RECOMMENDED READING: The ADVENTURES Of The FLY...

Images copyright relevant owners

Once, in an alternate universe, JACK KIRBY showed a SPIDERMAN (no hyphen) logo by JOE SIMON to STAN LEE, and pitched to him the idea for a superhero who'd been rechristened The SILVER SPIDER before metamorphosing into The FLY.  In this alternate universe, STEVE DITKO did not advise Stan of the similarity of Spiderman to The Fly, and MARVEL's newest character got his wings clipped, either as a result of poor sales or a plagiarism lawsuit from rivals RED CIRCLE/ARCHIE COMICS.

At least, that's what could've happened if we're to believe a dissenting account of the events that led to SPIDER-MAN's creation.  We'll never know for sure whether it's true or not, but imagine PETER PARKER as a teenager who rubs a magic ring to transform into his alter-ego and you have an idea just how different things might've been in the Marvel Universe of the '60s.

Which brings me to this softcover book from 2004 which someone kindly gifted to me recently.  It contains the first four issues of The Fly, produced by Simon & Kirby (with others) before the duo quit the title.  The tales are simple, unsophisticated fare from an era when comicbooks were aimed squarely at kids, but they have their own distinct charm that makes the collection worth owning.  Though after reading the book, it reminded me just what an immense contribution Stan Lee made to the comicbook biz, something for which we should all be eternally grateful.

Some of the art and lettering restoration is a little dodgy, with at least one story appearing more like a tracing than a reprinting, but that aside, it's still an interesting look back at an earlier time in US four-colour comicbook history.  I imagine you'd be able to track down a copy on eBay or Amazon without too much difficulty or too great an expense.  Get hunting!

Ah, yes - how different things could have been indeed!

  

No 'Wide Angle Scream' in this ish apparently

Why no lettering?  Is it a reprint oversight or how it first appeared?

RECOMMENDED READING: COMIC BOOK FEVER...

Images copyright TWOMORROWS PUBLISHING

A book you may enjoy is COMIC BOOK FEVER by GEORGE KHOURY, which celebrates comics from 1976 to 1986.  To be honest, my impression was that some chapters are stretched pretty thin as far as written content goes, with the author saying something because he has a book to fill, rather than because he has something interesting to say, but the visual images and chapters containing comments from comicbook stalwarts (like JOHN ROMITA and SAL BUSCEMA, etc.) compensate for this occasional inadequacy somewhat.

Anyway, read the back cover spiel and make up your own minds.  You could certainly spend your money in worse ways.  Available at all good comicbook shops and (I think) bookstores.

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - JULIE EGE...

JULIE EGE gives me 'the eye' as

I strut around in my toga in the movie

version of 'UP POMPEI'.  Of course, I

wasn't in the completed film as I finished

up on the cutting room floor.  However,

Julie was under me at the time, so it'd

 be churlish of me to complain.

GIANT-SIZE POWER MAN #1 (1975)...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

POWER MAN, as all true MARVELITES know, was the name of a villain who fought The AVENGERS in #s 21 & 22 of their own mag back in the '60s.  However, in the '70s, the name was dusted down and applied to LUKE CAGE's superhero alter-ego, a mercenary HERO FOR HIRE, who wasn't necessarily spurred to random acts of goodness merely out of a sense of altruism like most other characters in the superhero 'business'.

I never quite understood why black heroes usually had the word 'black' prefixed to their names, as if we needed to be made aware of the fact.  (BLACK GOLIATH, BLACK LIGHTNING*, etc.)  We had eyes, didn't we?  It was different with The BLACK PANTHER, as the word referred to the colour of his costume, not his skin, but I'm so glad Luke Cage wasn't called Black Power Man, as that would've been simply silly.

(*Black Lightning, of course, is a DC COMICS hero.)

Anyway, that's enough waffle from me - enjoy some pages from the first (and perhaps only - anyone know?) issue of his own Giant-Size reprint mag from 1975.  Did you own this ish?  Then let's hear from you in the comments section.

  

BABE Of The DAY - ELKE SOMMER...

ELKE SOMMER is practising

hypnotism.  "Look into my eyes" she

trills, seductively.  H'm, kind of difficult

in that revealing outfit, luv - go and put

 on a cardie and cover yourself up.

"THIS TIME - - THING MUST DIE!" (OR: 'NEW FOR OLD')...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

It was a pleasantly sunny afternoon in 1979, probably in June or July.  I was working in my town's central library back then, and had become pally with a summer worker who was also a comics fan.  We'll call him Bob Billens to spare his blushes should he ever see this, and we'd been sent out by our 'library masters' to collect overdue books from houses around the town.

