BABE Of The DAY - IMOGEN HASSALL...

IMOGEN recently took up knitting

and proudly poses with the jumper she

made.  She didn't have quite enough wool

to finish it, but it looks fine to me as it is.

I'd be surprised if you disagreed.

PULSATING PIN-UPS PART THREE: SUPERMAN & LUTHOR...

Image copyright DC COMICS

Continuing our perusal of pin-ups from SUPERMAN: The MAN Of STEEL GALLERY mag, here's one by AL PLASTINO, the veteran artist tasked with redrawing most of JACK KIRBY's Superman figures in JIMMY OLSEN # 133 and The FOREVER PEOPLE #1.  Not exactly a great blend of styles, and rendering the point of having Jack drawing Superman a rather redundant exercise, but hey - that's comics for you!  (Saying that, I didn't mind MURPHY ANDERSON inking faces in subsequent issues.)

ANOTHER BABE Of The DAY - LESLIE BIANCHINI...

Remember those old cartoons

and comic strips where a light goes on

over someone's head when they suddenly

have a really good idea?  That's just what's

happened here with LESLIE BIANCHINI.

She's twigged how extremely handsome I

am, and that it'd be a good idea to ask me

out on a date.  (And she's right on both

 counts, bright gal that she is.)

PULSATING PIN-UPS PART TWO: SUPERMAN & CO...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Okay, we've had the Bat-guy, so now it's time for the big red 'S'.  (The sequence of posting doesn't show favouritism on my part, it's merely the order in which I picked up the comics for scanning.)  I don't know if JOHN BYRNE currently works on any mags, but if not, it's a real shame 'cos he sure produced some delightful drawings on a regular basis back in the day.  This is one of them, based on the cover of SUPERMAN #38, 1946.  Wanna see more?  Then say so!

PULSATING PIN-UPS PART ONE: BATMAN, ROBIN, & BATGIRL...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Here's a cracking pin-up for you, taken from the peerless publication below.  (Well, it's not exactly 'peerless' as there's a SUPERMAN companion mag, but you know how I love alliteration.)  If you all behave yourselves, I might show you a few more awesome images.  Would you like that, Criv-ites?  Then let me know, I'm not a bloody mind-reader!  (I am actually, but I don't like to boast about it.  I'm a very modest guy.)

BABE Of The DAY - ABIGAIL RATCHFORD...

It's nice and sunny, so here's a

honey - ABIGAIL RATCHFORD.

Note the way she's looking at me - she

clearly recognises a real man when

 she sees one.  (Clever gal.)

The FINAL BOW - EXIT, STAGE LEFT...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

"I wish I knew where I was going to die - 'cos I wouldn't go there!" runs the old joke.  And that's about as funny as this post will get, as I want to ask you a serious question.  First though, let me try and pave the way.  When I was a great deal younger than I am today, I'd sometimes imagine my deathbed scene, which usually took place in the bedroom of one particular house - not the one in which I live today, but the previous one.  I'm not sure why, but that's the way it would go.

Okay, so here it is.  Have any of you ever thought forward to your final moments, and imagined where it might happen and what it will be like?  Would your 'ideal' (not the right word, but you know what I mean) scenario be going peacefully in your sleep, or being surrounded by those dear to you as you slipped quietly away, knowing they loved you and that you'd made an immense and appreciated difference to their lives?

I suppose I'll be alone when I croak, just as I've always been.  Never really fitted in anywhere, even as a child.  I'll just slowly breathe my last one day and the world will go on as it's always done, and no one will miss me or shed a tear.  In my 'future projections', there was never anyone around my bedside in my final moments, and there's no reason to think the actual event will be any different to my imagining of it.  (Unless it's a team of doctors and nurses perhaps.)

I take a small measure of consolation from the fact that my name will yet be seen in old comics and appear in new reprints, but it's poor compensation for not being around in person to see and appreciate it.  So, if it's not too upsetting to consider, have you ever thought about your passing and how it might play out 'on the day'?  Or would you prefer not to think about such dark matters?  Either way, leave a comment, even if it's just to try and lighten the mood around here.

("For feck's sake, Kid, that's some heavy sh*t!")

SPOT The DIFFERENCE: The FANTASTIC FOUR #2...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Above is the cover of The FANTASTIC FOUR #2 as originally prepared (without the colour, which was added for a MASTERWORKS volume), below as it saw publication after STAN LEE decided it needed some revision.  What do you think, readers, were the changes an improvement or not?  Either way, what are the reasons for your view?  (Note that in the one below, part of the floorboards run into the wall.  Either the 'published' cover was re-created and the lines were missed when the floor was 'lowered', or the process white used to obscure them cracked and fell off.  Also, the end of JOHNNY'S speech balloon tail has been missed.) 

BABE Of The DAY - LESLIE BIANCHINI...

I know what's on LESLIE's mind

as she gazes over at me while I scoff a

fish supper.  "Give me one of your chips

you fat, greedy slob!" she's thinking.  No

chance - after all, I've gotta think of her

 figure.  (Easy job, admittedly.)

CALLING 'MY OLD COMICS' BLOG...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

JP over at MY OLD COMICS blog was looking for this ad,

so I thought I'd dig it out for him.  The rest of you are allowed

to look at it as well though, 'cos I'm a generous sort of guy!

FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST PART FIFTY-THREE - FANTASTIC FOUR #234...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

'Twas on one of the upper floors of Glasgow's VIRGIN Megastore in 1981 that I bought the above issue of The FANTASTIC FOUR.  I couldn't say off the top of my head when I'd last read a copy of the FF, but it'd been a good while, probably back in the '70s.  This was the number that brought me back into the fold, and I soon tracked down the previous two issues (the start of JOHN BYRNE's reign) from a shop called WONDERWORLD in Bournemouth.

