CALVIN'S A COMICBOOK READER...

Who doesn't like CALVIN & HOBBES?  Then you're a weirdo!

MAD COMIC COVER GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright DC COMICS

As I'm sure most of you will know, MAD Magazine started life as a comicbook in 1952.  Yup, for the first 23 issues, Mad was a comic just like any other, before switching to magazine format with its 24th number in 1955.  Interestingly, although most people tend to think that Mad Mascot ALFRED E. NEUMAN first appeared in the magazine incarnation, he actually made his debut in a mock ad on the cover of #21, when it was still a comic.  (Don't worry, you'll see it in part four of this series if you stick around.)

So fasten your seatbelts, you Mad Maniacs - we're off!

PART TWO Of KEN REID'S QUEEN Of The SEAS...

Copyright REBELLION

Back on May 1st last year, I promised you more of KEN REID's classic strip from SMASH!, namely QUEEN Of The SEAS.  I want to show them in sequential order, but that presents a slight problem.  Y'see, I've already shown the first part, which means that the next one due is the second.  However, that was included in my relatively recent post about Smash! #2, so what's a fella to do?  You'll just have to bear with me as I repeat myself, I'm afraid.  After all, Ken Reid's artwork is always worth another look.

AHHHH...

And if that doesn't bring a smile to your face, you must be dead.

RECOMMENDED READING: THE MIGHTY THOR EPIC COLLECTION VOLUME ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's another EPIC COLLECTION that belongs on your bookshelf (though you'll have to buy your own copy, you ain't getting mine) - The GOD Of THUNDER, otherwise known as The MIGHTY THOR.  In full-colour, containing 27 issues of JOURNEY Into MYSTERY, that's only three issues short of the b&w ESSENTIALS volume.  Superb stuff!

Nip 'round to your local comics shop before they're sold out!

BABE Of The DAY - PENELOPE CRUZ...

When I was a boy and regularly buying

TV21, I thought LADY PENELOPE's name

was pronounced 'Pen-eh-loap' - was I ignorant

or what?  One thing I do know, however, is that

this Penelope is most definitely a lady.  (Wrap

 her up nicely now - I'll take her with me.)

GARDENS Of The MIND...

I was passing my former house in an old neighbourhood yesterday and, acting on impulse, decided to 'catch a swatch' at the back garden.  I was saddened to see that the clothes poles and lawn were gone, and that the garden had been re-slabbed to cover the whole area.  It was a bit of a shock as the last time I'd seen it, it was pretty much as it had been in my day.

I'm glad I'd managed to get photographs of the garden back in 1988 and again in 1991, and preserved it as it used to be in the halcyon days of my childhood.  For 20-odd years after we'd flitted, the house and gardens (front and back) had remained mostly as I recalled them, but since then several significant changes have been made, and things as I'd known them are now a mere echo in the hallowed halls of history.

If I were ever to win the Lottery, I'd buy every house in which I've ever lived and restore them as much as possible to their former glory.  In a completely self-indulgent wallow in nostalgia, I thought I'd take another walk around my old garden and permit you to accompany me.  It wasn't much, but it was mine - and shall forever remain so in the mystic bands of memory.  Now, follow me - the past is this way.

******

Update:  Sadly, I now see that the outside 'cellar' has been demolished and replaced with what looks like an acrylic storage area.  It looks absolutely terrible and in no way improves the garden's appearance.  Why some people make such unnecessary and arbitrary alterations is beyond me.

PART FOUR Of LION'S ROBOT ARCHIE: The JUNGLE ROBOT...

Copyright REBELLION

From the pages of LION comes another two instalments of ROBOT ARCHIE, The JUNGLE ROBOT.  If there were any justice in the world (or a real comics industry in this country), we'd be reading brand-new Robot Archie adventures today - along with his U.K. comic chums like The SPELLBINDER, ADAM ETERNO, JANUS STARK, The SPIDER, KELLY'S EYE, and The STEEL CLAW.  You really should all start praying that I win the Lottery - then I could buy the rights to all these characters and start publishing them in new stories.

So just imagine that it happens - what do you think would be a good name for a new comic with all these greats from the past?  Leave your title suggestions in the comments section.  And don't forget to come back for part five in this super series.

BABE Of The DAY - ALIONA VILANI...

Hey, it's ALIONA VILANI -

 dance, woman, dance!

ATLAS/SEABOARD COMICS COVER GALLERY - PART SEVEN (THE B&W MAGS)...

Images copyright relevant owner

I first suspected that ATLAS/SEABOARD wasn't destined for longevity when I read an article in one of their b&w mags (at least, I think it was one of theirs) on The SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, featuring an interview with LEE MAJORS, star of the TV show.  He mentioned author MARTIN CAIDIN's book, 'SIDEBOARD', which made me do a double-take as the book was actually called 'CYBORG' - something I knew for certain 'cos I'd previously read it (and still own it today - or maybe it's OPERATION NUKE I have).  Obviously the article had been transcribed from a recorded interview (either by 'phone or in person), but with that kind of sloppy journalism, I figured that both the mag and the company were fated  for a short life.

Well, it gave me no pleasure to be proved right, and I'm certainly not crowing about it, but MARTIN GOODMAN was paying higher rates than other companies, so he was surely entitled to expect a far better standard than he was receiving in some cases.  Ten months after it had started, the age of Atlas came to an end.  Not so much an age, more of a moment.   They'd tried just a little too hard to look like MARVEL, and in so doing, failed to establish an identity of their own.  Would-be publishers would be wise to take note.

Hope you've all enjoyed this series of cover galleries looking back at the Atlas/Seaboard output, frantic ones.  If so, let's hear from you in the comments section.  Your appreciation is always appreciated.  (Why, that's almost profound.)

PART SIX OF ATLAS/SEABOARD COMICS COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright relevant owner

VICKI was an attempt to attract ARCHIE and MILLIE The MODEL female readers I assume, but the odd thing is that all four issues were reprints from TOWER COMICS '65-'69 title TIPPY TEEN, with a little bit of redrawing to update the hairstyles and clothes fashions of the day.  Having said that though, the cover of issue #4 was clearly cribbed from KATHY #1, published by MARTIN GOODMAN's original incarnation of ATLAS in 1959.

I didn't much like TARANTULA for the same reason that I didn't care for TIGER-MAN - I just can't relate to heroes with heads like animals or insects.  After The GRIM GHOST, WULF The BARBARIAN, despite similarities to MARVEL's CONAN, probably had the most potential to succeed.  In fact, I think I should read them again to remind myself of what they were like, by Crom!  (Oh, hang on - that's the other guy.)

Don't miss the final part in which we take a look at ATLAS/SEABOARD's black and white magazines.  Isn't this fun!  See you soon, Criv-ite chums.

Compare this cover to the one below

KATHY #1 (1959) published by the original ATLAS COMICS

And here's an ad for the unpublished (as far as I know) 4th issue