PART FOUR Of KEN REID'S JASPER The GRASPER...

Copyright REBELLION

Okay, WHAM-FANS, here's the fourth instalment in our series of double-page JASPER The GRASPER strips by the magnificent KEN REID, one of Britain's greatest-ever cartoonists.  As most people will know, Ken worked for D.C. THOMSON, ODHAMS, and IPC/FLEETWAY (amongst others) over the span of his long career, and is still well-remembered today for his unique style that set a benchmark for just how things should be done when it comes to bizarre and zany comic strips of the kind you see before you.  This particular episode comes from WHAM! #45, cover-dated April 24th 1965.

Part Five coming soon!  Don't miss it!

    

MY HEART WOULD BE A FIREBALL...

I provided a link to the site of this video a couple or so years

back, but now it's only one click away rather than two.  Well,

what are you waiting for?  Get clicking - it's superb!

POWER-PACK STEVE MOORE PASSES...

Odhams office boy Steve Moore in Fantastic #50

Sad to learn that STEVE MOORE has died.  Readers of the ODHAMS' POWER COMICS will remember his name from their pages, as well as work he did for companies such as IPC, MARVEL, and various others over the years.

When part of our past dies, a little piece of us dies along with it.  Rest in peace, Steve.  You will be remembered.

Further info about Steve and his career can be found here.

STEVE MOORE

1949 - 2014

The BALLAD Of RODGER YOUNG...

The velvet-voiced JIM REEVES performs

a haunting song about the true story of RODGER

YOUNG, a Private in the U.S. Infantry who sacrificed

himself to save his comrades during the 2nd World

War.  This is what music was invented for.

PART TWO OF MISTER, WE NEED A MIRACLE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Would you believe it?!  It's been almost a year since I posted the first instalment of this two-part pulse-pounding, power-packed pictorial presentation of MISTER MIRACLE covers.  Therefore, I'd better not hold you back any longer from the remaining nine cover images of JACK KIRBY's SUPER ESCAPE ARTIST's 18 issue run.  Enjoy!

And, as a bonus, here's the cover to the 1987 MISTER MIRACLE SPECIAL by MARK EVANIER and STEVE RUDE.  Nice, ain't it?!

 

KEN REID'S JASPER The GRASPER - PART THREE...

Copyright REBELLION

We're now at the halfway mark with our JASPER The GRASPER fun-fest from WHAM! comic.  This particular episode is from issue #44, cover-dated April 17th 1965, and once again ably demonstrates just what a master of cartoon art the late KEN REID was.  Grown up readers of the '50s probably regard Ken's finest hour as JONAH, those who grow up in the '60s likely think of it as being FRANKIE STEIN, and kids of the '70s and '80s doubtless look back and consider it as FACEACHE, but all are agreed that Ken Reid was an artistic genius.

Be sure to tune in for Part Four.

PART TWO Of CAPTAIN BRITAIN COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Poor ol' BRIAN BRADDOCK!  Two attempts at a titled-mag devoted to his alter-ego CAPTAIN BRITAIN, and both of them fail.  No wonder he got fed up and went and joined EXCALIBUR; that way, he wouldn't shoulder all the blame if that mag failed too.  The first volume lasted 10 years, but the downside is that Cap couldn't claim all the credit for its success, having to share it with former X-MEN members and various other mutants.  No luck, eh, Cap?!

Anyway, here are the remaining 7 covers of Cap's 1985 14 issue run.  'Twas a good little mag and should've survived for much longer.  I wonder what he's doing with himself these days?

PART TWO Of The MARVEL MAG THAT TIME FORGOT...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

As explained in Part One, this 1983/'84 volume of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL was overlooked when the title was relaunched and renumbered (again) in 2003.  Because of my swift intervention (and that of others also, no doubt), its existence was soon acknowledged and included in the new mag's interior indicia for all to see.

Anyway, enough of blowing my own trumpet (no, that's not a euphemism, behave) - here are the remaining eight covers in the title's seventeen issue run.

Click here for Part One.

PART EIGHT Of CADET DALEKS SWEET CIGARETTE CARDS From The '60s...

Copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION

Those who have been following this occasional series will be glad to see another five cards, and to learn that there are only ten more to go to complete the set.  Just think - that's only two more instalments until you can view all fifty cards in their entirety.  (If you've saved the previous ones, that is.)

And, as an added extra, the final part will also include one of the boxes that the cards came in.  Unfortunately, you'll have to provide your own sweet cigarettes.  Still, can't have everything, eh?

CAPTAIN BRITAIN COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

"EXPLODING FROM THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL..." proclaimed the cover banner of the first ish of CAPTAIN BRITAIN's monthly mag.  It said the same on the covers of #s 2-5, 7 & 8, ensuring that the name, at least, of Marvel's 1972 debut British comic survived into August of '85.  Then we had to wait another 18 years to see the mag's  return.  Ironically, some of these same CB tales eventually appeared (in colour) in the revived MWOM, bringing things nicely full-circle. 

Cap, of course, had first appeared in his own weekly mag back in 1976, and we'll be looking at the complete set of covers from that series in (hopefully) the not too distant future.  Until that happens, be sure and join us for the second part of this particular cover gallery - coming soon!

I associate this issue with Portsmouth because I recall seeing it in the shops while living down there and
commuting up to London at the beginning of 1985, when I first started freelancing for IPC.  In fact, unless
I'd already purchased it back home, I'm fairly sure that's where I actually bought it.  I definitely got the next
issue there, and maybe even the one after that.  Regardless, whenever I look at this cover, I think mainly of
my room in 5 Shearer Road in Fratton.  Happy memories!

The DAREDEVILS COVER GALLERY...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

While we're waiting for the second part of The MARVEL Mag That TIME FORGOT, let's take a look at the 1983 11 issue run of another publication - The DAREDEVILS, which was subsumed by the second (and monthly) volume of MWOM from its 7th issue.

I bought the first 5 or 6 issues while living in one house, and the rest of them after flitting to another.  (They came back with me to the first house when I returned in August 1987, and I've still got them to this day.)  You'd have thought a magazine containing CAPTAIN BRITAIN, SPIDER-MAN, and FRANK MILLER's DAREDEVIL would've been a sure-fire hit, but its failure shows just how wrong you can be.

Never mind, at least we have these 11 covers to look back on and remind ourselves of what things were like over 30 years ago.  Got any memories?  Let's hear them.