SILVER SURFER COVER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Continuing with our gallery of SILVER SURFER covers, we take up where we left off last time, which was SS #7.  That means we start this little session with #8 through #12, with #13 to #18 still to come in the next post.  Hope you'll join us then, but in the meantime enjoy these five covers by JOHN BUSCEMA.

Although Big John only drew the first seventeen issues in the series, they're clearly superior to the eighteenth and last ish illustrated by JACK KIRBY, which was intended as the first in a new direction for the title.  Clearly, then, even with an artist of Buscema's calibre, sales weren't as good as they could've been, hence the change in approach.  I can only speculate that the Kirby last issue did even worse in sales, hence the reason why the planned 'Savage Silver Surfer' plotline never materialised.  After all, why flog a dead horse and throw good money after bad?

      

More on this in an upcoming post.  Don't miss it!

TERRIFIC COVER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here are four more covers from the ODHAMS PRESS publication of the 1960s, the titanically-titled TERRIFIC, plus the back-page pin- ups too.  Lasting only 43 issues before being merged with its POWER PACK stable-mate FANTASTIC, it nevertheless retains its place in the fond memories of dreary old farts like myself. 

More to come in future posts. 

PART TWO OF A PICTORIAL TRIBUTE TO MICK ANGLO...

Copyright DC COMICS

Here are some more covers from my collection of SUPER DC, the TOP SELLERS reprint title from the late '60s, early '70s.  Also shown are the free gifts from issue #1.  Traditionally, British comics had free gifts in the first three issues, but that was usually only with weeklies.  Perhaps because it was a monthly publication, editor MICK ANGLO decided to put all three giveaways in the 1st issue - or it could've been that, individually, they weren't up to much, hence the 'quantity' rather than 'quality' approach.

If anyone has issue #14 of Super DC and wants to make a few quid, then get in touch.  Then I can feature it on a future post.  (Update: Now got it.)

 

With two or three exceptions (where interior panels were enlarged for the purpose), Mick Anglo is believed  to have drawn the covers, using images from various DC sources as reference.  If anyone knows anything different, I'd appreciate you letting me know.

Look out for the third and final part soon.

IMPORTANT - CALLING ALL BLOGGERS...

Sometimes, when I click on an image on someone's blog to enlarge a picture for closer scrutiny, the image appears same size or smaller against a black background. This means that one is unable to view and appreciate the image at a larger size, which often renders featuring it in the first place a bit redundant.

If you go into 'settings' - then 'formatting' - and disable the lightbox facility, it will enable readers to enlarge images for closer study.

Go on, it's much better. 

A PICTORIAL TRIBUTE TO MICK ANGLO - PART ONE...

Copyright DC COMICS

As reported on various other sites, MICK ANGLO, creator of MARVELMAN, passed away recently.  To be completely frank, as Marvelman was merely an imitation of FAWCETT's CAPTAIN MARVEL, I'm not entirely convinced that the term 'creator' strictly applies in ol' MM's case, but I don't have an axe to grind over it.

Mick was also the editor of SUPER DC, a British monthly magazine which featured resized black & white reprints of various superhero strips from the stable of NATIONAL PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS (DC COMICS) back in 1969/'70, and I have very fond memories of the title.

Now that MARVEL own the rights to Marvelman, Mick can be regarded as having been associated with Marvel and DC - no mean feat for any British comics contributor.  In memory of Mick, I've decided to focus solely on Super DC, as I was never really into Marvelman when I was a kid.  Although, ironically, I later lettered the sample pages submitted to Marvel when they were in negotiations for the character.  No doubt it was my fantastic hand-lettering which clinched the deal.  Harrummmphh!  (Sorry, there seems to be something stuck in my throat.)

I seem to remember DEZ SKINN saying somewhere that Mick, as well as his duties as editor, also drew the covers for Super DC.  If anyone can confirm that, feel free to do so in the comments section.  If it wasn't him and anyone can identify the artist, let me know and I'll be sure to give him a credit.

