RECOMMENDED READING: The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL (VOLUME 6) #7...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

For all those who are fans of monthly mag The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, the latest issue (#7) just hit the shops today.  Featuring GUARDIANS Of The GALAXY, DOCTOR STRANGE, & The SILVER SURFER, there's surely some- thing in that line-up to appeal to the dedicated Marvelite.

As I say on a regular basis, there's a special kind of thrill I derive from buying a title that I first started buying as a 13 year old lad another century ago.  To think that it's still going strong (-ish) 45 years later is a satisfying source of wonder to me.  Latch on to the magic that is MWOM by buying this sensational 6th volume, 7th issue now!  Excelsior!

RECOMMENDED READING: X-MEN EPIC COLLECTION VOLUME FIVE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Calling all X-MEN fans!  The latest EPIC COLLECTION is now waiting for you at your local comicbook store, so pop along and treat yourself to a copy in exchange for a few paltry pounds.  These are the stories which declared to the comics-buying public that the X-Men were back and here to stay, so if you didn't see these classics the first time 'round, now's your chance to catch up on the thrills you missed way back then.  Or if you read them at the time of publication, now you have a chance to re-aquaint yourselves with these iconic issues.

So what are you waiting for?  Read the spiel, then seal the deal!

BABE Of The DAY - EMILY PROCTER...

EMILY PROCTER sizzles

sensationally as she scans the room

to see where I am.  You gotta hand it

 to her - the lady sure has taste!

RECOMMENDED READING: CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED Deluxe #1 - The WIND In The WILLOWS...

Copyright relevant owners

Here's one I heartily recommend to everyone.  Nothing can replace the book of course, but this is a worthy attempt to portray this classic tale by KENNETH GRAHAME in the graphic novel medium.  The art, by MICHEL PLESSIX is sumptuous, and my only reservation is that the illustrations would obviously benefit from being printed in a larger format.  This is the first volume in the deluxe series and I'm sure you'll just love it, even if (unlikely as it seems) you've never heard of the River-Bankers and Wild-Wooders before.  Available now from all good book stores.

   

INHUMANS PRIME ONE-SHOT...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Haven't read this ish yet so dunno what it's about, but to

be honest, it's the JACK KIRBY variant cover that grabs me

so I'm not really all that interested in the contents.  If, like me,

you're a fan of JK (and no, Melvin, I don't mean ROWLING),

this is one you'll want for your collection.  And where would you

be likely to obtain this impressive item you may be wondering?

Why, surprisingly, all good comics stores will be happy  to

cater to your comicbook cravings.  Pop in soon!

RECOMMENDED READING: X-MEN #1 & GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Are you an X-MEN fan?  Then you're sure to love these two reprints featuring your favourite mutants.  Available in your local comicbook store for a mere 50p (or so) each, these mags are bound to win a place in your heart as well as your comics cabinet.  Grab 'em now while you can!

BABE Of The DAY - RHIAN SUGDEN...

She can hardly believe her eyes as she

spies me across the beach.  "It's the famous

KID ROBSON!" declares RHIAN SUGDEN,

lifting her shades for a better look.  Yes, it's me!

There's only one of me so snap me up while you

can, you sensuous young beauty, 'cos  I'm a

 very popular lad with the ladies, so I am.

KULL In MONSTERS On The PROWL #16...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CONAN PROPERTIES, Int.

Sometimes in life you get lucky - and so it was on this occasion.  I first read this KULL tale in the pages of MARVEL U.K.'s weekly SAVAGE SWORD Of CONAN in 1975, but when, several years later, I acquired #s 1-11 of Kull's colour U.S. mag, I didn't realise that this story wasn't included in that run.  When Kull's 'regular' mag first debuted, it was intended as a quarterly publication, but it stalled after issue #2.  Seven months later, MONSTERS On The PROWL took up the reins, and Kull was meant to continue in that periodical.

However, for whatever reason, plans changed again and Kull next popped up in #3 of his own mag a mere three months after MOTP #16.  I didn't know about this comic until regular commenter McSCOTTY mentioned it in response to a recent post, so I immediately tracked one down on eBay for just over £4, including postage.  As I said, sometimes you get lucky, and though the mag isn't pristine, it's good enough to add to my collection and fill the sequential gap between issues 2 & 3 of KULL The CONQUEROR's colour series.

