CAN YOU TELL WHAT IT IS YET? REVEALED!

Okay, let's have a little fun.  Above are a few lines done with a marker pen - can anyone guess what the finished 'kwik-pic' is going to be?  Here's a clue to the mystery - it isn't a machine!

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And here's what it looks like when finished.  Congratulations to JOE BLOKE for correctly identifying the picture above as SCOOBY DOO.  Of course, it's Scooby as drawn off the top of my head without recourse to reference, but it's recognizable.  Joe wins an air-plated 'no-prize' - well done, Joe.  Sorry for the delay in posting the completed pic, but I mislaid it.

STAR WARS STRIKES! PART FOUR Of 'POT LUCK' MARVEL COVER GALLERY...

STAR WARS copyright relevant owner

Here we are again with a humongous helping of cavortin' covers from the halcyon days of Mighty MARVEL's U.K. publications on sale in the '70s and '80s.  Does the sight of them bring a tear to your eye as you recall the long-ago days of your youth when most of your life lay before you as opposed to behind you?  Same goes for me, effendi!

In some ways, there was no real point to most of Marvel's British output back in the early '80s, because U.S. comics were freely available and still relatively inexpensive.  Nowadays, PANINI's collected editions are what British Marvel mags should have been, but sadly weren't.

However, that said, and although I was buying them mostly out of habit by that time, it's good to see again the covers from these mags that hold so many memories of the dim and distant days of my youth.  They say you can't go home again, but sometimes you can catch enough of a glimpse of it to temporarily satiate your longing for a taste of an earlier and happier period from your past.

What memories do these mags hold for you, frantic ones?  Feel entirely free to reminisce in our captivating comments section.

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

WORZEL copyright relevant owner

STAR WARS copyright relevant owner

"LET THERE BE BATTLE!" FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - PART TWENTY-SIX...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Okay, I admit it - I'm cheating a little with this one.  You see, dear readers, I never actually had this particular comic when I was a lad.  No indeed, but I did read the titanic tale when it was serialised in three (I think) issues of the British '60s title, FANTASTIC.  It was reprinted in black and white, but that hardly mattered, so powerful were marvellous MARIE SEVERIN's dynamically composed layouts and storytelling.

Sometime in the early '70s, I re-acquired a few back issues for a short time, and then the tale was reprinted in The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL.  I couldn't even guess when I obtained the original issue (TALES TO ASTONISH #100) - was it the late 1980s or the early or mid-'90s?  I can't be absolutely sure after all this time.  (Maybe I have an invoice lying around somewhere that will supply the date, but I can't even recall if I bought it in a shop or via mail order.)

Not that it matters I suppose, because the story shrieks the '60s at me regardless of which version I'm looking at.  I'd taken some Fantastics into primary school one day, and therefore associate the tale mainly with the classroom wherein I pored o'er the pulsating pages in awestruck wonder during a break in lessons.  However, I thought it was only right and proper to show the original TTA version, so that you could see how it was first presented to a breathlessly waiting world. 

COMING NEXT:  Part Four of 'Pot Luck' Marvel Cover Gallery!

   

"A RAGING FURY!" 'POT LUCK' MARVEL COVER GALLERY - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Are you all ready for some more?  (And no, the title doesn't refer to CAPTAIN HURRICANE's 'eppies'!)  Here are the covers of more British MARVEL weeklies from the late 1970s and early '80s, all from my own collection at the back of a cupboard.  FURY was an odd one, an attempt by Marvel to produce a comic more in line with traditional weeklies that were the staple of IPC and D.C. THOMSON.  I no longer remember how many issues it survived for before being merged with another title (MWOM), but not many I'd guess.  

MARVEL COMIC was the revamped The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, redesigned by editor-in-chief DEZ SKINN to resemble comics like VALIANT, LION, and a whole host of other weeklies by rival companies.  I'm not quite sure why, because most (if not all) of those comics had fallen by the wayside by the time this title was unleashed, but the strips were resized in the same way as the Marvel reprints in WHAM!, SMASH!, and POW! were back in the '60s.

