RECOMMENDED READING: JUSTICE INC. COLLECTED EDITION...

Images copyright DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT

This image is getting to be a familiar sight on CRIVENS!, but hey - what a belter, right?  I only bought the first ish of the regular 2015 DYNAMITE comic because of ALEX ROSS's 'homage' to JOE KUBERT's original 1975 DC COMICS cover, but I recently acquired the collected edition of the six-part series and it was a nice little read.  I felt I'd just picked up from where I'd left off back in the '70s when I was a teenager.

There's a couple of instances where the letterer has skipped a word, which requires re-reading to catch the meaning, and the art has some minor problems where cars (very nicely rendered) and people aren't always proportionate size-wise, but all-in-all, if you're a fan of pulp heroes in general and The AVENGER in particular, then you'll enjoy this softcover volume.

Check out your local comicbook store, where you're sure to find a copy of this book sitting on the shelves.  Remember to pay for it before you leave though, as it's always embarrassing being rugby-tackled on your way out the door when you've forgotten to hand over your cash. I wonder how long it'll be 'til HOLLYWOOD sees the potential in this property for a big-budget movie?  We'll just have to wait and see.

Incidentally, I'd put a clear protective cover on the book not long before scanning, which slightly reflects the scanner's light.  Hopefully, it doesn't impair your visual enjoyment, but I wasn't going to risk damaging the book by taking it off and putting it on again.  (I knew you'd understand.)

KLASSIC KIRBY KOMIC KOVERS: STRANGE TALES #183 (Or #130 - TAKE YOUR PICK)...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

As you can see, the cover of STRANGE TALES #183 is an enlarged segment from #130.  I first saw JACK KIRBY's art for this on the cover of its latter printing, not its original, though I'd read the story contained therein in an issue of TERRIFIC back in the '60s.  Because I'm a generous guy, I thought I'd show you both versions, so don't say I never spoil you - because I do!  Which version do you prefer, frantic ones?  Share, share, share!

PART SEVEN Of KEN REID'S DARE-A-DAY DAVY From POW!...

Copyright REBELLION

From the pulsating pages of POW! #8 (March 11th 1967), comes KEN REID at his brain-blasting best with DARE-A-DAY DAVY.  Were readers' dares genuine?  Well, I wouldn't bet DONALD TRUMP's hair on it (mainly because there's some doubt about that too), but who cared?  This was comic strip mayhem at its lunatic finest, and whether you've read Davy before or not, you're sure to find something in this page to enjoy or my name isn't FRED FLINTSTONE.  (What's that you say?  My name isn't Fred Flintstone?  Well, whatddya know?!)  Trust me anyway - you'll still enjoy this palpitating page.

ANOTHER BABE Of The DAY - RHIAN SUGDEN...

I just love the colour red - how

could I not when it looks this good?

Of course, RHIAN SUGDEN may

 have something to do with that.

REMINISCING REPOST: THE END OF THE WORLD! (REVISED)...

Images copyright REBELLION

As it's currently 2000 A.D.'s 40th Anniversary, I thought I'd celebrate a little Anniversary of my own.  Namely, the 32nd Anniversary (as near as dammit) of the appearance of the first strip I ever lettered for the mag.  It seems like only yesterday in memory, but I was still a young man around my mid-20s when I lettered this tale in the Walsingham Guest House in Southsea, sometime in January 1985.  (Though I may have started it in the Wansbeck Hotel in London the day before.)  Ah, happy days.  So - "Extra!  Extra!  Read all about it!" below.

(Actually, it's 32 years to the day since the above issue went on sale.  It's dated March 2nd, which means it appeared in newsagents' shops on February 23rd.  I didn't realise that when I decided to re-post the piece, it's simply an amazing coincidence.  Wow!)

  

******   

Not counting paid jobs I'd done since still at school, my very first 'big-time' professional freelance lettering job was for IPC MAGAZINES in 2000 A.D. - a strip called 'EXTRA! EXTRA!', which appeared in Prog 407, cover-dated March 2nd, 1985.  (It wasn't my first published IPC job however - that was a CAPTAIN KID - The PINT-SIZED PIRATE page in WHIZZER & CHIPS, which I lettered one night in the 2000 A.D. office before going home to my bedsit in Fratton, Portsmouth.)

