WISH I'D THOUGHT OF THAT NAME FIRST...

Wing Commander GUY F. RODNEY, DFC, AFC

Believe it or not, there's another blog called Crivens!  Or, to be more precise, its name is 'Crivens Jings And Help Ma Blog'.  I saw this old photo on it recently, and couldn't resist the temptation to try and tidy it up a tad.  Below is the result, with another version without the inscription.

Not too shabby, eh?  I enjoy doing this sort of thing, as it restores photographs from yesteryear to as near as possible their original pristine condition.  Visit the other Crivens by clicking on its blog name in the above paragraph.  Go on, check it out today.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS: HAUNTED #1...

Copyright relevant owner

Sometimes I forget that there's more to comics than just MARVEL and DC.  So, here's a CHARLTON comic cover, HAUNTED #1, drawn by STEVE DITKO.  Natty design, don'tcha think?  There's a great post about Ditko's Charlton work over at Nifty NICK CAPUTO's blog, which you can access by clicking here.  Don't forget to return to this one though.  You know how I hate talking to myself.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS: FANTASTIC FOUR #126...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

I bought my first copy of this comic on October 6th 1972.  It was a Friday, I was off school, and I purchased my second copy of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #1 at the very same moment.  Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and relive that momentous day, all of nearly 45 years ago.  Well, in a way I can - whenever I gaze upon this sensational cover of FANTASTIC FOUR #126 by Big JOHN BUSCEMA.  I wish they still produced comics like this today, don't you?  Then leave a comment saying so.

BABE Of The DAY - JENNIFER BEALS...

Did you know that JEN's uncle was a coal miner in Britain?  That's when we had a coal industry that is, which we don't anymore.  "But," you cry, "coal was for heating and electricity, etc., and we've still got them, so we must still have a coal industry!"

No, we still have an energy, or power industry, which does essentially the same thing without actually using British coal, so we don't have a home-grown coal industry any longer.  H'mm, seems I've read a similar 'discussion' fairly recently.  Now if only I could recall where.  Any ideas anybody?

Cheer up, Jen - we'll get around to ogling you in a moment.  Honest.

******

(And no, I don't have the faintest clue what Jennifer's uncle did for a living.)

TROTTERS' INDEPENDENT TRADING 'INDUSTRY'...

To my great amusement, I'm advised that, over on some blog, a self-confessed 'wannabe writer' is still trying to talk up a British comics industry that no longer exists (by misrepresenting the views of those who are of a different opinion), and making specious comparisons to the music, movie and TV industries that yet retain a significant presence in this country.

As I've previously gone to great pains to explain, when I say 'comics industry', I'm referring to published paper periodicals (of either weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or even yearly frequency) containing mainly comic strips, as the word was defined and accepted for decades in the minds of the general public, and as yet defined on Wikipedia and in most dictionaries.  If he could only grasp the difference between the carton and the content, he'd be a less angst-ridden little malcontent.

Books, DVDs, digital platforms, etc., containing comic strip content, are not 'comics' in the traditional sense of the word, but a different (though admittedly related) animal.  When something 'evolves' into something different, it ceases to be that which it was before.  And, when it 'evolves' into something less than it was before, then it's no improvement.  If a giant evolves into a dwarf, he's not a giant anymore, is he?

Anyway, there's no point covering every aspect of this discussion again, as it's practically been done to death.  Here's one important aspect to consider though.  See these self-published and/or digital products that some people tout as proof of today's 'evolved' comics 'industry' ?  Were there really an industry (as I understand the concept), they wouldn't exist, because there'd be little need to go down that particular route.  The existence of such things only serves to prove just what dire straits the so-called industry is really in.

The main difference is, I suppose, that these people view any and all comic strip material as being 'comics' in themselves, and they're entitled to that view.  I, however, see comic strip material as something within a comic (a published paper periodical), and though the word has been and is sometimes used interchangeably, I prefer to draw (npi) a distinction between the carton and the content.  (Like we used to do.)