During our break, we'd driven along to his in-laws' house where he and his wife were then staying and, while sipping tea in the back garden, he showed me some of his comics collection.  He even gave me a few which were surplus to his requirements.  (I'd given him some of mine on a previous occasion, so he was merely reciprocating my friendly, generous gesture.)

Among the five or six comics he gave me (all MARVEL, as he wasn't so much a fan of their mags as he was of DC) was The FANTASTIC FOUR #111, wherein The THING meets The HULK.  I eventually cut out the final two panel tier of the last page and affixed it to my bedroom wall, where it remained until my family moved to another house in 1983.

Then it went up on the wall of my new bedroom for a few years, until we returned to our former residence in 1987, whereupon it resumed its previous place on the wall.  And there it stayed 'til the early hours of this morning, when I replaced it with a duplicate of the tier, scanned from a replacement copy of the comic acquired quite a few years back now.

It was time, you see.  The original had rippled and faded after 35-plus years stuck to a wall, and my room had taken on a distinctly 'aged' appearance.  The new picture is brighter and whiter, and adds a much-needed splash of colour to the room.  Still, I'm not exactly comfortable in disposing of something that's been part of the decor for a significant proportion of my 'adult' life, and I feel a bit of a callous b*st*rd for doing so.  Surely it deserved far better consideration for its many years of faithful and uncomplaining service?

So far, I've replaced six browned and faded pictures and intend to do more from time to time until nothing looks old.  It'll be good to once again see white margins surrounding these pictorial presentations which adorn the wall, looking just as fresh and new as the day they were printed.  If there were only some way of rejuvenating the originals I'd do it, but substitution with a 'double' seems my only option.

Anyway, what's done is done and, in time, maybe I'll eventually forget that the doppelgangers in my room aren't the originals and delude myself that they're the ones that have always been there.  Still, it'll be a while before I can look at the fresh, flat, bright, new incarnation of that old picture and not feel guilty for so cruelly abandoning its predecessor.

I try and console myself with the thought that at least its image yet graces its accustomed spot on the wall, and hopefully will still be there in another 35 or so years.  Whether I'll still be  around then is, of course, far more open to question.  

BABE Of The DAY - LINDA THORSON...

Here's lovely LINDA THORSON

telling me to get my kecks off so she can

chuckle at my YOGI BEAR boxer shorts.

I wish now I'd never lent her my new water

pistol.  (Er, that is the water pistol I lent

 you, isn't it, Linda?  Please say it is.)

TOUCHING A NERVE - The MIGHTY ONE... (Updated)

Images copyright REBELLION

"Kid Robson is a tall, handsome, articulate, windswept and interesting Scotsman who is easily the best lettering artist ever to work in comics.  And he also wears lovely trousers!" are words that you won't see in STEVE MacMANUS's new book, 'The MIGHTY ONE'.   Stevie Mac was the editor of 2000 A.D. who offered me work at a Glasgow comic mart in 1984, and is therefore the man responsible for unleashing me on the world of U.K. comics for 15 years (so blame him).

I acquired the book in Glasgow today and began reading it on the journey home, starting at the chapter relating the events of Steve's working life in 1985, as that's when I began my freelancing lettering career for 2000 A.D.  I've now worked my way through the beginning and have only a few middle chapters to go.  It's an engaging enough read, but I think it'll be of more interest to former and current comics pros, and avid (but ever-dwindling) 2000 A.D. fans than casual readers.

Comics editors aren't generally well-known outside of professional circles, so Steve's name alone probably won't be a huge draw (yeah, I know - nor would mine), but his association with 2000 A.D. will be sure to attract some attention, and he certainly deserves a nod of recognition for his many years of dedicated service to British comics after all this time.

Surprisingly, only six pages into the first chapter, Steve mistakenly identifies LEO BAXENDALE as the creator of DENNIS The MENACE, when, as every true fan knows, it was writer IAN CHISOLM and artist DAVEY LAW.  Some times even editors need an editor - that right, Steve?  (Hey, I'd have been happy to do it - and for nothing too!)

Don't let that put you off though.  If you're a 2000 A.D. fan, you're sure to enjoy the backstory to 'The Galaxy's Greatest Comic!'  Buy a copy today - only £9.99. 

******

Steve relates a tale about meeting someone who showed him lettering samples at Glasgow's The ROYAL STUART HOTEL in 1982.  However, that was me, and it took place in The MITCHEL LIBRARY (MOIR HALL) in October of '84.  Unless, of course, the same conversation occurred on two different occasions, but I'd consider it unlikely.