The Kull tale is only 10 pages long, so there's a couple of 1960s stories by LEE, DITKO and KIRBY to round off the required page count, with "MISTER MORGAN'S MONSTER" being particularly memorable.  Tell you what though - instead of merely telling you about this comic, why don't I just show you a few select pages so that you can all see for yourselves?  You'd like that?  Good, here you are then - enjoy.

BABE Of The DAY - SOPHIA LOREN...

SOPHIA, when I said pop out

for some milk for my tea, that's not

quite what I had in mind.  Don't fret

 though, it'll do just fine.  

DALEKS SNOWSTORM...

Every Christmas, I put out on display three or four 'snowstorms', but this is one I don't have.  I'd like to have it though, so if you've got one lying around, send it to me at once.  "You will obey!"

THE KENROY AUTO-CADDY...

Anyone remember the KENROY Auto-Caddy?  There was one in our kitchen in the 1960s and '70s, and also my grandparents'.  Of course, when teabags took off, the Auto-Caddy's fate was sealed and it became redundant, but it was once a common feature of U.K. kitchens in an age now vanished forever.

   

KLASSIC KIRBY KOMIC KOVERS: FANTASTIC FOUR #39...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Y'know, I didn't mind VINCE COLLETTA inking JACK KIRBY's pencils on FANTASTIC FOUR, which he did from #s 40-43, as well as Annual #3.  In fact, I think he did a good job, but poor-quality reprints lost much of his fine detail and unfairly damaged his reputation.  Just thought I'd throw that in for free, 'cos it was FRANK GIACOIA (using the name Frank Ray) who inked the contents of the above issue, with the cover being inked by CHIC STONE and WALLACE WOOD (who inked the figure of DAREDEVIL).  Pretty good result, eh?

(Once again, Jack has made The THING, in this case a remote-controlled robot, far too small.)

FRED FLINTSTONE'S FABULOUSLY FANTASTIC FRICTION-DRIVE FLIVVER...

My very own FRED FLINTSTONE FLIVVER - snapped in my back garden.
The box is for the remote-control version, and is a reproduction I made myself
from an original owned by someone for whom I repaired it

It always irks me when I can't be more specific about dates.  Trouble is, I never knew the exact dates of some events from my early life, and have to retroactively work them out from other factors, like which house I lived in at the time, whether I'd started school, etc.  So I can say only that I got my FRED FLINTSTONE's FLIVVER in 1962 or '63.  That's as  close as I can nail it down to.

There were different versions of this toy - a remote- control version and a friction-drive one.  Most sites show two different-looking flivvers, but it wasn't quite as simple as that because, as well as the two different-in-appearance versions, there was also a friction-drive one which was indistinguishable from the remote-control one - except for not having a remote-control (obviously).  All three versions were made by MARX TOYS.

Here's the other version of the friction-drive toy.  Who knows,
perhaps a remote-control version of this one was also made?

But don't be fooled.  When I say remote-control, I'm not talking about a modern, infra-red remote-control, I'm talking about one that was attached to the flivver by a cord, in the same way that TV remote-controls once operated.  I seem to faintly remember my flivver having a remote-control, and it lay for years in a box in a cupboard long after the toy itself had been consigned to oblivion.

Trouble is, around the same time I had Fred's car, I also had a little race track with small magnetic cars, which was operated via the same kind of remote-control as Fred's 'deluxe' flivver, so I'm not sure if the remote-control which lay in my cupboard for years belonged to the flivver or the race track.  It annoys me not being able to recall with utmost certainty which toy it accompanied because I'm therefore unsure which version I actually owned.

 

Looking at the remote-control in this photo, it doesn't look like the one I recall, so maybe
mine belonged to my race car set.  Hold it - just seen another one in a book about MARX
 TOYS, and the remote-control is similar to the one I remember - different colour though 

However, having spent four paragraphs on the subject, it's not really important to the point of this post.  I said earlier that the flivver eventually disappeared, apart from a few disassembled parts lying in the same box as the remote-control, but I had the little plastic Fred driver for at least ten years before getting rid of most of the surviving toys from my childhood in the early '70s.

