THE SAINT'S VOLVO 1800...

It's worth watching this car chase just to see

shots of the streets of London in the '60s.  The

VOLVO 1800 was a cool car - and no ejector

  seat or bulletproof shield in sight.  

BABE Of The DAY - JORDAN CARVER...

Just off to my local library to use

their photocopier.  It's only an excuse

to chat up JORDAN CARVER, who's

working there during the summer.  You

don't believe me?  Here's the proof -

and photographs don't lie.

RECOMMENDED READING: AURORA MODEL KITS...

Copyright relevant owner

Here's a great book which all fans of AURORA models will enjoy.  As usual, my inherent laziness prevents me from giving you a detailed review of the contents, but as all the info you need is on the accompanying covers, I'll let the official spiel speak for itself.  It's available from all good comics and book shops - snap one up today!

DIAMONDS IN THE SAND...

JIM REEVES and The BLUE BOYS

in the movie, KIMBERLEY JIM.  Look out

for the young ROBIN WILLIAMS lookalike

 in the crowd a few seconds in.

LIVE & LET DIE TV TEASER...

I AM A ROCK (I AM AN ISLAND)...

BABE Of The DAY - DALIAH LAVI...

DALIAH LAVI passed away

last month, aged only 74.  She won't

 be forgotten on this blog though.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #129...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

This issue was the first appearance of The PUNISHER and The JACKAL, so is regarded as a real collectors' item and worth a few shillings.  Thought you might like to see the cover, so here it is.  FRANK CASTLE's legs don't look quite right to me, particularly the left one, so I'd have had them redrawn.  That apart, it's an effective image.  Like it?

BABE Of The DAY - AMANDA HOLDEN...

I'm told AMANDA HOLDEN has

nice eyes.  I'll know for sure when I get

 to her face, but that may take a while.

WHAT DOES SILENCE SOUND LIKE...?

BABE Of The DAY - SAMANTHA FOX...

"For Fox sake!" you might say in

the case of today's 'babe', none other

than Page 3 sensation SAMANTHA

FOX.  (Aw, c'mon - that intro surely

deserves a round of applause!)

SCHOOLTIME SCANDALS - PART FIFTEEN: The LITTLE DRUMMOND BOY...

Me and David in primary school in 1967, though the
following tale happened in secondary circa '72/'73

It was in one of the annexed huts at the far end of the school one day that the following event occurred.  The subject was music and this particular hut was used as the 'music hut' on a permanent basis.  As we took our seats, the teacher decided to 'take' the register, and began calling out each pupil's name and ticking them off in turn upon receipt of a "here" in response to the announced appellation.

Jimmy Riddle - "here".  Billy Bigballs - "here".  Johnny Jumpstart - "here".  And so it went, until she got to DAVID DRUMMOND's name.  Now, I should mention that David was a quiet, studious boy, who never got into any kind of trouble as far as I was aware.  The teacher must have known this, so her reaction to what happened next was completely unjustified in regard to poor Davey.

When she called his name - David Drummond - David replied "here", but he wasn't the only pupil to do so.  As his "here" ended, suddenly another one sounded from somewhere in the room - "here" - and then another - and another - until it was echoing all around the class.  It went like this - David Drummond - "here", "here", "here", "here", "here", "here" - about a dozen or more times from various points of the room in a 'living stereo surround-sound' effect that was truly impressive.

Teacher was incandescent with rage.  "Drummond - you're the ringleader - get out here now!"  Bewildered, Davey trudged out to her desk, whereupon, if I recall correctly, she belted him with the tawse and sent him back to his seat in abject shame for something he hadn't done. Naturally, we felt bad for him - his fate was utterly undeserved - but it'd been funny to hear the word "here" bounce around the room and to see the teacher take an apoplectic fit over it, even if she had belted an innocent boy.

I thought the result of each individual "here" in close succession to one another sounded extremely musical - very King's Singers in effect, so I'm not sure why Teacher reacted in the way she did.  You'd think she'd have been proud of our daring initiative in forming a class 'band' - even if it was only for a short, one-off performance.

Teachers, eh?!  I just hope David can look back and laugh about it now.  It was a classic moment that deserves to be remembered, though I guess you had to actually be there to appreciate it in the same way that I do.  (Which I probably wouldn't had I been the one belted.) 

SECRET AGENT MAN...?