Altogether, John Byrne wrote and drew 62 issues (and plotted what would've been his 63rd if he'd not moved over to DC to reboot SUPERMAN), plus two annuals, and, in my famously humble opinion, the FF hadn't been so consistently good since the days of STAN & JACK.  This was the issue that drew me back in, and guess what?  The world would never again be the same - for me anyway.

1981, eh?  A whole 36 years ago, yet it seems like only three or four at the very most.  The pics in this post were scanned from the original comic I got back then, which is still in the same condition as when I got it.  If only I were in as good shape as the mag, I'd be a whole lot happier.

Got any memories of this issue?  Then why not use a few seconds of your allotted 15 minutes of fame and share them with us in the comments section?  Go on, we're a willing audience who'd love to read your reminiscences!

"EXTERMINATE!" - DALEKMANIA...

DALEKS copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION.
Dr. WHO copyright BBC TV

Someone asked to see The DALEKS DVD set, so here it is.  There are three cards, two of which feature the two movies, while the third card has an army of the Scions of SKARO.  (Actually, it's only one Dalek, duplicated multiple times.)  The back of each card respectively lists the scene index for the films and DALEKMANIA documentary, and the discs show artwork from the posters.

Here - take a look for yourselves...

PART FIFTY-TWO Of FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - FANTASTIC FOUR #90, Plus 91, 92, 93, 94, & 97...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I couldn't swear to it after all this time, but I have a notion I saw The FANTASTIC FOUR #90 while living in our old house, but didn't buy it 'til after moving into our new abode some time later.  Perhaps I should clarify that; I definitely purchased it while in my new home, but maybe first saw it while living in the old one.  Anyway, regardless of where I lived when I first saw it, I bought it in the same shop some weeks or months later.  I know it was the selfsame issue as they only had one copy.

That was sometime in 1972.  In 1973 or '74, I got the next three issues in a shop (perhaps on one of the piers) in Blackpool while on holiday.  Yes, that's right, late '60s issues of the FF (and other titles) were still on sale, brand-new, several years after publication.  Anyway, I also bought some other issues of the cosmic quartet, so now's as good a time as any to show them.  So because I know you care about the details, remember that #90 wasn't bought in Blackpool, but in a local shop called CORSON'S, which yet survives to this very day.  (Update: The premises were bought by a new owner in February of 2018 and refitted and renamed.)

Okay, having refreshed my memory with the above preamble, let's move on to the good part - the covers themselves.  I'm sure you'll find having had to wade through my personal reminiscences a small price to pay for such cataclysmic classics, but if not, then too bad.  Hey, tell you what, why not get your own back on me by sharing your memories of these MARVEL mags in our captivating comments section?  After all, turnabout is fair play, so they say.

  

And now, the splash pages...

 

THE FIRST-EVER DALEK BOOK...

Copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

Did it!  Finally obtained a copy of The DALEK Book from 1964 (for '65).  I have scans of all three '60s Dalek tomes, which I took from someone else's books while repairing them a few months back.  (Replacing a spine, removing marks, fixing torn pages, etc.)  However, nothing beats having the real thing and now I've got one of them - the very first.  (Update: Now got all three of them - twice over.)

If I ever see inexpensive copies of the other two books in the series, I'll grab them of course (see above update), but I could live with just the first one as it predates TV CENTURY 21 and introduces the EMPEROR Dalek.  When I was a kid, I don't recall seeing any of the books, so I thought the Golden Emperor's first appearance was in TV21 in 1965.  Nope, it was The Dalek Book, issued in 1964.

To celebrate my acquisition, I've decided to share a few pages with you.  As I already said, I've got scans from a friend's book, but you deserve a bit of effort, so I've scanned the pictures on display from my own volume so you won't feel cheated.  Do I spoil you or what?  So enjoy the first three pages from the first comic strip to feature The Daleks, taken, as I said, from their first-ever book.

Well, whaddya think?  Lemme know.

******

(Click on images to enlarge, click again for optimum size.)

FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST PART FIFTY-ONE - The SILVER SURFER: ISSUES 10 - 14...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

It was 1973 or '74.  I was in Blackpool on holiday with my parents (both years), and was astonished to find that brand-new, pristine issues of late '60s MARVEL comics (as well as some DC) were readily available (in some shops) straight from the spinner-racks for the decimal equivalent of their original U.K. prices.  I purchased a few FANTASTIC FOUR issues by LEE & KIRBY (which we'll look at another time), but, amazingly, I was also able to pick up five issues of The SILVER SURFER's mag, as fresh as the day they were printed, for a mere 25p (5p each).

So, what accounts for these classic comics still being on sale so many years after they were first published?  (Remember, when you're 14 or 15, three or four years is a sizeable stretch of your young life.)  Well, darned if I know to be honest, but I'm glad they were.  The issues on view here are replacement ones I obtained around 13-odd years later, but one look at these covers and I'm a young lad on holiday in Blackpool again, back in the sizzlin' '70s.  Thing is, these were amongst the best Surfer stories published (in my humble opinion), so I was really lucky to get them.

So savour the sight of these sensational Silver Surfer covers in all their magnificent marvellousness.  And if you have any nostalgic reminiscences of your own associated with these issues, you're more than welcome to share them with all your fellow Criv-ites in our crackin' comments section.  Well - what're you waiting for?  Get typing, or I'll start thinking I'm the only person who reads this blamed blog.  (And my delusions to the contrary are important to me.)

And now - the splash pages...