PART FIFTY-FOUR Of FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - FANTASTIC FOUR #57-60...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

In the interests of historical accuracy, it behoves me to say that I'm unsure whether or not I actually owned the above issue of The FANTASTIC FOUR (#57) back in the 1960s, but I definitely had the next three.  I purchased #59 mainly for the piccie of SUSAN STORM (I refuse to recognise her marriage to REED RICHARDS), but I was soon caught up in the drama within.

FF #58 was my entry point into this adventure, and it was the first time I'd seen JACK KIRBY's 'evolved' style of art compared to his earlier version of the foursome, when his figures were leaner and taller-looking.  The colouring gave the pages a mood and atmosphere that was lacking from the black and white reprints I was used to, and I recall the impression the issue made on me.  (My mother was ironing as I perused Jack's power-packed pages.)

As I said, it was the picture of Susie that was the clincher in making up my mind to buy the issue below, but I was glad I did.  I think this was the first time I'd seen BLACK BOLT and The INHUMANS, but I was  more interested in the main plot involving the FF and The SILVER SURFER.  In fact, come to think of it, it was likely the first time I'd ever seen the Surfer, although I know I had the earlier issue of FF #55, but perhaps I bought that one out of sequence after reading these issues.

The next one is 'odd-man-out', because I found a damp coverless copy of it at the side of a bus-shelter while waiting on a bus (no surprise there) to go shopping with my mother one day.  I no longer recall exactly how long it was after reading the previous two issues, but it was satisfying to find out just how the story had concluded, and the fate of the Surfer.

Anyway, years later (and many years ago), I purchased replacements for all four issues to add to my collection, and, as I've said before about loads of other comics, one glance returns me to an earlier point in time with such clarity that I feel as if I'm back there and a mere lad again.  It's an illusion of course, but sometimes illusions are the only things we have - and often the best.

Any memories of these mags, chums?  Let's hear 'em. 

JIM ED BROWN - WHEN I DREAM...

Here's an older JIM ED BROWN with a nice

little tune I'm sure you'll all enjoy.  No refunds if

 you don't though - just sayin'.  Click that arrow.

BABE Of The DAY - TIA CARRERE...

The terrific TIA CARRERE looks

at me enticingly in the hope of seducing

me and enjoying my manly-man physique.

She's not the only woman entertaining that

ambition, but maybe I'll move her right

 to the front of the queue.

GEOFFREY BAYLDON IS The DOCTOR. 'WHO' DID YOU SAY...?

GEOFFREY BAYLDON died on Wednesday, which is a shame not only for his family & friends, but also for fans of his portrayal of CATWEAZLE.  Apparently, he was offered the role of DOCTOR WHO twice; the first time in 1963 when they were looking for someone to play the part that eventually went to WILLIAM HARTNELL, and the second time when Hartnell left the show in '66.  Had he accepted, it's interesting to wonder whether he'd have continued as the first Doctor, or another version entirely.  'What ifs' are always fascinating, eh? 

When an actor is so established in a role from the beginning, it's always difficult (if not impossible) to later imagine anyone else in the part who would be as effective in the same way, but there are two exceptions to that in my mind, the second of which I only just remembered as I type this.  Let's deal with the second one first, eh?  I think actor STANLEY BAKER could probably have played JAMES BOND as effectively as SEAN CONNERY.  At least, I imagine he could've, and it's not often you can say that about a role so dominated by another. 

Baker... Stanley Baker...

Baker's widow said that he had been offered the role of Bond in 1961, but didn't want to commit to a 3-movie deal.  Imagine it for yourself: it's surprisingly easy to 'see' Stan B in any of Connery's Bond films.  However, I digress.  The other instance is the very first one I thought of - Geoffrey Bayldon as Doctor Who.  I have absolutely no difficulty in envisioning him in all the Hartnell episodes, a fact which makes me feel somewhat disloyal as I'm a huge fan of Bill Hartnell's portrayal.  Had Bayldon played The Doctor however, we'd have had the same character, but without the fluffed lines that WH was prone to (due to illness it has to be said, so not his fault).