Anyway, who can blame that other blogger for leaping on the bouncing bandwagon in a new attempt to stir up controversy, thereby attracting attention to his site?  If only he'd avoid being so embarrassingly ingratiating to those whom he thinks might be able to help 'grease the wheels' of his hoped-for comics career in the process, we'd be spared having to witness the sad spectacle of a sickening bit of 'brown-nosing'.  

The INVINCIBLE GENE COLAN...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's a great book I acquired only recently.  It's a great book that really should have been even greater, but I'll get to that presently.  If you're a genuine comics fan, you'll know of GENE COLAN.  Gene was a master of light and shade, and one of the finest contributors ever to freelance for Mighty MARVEL.  IRON MAN, SUB-MARINER, DAREDEVIL, HOWARD The DUCK, and DRACULA are just a few of the titles he drew for 'The House Of Ideas' in the '60s & '70s.

There are some great images in this 132 pager, but, alas, also some not-so-great ones.  It's always somewhat disappointing to read what a sublime artist someone is, and then see art which doesn't quite bear that out.  Case in point is the example below.  Nice pencil work, superb texturing, but that apart, it's a dreadful drawing.  The figure is too squat, the head's too big, the body's too small, and the legs aren't right in any way.  And the fact that ol' DOOM's left arm appears to be sprouting from the middle of his torso all result in a less than perfect illustration.  (And the right arm is seriously dodgy as well.  Where exactly does the elbow bend?)

For all the excellent examples of Gene's artistic ability, there's a few I wish they'd just left out, because they don't do his reputation any favours at all.  It's not the first time I've found myself wishing that compilers of books like this had been just a little more discerning in their choices, and, unfortunately, this is another such occasion.  It also suffers from several areas of over-printing, where one caption has been printed on top of another, resulting in something that's practically unreadable.  Don't they have proofreaders any more?

However, it would be remiss of me not to put things in context by mentioning that Gene suffered from glaucoma for many years (being almost blind in one eye and having tunnel vision in the other), and had to draw with his face practically pressed up against the page.  This no doubt explains the instances when his art wasn't at its best, and makes it all the more amazing when it was.  So despite its few shortcomings, this tome should be a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any devoted fan of 'The Dean'.  Published in 2010, it may yet be available.  Try your local comicbook store right away.

BABE Of The DAY - ELKE SOMMER...

ELKE SOMMER whirls in surprise as I

sneak up on her with a box of MILK TRAY.

She's even more surprised when she discovers

that I've scoffed most of them and there's only

two left.  She's surprised even further when I

eat 'em.  Ach, she can bloody well buy her

own box of chocolates, the cadgin' bint.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS: The AVENGERS KING-SIZE SPECIAL #3...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Big JOHN BUSCEMA demonstrates why he was JACK KIRBY'S natural successor with this simple-but-effective cover from The AVENGERS KING-SIZE SPECIAL #3.  This one's an absolute belter in my view - how about you?

BABE Of The DAY - COTE DE PABLO...

COTE DE PABLO leans on the rails,

wondering where I've got to on our date to

the cinema.  I told her I was going to get her

a choc ice, then nipped out for a fish supper

for myself.  That was well-over three hours ago,

but it wasn't my fault as there was a really long

queue at the chip shop.  Do you think she'll

 be angry with me?  Women - huh!

CRIVEN'S CLASSIC COMIC COVERS: FANTASTIC #51...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

I recall lying on the living-room carpet scrutinising this cover back in 1968, and that's where I find myself in memory whenever I look at it today.  Many years later I acquired the original U.S. issue of JOURNEY Into MYSTERY (#119) it first adorned, but somehow that comic mag doesn't have quite the same nostalgic appeal as the one above, probably because this is the ish I associate with my childhood.