According to the late comics collector and historian DENIS GIFFORD, there were fourteen issues of Super DC.  I have the first thirteen issues, so if anyone has the elusive fourteenth, either sell it to me or kindly send me a scan of the cover so I can feature it in the second part of this tribute.  (Update: Don't worry, I've now got two in fact, as I have of the other issues also.)

MAURICE ANGLOWITZ, born on June 16th 1916, died on October 31st 2011, aged 95.  In his time, he worked as an editor, writer and artist - a one-man team supreme you might say.  He could probably letter as well.  Obviously he was at the front of the queue when talent was being handed out.  (Despite BATMAN's stunted left leg on the cover of issue #2.) 

Look out for Part Two soon.

GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SNICKERS...

The world as I knew it no longer exists.  It seems I've been kidnapped by aliens and transported to an alternate dimension where things are almost the same - but not quite.  In this bizarre doppelganger planet, TREETS are called M&Ms, OPAL FRUITS are named STARBURST, OIL Of ULAY is known as OIL Of OLAY, JIF is christened CIF, KITKATs are made by NESTLE'S, not ROWNTREE'S - and MARATHONs are titled SNICKERS.

AAAAARRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!  I'm trapped on a world I never made.  Beam me up, Scotty!  (But while I'm waiting for the transporter to lock onto me, cast your eyes over the images on this page -  a comforting reminder of when all was right with the world and it was a saner place to be.)

PART TWO Of TERRIFIC COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's the second instalment of TERRIFIC covers (plus their back-page pin-ups) from the 1960s for you to cast your perceptive peepers over, you lucky POWER PACK perusers of perfection.  Anybody old enough to remember these iconic issues produced by 'the Garret' is getting on a bit by now, so just take your tablets from the nice nurse and lose yourself in yesteryear.  Your telegram from the Queen will be along before you know it.  Remember to come back for part three in a few posts from now.  You surely wouldn't want to miss the treats in store from 'The Floor of 64', would you?

TWO ANNUALS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE...

Annuals copyright relevant and respective owners

For a limited time only, WH SMITH's have a 'two-for-one' offer on at the moment - buy one annual, get another absolutely free.  Thought you'd like to know.  (This obviously supersedes their previous 'buy one full price, get another for a £1' offer.)

SUBTLETIES, SHADOWS, And SHADES...

I've lived in a lot of houses in my time.  By the age of 24 I was in our sixth house, which works out, on average, as four years per house.  But forget averages - I've only actually lived in a house for four years on two occasions, the other periods of tenancy ranging from as far apart as one and a half years to eleven years.

Anyone who's ever read Scots-born author KENNETH GRAHAME's classic book The WIND In The WILLOWS will no doubt be familiar with the fifth chapter, DULCE DOMUM, which (roughly) means 'home sweet home'.  In this episode, MOLE, while out on a ramble with Ratty one Winter's day, picks up the scent of his old home, long forgotten and neglected since he unwittingly abandoned it in pursuit of adventure one fine Spring morning many months before.

The chapter relates how Mole re-acquaints himself with many dear and familiar possessions and memories, and reminds him (and us) of the value of having an anchorage - a place to return to - in life, no matter how far and wide one may roam in the meantime.  As the author writes (and as Mole thinks): "...it was good to think he had this (Mole End) to come back to, this place which was all his own, these things which were so glad to see him again and could always be counted upon for the same simple welcome."

Funny thing is, I feel that way about every house I've ever lived in.  If ever I'm walking along a street in which I once resided, I almost find myself walking up the path to the front door and unconsciously putting my key in the lock.  If I were lost enough in thought, it's no stretch of the imagination to envisage such a thing actually happening.  (One evening, while out walking our dog Tara, I was passing a previous home when she turned in at the stairs as though we still lived there - and I almost followed.  It's that kind of 'instinct' - or 'force of habit' - that seems to dwell within me also.)