What about the rest of you faithful Criv-ites who were around at the 'Dawn of The Doctor'?  Can you too see Geoffrey in the part of the time-travelling titan, or am I spouting my usual load of old pants?  Feel free to give me a piece of your mind (but only if you can spare it) should you disagree with my 'retroactive recasting' of the role of the Guardian from Gallifrey.  Go on, join in and let's have some fun around here, chums!  (Before The DALEKS exterminate the lot of us.)

(H'mm, Geoffrey from Gallifrey has a nice ring to it.  Maybe that's the Doctor's real name.)  

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING: VWORP VWORP! VOLUME THREE...

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

It's been around five and a half years since volume two of VWORP VWORP! came out, so was the latest issue worth the wait?  A resounding YES!!!  If you're a DOCTOR WHO or DALEKS fan, this professionally produced fanzine will ring your bell to SKARO and back.  It's almost a crime to refer to it as a fanzine as there's nothing amateurish about it.

There are three covers, one a 'homage' to TV CENTURY 21, and it comes with a vinyl record very much in the mould of the CENTURY 21 Mini-Albums that were available in the '60s.  Or you can have it on CD if you get either of the other two cover variants.  There's no point me wittering on about the contents, as you can see what's inside from the accompanying images, reproduced by kind permission of the publishers.

It's chock-full of interesting and informative articles and interviews, and well-worth twice its £9.99 price for the seven page full-colour DALEKS strip alone, drawn by RON TURNER and LEE SULLIVAN.  There are other comic strips as well, and I believe I can confidently state there's nothing about this excellent 210 page publication that will disappoint.  It's not actually a magazine, more of a book - you'll love it.  Buy one now!

You can get your copy of VWORP VWORP! here.  Should also be on sale in your nearest comicbook store, so you're spoilt for choice now, aren't you?

The vinyl record cover

A lucky randomised few may get this cover as well

The CD cover

Nice to see the real Doctor again

FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS - ALL THREE OF THEM...

Great song, great singers, great big hankies

at the ready at the end of it.  Take it away, JIM

ED BROWN and his two sisters.  (This song has

two names - The Three Bells or The Jimmy

Brown Song - take yer pick.)

TROUBLE IN THE AMEN CORNER...

I think I might have posted this track before, but

the mighty JIM REEVES is always worth listening

to again (and again).  So, Crivs - listen and enjoy.

BABE Of The DAY - MICHELLE KEEGAN...

MICHELLE KEEGAN leaves

the gym after her daily workout.  Now

she's rushing straight over to my house,

though I refuse to say whether another

workout is on the cards.  (Or perhaps

 I might just be dreaming again.)

ACTION COMICS #1 REPRINTS... (Updated)

Copyright DC COMICS.  1974

There've been several separate reprints of ACTION COMICS #1 over the years, and I have eight of them.  You often see them on eBay being offered at various prices, but some of them are, frankly, ridiculous.  The issue below is listed as high as £865.90 (will it ever sell at that price?), and the ish below that is listed as high as £263.42.  I bought around a dozen of the '88 reprint when it came out and have given away several over the years for nothing, so basically, I've being giving away money.

It'd be great to have an original 1938 issue, eh?

1976

1988

1992

1998

2000

2017

2022

Oh, go on then - here's the original.

1938

AWESOME ADS From The PAST (1)...

Remember these old ads in U.S. comics from the '60s?  I always wanted one of these posters (for such they were I presume), but America was like another planet to U.K. kids back then, so I knew my hope was unlikely to ever come true, alas.  A few decades down the line, I managed to obtain a Universal Studios life-size 'standee' of FRANKENSTEIN's Monster, so my hope was finally realised - sort of.  Anyway, a cardboard standee is much better than a poster any day, don'tcha think?