ANOTHER POLITICAL SCANDAL...

KEITH VAZ?  Should be fired right away and not allowed to continue as an overpaid Labour MP now that he's shown himself to be a hypocrite, an adulterer, and someone who simply can't be trusted.  Cheated on his wife, offered to buy drugs for his rent boys, and yet there seems to be no outright condemnation of his behaviour, with fellow politicians saying "It's a private matter!"

Our politicians are corrupt and therefore cannot be trusted to put the country's interests before their own.  Do you know why the topics of whether prostitution should be a criminal offence, drugs should be legalized, or the age of consent should be lowered even further are always being investigated by government committees?  The answer is mind-numbingly simple, and it's this:

Far too many politicians these days are drug-addicts, prostitute-users, adulterers, or paedophiles who, in order to avoid criminal prosecution and public shame, are seeking to negate the stigma of their own seedy and sordid pursuits.  Caught using illegal drugs?  "It's not a crime!"  Caught paying for prostitutes?  "It's not illegal!"  Caught 'playing away from home'?  "It's a private matter!"  Caught with 13 or 14 year-old kids?  "They're of the age of consent!"  (And believe me, they will be if these b@st@rds ever get their way.)

Remember the expenses scandal?  Their excuse was that they "didn't break any rules".  Be warned - the old 'rules' are in danger of being rewritten to accommodate the tastes of our political 'masters'.  And, while pandering to their own appetites, they'll have the cheek to say that crime figures are falling.  Well of course they are.  That's the inevitable outcome of making everything legal.  If they get their way, one day 'crime' won't exist.

But that doesn't mean society will be a better place, only that many crimes won't be categorized as crimes anymore!  It's the world that's coming, alas!  The goalposts are ever-shifting and society is going to hell!

BABE Of The DAY - PATRICIA VELASQUEZ...

Here's a palpitating pic of pulse-

pounding PATRICIA VELASQUEZ,

dressed to please me for when I get back

from the shops.  (She's always sending me

for a paper just to see the look on my

face when I return.  Such a tease.)

SO WHO SAID THE DALEKS ARE SPINELESS?

The DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

Above is the second of three DALEK books issued in the '60s.  Someone lent me all three publications so I can read them and then effect a few repairs where required.  The first book needs very little attention, the third one could do with some spine repair, and the second one's spine was gone, man, solid gone.  Though not for long once I got my hands on it, as you can see.

Trouble was, I didn't have reference to what the original spine looked like when I made the replacement, so that makes this copy of the book unique.  Since I made the repair, I've seen the original spine (see pic below), but I think mine is better-looking.  (Well, I would, wouldn't I!)  Unless the owner would prefer me to do it again, I'll be leaving it as it is.  It certainly looks better than its spineless state, that's for sure.

BABE Of The DAY - KIRSTEN STEWART...

KIRSTEN STEWART looks

over her shoulder hoping to catch

sight of me.  Luckily she didn't see

SALMA HAYEK chatting me up in

the corner or there'd have been one

helluva stushie.  (Lemme tell ya,

it's tough being irresistible.)

PAST POSTINGS: BATMAN - WITH ACCESSORIES...

Above is an extremely rare LOUIS MARX BATMAN toy from the 1960s.  I had two of them (at different times) when I was a kid, and have very happy memories of playing with them, especially the second one I received for Christmas in 1966 or '67.  (Could even have been '68.)

Marx had a soldier figure out at the same time (in fact, it actually predated the Batman one), which had the exact same head  (minus the black mask - a sticker - on the face in the above pic) as his Caped Crusader counterpart.

I had a great time dressing up 'little Bruce' in his various pieces of equipment and subjecting him to all sorts of imaginary ordeals and adventures.  (Oo-er, it's just clicked how pervy that sounds, so I'll deny it in court.  Someone please tell me I wasn't the only one.)

Incidentally, despite the backing card's claim, the only thing that moved on the legs were the boots, which turned from left to right - or all the way 'round if you preferred.  Hardly what one would call fully-articulated.

I eventually swapped the toy with a pal for the soldier version and then, the very same night, watched Bats meet his doom as an older lad (ROBERT FORTUNE) launched him into the air while saying "Let's see if he can fly..." - only to see Batman smash to pieces on his descent.  My stunned pal immediately wanted to effect an annulment of our swap, but I was having none of it.  Poor Bats.

Anyway, if you were fortunate enough to have had one of these figures as a kid, here's a look back into the past - happy reminiscing.  (If not, this is what you missed.)

PAST POSTINGS: MY CUP RUNNETH UNDER...

