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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
The first issue of FANTASTIC I ever purchased was #7, but the first one I saw was #3. That was on a trip into Glasgow with my parents and brother one Saturday, but as its free gift was a disgusting piece of 'confectionery' of which I never partake, I wasn't much interested in the comic. The first I recall being aware of the new title however, was with #2, mainly because of the stushie caused by the free gift. It perhaps seems ridiculous nowadays, but it certainly made a fuss back in the dark ages of 1967.
Whether it was a genuine story or one cobbled up by bored journalists on a slow news week, I remember Scottish presenter BILL TENNENT doing a 'piece' on the STV news about parents being worried that children who couldn't get the comic and free gift of 'scar' stickers might take to disfiguring themselves with knives in order to create their own set of scars. Are kids really that stupid? Some might be, certainly, but I rather think they'd be more likely to draw their own scars and stick them onto their skin than reach for the penknife dad gave them for Christmas.
Bill Tennent was a well-known Scottish TV presenter, and I'm surprised to see that he retired from TV in the late '70s to run the MARIE STUART Hotel in Glasgow. I was even more surprised to learn that he died in 1993 at the too young age of only 59. He was such a fixture of television in Scotland that most people around my age will be saddened to learn of his passing if they weren't already aware of it. Remember the programme TIMESLIP? For years I thought it was Bill who did the introductory piece at the beginning of the first episode, until I watched it on video in the mid-'90s and saw it was PETER FAIRLEY. Perhaps Bill did the intro shown in Scotland as he was better-known here? Anyone know?
Anyway, that's two subjects covered under one banner. You sure get your money's worth on this blog. Take a look at the controversial stickers below. Do they make you want to cut yourself, or merely print out a copy and stick them all over your face and wrists? Either way, you're a nutter!
