SIMON & KIRBY'S STRANGE WORLD OF YOUR DREAMS COVER GALLERY...

Copyright relevant owner

For all their celebrated reputation, I think it's interesting to note just how few issues SIMON & KIRBY actually produced of some of their best-remembered comics.  The duo worked on only the first ten numbers of CAPTAIN AMERICA, seven issues of FIGHTING AMERICAN, six of BOYS' RANCH,  and a mere four of The STRANGE WORLD Of YOUR DREAMS.

Captain America, of course, continued for some years under other hands after the pair had departed TIMELY for NATIONAL, but the other titles mentioned above (for other publishers) died with S&K's final issues.  I find that odd because, given their stature in the history of the comics industry, the impression often given is that everything they touched was a solid commercial hit.  As we can see though, that wasn't always the case.

However, even their short-lived mags were not without merit so here's a mini cover gallery consisting of all four issues of their brief excursion into The Strange World Of Your Dreams.

Below is the cover for the unpublished #5, followed by (going by the date) the cover for #7.  No cover for what would've been #6 has been found.  However, I suppose it's possible that what is assumed to be #7 could've been #6 with a planned change of publishing frequency from bi-monthly to quarterly, before it was decided just to cancel the title.  Or perhaps the masthead is a stat from the first ish before the new date was pasted over.  What do the rest of you think?

FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - PART THIRTY-NINE: The INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #66...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

If my old memory is functioning properly, I purchased this ish from the same newsagent's where I'd once regularly bought TV CENTURY 21 when I was a mere six years old.  I then took a trip along to visit a friend who lived in a relatively newly-constructed housing scheme, and stopped by the side of a path bordering a field to read my latest acquisition.  There was some kind of small concrete construct under which I sheltered, and when I'd finished the comic, I continued my journey to my friend's house.  Oddly, I recall nothing much of the rest of the day after reading IRON MAN #66, but I associate the issue - and one page in particular (4th one down) - with the point in the road where I'd stopped to read it.

That's because the field at which I'd stopped resembled the one portrayed on the page.  Had GEORGE TUSKA included a concrete water tower in the picture, it would have been almost a dead-ringer for where I read the comic.  For many years, whenever I passed that field, I couldn't do so without thinking of ol' Shellhead smashing through his gigantic foe; nor could I read the comic without thinking of that stretch of road and the field itself.  Sadly, there are houses there now and the field is no more than a memory, but the memory is never more vivid than when I peruse that page in one of my favourite comics of the past!

If you read this comic back in '74, what are your memories of it, and do you associate it with any particular place?  Humour your fellow old farts by sharing your reminiscences in the comments section.  Quick, before the memory fades forever!

    

Ah, I'm back there now, reading it for the very first time - magic!

RECOMMENDED READING: TRIMPE, HECK, TOTH, AND THE STRANGE WORLD OF YOUR DREAMS...

All images copyright their respective owners

Still got some leftover festive money burning a hole in your pocket?  Then ponder no more on how you might part with it, frantic ones, 'cos I have some suggestions for you.  Cop a gander at these four tomes, which are worthy additions to any comic fan's bookshelves.  Rather than tell you about them ('cos I'm a lazy git), I direct you to the back covers, where all the spiel you require to make an informed decision awaits you.

Which one floats your boat the most?  Can't decide?  Then buy all four of them and spare yourself the angst of having to choose between them.  Problem solved!  Scurry straight round to your nearest comics shop and press some paltry pounds into the palms of those polite purveyors of pulse-pounding pleasures - that's books, Melvin!  So why are you still here?  Raid the piggy bank and get going!

  

BABE Of The DAY - DOLLY PARTON...

Well, hello Dolly (in the words of the

old song) - DOLLY PARTON that is!  It's

said that singers require powerful lungs, and

it's pretty clear that Dolly is far from deficient

in that department.  Imagine her blowing out

the candles on a birthday cake - she'd likely

 blow the thing clear across the room.

KID KLASSICS: JUST A LITTLE 'OFF-COLOUR'...

Original colour scheme.  Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Amongst my overlarge and heaving collection of cataclysmic comic curiosities, I've got well-over 90 MARVEL MASTERWORKS volumes, 17 MARVEL OMNIBUS editions, and more than 40 reprint books featuring classic Marvel tales from the 1960s & '70s.  I just can't stop buying them, even ones I've already got on my bookshelves.

New colour scheme by Andy Yanchus

Here's the problem:  When Marvel first issued their Masterworks series back in the late 1980s, they weren't quite so 'archival' in nature, seldom (if at all) following the colour schemes of their initial comicbook printings.  As the years wore on however, it was decided to make these valiant volumes more faithful to their original publications, and, consequently, they were then coloured in accordance with how they had first been unleashed on the comic-buying public.