I recall buying the new 'first' issue on the way into Glasgow to see SUPERMAN The MOVIE (for the second or third time), and me and a friend each having a fish tea in The BLUE LAGOON, across from Glasgow's Central Station.  Come to think of it, I also got the SPIDER-MAN COMIC that same day.  (These are my original copies by the way, not replacements.)

Anyway, in a magnificent display of self-restraint, I'll spare you further memories of the other comics in this post and let you ponder on your own personal reminiscences associated with these Marvellous titles. Why not tell your fellow Crivvies all about them in our cataclysmic comments section?!  Speaking of which, we seem to have lost some of our regulars since I did away with the 'anonymous' option (in order to avoid loads of abuse I was receiving).  If only those former (and very welcome) commenters would create a Google account, then we could all once again enjoy their sparkling words of wit, wisdom and wonder.  How about it, guys? 

"AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!" PART TWO Of 'POT LUCK' MARVEL COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

It was a good idea - in theory at least.  However, early issues of the weekly British AVENGERS comic were marred by shoddy printing, which rendered what should've been subtle tones of grey as hideous muddy blacks.  Looking back at these issues now, I wonder why MARVEL took so long to get the problem rectified.  The ODHAMS PRESS presentations of the same tales from a few years before had been vastly superior.

That said, the comics still have a nostalgic appeal that's hard to resist - for those who bought them back in the day anyway.  Here then, are a few more random covers of comics recovered from the depths of my cupboard, protected by cardboard folders for many a long year.  I've featured some of them before on this blog, but they were probably scanned from spare copies which I store in a different place.

I won't bore you with my personal reminiscences of every individual ish, but I remember taking Avengers #28 up to a pal's house one night to show him, and then watching an episode of The SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN in his living room.  Ah, it only seems like last week, yet I was still a mere schoolboy with eternity stretched out in front of me.  Nowadays, sadly, I realise that nothing lasts forever - not even 'forever'.  But enough of this gloom and despondency - let's just enjoy looking back on yesterday - ironically, it's all we of a certain age really have to look forward to.  (And if that's not ironic, then nothing is!)

  

'POT LUCK' MARVEL COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I've was digging through my files recently and rediscovered an assortment of old comics, which I thought I'd share with you here.  When I was younger and needing to make space, I'd sometimes have a clear-out, keeping the first three issues of a title and giving the rest away to a pal.  You see, traditionally, the first three numbers of a British comic had a free gift and were therefore considered to be more collectable.  In the case of U.K. MARVEL mags however, this didn't always apply, as sometimes only the first ish came with a freebie.

Anyway, what follows is a random selection of various comics I possess, in no particular order of significance.  The above comic (SUPER SPIDER-MAN) was one I had originally when it came out, but this particular issue (complete with poster) was lying around the 2000 A.D. offices back in 1985 or '86, and no one had any objections when I asked if I could have it to replace my long-gone original copy - so back it came with me to Bonnie Scotland.  (Hoots mon and och aye!)

The CAPTAIN AMERICA comics below, I acquired when I was living in Southsea in 1981, so that's where I mainly associate them with whenever I look at them.  They still have the free stickers inside too.  I don't think the comic lasted too long, but British Marvel were throwing everything at the wall to see what would stick at this time, although DAZZLER was hardly one of the 'big guns'.

Looking at the cover to PLANET Of The APES #3 today, I associate it with my new town's old village hall, which was holding a jumble sale on the day I bought it.  It could possibly have been another number, but this one seems to be the one I recall.  The hall, a remnant from the '50s at least, if not earlier, was demolished around 20 years ago and replaced by shops and offices, but one glance at the cover and that old hall is instantly resurrected in my mind.

Anyway, be sure to come back and see what's on display in Part Two - you wouldn't want to miss anything!