Little Fred used to accompany me on visits to my maternal grandparents every Sunday.  Then, after tea, I'd excuse myself and take a walk along to my former neighbourhood, there to gaze upon the two houses in which I (and Fred) had once lived.  It was a strange sensation to return Fred to his old environs, but it helped me to reconnect to my past in a much more tangible way, even though it's difficult to explain in precisely what manner.

And another look at my own toy

Little Fred saw the inside of four houses in his ten or so years, including the one in which I now reside.  Close to 20 years ago, I was able to obtain (at immense expense) a replacement Fred and his flivver, and one glance immediately returns me to an earlier point in time that I'm loath to leave.  I once re-created my childhood experience of touring my former neighbourhood with Fred in tow, though on that occasion, it was with 'new' Fred, not 'old' Fred.  To me however, they were one and the same.

It's strange to think that I've now had replacement Fred for nearly twice as long as his predecessor - it just doesn't seem like it.  In fact, the near-quarter-of-a-century gap between the two Freds no longer seems to have existed, and it feels like I've only ever had one Fred, tucked away in a cupboard for years before being happily rediscovered.  Some people might think that, as it's not my original Fred, it surely can't have the same nostalgic or sentimental draw, but trust me, there's an odd kind of magic that operates on such occasions, and, in my mind, it's the same Fred (and flivver) that I first got as a kid 54 years ago.

"Wilma, I'm home!"

The remote-control version - with a different control to the one shown further up the post

BABE Of The DAY - LORNA WILDE...

Any of you ever watch the classic TV show

"WHATEVER HAPPENED To The LIKELY

LADS?"  At BOB and TERRY's local pub worked

a barmaid called GLORIA, played by a reet lovely

lass by the name of LORNA WILDE.  Looking at

her, I can't help but wonder if she lived up to her

 surname?  (What do you think, Crivvies?)

VANISHING VIEWS, NARROWING HORIZONS...

The above photo captures the view from the top of the hill where I live, as it was on August 2nd 1988.  It was essentially unchanged from when we'd first moved into the house back on June 14th 1972.  However, when I took the photo, we'd been back in the house for a year and a day, having moved away five years earlier and then returned four years later.

The photo below was taken only today, and is the view as it is now.  Not quite so expansive, is it?  Funny how everything seemed much cleaner, brighter and more colourful back then, whereas today, things seem darker, duller and more bleak - or is it just me?  The skies are shrinking, the horizons are narrowing, and the colours are fading far too quickly.

Anyway, glad to have cheered you all up.

HAVE YOU GOT YOUR OWN STINGRAY?

Just had to print this ad because it's so nice.  Looks like

the work of RON EMBLETON, and someone has made

fridge magnets out of it and is selling them on eBay.

REFLECTIVE REPOST: WHOSOEVER HOLDS THIS HAMMER...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Above is the original final caption box of THOR'S origin from JIM #83 before it was changed to how it saw print, below.  (With Thor missspelt as THORR.)  Interesting to see that perhaps Thor was intended as a try-out character to test reader reaction before launching him in a series.  I say "perhaps" because this may merely have been a gimmick to make readers think they had a say in what was published.  I'd imagine that it's more than likely the next few episodes were already lying in a drawer in STAN LEE's office.

UPDATE:  (See "Can anyone kindly explain this mystery to me?" post.)

For those who are interested, here's the inferior, re-lettered version from the first printing of the THOR MASTERWORKS book, and subsequent re-printings up to the softcover release.

When I first saw the above abomination, I re-lettered a new one (by hand) with amended spelling from the original - and sent it to TOM BREVOORT for use in future reprintings.  It was never needed though, as superior stats of the original proofs were eventually discovered.

Below is the original and my re-lettered version, side-by-side.

BABE Of The DAY - JOLENE BLALOCH...