Original colour scheme

So, when a new edition with more accurate reproduction of linework and colouring was released, I'd buy it, figuring to replace the earlier, less faithful volumes.  Thing is, some of the colouring on those early books is, in many instances, more atmospheric and effective than the original comic printing.  Consequently, I can't bear to part with them.  While the 'purist' in me craves having stories as faithful to their initial appearance as is humanly possible, the reader in me enjoys seeing the recoloured stories with their more varied and interesting colour palettes.

New colour scheme by Andy Yanchus

I've included a few examples to show just what I'm talking about from the first printings of SPIDER-MAN, DOCTOR STRANGE, and IRON MAN hardcover MASTERWORKS, and the more recent softcover editions which replicate the original colouring.  As you can see, the recoloured versions have more depth, gradation in tones, and are far more atmospheric in mood.

Original colour scheme

The Spider-Man/Tinkerer splash page in particular is stunning, and amply demonstrates just how crucial colouring can be to the end result.  As I said, it's great to have archive editions of how these stories first appeared back in the '60s, but the recoloured versions are classics in their own right which I just couldn't part with. This way, I have the absolute best of both worlds.

New colour scheme by Andy Yanchus

Which versions do you prefer?  Or do you think it doesn't much matter which way they're coloured?  If you have an opinion on the subject, feel free to share your views in the comments section.  

BABE Of The DAY - PENELOPE CRUZ...

When I asked PENELOPE CRUZ if she could show me the way

to heaven, I was rather startled by her frank visual reply.  (I'm only

talking about her heel pointing skywards, you dirty-minded lot.)

IF ONLY EVERYTHING OLD WAS NEW AGAIN...

Just around the corner from my house is a block of flats that's recently had some renovation work carried out (new roof slates and rough-casting).  One of the paths that leads to the back of the flats suffered some broken paving slabs in the process and half of the path was replaced with nice new slabs.

I was struck by how fresh, clean and smooth they were in comparison to the old ones, and it reminded me of how new my town used to look back in the 1960s and '70s.  There are two colours which I used to associate with my town - grey and green.  Grey (a nice light, bright grey) for the buildings, lampposts and paths, and green for all the grassy areas and fields that once existed (but now seem to have been built on).

Looking at the surviving half of the original path, it was old and worn and discoloured, much as large portions of the town now seem to be.  (And when I catch sight of my reflection, as I also now seem to be.)   If only the place could recapture that 'fresh and new' look it once had, as too much of it appears a little shabby and dilapidated compared to years ago.

Is it any wonder that yesterday can often seem far more appealing than today or tomorrow?

REMEMBER COMIC BOOK FOLDEES...?

Or FOLDEE (singular) to be precise, as I can find only one - but what a one it is.  'Twas Scots comicbook writer GRANT MORRISON who gave it to me at a comic mart in Glasgow a goodly number of years back.  I'd just purchased the first two DENNIS The MENACE books, and Grant had just bought several Foldees when we ran into one another.  We chatted away for a bit, and as he checked out his new acquisitions he noticed he had a 'doubler'.  "Do you want it?" he asked, obviously trying to ingratiate himself with me as I'm ultra-famous and everybody wants to be my pal.  (Hey, I'm writing this post so I'll tell it my way, reality be damned!)

"Sure, thanks very much!" I replied, and that's how the above Foldee came into my grateful possession.  As for Grant, I don't know what happened to him - he's likely living in abject poverty and wondering why he never made it as big as me.  However, some of us are born to greatness and some of us aren't, so he shouldn't feel bitter about his relative obscurity in comparison to myself.  Oh, here comes the nurse with a little cocktail of funny-coloured pills for me to take so I'd better wrap things up now and climb into my long-sleeved pyjamas.  I wish they'd find me an ordinary pair, because I can't scratch my @rse when it gets itchy through the night.  What we comicbook superstars have to put up with, eh?

Anyway, enjoy looking at the Foldee and remembering your childhood.  Any reminiscences you'd care to share will be most welcome in the comments section, so get typing, Criv-ites.

KID KLASSICS: A TRUE TALE Of BIRTH AFTER DEATH...

Images copyright DC COMICS

1974.  The date trips off my tongue with such familiar ease that it still seems fairly recent to my mind.  Hard to believe, then, that it was actually 42 years ago when I was still a mere lad.  Back then, DC COMICS had a title called BLACK MAGIC, which reprinted SIMON & KIRBY tales from a magazine of the same name published in the 1950s.

I remember buying the first issue with such startling clarity that I almost feel as if I went to bed last night as a 15 year old boy and woke up today the age I am now.  Life really does go by so fast, alas.  However, it's a story in the second issue that made a big impression on me which has lasted to this day - "BIRTH AFTER DEATH".

It purports to be a true account of events leading up to the birth of Sir WALTER SCOTT, the famed Scottish novelist, playwright and poet born in Edinburgh in 1771, who died in Melrose at the age of 61 in 1832.  (ROB ROY and IVANHOE being but two of his works.)

