BABE OF THE DAY - LUCY LAWLESS...

Here's LUCY LAWLESS - alias XENA,

WARRIOR PRINCESS.  With a surname like

hers, I can't help but wonder if she's a member of

WILLIAM BROWN'S OUTLAW CLUB?

Bound to be, don't you think, Crivvies?

THE PERSUADERS HOLIDAY SPECIAL 1972...

Images copyright relevant owner

Isn't it odd the way some things lodge in the mind?  Until today, I hadn't laid eyes on this PERSUADERS Holiday Special in 42 years, yet some of the contents are as clear in my memory as though I'd purchased it only the other day.  I remember buying it from my local newsagent's on an early summer evening in 1972 and walking up the stairs that led from my neighbourhood shops, while thumbing through the pages in wide-eyed wonder as I made my way back to my house across the road.

The artwork on The PHANTOM COACH (by MIGUEL QUESADA, though I didn't know his name until many years later) mightily impressed me and it's great to see it again after all this time.  I think this was the first time I'd seen an example of his art (that I can recall anyway), though I'm sure I saw it again in other, later publications.  I even remember the photo-joke page, especially the first picture, which I must've quoted numerous times over the years, although, until seeing it again today, I think I'd almost forgotten exactly where I'd nicked it from.

As this was a Holiday Special, I'd imagine it went on sale sometime around May or June, and as I moved to another house in another neighbourhood halfway through June of 1972, I must've bought this magazine not too long before flitting.  Strangely, though, I don't associate it with that particular period, and had it not been dated, I'd have thought I acquired it the year before.  Alas, even my memory is not perfect, and sometimes seeks to re-arrange the events of my own personal history.

Speaking of which, Crivvies, what memories (if any) do you associate with this POLYSTYLE PUBLICATIONS periodical?  Does it conjure up keenly remembered recollections of yesteryear, or is it a vague, half-forgotten shade from your childhood that lies just beyond reach of your mind's grasp?  Either way, tell your fellow readers all about it in our 'ever-eager-to-hear-from-you' comments section.

******

If you look at the first speech balloon in the first panel of page two, you'll see that 'Cemetery' is misspelt 'Cemetary'.  What's more, if you examine it carefully, you'll see that the 'A' is slightly dipped, indicating that it was a 'correction'.  Looks like it may've been spelt right to begin with.

   

CLASSIC COMICS: TV CENTURY 21 #52...

Characters copyright relevant and respective owners

Everybody just loves a birthday - don't they?  (Unless you're aware that you haven't got very many left.)  So here's the first birthday issue of TV CENTURY 21 from 100 years in the future, 2066.  Normally, I'd present it in two instalments, but as the second part usually gets only around half the hits of the first, I decided just to give you the complete issue in one go.

For around two or three years, TV21 was probably the best-selling weekly periodical in Britain, and it's doubtful that there's ever been a comic for boys since that's matched its popularity or circulation.  The artwork was by some of the finest illustrators of the day, though, curiously, the Annuals were never quite up to the same standard as the weekly.  Perhaps different departments were responsible for each publication, and no doubt cost was also a factor as the Annuals would've been prohibitively expensive if the quality of reproduction was the same in each case.

Anyway, Crivvies, let's now take a loving look into the past and try and catch a glimpse of the future.  Welcome to Adventure in the 21st Century!

******

However, before we do, allow me a little personal reminiscence if you'd be so kind.  I remember having this comic (the one I own now is a replacement) back in 1965, a couple of months after moving to a new house.  When I'd finished reading it, I committed an act of vandalism by cutting up the cover and putting the pictures on my bedside wall.  The 'TV21 Time Machine' didn't only return readers from 100 years in the future to read My FAVOURITE MARTIAN, The MUNSTERS, and GET SMART, it also returns me to my bedroom in the house I lived for 5 months short of 7 years every time I look at it. 

       

MINNIE THE MINX ARTIST JIM PETRIE PASSES AWAY...

Image copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

Sadly, it's been reported over on NIGEL PARKINSON's blog that JIM PETRIE, who drew the MINNIE The MINX strip in The BEANO from 1962 to 2001, died yesterday.  (And a little part of everyone who ever enjoyed his work died with him.)  It would be nice if D.C. THOMSON released a Minnie Special featuring Jim's work as a tribute to one of their longest- serving artists.  Let's hope they read this, eh?

******

(Different sources give the date of Jim taking over Minnie as either '61, '62 or '63, so I've plumped for the middle one.  Jim's last Minnie strip was drawn in 2000, but appeared in the cover-dated January 13th 2001 issue.)

JIM REEVES - THE BLIZZARD...

Here's a wee story to make you sad.  JIM REEVES

does what he did better than anyone else and touches

your heart with a song.

(BOND) BABE OF THE DAY - CAROLINE MUNRO...

CAROLINE MUNRO is 65 years

old these days.  I'm sure she's still nice-

looking, but a 65 year old woman couldn't

fairly be described as a 'babe'.  Therefore,

in the interests of accuracy, here's a pic

 from earlier in her career.  Hot, eh?  