DOLLY PARTON liked JOLENE BLALOCH

so much, she wrote a song named after her.  That, of

course, is a blatant lie, but I have to fill these captions

somehow, so any ol' p*sh will do for me.  Besides, who

reads this stuff anyway?  You know you're only here

 to look at the pictures - so feast your eyes.

SO WHY DID 'BEN' CALL IT A 'DAY'? I 'SMELL' A STORY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I'm probably a product of my time.  The word 'probably' in that sentence is really only to provide alliteration, as there's not much (if any) doubt about it.  We're all products of our time you see, being shaped by what we experience as we grow up to become curmudgeonly old farts, of which I am now one.  If you're past middle-age, you are too.

Comics don't seem like comics to me anymore.  I was in a local comicbook store a few weeks back, and on the row upon row of shelves of periodicals staring back at me, I saw only one that had a speech balloon on the cover.  It was like they were declaring themselves to be respectable, genuine magazines now, not mere comics  As if to prove their point, they were all printed on glossy magazine-style paper, with superior, multi-hued colouring, not the cheap newsprint with Ben-Day dot colours that comics had back in my day.

However much I may enjoy reading some of the new titles around today, I don't get the same feeling I do as when I read a comic from the 1960s, '70s or '80s.  There's a scent that emanates from comics of those times that is almost like a drug, taunting, teasing, and caressing my olfactory organs with an aroma that is truly tantalising.  Today's comics no longer have a splash page, instead featuring a boring page of expository text, to facilitate the inevitable collected edition several months down the line.  See?  Comics aren't even the 'real deal' nowadays, being no more than a dry run for the trade paperbacks or deluxe hardcover volumes that follow.

It's arguable whether today's comicbooks are better, worse, or just the same as they ever were when it comes to storytelling techniques or artistic ability, but to me, one thing is certain - they're simply not as satisfying, as encompassing a sensory 'experience' (involving not only sight, but touch and tang as well) as they used to be back when they weren't striving so hard to be anything other than what they were.  Namely, a half-hour's pleasantly entertaining diversion from the everyday problems and irritations that beset us all in this crazy game called life.

And hey - didn't they smell great while doing so?   

BABE Of The DAY - CINDY CRAWFORD...

Hey, is it just me, or do any of you Crivs

ever get bonnie 'babes' CINDY CRAWFORD

and BROOKE SHIELDS mixed up?  (H'mm,

I guess it's just me then.  Ah, well...)

KLASSIC KIRBY KOMIC KOVERS: JOURNEY Into MYSTERY ANNUAL #1...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Now this is better.  A hint of KIRBY's abstract musculature remains, but thanks to the inks of VINCE COLLETTA (I think), the main drawing of THOR and HERCULES is far more visually convincing than the cover of THOR KING-SIZE ANNUAL #5, shown in a recent post.  Now, here's a puzzle for you: Which of the four small cover panels is the odd one out - and why?

BEAR Of The DAY - YOGI...

YOGI BEAR's being a bit naughty here, 'cos

there's surely an age restriction on this swing-park

slide.  He's bolder than the average bear though,

as well as smarter, so he does what he pleases.

(Sigh!  My hero!)

NON-KLASSIC KIRBY KOMIC KOVERS: The MIGHTY THOR KING-SIZE ANNUAL #5...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

It pains me to say it, but this JACK KIRBY cover is awful.  It gives the impression that Jack wasn't really trying to produce great work (or was perhaps no longer capable of it), he was merely meeting his page quota by churning them out as quickly as he could with as little effort as possible.  His art had become a poor parody of itself by this time, and he didn't even seem to care just how obvious it was.  Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

BABE Of The DAY - ABI TITMUSS...

Looking good, honey - looking good.

Call me any time you like, gorgeous!  (Is

what ABI TITMUSS said to me the last

time we ran into one another.)

KLASSIC KOMIC KOVERS: KULL THE DESTROYER #11...

Characters copyright The Estate of R.E. HOWARD

A new direction for KULL The CONQUEROR (and a new title for his mag) also saw a change of artist - MIKE PLOOG.  Although I've got the 10 preceding issues, I don't have any following the above, so I may have to rectify that one day.

(Not too well at the moment, so apologies for the brevity and sporadic nature of my posts.)