(I'd still like that poster though.)

ANOTHER BABE Of The DAY - IMOGEN HASSALL...

IMOGEN HASSALL sits dreaming

of me, wondering if I'm going to 'phone her

after our night out at the cinema.  I'll probably

get around to it eventually, but I've still to take

out SALMA, plus several other babes.  Some-

 times I wish I wasn't quite so handsome.

RECOMMENDED READING: BUG #1...

Images copyright DC COMICS

When I say 'recommended', I mean I'm recommending

it for your attention, because I've not actually read it myself

yet.  However, it's a KIRBY character, so it should be worth

checking out to see if you might like it.  Available now from

all good comicbook shops.  So why are you still here?

RIDICULOUS REPOST: ARREST ME OFFICER! I USED TO PUNCH YOGI BEAR ON A REGULAR BASIS... (Updated)

Bought the above leaflet via eBay recently for a couple of quid.  It's the instructions for the YOGI 'PUNCH' BEAR, the one advertised in the special offer below, and which I owned as a child.  I've got the promotional leaflet and the instructions, so hopefully it won't be too long before I finally re-acquire an inflatable Yogi himself.  (No, Melvin, it's not that kind of inflatable - behave yourself.  Tsk!  Tsk!)

It's amazing what you find out long after the fact.  Case in point: When I was three or four, I remember my father inflating a YOGI BEAR figure while sitting on the back step at the side of the house.  (Yeah, the 'back' door was at the side of the house - go figger!)  I had what seemed like loads of Yogi merchandise when I was young.  In that house alone, I had a MARX Yogi on a scooter, a cardboard Yogi Hallowe'en mask, a pair of Yogi slippers (with little Yogi heads on the toes) and the above inflatable Yogi.  (I also had a Marx Yogi & Huck ramp walker about this time, but I may not have got that until we'd moved to our next house, I'm not sure.)

I loved punching the bejabbers out of my inflatable Yogi (in an affectionate way, of course), but no longer remember exactly what happened to him.  I have a vague idea that he sprung a leak and was discreetly disposed of, but I probably wasn't told of his fate at the time.  I recall my dad putting sand in the base to weigh him down on the day that Yogi first arrived, but I never knew where he'd come from - until now that is.  (Confusingly, note that the instructions say not to use water to weigh Yogi down, yet the promotional leaflet says that water can be used.)  I recently bought this very flyer, which reveals that the punch toy was a special offer from FAIRY SNOW and associated washing powders - so, over 50 years later, I at last know where one of my best boyhood buddies originated.  Now if only I could find a replacement.  Does anyone know where I can get one?  If so, I'll let you have the first punch.

Did anyone else have an inflatable Yogi when they were a kid?  (No - an inflatable sheep doesn't count, you perv!)  Then leave your reminiscences in the comments section. 

And below is an inflatable Yogi, though whether it's the same make as the one I had, I couldn't say.

DISTRACTED DOGGIES & DAMAGED DEER...

It must have been around 25 years ago.  I came home one evening to find my parents entertaining one of their friends, while my faithful dog ZARA gnawed on a piece of wood at the side of my father's chair.  It turned out to be an ornament from the foot of the fireplace, and it was now in splinters.  I took it off her and let her out in the back garden, whereupon she had one long wee.  Obviously she'd needed to go, but my parents, engrossed in conversation, hadn't noticed (or ignored) her, so she'd started to gnaw on the ornament as a distraction.

This had been one of three ornaments, given to my parents by my grandparents for Christmas back in the mid or late '70s.  Truth to tell, my mother wasn't too impressed by the present, as it had been acquired from someone in their Darby and Joan club.  Considering my mother visited them more often than any of her siblings and did their shopping for them, she felt it was a bit of a slap in the kipper for her devoted efforts.  Not that she was looking to be rewarded, but the ornaments had been bought out of convenience and with not much thought.