The story was written by PETE MILLIGAN and the art drawn by the late JOSE CASANOVAS, who sadly died in 2009.  To be honest, I'm surprised it turned out as well as it did.  I didn't have the right 'patch-paper' so the lettering came out a little scratchy-looking and was also a tad too large.  I remember STEVE MacMANUS being quite pleased with it though, especially the newspaper headlines.

And thus began my full-time, fifteen year career working for the 'big boys' - not only IPC but also MARVEL COMICS (the British and American divisions).  Anyway, I thought that some of you might enjoy seeing where it all began.  (Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Casanovas' art is slightly reminiscent of RON TURNER's?)

   

I'd like to think that I improved over the coming months once I 'found' my style, but, all in all, it wasn't too bad a beginning for someone starting out in the world of comics.  Technology can be a wonderful thing, but I can't help but feel that some of the art has gone from lettering now that anyone with a keyboard and access to computer fonts can do what once used to lie only within the province of calligraphic artists.

     

The original scans were a bit 'ropey' (pun intended), so I've now replaced them with far clearer ones.  The pages don't look pixelated now and are a lot easier to read.

THANK HEAVENS For CRIVENS!...

One thing I pride myself on with this blog is that it's honest.  When I 'review' a comic or book, I'll tell you what I think about it with no fear or favour.  Looking at a couple of other blogs which on occasion cover some of the same stuff that I do, I'm struck by the fact that they never say anything even remotely negative about any of it, instead just trotting out the publishers' supplied spiel about their product.  Why's that do you think?  I'll tell you.

The couple of blogs I'm thinking of are by people connected to the comic companies in some way, either by doing freelance work from them in order to make a living, or relying on their 'patronage' by way of being given advance publicity and images on upcoming or recent products.  They're essentially in those companies' pockets, and won't risk incurring their disfavour by giving you an honest, unbiased view on any of the stuff they're featuring.

So if you want to read mere advertising, these other blogs fit the bill.  If, however, you want to read an honest opinion about any of the stuff publicised on this blog, then congratulations on your taste and discernment.  You might not agree with my review of a mag or book, but at least it wasn't written merely to sook up to any publishers.

So come to CRIVENS! - the honest blog!  And remember, I'm not trying to get you to put money in my wallet - unlike some second-string individuals constantly trying to promote either themselves or their work on Blogger, Twitter and Facebook.  

******

(This, of course, is an unabashed plug for my blog, and is therefore completely biased in its favour.  But hey - it's an honest bias and not one I deny - so there!)

BABE Of The DAY - JERI RYAN...

Here's a cute babe to start the

day - JERI RYAN.  Now, what's the

name of that book I asked her to fetch

down for me?  Forget it.  Who wants

to read at a time like this?!

RECOMMENDED READING: DAREDEVIL EPIC COLLECTION VOLUME THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Are you a comicbook fan?  Are you a MARVEL fan?  Are you a DAREDEVIL fan?  Well then, Melvin, your luck is in, as the newest EPIC COLLECTION of ol' Hornhead is now available from all good comics shops.  This is volume 3, but don't panic, volume 2 hasn't been released yet.  (They publish them out of sequence for some curious reason.)  Anyway, read the spiel on the back cover (below), sell (yes, 'sell', not 'tell' - it's not a typo) the wife or girlfriend, then rush out and buy this 'must-have' softcover book right away.

(You know it makes sense!)

RECOMMENDED READING: The AVENGERS #4.1...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

For all those who haven't yet latched on to MARVEL's The AVENGERS .1 series, above is the latest issue's cover to whet your appetite.  On sale now at all good comics shops.  If you're fortunate, you might still be able to pick up previous issues, but if not, start saving for the soft-cover collection.  There's bound to be one.

BABE Of The DAY - SALMA HAYEK...

Here's sexy, sensational SALMA HAYEK to

remind all you guys just what a real woman looks

like.  Put aside that bicycle pump you use to inflate

your 'girlfriend' and set your sights higher.  Salma is

'goddess' level - so not quite this high for you yet,

 h'mm?  (Maybe one day - if you're lucky!)