DON STARR IN 'THE LIVING DOLLS' - PART FIVE...

Copyright relevant owner

If you look closely at the pages on view, you can see that they've been resized, which raises a rather interesting question.  Namely, were they reprinted from - or originally prepared for - a more standard-sized  British weekly, which required adapting them to the somewhat untypical  dimensions of TERRIFIC back in 1967?  Perhaps we'll never know, but don't let it spoil your enjoyment of the final instalment of secret agent DON STARR as he tackles The LIVING DOLLS.

Don returns soon in 'The DRAMA OF DOOM!' 

DOCTOR WHO: DEEP BREATH - BUT NOT ONE OF FRESH AIR...

Copyright BBC TV

Apparently, back in the 1950s & '60s, DC COMICS produced their tales by coming up with what editors thought were intriguing or compelling cover images and then having their writers create stories around them.  Having just watched the latest episode of DOCTOR WHO, I'm more than ever convinced that STEVEN MOFFAT comes up with his storylines the same way.  "H'mm, a dinosaur in Victorian London would be a great visual..." I can imagine him saying - and then sitting down and working a story around that and other 'striking' images.

So what's new in the world of Doctor Who?  What difference does PETER CAPALDI make in the role?  Not much to both questions it has to be said.  The plot was still a pile of outrageous sci-fi sh*te written for geeks by a geek, and the Doctor still talks to himself far too much, and veers between looking mean and moody and being a stand-up comedian who dispenses humorous one-liners right, left and centre.  And there was the now obligatory same sex (but different species) kiss (masquerading under 'first aid'), in the usual 'gay mafia' strategy to brainwash us into accepting such scenes as a matter of course on all TV shows.

The first four episodes of the programme, broadcast in 1963, used the sci-fi concept of the TARDIS merely to cast the four main protagonists in an adventure set in the past.  However, everything else about the situation was straightforward, realistic drama.  I've said before that I'd love to see the Doc materialise in, let's say Edwardian London, and solve a murder mystery that has absolutely no sci-fi connotations whatsoever.

However, I'm aware that Peter Capaldi's Doctor was still finding his feet in this introductory episode.  Let's hope we can now look forward to the enigmatic 'stranger with a hint of danger' that the Doctor should be, as opposed to the babbling idiot we've had to suffer in far too many previous episodes in the past.

Agree?  Disagree?  Make your feelings known. 

BABE OF THE DAY - KELLY BROOK...

One look at KELLY BROOK

makes me realise just how unlikely

it is I'll ever have a girlfriend even half

as beautiful.  Perhaps I should dig that

hole in the ground right now and jump

in - after all, why torture myself with

forlorn hopes of things that will

 never, ever be?  (Sob!) 

DOCTOR WHO IN TV COMIC ANNUAL...

Copyright BBC TV

The new DOCTOR WHO series starts tonight, so as a starter course, here's a four page strip drawn by PATRICK WILLIAMS from the TV COMIC Annual for 1968.  That conveyor belt must have been moving at a speed of an inch an hour for the Mammoths to rescue him in time, and the Doc remains coldly unmoved when one apparently comes a cropper at the hands of the TRODS, who were obvious stand-ins for the DALEKS.  He was also surely a little cavalier in luring them into danger in the first place, which is somewhat at odds with his TV persona of the time.  Anyway - enjoy!

ZOWIE! TOPPS 1966 BATMAN CARDS - PART THREE...

Images copyright DC COMICS & TOPPS

Another half-dozen images from the 1966 BATMAN cards by TOPPS (1989 reissue set).  Paste your peepers onto these paper piccies, and you'll be transported to the mid-'60s faster than you can say "Atomic batteries to power!"

Like to see more?  Then let me know, Bat-fans.

BABE OF THE DAY - LYNNE FREDERICK...

Wed to PETER SELLERS and DAVID

FROST (at different times), the only film I ever

saw her in was The AMAZING Mr. BLUNDEN,

and she was too young to be called a babe.  Ah, but

grown up Lynne is most certainly deserving of the

 appellation, I'm sure you'll agree, Crivs.

THE THING IS BIG BEN COVER & IMAGE GALLERY - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

We recently reached the end of a look back at the American version of The THING's own mag, but we still have a few issues of the British incarnation to work through.  It only lasted for 18 issues so can hardly be considered a success, but I've got to fill these posts with something so it might as well be this.

This time around, I've only included the splash pages of the stories (which were split into two or three parts) and left out the 'recap' pages in the subsequent issues.  Don't despair though - still here is HUNT EMERSON's DONALD DOGFLY to amuse and entertain you. 

I think it was an unwise editorial decision to utilise the issue's main splash page as the cover illustration for #9, because not only is it an extremely un-dynamic image for a cover, it tends to make blogs like this look like they're 'stuttering' when the images are re-presented 30 years later.

Anyway, two more posts will complete this particular series, so hope to see you back here then - if not sooner.