One of the criticisms made about JAMES BOND is that he's a cr*p secret agent because he can walk into any bar in the world and the barman will say "Hello, Mr. Bond - vodka martini, shaken, not stirred - coming right up!"  Someone so well-known could never be an effective secret agent runs the cry, so 007 is obviously rubbish at being one.  However, those who say this haven't really thought things through.  Here's why.

James Bond's cover story is that he's a sales rep for UNIVERSAL EXPORT(S) (later TRANSWORLD CONSORTIUM in the novels) and it's therefore perfectly legitimate that, in that role, he'd regularly travel the world and be known in various hotels and bars in different countries.  So next time you hear someone say Bond is a lousy secret agent because he's too well-known, point out to them that it ain't necessarily so.

MEMORIES ARE FOREVER (SOMETIMES)...

Copyright relevant owner

Once upon a time (no, this isn't a fairy tale), I could tell you exactly which shop I'd bought any comic, toy, or book from, but as I get older, I sometimes find myself struggling to remember whether some items were purchased in this shop or that shop, or just what the hell shop was it again?  This can be caused by the similarity of the layouts of certain newsagents in my youth, causing me in later years to be unsure which one it was.  Why I'd completely forget in some cases is harder to explain, but perhaps it's just the onset of old age.

However, there's not the slightest bit of uncertainty in the case of this book, the PAN paperback of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, which I got from R. S. McCOLL's in the shopping centre of my home town.  This would've been either 1973 or '74 (once, I could have told you the precise year, but that bit of info is yet another victim to the passing of the years), and there it was, staring at me from the paperback spinner-rack next to the one sporting the comics.  It hadn't been too long since I'd seen the movie in my local cinema, so I immediately grabbed it and ran out of the shop (only kidding) up to the counter and paid for it.  I just loved the cover so had to have it.

Anyway, just received the replacement you see before you this very morning (only 43 or 44 years after buying the first one I owned), so thought I'd share it with you here.  I haven't read the book again in all that time, so might re-read it before very long.  One look at the front and back covers places me back in that long-vanished R. S. McColl's and I feel as if I'm a teenager again.  Some memories are forever!

BABE Of The DAY - SALMA HAYEK...

SALMA's ever so slightly startled,

'cos she thought there was a chair under

her when she sat down.  Actually, there

was, but I whipped it away at the last

 moment.  What am I like?

NEW GODS DON'T STAY NEW (OR GODS) FOREVER...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The word 'genius' is oft bandied around far too freely these days.  Perhaps it's always been the case.  I've seen JACK KIRBY described as a genius, but, much as I love what he did when he was good at what he did (which, let's face it, he wasn't in his later years), I don't think he can rightly be called a genius, according to the true and wider definition of the word.

Why do I say that?  Well, few things are created in a vacuum, they're normally developments of what has gone before, and that was true of Jack.  He didn't create the medium of comicbooks, and his stories were almost always based on what he'd read in pulp novels, science-fiction magazines, science journals, or seen in movies and on TV.  MARK EVANIER revealed that Jack referred to a book on Norse mythology when plotting his TALES Of ASGARD back-up stories in THOR.

Do you remember the series of FANTASTIC FOUR issues where The THING is held hostage by The SKRULLS on a planet modelled on 1920s America?  'Tis said it was inspired by episodes of TV's STAR TREK.  Do you recall the FF saga where the fab foursome find themselves 'guests' in LATVERIA?  Inspired by The PRISONER TV show.  Sure, Jack put his own spin on them, but they were derivative, not wholly original.  They were, however, immensely entertaining, so hats off to him.

Sadly, Jack's artistic abilities deserted him in the latter part of his career.  HUNGER DOGS, it must be admitted, was a mess, looking like it had been drawn (badly) by a 13 year old kid trying (and failing) to imitate the style of Jack Kirby.  Whenever I look at it, I'm saddened to see the decline of a once-excellent artist who'd known how to lay out a story in a way that few other comic artists could emulate.

Genius?  No, but certainly a legend, and rightly so.  As I've said before, when Jack was at the top of his game, there was no one who could match him artwise, especially when he was paired with an inker who enhanced his strengths and diluted his weaknesses.  But even giants wither and shrink, and, sadly, Jack was no exception to the effects of time on his titanic talent.  Titanic being the operative word, as, just like the famous liner, it eventually sank from sight.