2000 A.D. 40TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL...

Images copyright REBELLION

Hell's teeth!  Has it really been 40 years since 2000 A.D. landed in newsagents' shops all across Britain?  Yup, sure has.  I must admit that though I took great professional pride in freelancing for IPC's top-selling title, it never really appealed to me as a reader.  I far preferred MARVEL U.K.'s line of weekly periodicals, short-lived though some of them were.

I probably gave up on 2000 A.D. after #3, the last of the initial free gift issues.  The comic was too bleak, too negative, too dystopian for my tastes.  There was nothing about any of the future scenarios displayed within its pages that was desirable, and in which any sane and sensible person would want to live.  PAT MILLS, the creator of the comic, had nothing but disdain (if not outright contempt) for superheroes, whereas it was my ambition to become one.  (Haven't given up hope yet.)

The cover of #1, 1977

So 2000 A.D. wasn't for me.  I collected a short run of issues around 1979, but jumped ship again when it reverted to cheap newsprint after having enjoyed superior printing for a while.  I didn't pick it up again until I began freelancing for the comic at the beginning of 1986, and the only real 'thrill-power' I ever experienced was seeing my name in print (or getting paid), as most of the stories failed to impress me.

Oh, they were competent and professional, but trying just a bit too hard to be 'down wiv the kids', who, it seemed to me, were attracted to the mag not for any quality of writing, but for the violence.  (I was once in a newsagent's, when I overheard two kids trying to persuade their parents to buy them an issue.  "It's great - you see people getting their arms and heads chopped off and being blown to bits!")

The cover of the 'dummy' issue

However, 40 years is 40 years, and I'm glad to see that 2000 A.D. yet survives. True, it sells nowhere near as many copies as it did in my day, and I suspect it's being kept going (on 'life-support') more for the potential exploitation in other media (movies, games, etc.) of its properties, than because of any profit brought in from the comic itself.  I still have a fond affection for it though, even if it's more from a former contributor's perspective than a reader's.  Which is why I made a point of picking up the 40th Anniversary Special when I saw it today.

I have to be completely honest - looking through its pages, I don't feel particularly motivated to read it.  Murky, muddy colour in the JUDGE DREDD strip, and trying far too hard to be wild and wacky, but in an embarrassing, 'drunk uncle at a party' way that doesn't do it any favours at all.  SLAINE rips off takes inspiration from the BLACK KNIGHT fight scene in MONTY PYTHON & The HOLY GRAIL and displays neither wit nor wisdom, serving only to reinforce the juvenile (if not infantile) humour aspect that permeated the title many years back, when writers who regarded themselves as too good for 'children's' comics started trying to be clever for their own amusement, and proved only that they were too far up their own @rses.

It was good seeing JOHNNY ALPHA and DURHAM RED again, drawn, as in my day, by CARLOS EZQUERRA, but it felt odd seeing the strip without my lettering. (After this post, there's no chance of that ever happening again, eh?)  To be frank, this issue seems altogether irrelevant and superficial, and I'd be surprised (though not unhappy) if 2000 A.D. ever manages to match The DANDY's or The BEANO's 75 year, British record-breaking run.

However, don't let me put you off from joining in the 40th Birthday celebrations - buy a copy today and make up your own minds.  Then give me hell in the comments section.  "Unleash the dogs of war!"  (But don't dare dirty the carpet with paw-prints or doggie-poo, understood?)

See?  Even THARG can lie

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

I asked MADDIE to help me with

something earlier on, but she said she

couldn't as she had her hands full.  She's

always got an excuse, that girl - I dunno

why I keep her around.  (Must be some

 reason, but I can't think what it is.)

SCHOOLTIME SCANDALS - PART ELEVEN: DINNERTIMES CAN BE DANGEROUS...

The teachers' table sat in front of (and parallel to) the stage

Believe it or not, I was rather shy and introverted as a primary school pupil and didn't mix well with my fellows.  Back in my day, it was the practice to pair off with a classmate when en route to anywhere in the school by saying "Take!" and clasping the hand of the favoured (or simply available) choice of partner before making our way (in a double-filed line) to whichever part of the school we were led by the teacher.