This was quite a momentous number of FANTASTIC, as it was the last one in which JOHNNY FUTURE appeared.  The very next week, TERRIFIC was merged into Fantastic, so this was also the last edition to feature the comic's name on its own.

RIDICULOUS REPOST: TWO 'KIDS' ARE BETTER THAN ONE...

You're looking at a screen-grab from a video I made in 1991 of a house I once lived in nearly 20 years before.  Helping me that day was my identical twin brother, GEORGE, who, thanks to my mum, dressed exactly the same as me from a young age.  "You're identical twins - so you should dress identical!" she'd say, with less than perfect grammar.  (That's me at the front, incidentally.)

It came in handy whenever we got up to individual mischief as teenagers, because the police could never charge either of us as they simply didn't know which one was the culprit.  Ah, what fun!  I remember once challenging six guys to a fight - then running 'round the corner of the lockups (where George was waiting) when three of them chased me.  Me and my brother then set about them, and they staggered back to their pals, saying "It's an ambush - there's two of them!" 

Of course, the above is all a total figment of my imagination (apart from making a video of my old house), invented purely for the purpose of seeing how much nonsense I can write and hopefully provide a chuckle for you in the process.  Next time, I'll relate how I single-handedly saved the world from the threat of destruction by a megalomaniac bent on global domination - and let my best pal JAMES BOND take all the credit.

Hey!  Where'd everybody go?

******

(Okay, so I lied about the twin.  Would you believe he's my Life Model Decoy?)

BABE Of The DAY - SAMANTHA FOX...

That's the problem with wearing contact lenses

I'm told; there's always one popping out onto the floor,

meaning you have to scrabble about in a half-blind state,

feeling for it on the carpet.  That's what SAMANTHA

FOX is doing.  Should I just 'fess up and tell her I'm

 standing on it?  (Nah, I'm enjoying the view.)

WAYFINDERS MOONSHOT SHOES...

Copyright relevant owner

Okay, hands up if you ever had a pair of WAYFINDERS MOONSHOT shoes back in the late '60s or early '70s.  I did, and it's amazing just how excited one can get over seeing one's footprints in the mud.  If anything, kids walked in mud more often, just to see the imprint of their shoes in it.  The good things about these shoes (apart from the undersides) were the free LETRASET transfers and the lunar space capsule with a magnet on the back, enabling you to make it glide above the moon's surface on a backdrop printed inside the box.  I wish they still made these shoes today, 'cos I for one would definitely buy a pair.

Do you remember these shoes, readers?  If so, reminisce away to your hearts' content in our scintillating comments section.

ANOTHER BABE Of The DAY - IMOGEN HASSALL...

Lovely IMOGEN HASSALL has

invited me to sit beside her, but there's

only one chair.  What can she be thinking?

I think I know.  She's seen the bag of Jelly

Babies poking out of my pocket and wants

me to give her one.  Huh!  As if I'd give just

any woman a baby.  Er, hold on, that's not

quite what I meant, so any innuendo you

 think you see is your own, okay?

The SILVER SURFER GRAPHIC NOVEL By STAN LEE & JOHN BUSCEMA...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS.  Cover art by JOE JUSKO

As all true Marvelites will know, The SILVER SURFER had his own mag in the late 1960s which ran for 18 issues, the first 17 being illustrated by Big JOHN BUSCEMA.  However, there's a 'sort of' 18th ish he got to do (with STAN LEE), in the form of the 1988 hardback graphic novel, which had one large panel per page.  As you'd expect from Big John, he delivered a superbly-drawn adventure, and this is one book that should be on the shelves of every dyed-in-the-wool Silver Surfer fan.

When JACK KIRBY first introduced NORRIN RADD into the pages of The FANTASTIC FOUR, he imbued him with a strange, other-worldly quality that suited the character to a 't'.  He drew him in a fluid way, that captured perfectly the manner in which surfers 'bob and weave' on the waves.  Within a very short time though, Jack's figurework had become much more blocky and static (maybe because of a reduction in size of the artboards he drew on), which is probably why Stan decided to give the Surfer's regular mag to Buscema.

