawn though, with great inking by JOE SINNOTT. 

BABE Of The DAY - CINDY CRAWFORD...

CINDY CRAWFORD's an optimist.

It's a dreich day, yet there she is out in my

back garden, wearing only a skimpy bikini.

(Not that I'm complaining.)  Well, whaddya

know - the sun has just come out.  Someone

must've tipped her off - or maybe she's

 psychic.  (I wonder which it is.)

HEY, WHERE'D THE TIGER GO?

Copyright relevant owner

Let's start the day with a laugh, shall we?

KIRBY 'KOCK-UPS' PART NINE - CAP'S STAR DOES A 'LEE MARVIN' (GOES WANDERIN')...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

So what's wrong with this cover that it constitutes a KIRBY 'KOCK-UP' you may well be wondering.  Take a good look at the prostrate figure of CAPTAIN AMERICA - he's got an 'A' on his chest instead of a star!  How did Jack get that wrong?  He co-created the character for gosh' sake.  That aside, it's still a brilliant cover - inked by WALLY WOOD no less.

The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN - PART ELEVEN...

Copyright relevant owner

And now, the penultimate part of The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN for all you slavering SMASH! fans who thrilled to the exploits of the U.K.'s first superhero back in the 1960s.  Catch the fantastic double-episode in the final instalment of this super series - coming soon!

  

PART EIGHT Of KIRBY 'KOCK-UPS' - HULK & RICK In 'The NICK'...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Take a look at this piccie.  If you were to draw in the rest of RICK JONES' and The HULK's figures, Rick would be far taller than ol' Greenskin.  Yet another JK inconsistency, which I get a kick out of calling a Kirby 'Kock-Up'.  (I do so love alliteration!  Don't you?)

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - LANA WOOD...

Not quite as famous as her big sister

NATALIE perhaps, but LANA WOOD is

 a big hit in my pants house.  (Oops!)

KIRBY 'KOCK-UPS' PART SEVEN - The HULK ISN'T 'HULKING' ENOUGH...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

The final panel of The AVENGERS #1.  Look at The HULK, standing up straight between IRON MAN and THOR - and he's smaller than them.  Great as JACK KIRBY was, he was never entirely consistent with characters' sizes in relation to each other.  So clock up another Kirby 'Kock-Up'!

And hey - a wasp is much bigger than an ant, so if ANT-MAN is ant-size and The WASP is wasp-size, then how come HANK (and his ant) is still bigger than JAN? 

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST...

Today I visited a local newsagent's for what will be the final time.  It's a newsagent's which has occupied the same premises for over 50 years and one which I've been using since I was a young kid.  True, it's changed hands over the years, and it adopted a 'mini-market' approach several years back (getting a refit to accommodate its new status), but I mainly used its latter incarnation to buy a newspaper now and again.  It simply couldn't compete with a nearby One-O-One store and closed its doors and shutters today - forever.

  

The comics and books I got from there over the decades (when it sold them) were legion and legendary.  FANTASTIC, WHAM!, various DC & MARVEL mags, WHIZZER & CHIPS, KNOCKOUT, The CLANGERS (a colouring book), The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY, a couple of TV COMIC Annuals (1978 & '84, which I've still got) and no doubt countless others which I've forgotten.  The shop has been a regular part of my life for most of it, man and boy, and it's sad to see it go the way of so many other shops in my home town which were once such familiar features to me. 

So yet another one bites the dust, and I suddenly feel very sad and very old.  Did I say the final time?  I will visit the shop again, but, alas, only in memory.  It seems like that's where all the best places are these days.  Is it the same for you?  The comments section awaits.

******

I meant to say, one of the things I missed in the shop's later years was that its big windows were covered by full-length interior adhesive posters.  When I was a kid, they were filled with toys and books, and it was always interesting to look at the window display in passing when the place was closed for the day.  That way, if anything took my fancy, I could nip 'round the next morning and buy it.  When the shop was refitted, new shelves blocked access to the windows from the inside, hence them never being used again to display any of the goods for sale within.  Wasn't a change I liked, and it probably didn't help the shop's fortunes in the long run.

Y'know, I still have dreams to this day (as I have for many a year now) where I'm standing outside the shop looking through the window at all sorts of goodies.  Then I go inside and it's the same layout as it was when I was much younger, and I'm looking at various comics and toys and trying to make up my mind as to precisely which ones I want (or can afford).  I assume it's my sub-conscious mind's way of re-creating long-vanished (and dearly cherished) moments from the days of my expired youth.

The last three items I bought on the day - duly consumed

BABE Of The DAY - LYNDA CARTER...

LYNDA CARTER is thinking "I

wonder if Kid would go out with me on a

date?  I wonder if I should ask him?  I wonder

if he'll let me kiss him at the end of the evening?

I wonder if I should take my toothbrush with me?

I wonder if he's as good a lover as I've heard he

is?"  I guess that's why they call her WONDER

WOMAN.  (And the answer to all of that

 wondering  is a resounding Yes!)