One day (in 1966), the bell rang for dinner, and the playground emptied as the throng of kids made its way into the corridor outside the dining hall, pairing off while awaiting permission to enter.  (I'm unsure why we were in the playground at dinnertime, but we were.  Perhaps we were the second wave of hungry diners that day.)

Anyway, I hung back because I didn't have a fellow pupil to pair off with - for two reasons.  Firstly, no one picked me, and secondly, I was just too shy to put myself forward.  My brother found me lurking in the corridor and enquired why I wasn't in the hall filling my face.  I explained my situation and he took me to see Mr. Curry, the janitor.  Wishing to avoid embarrassing me by saying "He's too shy to go into the hall by himself", he just said "He was at the far end of the playground and didn't hear the dinner-bell."

Mr. Curry took me to the door of the hall, opened it and actually whistled to the teachers sat at the 'top table'.  Mr. Halliburton, the deputy head looked over, and Mr. Curry nodded at me in a contemptuous manner.  "Didn't hear the bell," he explained as Mr. Halliburton came over, in a tone which suggested "a likely story".

Without saying a single word to me, Mr. Halliburton grabbed me by the back of my shirt collar and, no exaggeration, my feet barely scuffed the stairs as he ascended to his classroom on the top floor.  There, he administered several strokes of 'the strap', with such severity I had the wind knocked out of me.  Then he dragged me back down to the hall and said to one of the dinner ladies "Give this boy his food!"

Ignore the doorway on your left.  It was the doorway to the side of
it on your right from which Mr. Curry hailed Mr. Halliburton

I'll choose my next words very carefully.

What a nasty, sadistic b*st*rd!  No sympathy, no empathy, no clue about how to deal with kids who were a bit self-conscious or introverted.  How he was ever allowed to be a teacher, never mind a headmaster (as he later became) remains a complete mystery to me.  I met him at various times in my teenage and adult years, and though I was always perfectly polite to him, I never forgot the appalling way he had punished my 7-year-old self for merely being a bit shy and lacking in confidence.  Schoolkids today don't know just how fortunate they are, that's for sure.

One of his two sons was in my class in secondary school, and I always felt just a little bit sorry for him.  Not that he was a sad individual or anything like that, but I have the impression that he copped a fair bit of grief simply for being his father's son.  Mr. Halliburton hadn't been well-liked by quite a number of pupils, and poor Neville would've had that situation to deal with, unfortunately.  Probably the opposite of his primary school days I imagine, when none of his classmates would've dared touch him for fear of incurring his pater's sadistic and unholy wrath.

I last saw Mr. Halliburton around 9 years or so ago, but he was pretty ancient, and I'd be surprised (though undismayed) to learn that he's yet alive.  If it's not already happened, it won't be long until it's Mr. Halliburton's turn to see 'The Headmaster'.  I'm not so bitter over my experience though, that I'd begrudge him being accorded the understanding, insight, and mercy that he seemed incapable of displaying towards his unfortunate pupils.

Hey, maybe I'm a better person than I thought.

******

Incidentally, there's a subsequent incident involving Mr. Halliburton where I defied his attempt to punish me again.  I'll tell you Criv-ites all about it another time.     

TEENAGE TALES: JENNY AULD And A COUPLE Of 'MONKEYS'...

JENNY AULD

Just learned that a retired teacher from my old secondary school passed away last week.  JENNY AULD was her name, and she was a well-known figure around the town as she seemed to have lived for centuries.  I can't remember if I was ever actually in her class, but I have an impression that she filled in for absent teachers on a couple of occasions, so she was in 'mine'.

Thinking of a particular 'encounter' I had with her makes me smile to this very day, as it reminds me of my teenage youth around 1973 or '74.  A new indoor shopping complex had not long been completed in my town, and there was some low scaffolding attached to a wall at the side of the opening to the underpass which led into the new retail centre known as The Plaza.