However, in this, the 100th year of Jack's birth, it's better not to dwell on the negative.  Instead, let's take a look at some FF covers and splash pages from a time when Kirby was still regarded as 'King'.  True, the crown had begun to slip a little, but it would be several more years before it fell off completely.  As someone once said in a movie:  "Such, my friend, is life!"

  

BLUE PETER'S JOHN NOAKES PASSES AWAY... (Updated)

To children in the '60s and '70s, JOHN NOAKES was a sort of big brother figure on the BBC's BLUE PETER children's magazine show, so it's sad to learn he's passed away at the age of 83.  If you're around my age, then there goes another part of all our yesterdays.  "Get down, Shep!" was never intended to be a catchphrase, but that's what it became.  I doubt that anyone can think of Noaksie without simultaneously hearing that line in their head.

Another childhood legend gone, alas.  Condolences to all his family and friends at this sad time.

******

And below is John in action in 1977.  What amazes me is I was a working 'adult' when this was first broadcast, yet I tend to associate it more with my childhood or early teenage years.

BABE Of The DAY - BECKY RULE...

Now this is the kind of face any fella

would love to wake up to every morning.

Let's face it though - the only real chance of

that happening for most of us would be a photo

of BECKY RULE's gorgeous visage taped to

the ceiling.  (I've got a better chance than you

lot 'cos I'm handsome and charming - and

very modest too, obviously.)

PULSATING PIN-UPS: SUPERMAN, LOIS LANE & JIMMY OLSEN...

Image copyright DC COMICS

Here's a great picture of SUPERMAN, his best pal, and his burd, pencilled by JACK KIRBY and inked by MIKE ROYER.  It's a belter!  As to why Supes has a double parting, that's because Jack drew it on one side and Mike inked it on the other, where it's meant to be. Presumably, he forgot not to ink it on the side Jack had placed it, but hey - two partings are probably better than one - especially when you're from KRYPTON.

BABE Of The DAY - IMOGEN HASSALL...

Here's the stunning British actress

IMOGEN HASSALL... holding my staff -

er, my pole - er, my rod - er, I mean my stick.

Heck, why does everything I say sound like a

double entendre?  (And here's me, as pure-

 minded as a new-born bouncin' baby!)

Hey, DON'T BE FLY, MAN! (WINNER Of The MOST CONTRIVED BLOG TITLE Of The MONTH AWARD)...

Images copyright relevant owner

An acquaintance recently gave me these two RED CIRCLE COMICS issues of The FLY (#s 1 & 2), which have nifty front covers drawn by JIM STERANKO, so I thought I'd show them off here.  The two back covers are by RICH BUCKLER and RUDY NEBRES respectively.  Don't they look nice?  If the rumours are true, The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN was based on The Fly, so without the first, we may not have had the second.

Another BABE Of The DAY - NATALIE DORMER...

"Look into my eyes... you are feeling

very sleepy!" says NATALIE DORMER,

gazing deep into my baby blues.  (Hah, the

things some women will do to try and lure

me into bed!  She should just try asking -

 who's ever going to say no to her?!) 

TOYBOX TREASURES Of The PAST: BATMAN MASK SPECS...

BATMAN & ROBIN copyright DC COMICS

A tenuous connection to BATMAN to be sure - and can they accurately be called specs when they have no glass to enable the wearer to see?  Ah, but what about X-Ray Specs you ask - they had no glass either.  True, but they did enable the wearer to 'see' things differently, and at least they looked like specs.  Anyway, I'm sure I had a pair of the above 'specs' when I was a kid.  Did any of the rest of you?  Do tell in the CS.

RECOMMENDED READING: HERO-A-GO-GO! (YUP, THAT'S WHAT IT'S CALLED)...

Images copyright respective owners

If you're a child of the '60s (otherwise known today as decrepit old fart), then you'll probably love MICHAEL EURY's new softcover book (from TWOMORROWS Publishing) entitled HERO-A-GO-GO!  Sadly, I can't open it wide enough to scan without risk of damaging its spine, so you'll have to glean what it's all about from the back cover spiel.  Available now from all good comics shops.  Treat yourself and buy your copy of this titanic tome today.

BABE Of The DAY - BECKY RULE...

Beautiful BECKY RULE enjoyed

being our babe of the day so much, she

requested yet another appearance.  That's

three in a row, but are we complaining? 

Don't be daft - we're not mental!