JUSTICE INC. COVER GALLERY... (Updated)

Copyright relevant owner

Here's a puzzler.  I've always thought that I left school in December 1974, yet I have a clear 'memory' of looking at #2 of DC's JUSTICE Inc. in English class one day, in the annexe huts at the back of my school's 'Old Block'.  Problem is, this title didn't come out until '75, so I wonder if I might actually have gone back to school after the Christmas holidays for a few months.  It's probably just a false memory, arising from the fact that I drew The AVENGER's face on the inside cover of a paperback edition of Alistair MacLean's FEAR IS THE KEY.

You see, I read some of the novel in the same classroom and seem to remember drawing the face at the same time - which I couldn't have done if the comic didn't come out 'til '75.  So I must've done the drawing after leaving school, but because I link the book with the classroom, my memory naturally makes the same connection as regards the drawing.  And, as the drawing is of The Avenger, I likewise mis-associate the later comic with that earlier time.  The mind tends to play tricks with the memory in that way on occasion, don't you find?

However, you're not interested in any of that p*sh!  No, you're only here for the covers, so gracious as ever, I'll shut up and let you get on with looking at them.  Two KUBERTs and two KIRBYs - I sure do spoil you and no mistake!

******

Y'know, I have to be honest and say that Jack Kirby's art in issues 2-4 isn't that great.  It looks rushed and even more 'cartoony' than normal for this period of his career, as if he wasn't much interested in the character and was merely knocking out the pages in order to meet his monthly quota.  Of course, it's always possible that he was filling in for another artist at the last moment and had to turn them 'round faster than usual, but they're far from being his finest moment.

Bonus:  Below, the unused cover art for #1 by interior artist AL McWILLIAMS.

Courtesy of HERITAGE AUCTIONS

PART TEN Of The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN...

Copyright relevant owner

Another dynamic double-episode of SMASH!'s The INCREDIBLE TRI-MAN to astound and amaze all you cavortin' Criv-ites.  Enjoy them while you can, o fellow fans, because there are only another two parts to go in this sensational series.  Yup, a mere 8 pages more and the awesome adventures of JOHNNY SMALL's superhero alter-ego come to an end.  Don't dare miss 'em!   You'd hate yourself - and that would never do!

BABE Of The DAY - ROMOLA GARAI...

Who needs words?  Crivs, I give

you the ravishing ROMOLA GARAI.

(But I want her back soon, mind.)

DOUBLE VISION - SUPERMAN & CLARK KENT TOGETHER... (Updated)

Images copyright DC COMICS

You've got to hand it to DC - once they cop on to a good idea, they milk it for all it's worth and then some.  SUPERMAN and his alter ego CLARK KENT together on a comic mag's cover is a case in point.  Presumably, with whatever issue DC started doing it, it sold more than usual so, hey - let's do it again (and again, and again, etc.)!  So here's just a handful (if you've got no more than 10 fingers) of Superman/Clark Kent covers to show all you pantin' Criv-ites just what I'm yappin' about.  (Okay, some of them are symbolic, but they still count in my book.)

And another five for your attention.  (Thank JP for two of them.)

And here's one where it's not actually meant to be Clark Kent, but,

as far as visual impact goes, it gives that impression at first glance.

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

"Doctor, I keep seeing the magnificent

MADELINE SMITH everywhere - what's

wrong with me?"  "Don't worry, the nurse will

give you an injection for that - here she is now."

"On second thought, Doc, forget the injection

and ask her to give me a bed bath!"

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS: GIANT-SIZE AVENGERS #1...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Any excuse for a bit of JOHN ROMITA art, and the cover of Giant-Size AVENGERS #1 provides just that.  Romita was probably the only artist (at the time) who could follow STEVE DITKO on SPIDER-MAN, and lift the mag to new heights of glory.  (He was also great at pinch-hitting on The FANTASTIC FOUR after JACK KIRBY defected to DC, 'til Big JOHN BUSCEMA picked up the reins.)

John Romita - an artist's artist.  'Nuff said! 

BABE Of The DAY - ROMOLA GARAI...

Lithe, sinuous, sexy body; Sultry,

sensuous eyes and inviting, luscious lips.

All those attributes (and more) are just how

ROMOLA GARAI describes me, but let's

focus on her charms instead.  After all, I

 already know how wonderful I am.

PART SIX Of KIRBY 'KOCK-UPS' - The GLOVES ARE ON...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

There are actually two boo-boos in this dynamic splash page - see if you can spot 'em.  Firstly, The BEAST's arms are too long (even for him) - and he's wearing gloves.  As you can see in the first two panels (below) of the following page, the gloves soon disappear, but ol' JK really shouldn't have drawn them to begin with.

Conclusion: Another Kirby 'Kock-Up'.  (But I'm sure we all forgive him, don't we?)  Another one soon, comicbook fans!