Funny the memories that spring, unbidden, into one's mind upon a sudden glimpse of a half-forgotten object that, over time, has merged chameleon-like with its surroundings and become practically invisible. Until, that is, it metaphorically leaps from its accustomed place in an attempt to remind one of its existence, and draw an acknowledgement that its importance is yet secure after all this time.  Such a thing happened to me earlier, so let me now relate a shamelessly sentimental tale.

In my kitchen is a cup that isn't a cup, which I've had for around 19 years.  I'm so used to seeing it that I don't even see it anymore.  That's to say, it no longer registers on my conscious mind.  It is, quite literally, half a cup, as if it's been set upon by a laser and vertically spliced down the middle. (Except it has a 'back' to its imaginary splice and isn't quite so bereft in the dimensional stakes as I might make it sound.)

It bears the legend "You asked for half a cup of tea" and functions as an actual cup for when one wants to elicit a smile from a visitor.  Not that I've ever used it for such an effect, but it has actually been used for that purpose on me.  It must be over 21 years ago now, that I was visiting an old schoolmate and neighbour, GEORGE COOPER, who lived in an area in which I once stayed over four decades ago.

I was in the habit of taking a stroll in my old environs on a Saturday morning, and would occasionally drop in to visit George and his father, who could always be relied upon to provide a cup of tea and sometimes even a sausage sandwich.  On this particular day, I replied to George's enquiry as to whether I would like a cuppa by saying:  "I wouldn't say no to half a cup, thanks very much."

He'd probably been waiting years for someone to say that.  In due course, in he trotted with a plate of biccies and proffered a cup into my outstretched hand.  Yup, you guessed it, 'twas the half cup I've just been wittering on about in my customary long-winded fashion.  Cue my obligatory and poorly-feigned 'enthusiastic' chuckle at the jest.

A handful or so years later, Mr. Cooper Senior sadly passed away, necessitating in George having to eventually vacate the premises as one of his brothers owned the house and wanted to sell it.  On one of my last visits after his dad's demise, George gave me the cup as a memento of my Saturday morning drop-ins, which, alas, were now drawing to a close due to him having to move from his childhood home.

And so the cup that isn't a cup (but is half a cup) sits on a shelf in my kitchen, bringing with it memories of another house and another time, when I'd revisit one of the neighbourhoods of my youth and reminisce with George and his father about events from so very long ago.  And now that time of reminiscing has itself become a memory, having passed into history and is now a period which I fondly recollect today.

I still sometimes go for a stroll in that old neighbourhood and have other friends living there who I can drop in on if I want to, and, indeed, sometimes I do.  However, whenever I'm back there, I always walk past George's house (which, to me, will always be George's house regardless of whoever lives there) and recall with fond affection the day I asked for half a cup of tea and was given precisely that.

And I'm surprised to find my chuckle at the event is now somehow a genuine one.

BABE(S) Of The DAY - DIANA RIGG & LINDA THORSON...

Two 'Babes' for the price of one - DIANA

RIGG and LINDA THORSON.  Diana wasn't in

Linda's original AVENGERS debut episode, but was

recalled to shoot new scenes when it was judged to be

below par.  (This was the only occasion any assistants

met - they're on Steed's apartment stairs, hence

the seeming discrepancy in their height.)

THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #2...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS.  (Brilliant cover, eh?)

No in-depth analysis of this issue, I'm afraid - I'm just showing it as an excuse to ask all you crackin' Crivs a question.  First, though, let's get the black and white intro page out of the way, as I'm fairly sure there must be loads of you who'd love to read a recap of SPIDER-MAN's iconic origin.  (Don't ask me why it's in b&w when the rest of the mag is in colour, 'cos I'd only be guessing.) 

Right, here's what I'd like to know (but am too lazy to Google):  As you can see, the next issue (#3) was advertised, but was never published.  Did the story intended for the third ish ever see print anywhere, or was the ad for the tale the only part of it that was produced?  Does anyone know?  The comments section awaits.

BABE Of The DAY - LINDA THORSON...

The lovely LINDA THORSON is our

'Babe' today, and what you lot can't see is I'm

sitting in the chair and Linda's smothering me

 with her charms.  Please - don't rescue me.

MAD #1 COVER CONCEPT PAINTING...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Welcome back, I've missed you all.  (Well, it sounds like the right thing to say.)  What we have here is the concept painting by HARVEY KURTZMAN of the cover of MAD #1.  Done in India ink and mixed media, you can compare it with the actual published comic, below.