Me and a friend by the name of 'Adam Cowie' (who regular readers will know as 'Billy Liar') were swinging like a couple of monkeys on one of the scaffolding bars one Saturday afternoon, when who should turn the corner but Mrs. Jenny Auld herself.  She looked at us quizzically and then said "Must you?" in a mildly-reproving (but not totally unfriendly) tone.

That very piece of wall, sans scaffolding, in 2017

My friend and I looked at one another for a split-second, then returned our gaze to her.  "Yes - we must!" we said in mock-falsetto voices in unison - then burst out laughing.  She raised her eyebrows as she passed, but I thought I could detect the faint hint of an amused smile about her lips.  We did wonder if we might get 'pulled up' at school on Monday, but we weren't.

Even to this day, if ever I hear an exasperated parent enquire of their unruly offspring "Must you?", I can't suppress the small voice in my head that automatically responds "Yes - we must!"  Then I smile to myself, and for a moment I'm back in the early 1970s, when my town was much younger, smaller, and better than it is now.  (Just like me, come to think of it.)

Here's to Jenny - may she rest in peace.

GUEST POST By AMIABLE AL: The MORE THINGS CHANGE...

Pin-up of The THING, FF #2.  Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Are you in for a treat!  No, that's not a question, it's a statement of fact.  ALAN McKENZIE, writer, editor, and a former wearer of 2000 A.D.'s mantle of THARG, has graciously written the following guest post which you're now about to read (if you're smart).  I'm making a rod for my own back here, because after you've read Al's post, the ones I write in future might seem disappointing by comparison.  Never mind, I'll just have to up my game.  Ready?  Okay, Al - take it away.

******    

I was thinking about The Thing recently.  Mostly because I was writing a post over on my 'Marvel in the Silver Age' blog, all about the Human Torch stories in Marvel's Strange Tales mags of the early '60s.  Back then, it seemed that no one could agree on what The Thing looked like.  Even Jack Kirby drew him in different ways in different titles... or so I thought.  But as I started to look at different comics that included the character during those formative years, it seemed more and more like there was a definite timeline.

Narrow doorways?  Then how did he get into the store?  (From FF #1)

In the first few issues of Fantastic Four, Jack Kirby was drawing The Thing like a big shapeless lump of orange clay.  This 'mudslide' Thing would last just a few months before Kirby started to tinker with his appearance.  So in the first issue of FF (dated Nov 1961, on sale in Aug), Ben Grimm's monstrous alter ego looked... well, kinda monstrous.  There's no real shape to him.  His head seems to join directly to his shoulders without the benefit of a neck.  I'm guessing Kirby's thinking here was to make him look like a heavyweight wrestler, or an over-developed bodybuilder... in brown underpants.  And he acted all monstrous, as well.  He seemed constantly in a bad mood and there was a real sense of danger to the character.  There was also a weird undercurrent that he fancied Sue Storm and wanted her for himself.

Yeah, right.  Lose your temper, reach for a tree.  I do it all the time

It's been said elsewhere that the cosmic quartet are based on alchemical elements.  Mister Fantastic is Water, because his body can flow into any shape.  The Human Torch is Fire, of course.  The Invisible Girl is Air.  And The Thing is Earth... which aptly fits his 'mudslide' appearance.  The second issue of FF (dated Jan '62) included a pin-up page of The Thing, which gave us a really good look at the character, as pencilled by Jack Kirby and inked by George Klein.  There's no reason to think that Klein was in any way stamping his own version of The Thing on top of Kirby's original pencils.  This would have been the way Kirby was drawing the character at this point.

The THING rips off his costume.  Be still my beating heart

With FF #3 (dated Mar '62), there was a bit of a shift away from super-powered individuals in street clothes.  My guess is that Stan Lee wanted the characters to have costumes - or maybe it was publisher Martin Goodman - but anyhow, first chance he got, The Thing ripped his costume to shreds, so there's not much doubt on where Kirby stood.  (Though, on the pencils for page 7, Sue was wearing a mask, her intention being they'd all cover their faces - but it was erased before inking.)  There wasn't any real change in FF #5, except that The Thing was now in blue underpants and black booties.  He was still the same old mudslide, pencilled by Kirby and inked, for the first time, by Joe Sinnott.  Below, left, is a nice page of original art from FF #5 which better shows how the character looked at this point in his development.