Sometime around the mid-'80s, one of the ornaments got broken and, though I fixed it several times, it was eventually dispensed with when it got beyond a viable point of repair, leaving only two survivors.  So when I saw the remnants of the second of the three to fall foul of an unfriendly fate, I decided to call in INTERNATIONAL RESCUE.  Er, no, I didn't, but I was determined to do my best to restore it.  I glued it all back together, applied copious amounts of wood-filler, then sanded, stained and varnished it 'til it was once again presentable.

It's darker than it was, but at least it's in one piece again.  One day I may do some further work on it and restore it to a more faithful representation of its original appearance, but it'll do for the present.  It probably now reminds me more of my dog than my grandparents, but either way, it's a memory that I'm reluctant to relinquish.  There was another broken ornament I managed to salvage from the bin (quite literally) and restore, which I'll maybe bore you with tell you all about another time.

(Oh-oh, there go another five members.)  

BABE Of The DAY - MICHELLE KEEGAN...

MICHELLE KEEGAN cops

a discreet glance in my direction as I

splash about just off to the left of her.  My

manly-man physique is just far too good to

ignore, and she's doubtless entertaining all

kinds of kinky, erotic fantasies about me in

her mind.  (Either that or she's laughing at

my Yogi Bear swimming trunks, but

 hey - that's hardly likely, is it?)

CRIVENS' CRACKING COMIC COVERS: POLICE COMICS #70...

Image copyright DC COMICS

A nice little visual gag on the cover of POLICE COMICS

#70 from 1947 that I just had to share with you.  The art is by

JACK COLE, the laughing is by you and me.  Great, eh?

RECOMMENDED READING: SPIDER-MAN - The LIFELINE TABLET SAGA...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Picked up this great book in a comicbook store today, but they saw me before I could get out the door with it.  (Hee hee, wotta laugh I am and no mistake.)  Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting into its pages as it's a belter.  Read the spiel on the back cover below and see if you can resist the lure of the MARVEL magic within.

SPOT The DIFFERENCE: SUPERMAN'S PAL The NEW JIMMY OLSEN #146...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Above, the cover of SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN #146 as originally inked by MIKE ROYER, and below, the published version, with the Man of Steel's face redrawn by MURPHY ANDERSON.  Mike had probably 'fixed' JACK KIRBY's Superman face, as Jack could never get the hair right, but I have to say I prefer the published version.  How about the rest of you pantin' Criv-ites?

A TALE To HOLD YOU In SUSPENSE! The RAVING MANIAC!

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

The following tale was STAN LEE's way of dismissing FREDRIC WERTHAM's 'crusade' against comicbooks.  Not the carton, but rather the content of some of them, which, read in the context of the times, probably were a concern for a lot of parents.  Of course, Wertham may have over-egged the pudding, but I don't think diminishing him by suggesting he was mentally unbalanced was the best way of addressing his point of view.  However, it's an entertaining tale, so read and enjoy.

PULSATING PIN-UPS PART FIVE: SUPERMAN...

Image copyright DC COMICS

JOHN BOGDANOVE & DENNIS JANKE (with LINDA

MEDLEY) turned out this superb piccie of SUPERMAN back

in 1995, and it's the latest in our series of Pulsating Pin-Ups.

Don't like the long hair, but that apart, it's a dynamic drawing

of The MAN Of STEEL worthy of your attention.

PULSATING PIN-UPS PART FOUR: THE BAT-MAN & THE MAN-BAT...

Image copyright DC COMICS

Yeah, okay, I know - it's one word these days, but 'BATMAN' used to be hyphenated and I for one prefer it that way.  However, that's neither here nor there, not when there's some dynamic NEAL ADAMS art to gaze at.  So what are you all waiting for?  Get gazing!

CALVIN & HOBBES (BUT WITHOUT HOBBES)...

Copyright relevant owner

Unfortunately, I can't get rid of the 'see through' without bleaching out most of the

colour, but this strip is too funny not to show you, despite the poor reproduction.

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.)