MARVEL COMICS #2 PROTOTYPE COVER (EXPANDED)...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Hi there, peeps.  You're looking at the watercolour and gouache prototype cover of MARVEL COMICS #2, signed by the creator of NAMOR The SUB-MARINER himself, BILL EVERETT.  Just thought the history lovers among you might like to see it.  And below is what the actual published comic looked like way back in 1939.  (And note the addition of the word 'Mystery' to the title.)

A version of the cover by DEAN MOTTER was used for an issue of MARVEL COMIC INDEX (below).  Contrary to the claim on one site, it doesn't really qualify as 'inking' of Everett's page (which would be done on a vellum  or acetate overlay if it were), but is more a newly drawn interpretation of Everett's original idea.  Not convinced?  Then look at the following side-by-side comparison and judge for yourself.  The cover has clearly been completely redrawn.

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - JULIE EGE..

Heeeeerrrrrre's JULIE!  I doubt I'll

be able to top that introduction, so I'll shut

up now.  You'll all be wanting to ogle EGE,

and who on earth could blame you?

SPIDER-MAN - NOT SO SPECTACULAR... (Expanded & Updated)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

In 2002, MARVEL reissued their 1968 The SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN Special.  This was a black and white, larger sized magazine, though the second and last issue was in full-colour.  Read the spiel on the back cover of the reprint (below)  - if you're a Spidey fan you want this mag after reading that, don't you?  Well, don't get excited - the reprint was a major disappointment.

Most of the lettering was replaced by inferior computer-style fonts that completely ruined the look of the pages.  Logos and display lettering were also replaced, diminishing the 'Marvel' effect that comics had in the '60s, especially when lettered by SAM ROSEN and ARTIE SIMEK.  Honestly, this is a car-crash of a reprint and I'm surprised it was allowed to see print in this form.

The story was reprinted once again in a volume of MARVEL MASTERWORKS with the original lettering intact, leaving me to wonder why the earlier reprint's lettering was ever replaced to begin with.  I can only hope that Marvel will reissue a second edition, but this time done properly.  Go on - how about it, Marvel?

And below is the cover of the original '68 edition, followed by 'before and after' comparisons of two interior pages - as you can see, the differences are screamingly obvious.  Even the contents pages (not shown) are infuriatingly different.  Some replica!

The original - compare the above final caption with the feeble effort below...

Again, the original - is the second version (below) better in your view?  Nope!

******

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE:

Update: Since I first wrote this post, Marvel have reprinted both Spectacular issues in a single volume - see the cover below.  Under that is the UK Annual for 1976 (mentioned in the comments section), which appears to have been retouched to make it look like a line drawing. 

BABE Of The DAY - GABRIELLE (TRIVAGO) MILLER...

Here she is, Crivs - currently

one of the top hits on this 'ere blog

o' mine, alluring Aussie babe, Miss

 GABRIELLE MILLER.

ALICE'S ADVENTURES In YESTERYEAR...

Copyright relevant owner

Once upon a time, in a faraway country called The Past, there was a great wee shop named MODATOYS.  I don't think that was its sole name during its entire lifespan, as a nagging voice tells me it was also christened TOYTOWN at one stage and maybe even something else at another.  However, as I remember it as Modatoys, that's how I'll refer to it now.  (It also sold books, games, and other things.)

The shop opened in the early '70s (if not earlier) and was around until the late '80s (if not later), and I still have several items I bought from the place over the years.  A pair of mini-binoculars (with compass and mirror), The WIND In The WILLOWS (a hardback and a paperback), TOAD Of TOAD HALL, MOONFLEET, THREE LITTLE GREY MEN (and its sequel, Three Little Grey Men GO DOWN The BRIGHT STREAM).

I also have a TWIKI figure from BUCK ROGERS, a couple of red paintbrushes, two chess sets & boards (different sizes), and perhaps one or two other things.  Oh, and the paperback book you can see at the top of this post - ALICE'S ADVENTURES In WONDERLAND.  I bought it on a magnificently hot summer's afternoon in 1973 or '74 (so I'd still have been a schoolboy), and one glance takes me back to that time quicker than Dr. WHO's TARDIS.

When I leaf through its pages, the shop still exists, my demolished schools yet stand in their prime, and the 'new town' in which I live is exactly as it was back then - smaller, brighter, cleaner, newer.  Everything is as it was, even if only for a few fleeting moments, but oh, what welcome moments they are.  I wish I could show you the interior colour photographs in the book, but I can't open it wide enough to scan without damaging, and that would never do.

Readers, do you have a book or item that serves the purpose of a time machine and takes you right back to an earlier era from which you're loath to depart?  Why not tell your fellow Criv-ites about it in the comments section?  Go on - it's good to share.  So here's to The Past - sometimes it's the only thing to look forward to!