Although I've checked, I've never been able to find any corroborating evidence to back up the tale, but I find it hard to believe that Simon & Kirby would simply have made the whole thing up.  I remember reading the comic (on the day I bought it) in the graveyard of a local centuries-old church, complete with the burial vault of a once-prominent family from ages past.  Creepy but apt, don't you think?  Obviously that's why I associate the tale with the place today.

1822 portrait of Scott by Raeburn

Anyway, have a read and make up your own mind.  Fact or fiction?  To me though, it's one of those stories that - if it isn't true - it ought to be.

******

UPDATE: Simon & Kirby's story is true after all (with just a little artistic licence in regard to minor details).  From The MILWAUKEE JOURNAL, Tuesday, October 18th, 1932, comes the following account.  (Thanks, Tongalad.)

Sir Walter Scott's Mother Buried Alive Five Years Before His Birth

Old Essay Reveals She Was Rescued From Tomb Due to Ghoulish Sexton

London England - The astonishing fact that Sir Walter Scott's mother was declared to be dead and was actually interred five years before Sir Walter Scott's birth is recalled in a letter to the Daily Express, sent by George MacDonald, Birmingham.

"Her weird sepulchral experience," says MacDonald, "is described as follows by a great essayist of many decades ago."

Buried in Vault

Here is the description:

"Miss Rutherford, while lying in a trance and declared by the physicians to be dead, was laid away in the family tomb in the great vaults under the parish church.

"At night the ghoulish sexton stealthily entered the tomb, opened the casket and proceeded to rob the elegant and entombed lady of the jewels which were on her person according to the then prevalent custom.  Finding some of the finger rings too tightly fixed, the unconscionable thief took his pocket knife and slashed the flesh from the fingers.

"Came to Life"

"The sudden shock and flow of blood caused a reaction of the vital forces, and the reanimated lady opened her eyes, uttered an exclamation of amazement and attempted to rise up.

"The guilty and horror-stricken rascal's hair rose straight upon his head, and with the yell of a desperate madman he rushed forth, thus raising the alarm which brought help and rescue to her.

"She lived many years subsequently, none the worse for her awful adventure which occurred five years previously to the birth of Sir Walter."

******

Click the link below (provided by Tongalad)  to see the actual newspaper's front cover:

http://news.google.com/newspapersnid=1499&dat=19321018&id=uahQAAAAIBAJ &sjid=2SEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5668,6482729

Unfortunately, the above link appears to be no longer active, though it was for years.

KID KLASSICS: I WAS KIDNAPPED ON TREASURE ISLAND...

A million years ago, my older brother and myself each received a Christmas present of a book from a literature-loving aunt and uncle.  My brother got KIDNAPPED (and I often wished he would be), and I was given TREASURE ISLAND, both written by R. L. STEVENSON.  I can't remember whether I read it at the time or not, but I did so ten years later and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Well, strictly speaking, that's not quite true.  You see, the one I read wasn't my original festive gift from years before (which had disappeared into limbo at some indeterminate stage), but a replacement I bought a decade later from a local bookshop on recognizing the cover and being instantly transported back in time to my childhood.

The cover reminded me of the back garden of the house I'd lived in when I received my earlier printing of this classic.  That was likely because of the garden having a wooden fence similar to that shown on the dustjacket, although ours was held together by wire.  To this day, whenever I look at that illustration, in my mind's eye I'm once again gazing through my old bedroom window at the garden below.

The back garden from my bedroom window

Anyway, to bore you with further tedious and unnecessary detail, unlike my original copy, the replacement carried no dustjacket.  The cover was just like an annual, applied straight onto the boards.  When I revisited the house nigh on twenty years after leaving it, one of several items I took with me (to 'reconnect' to my past, as it were) was the replacement edition of Treasure Island.  So now the book not only reminds me of my former home, it's actually been in it.

  

Some years ago, in the OXFAM shop in Glasgow's Byres Road, I managed to re-obtain a dustjacketed edition published in the same year as my original book.  It sits alongside my brother's copy of Kidnapped (which, happily, survived).  However, whether it's the '60s or '70s version, there's just something about that cover which sings to me of an earlier, more innocent time so many years ago.

PART TWO Of THOR The MIGHTY In A JOURNEY Into MYSTERY COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Strange as it may seem, I always preferred the original "star-kissed human" concept of THOR The MIGHTY over the idea of Dr. DON BLAKE being a construct of all-wise ODIN.  Maybe that's why I enjoyed Thor's Earth-based escapades more than his adventures in ASGARD (on the whole), because I could relate to them more.  After all, I could never have been born a Norse god, but there was always a chance (however slim) I might find an ancient and enchanted gnarled cane in a cave that would transform me into even more of a walking powerhouse than I already am!

However, enough of levity.  Here, not before time, is the second in our series of cover galleries starring ol' Goldilocks from the dawn of his career.  Ten JACK KIRBY mighty MARVEL masterpieces to astound you!