BABE Of The DAY - LYNDSAY WAGNER...

Presenting lovely LYNDSAY

WAGNER, she of '70s The BIONIC

WOMAN fame.  I'd give her six million

dollars any time, just so long as it wasn't

mine.  (Somebody tell her not to point

'those' in my direction - they could go

off by accident, by crackey!)

LIVE & LET DIE CROCODILE JUMP...

Remember when JAMES BOND jumped across the backs of a row of crocodiles in LIVE & LET DIE?  It was done for real by the owner of the crocodile farm where the scene was shot.  The crocs' legs were weighed down, but their jaws were left untethered.  What you see now are all the attempts by ROSS KANANGA (born HIELMAN) to capture the scene for the 1973 movie starring the saintly ROGER MOORE.

BABE Of The DAY - HELEN SLATER...

What an absolutely super girl.

That's really all I can say, as I'm far

too gob-smacked by how stunning

she is.  Schwiiinnnggg!!!

The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR COVER & IMAGE GALLERY - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Time once again for a look back into yesteryear - 1977 in this particular instance, as we pore over a plethora of covers and pages from The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR, a MARVEL U.K. weekly mag which we Brits had all to ourselves.  Featuring near-contemporary FF adventures and classic tales from the cosmic quartet's early days, plus pin-ups and puzzles when space allowed, this was an absolute belter of a title which deserved to survive for longer than it did.  At least I can console myself with having a full set, some of which I now generously share with you here.

Part Four coming soon!  Don't forget to remember to return.

  

AM I THAT EASY TO FORGET?

Here's JIM REEVES - demonstrating just

why he'll always be remembered by lovers of

good music everywhere.

PART TWO Of ADAM WARLOCK COVER & IMAGE GALLERY...

The cover was off-centre, with a white margin on the spine and
a cropped edge on the right.  Copyright MARVEL COMICS

So here we are with some more lovely JIM STARLIN covers and images from WARLOCK, published in the mid-'70s.  The cover from #11 is a particular favourite of mine, summoning forth memories of a summer afternoon and the murmur of my parents' and their visiting friends' happy chatter emanating from the living-room, as I absorbed myself in my comics, upstairs.  I always liked Starlin's art, having first seen it on covers of the U.K. weekly comic The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL in '72, usually inked by JOE SINNOTT, and capturing some of the essence of mid-'60s JACK KIRBY.

Feel entirely free to relate your own reminiscences of these mags in the comments section.  Go on - it's good to share.

JIM REEVES FOUND GUILTY...

...of being the smoothest balladeer of the 20th century - in my view anyway.  Seeing as you're here, why not have a listen and judge for yourself?  Go on.

BABE Of The DAY - HALLE BERRY...

HALLE BERRY should go down

a Storm with all you captivated Crivs -

she simply oozes X appeal.  (Did you see

 what I did there?  I'm so clever.)

COLOUR TEST FOOTAGE FOR BORIS KARLOFF IN SON OF FRANKENSTEIN...

Here's something that not everyone will have seen

before - colour test footage of BORIS KARLOFF as the

FRANKENSTEIN monster.  UNIVERSAL's make-up

artist JACK PIERCE is at the end of the clip.

PANEL-BY-PANEL - STEADFAST McSTAUNCH...

STEADFAST McSTAUNCH was originally a dog in KNOCK-OUT comic back in the 1950s.  Then, in 1969, BOB PAYNTER, the editor of the embryonic WHIZZER & CHIPS, asked DENIS GIFFORD to revive the character - but as a human.  "Children don't like animals in comics" Denis once claimed Bob had told him as the reason for the species-change, though that doesn't quite explain SLIPPY or GINGER'S TUM in the same comic.

I assume Bob must've meant only that kids weren't keen on strips with animals dressed as humans, otherwise MOWSER, DESERT FOX, MOOSE, The CROWS, and a host of other strips wouldn't have graced IPC/FLEETWAY periodicals for decades.  However, let's not forget that GUS GORILLA dressed like a human and was quite popular with readers. 

(And that's not counting characters like BIFFO The BEAR, KORKY The CAT, The 3 BEARS, BIG EGGO, and loads more in the best-selling D.C. THOMSON titles.)

Steadfast survived in his own strip for the first 11 issues of W&C, before becoming the host of a joke page, something I always regretted as the little jester was a firm favourite of mine.  Anyway, here's the last strip from the pages of Whizzer & Chips #11, December 27th 1969.

Update: Reader GEORGE SHIERS originally allowed me to use the published page from W&C #11 on his site devoted to the comic (here), but I've now replaced the strip with a scan from my own personal copy of the issue, having finally managed to track one down.

BABE Of The DAY - HELEN FLANAGAN...

Who needs words with a pic like

this one?  If this is a woman, then my

last girlfriend was a navvy.  (Sob!)

ADAM WARLOCK COVER & IMAGE GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Accurate creator credits are difficult at the best of times, but to whom do you ascribe credit for creating the character of ADAM WARLOCK?  Is it STAN LEE and JACK KIRBY who deserve that distinction, or is it ROY THOMAS and GIL KANE, who, in the pages of MARVEL PREMIERE, significantly revamped the being known as HIM?  After all, they're meant to be the exact same person.

While you're trying to work that one out, take a loving look at the covers and splash pages (plus a few other full-page images) from the four issues of STRANGE TALES which featured Warlock in his own series, as written and drawn by JIM STARLIN.  If you've got any ideas about who really deserves the creator credit for this cosmic character, the captivating comments section awaits.

And don't forget to come back for Part Two.