One only has to look at the 18th and final issue of the Surfer's own mag (which Jack illustrated) to see the wisdom of Stan's decision.  In contrast to Jack's Surfer, John's version is lithe, fluid, and flexible, and has an innate nobility that was no longer evident in Jack's rendition of the silvery one.  You might disagree with my assessment, but I have persuasive proof of it.  What's that you say?  Show you?  Okay then, I will.  I now  present the following exhibits for your consideration.

BABE Of The DAY - DALIAH LAVI...

So there I was at the dancing with

DALIAH LAVI, when she tries to make

me jealous by chatting up another bloke.  I

wasn't bothered, 'cos I was busy snogging

SALMA HAYEK.  (Honest!  Why does

nobody ever believe me?)

1971 ROYAL MINT DECIMAL PROOF SET...

There's a little toning on some of the coins in this 1971 Proof Set, but that's to be expected with coins of this age, even those enclosed in plastic display cases. Examples of a few of these coins were first released in the late 1960s, which is strange to consider now, because, in my mind, £sd coinage belong in the '60s and decimal ones in the '70s.  The fact that both sets of currency overlapped (and in the case of the £sd equivalents of decimal coins, for many years afterwards) is something we of a certain age tend to forget now.

BOB IS BRITISH - AND PROUD OF IT...

The shilling, also called the 'bob' still exists in its decimal equivalent today - namely, the 5 pence piece.  This set by COINCRAFT displays six incarnations of the British 'bob' down through the decades.  These half-dozen coins add up to only 30 pence in decimal money, or 72 pennies in £sd.  (Sounds better, doesn't it?)

(In the above scan, some of the coins seem a little 'toned', but that's not how they look 'in the flesh'.  As you can see from their reverse sides below.)

BABE Of The DAY - DALIAH LAVI...

DALIAH LAVI cracks a smile on seeing

me prancing about in my big underpants.  Hey,

don't laugh - not everyone wears big underpants

because they've got a big bum.  I wear them for an

altogether different reason.  (Yup, you guessed

it - I'm wearing them over my head.)

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS: SILVER SURFER #1 (ONE-SHOT)...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

Ah, the memories associated with this impressive comic cover come flooding back to me on sight of it.  I actually purchased two copies (still got them) from, I think, the VIRGIN MEGASTORE in Glasgow.  Then I bought two JIM REEVES LPs from the HMV store just along from it.  (Or maybe I got them in the reverse order to how I've just described.)  Then I leapt on the train home, examining my new acquisitions all the way.  I still have one of the Jim Reeves LPs, the other I later gave to a record shop as I already had the U.K. version, having bought the second copy simply because it was the U.S. release and had a different sleeve.

Y'know, it really only seems like a very short time ago rather than the 35 years it actually is.  I find it hard to get my head around that sometimes.  Anyway, I know none of you are bothered with all that, but what memories, if any, does this cosmic cover conjure up in your mind when you look at it?  Relive them in our comments section and compare notes with your Criv-ite chums.

REMINISCING REPOST: 'HULLORERR CHINAS' - THE DAY I MET THE LEGENDARY RIKKI FULTON...

U.S. filmgoers may recall him in supporting roles as sinister KGB officer MAJOR PRIBLUDA in GORKY PARK and Dr. GEDDES in LOCAL HERO, but to Scottish audiences, RIKKI FULTON was a genuine comedy and acting legend.  Not only in his own right, but also alongside another giant of TV and theatre, JACK MILROY, in their iconic alter-egos of FRANCIE & JOSIE, the work-shy Glasgow layabouts.