Or should I espy a former home lit up at night, I can 'see' (as though with x-ray eyes) my father, pipe in mouth, sat beside the fire, watching TV or reading his paper; I can also see my mother, darning socks or busy in the kitchen with domestic chores, or my brother in our bedroom listening to records or reading comics. Furniture, ornaments, wallpaper - everything as it was.

Each house beckons to me, summons me to obey its call to 'come on home', regardless of however many years have elapsed since I actually lived there, almost as if I'd only just popped out to the shops or to visit a pal mere moments before - with such clarity that the intervening years since we vacated whichever house seem like only a dream that never really happened.

Even more bizarre is when I seem to see a younger version of myself beyond the gleam which radiates from behind the curtained windows, engrossed in some book, or sat at the dining-room table, doodling or building an AIRFIX kit.  On occasions such as this, it can be disconcerting to suddenly have the moment disrupted by the intrusion of a stranger looking out of the window, or entering or exiting through the front door.

Then, just like Mole and his chum Ratty as they stand mesmerised by a lit-up window, the bitter winds of reality catch the back of my neck and return me to the present - though usually unwillingly, and not without a strange, sad sense of loss and longing.

The past continually calls to me, but never more so than when I revisit the scenes of my youth, where shades of my younger self and family, and friends long departed to either the other side of the veil or the globe, yet inhabit these enchanted places from so many years ago.

If ghosts do exist, I wouldn't be surprised to find that they aren't only ghosts of the dead, but also of the living from an earlier time.  That would perhaps explain why the shadows of yesterday dance forever before me.

******

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TERRIFIC (AND IT SURE WAS) COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

First came WHAM! in June 1964, followed nearly two years later by SMASH!  (February 1966.)  Then, 11 months after that (January 1967 to be precise) came POW!, with FANTASTIC following hot on its heels in a few short weeks.  (February 1967.)  Not long after, TERRIFIC, the final entry in the POWER COMICS series, appeared in April 1967.

Terrific was the shortest lived of the 'big 5' (to borrow a DCT term) published by ODHAMS PRESS, lasting only 43 issues before being merged with Fantastic (#52).  However, before its untimely demise, it bestowed on its rabid readership such gems as The SUB-MARINER, The AVENGERS, Dr. STRANGE, and a British-produced strip (illustrated by a foreign artist) called The TOYS Of DOOM.

Here, now, in celebration of this classic comic periodical of the '60s, is a cover and pin-up gallery which will continue from time to time in upcoming posts.  Incidentally, any back-page pin-ups which weren't reprints of original MARVEL art were usually drawn by BARRY (WINDSOR) SMITH when he was yet a mere teenager.  Keep a look-out for future posts and have fun seeing if you can tell which ones were drawn by his own fair hand.

Now - feast your eyes on this awesome artwork.

BUSTER'S BACK WITH A BANG! (WELL, SORT OF...)

Copyright REBELLION

Here's a cover that most people won't have seen before, except for a miniature reproduction on some interior or back page ad back in 1986.  Or, perhaps, the BUSTER site (for which I supplied a scan from my own extremely rare issue) - or when I posted it about a year or so ago on this very blog.

This issue was printed, but pulled at the last moment before distribution (though some copies did get through the net) because of Buster handling a lighted firework, to say nothing of his pal setting one off in such close proximity to him.  Not a good example to set the kiddies, you see.

However, I think it nicely captures the atmosphere of GUY FAWKES' NIGHT, so have decided to give it another airing to delight and enthrall all you lucky people.  No, don't thank me, that's what I'm here for - to bring joy and merriment to others.

And - still on the Guy Fawkes theme - as a bonus, here's a photo of an original page of BUSTER'S DIARY by artist ANGEL NADAL, from the 1960s.  Don't say I don't spoil you, Criv-ites.