In FF #6 (dated Sep '62 - above, right), inked by Dick Ayers for the first time, The Thing has lost the boots and gained a neck.  There seemed to be a move away from the mudslide look and Ayers was inking Ben Grimm as though his skin had the texture of dinosaur hide.  And this look would persist for the next year and a bit, so I'd always believed that's what Kirby had intended.  But here's something startling I noticed.  Take a look (below) at how Jack drew The Thing on the cover of FF #7 (dated Nov '62), just a year after his initial appearance.  It's the 'blocky' Thing readers would later come to know and love, but more commonly associate with the character's looks in 1964.  And we know this is what JK intended because he inked his own cover pencils on #7.

Meanwhile, inside the mag (above, left), The Thing is still inked by Ayers to look like he has dinosaur hide.  Over the next year or so, we'd continue to have the dinosaur-hide Thing in the Ayers-inked stories.  I'm not saying Ayers invented the dinosaur-hide look though.  In fact, below is a pencil sketch by Jack likely done in the early part of '62 which shows otherwise... but I do think Ayers was responsible for keeping the dinosaur-hide Thing going (possibly at Stan's instruction) long past the point when JK had moved on from that particular look.

1962 pencil drawing of The THING for
JERRY BAILS' fanzine ALTER-EGO

There he goes, ripping off his clothes again - swoon!  (FF #18)

With FF #18 (dated Sep '63), the blocky Thing made yet another appearance, on the cover (above), inked by Paul Reinman... though inside the comic, we still had Ayers' dinosaur-hide Thing.  It wouldn't be until Ayers was moved onto other assignments by Stan, that George Roussos (as Bell) would come in - at FF #21 (dated Dec '63) - and start inking The Thing the way that Jack Kirby was pencilling him... in all his blocky glory (below).

The rocky, blocky THING that fans came to know and love

And simply because I came across them while looking for images for this article, above is a Jack Kirby pencil drawing of The Fantastic Four from 1965 (Marie Severin redrew The Torch figure), and a later one from 1977, both depicting the familiar blocky Thing.  Much, much later, other hands - John Byrne, I'm looking at you - would revive the look of good old mudslide Thing for an entertaining run of issues (during his tenure from FF #232, dated Jul 1981 - #293, dated Aug '86).  In #238, Mister Fantastic tried once again to cure Ben's condition... the outcome was that The Thing reverted to his original, mudslide appearance.  The condition would last for a couple of years before The Thing mutated again...

...but that's a tale for another time.

******

And a great big Crivens thanks to Al for taking the time and trouble to write this fascinating guest post.  Feel entirely free to register your appreciation in our comments section.

BABE Of The DAY - BERNADETTE PETERS...

You can write your own caption for

the beautiful BERNADETTE PETERS.

 I'm off for a lie down for a while.

ROOBARB & CUSTARD...

Copyright ROOBARB Enterprises, Ltd

A great TV show I loved in the 1970s was ROOBARB & CUSTARD, narrated by RICHARD BRIERS.  The animation was shaky (deliberately so), the storylines were mental, and the theme tune was pure dead brilliant (as we say in Glasgow).  I was glad to see some comic strips based on the show in the TV COMIC Annual for 1977 (which I bought near the end of '76), so I thought you might like to see them too.

(TV Comic Annual 1977 - the gift that keeps on giving.)

FAMOUS FILM STAR FOUND IN A 'THREESOME'...

Copyright METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER, Inc

I don't know if BARNEY BEAR ever appeared in a comic strip in America, but he had his own page in the weekly TV COMIC here in Britain.  The strips featured in this post were drawn by BILL TITCOMBE, one of the finest cartoonists this country ever produced.

So, enjoy a 'threesome' of Barney Bear strips from TV Comic Annual for 1977 (issued in '76).  Go on, have a laugh on me.  (On, I said, not at, you rascals.)

(Note that the stories have an element of wit about them, usually lacking in today's offerings.  If they were still writing them like this, maybe more people would be buying what few British comics remain.)