Back in the merry month of May, 1982, I had the good fortune and great privilege of meeting Mr. Rikki Fulton in JOHN MENZIES (when said establishment was situated near the bottom of Glasgow's Buchanan Street, across from FRASER'S), and, for all those interested in learning how your humble host managed to rub shoulders with the great man himself, I shall now recount exactly what transpired.

I'd just stepped out of the lift on the ground floor, having been in the record & book departments on the first, when I spied a familiar figure leaning on the counter at the stationery section.  "Rikki Fulton!" I gasped (more to myself than anyone else) in sheer disbelief at seeing a principal member of showbiz royalty mingling with mere mortals.  (I was only 23 at the time, so can surely be forgiven my youthful exuberance.)  Rikki Fulton, whom I'd seen in The FRANCIE & JOSIE Show on TV back in the 1960s, right in front of me - in the actual, living, breathing, pulsing flesh.  I'd thought such figures used servants or emissaries for menial tasks like shopping, but apparently not. 

He appeared to be writing something and, thinking he was signing an autograph, I approached (having calmed down a tad) and meekly asked if I, too, could have his autograph.  "As long as it's not on one of these!" he said without missing a beat, smiling and indicating the cheque to which he was applying his name. Clearly my cue to laugh at his witty and apropos remark, but I was still too stunned at seeing him in person to respond with appropriate appreciation for his quick-thinking, ad-libbed riposte, so merely stood there like a fart in a trance.

I got a scrap of paper from the girl serving him and, smiling in the most friendly manner, Rikki asked my name.  "Gordon" I managed to stammer.  I'd regained my composure somewhat by the time he handed me the note inscribed "For Gordon, Rikki Fulton", so I thanked him then said: "Sorry to have bothered you".  "Absolutely no bother at all" was his warm and genuine response before moving toward the exit.  No minders, no entourage - just an ordinary, everyday guy out shopping.  Of course, in truth there was nothing ordinary or everyday about him - the man was a showbiz titan and comedy genius.

I still have that little piece of paper, tucked safely into the protective clear sleeve of my FRANCIE & JOSIE vinyl LP by GOLDEN GUINEA. (Yet available on CD on ELM Records - CDELM4123.)  And whenever I recall that moment, a warm glow comes over me at the thought of it.  Rikki Fulton was the epitome of the perfect gentleman; kind and gracious to a stumbling, bumbling, starstruck fan and treating me as though I were doing him a favour.  I'll tell you, a lot of so-called celebrities in any sphere you care to mention could learn something about how to behave to the public from the legend that was - that is - Rikki Fulton.

BABE Of The DAY - DALIAH LAVI...

"Jump right in, the water's lovely!"

says sultry and sensational DALIAH

LAVI.  "The water's not quite what I'm

looking at," quips I, "but I aim to make

 a splash!"  (Oh, I'm so bad, Crivs.)

A HAPPY EASTER TO ALL CRIV-ITES...

From the pages of BUSTER & JET, cover-dated April 21st

1973, comes KEN REID's longest-running weekly strip (16 years),

the boy with a 100 (later 1,000) faces - FACEACHE!  As today is

Easter Sunday, I thought I'd give you a strip about Easter -

can't say I haven't got my finger on the pulse, eh?  Enjoy.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS: MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #7...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

GHOST RIDER - MIKE PLOOG - a real comic.  What's not to like?  I give you - MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #7.  ("Hey, stop shining it in my face, why don'tcha?!")  Now that's what I call a cool-looking cover!  I bet he's glad he traded in his horse.  (Yeah, yeah, relax - I know he's a different GR.  Incidentally, excellent choice of initials for a hero, I'm bound to say.)

KULL The KING - By JOHN SEVERIN...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CPI

JOHN SEVERIN was one hell of an artist. I wish I had more examples of his published comics work as it was just a sheer joy to behold.  Here's a piccie of KING KULL he drew, I imagine back in the '70s, but I could be wrong.  Look at that lush pen & brush (?) work - it just doesn't get any better than that, amigos.