BABE Of The DAY - MICHELLE KEEGAN...

You'll never know just how difficult it

was to squeeze myself into this bear suit, but

it was worth it to be kissed by the magnificent

MICHELLE KEEGAN.  Oh yeah!

CRIVENS' CRACKING COMIC COVERS: FANTASTIC #64...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

I may have the original MARVEL mag featuring this cover (too lazy to check), but as I first encountered this tale in FANTASTIC #64, that's the cover you're getting, Criv-ite chums.  May 1968, eh?  It only seems like a few weeks ago to me at the most.  Time flies when you're having fun.  (Or thrown the clock out the window.)

SECRET ORIGINS COVER & IMAGE GALLERY PART FIVE...

Copyright DC COMICS

Wow!  It's been a whole five months since the previous post in this series.  Just where does the time go?  Anyway, here we are with numbers 13 & 14 of SECRET ORIGINS from too many years ago, leaving 'only' 36 issues still to go.

To be honest, a lot of the art in these stories is somewhat bland, and it gives me a renewed appreciation for just what a talented visual storyteller JACK KIRBY was in his prime.  The artwork in this series of mags is always professional, but rarely rises above a competent level and is, for the most part, uninspired and nothing to shout about.

However, I've started so I'll finish - just so long as you Criv-ites want me to continue. Do you remember any of these comics from back in the day?  If so, then feel free to share any reminiscences about them in our ever-lovin' (but recently neglected) comments section.

HER MAJESTY'S SECRET DIAMONDS (OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT)...

The tapes were second-hand when I bought them in '81.
(Or 'pre-played' as they'd be described nowadays)

It was 1981 and I was living down in Southsea.  One day, me and a friend decided to take a leisurely stroll into Fratton, and while we were in a record store, I purchased two JAMES BOND 007 soundtrack cassettes - ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER.  Curiously, the tracks on the latter tape were not in the same order as listed on the index card, but I put it down to an error and learned to live with it.

11 and a half years later (which was a significant proportion of my life back then), in '93, HMV opened a record shop in my local shopping centre, and I bought two CDs, the same soundtracks mentioned in the previous paragraph.  Back home later that night, I covered the openings on the top of the DAF tape, and recorded the tracks in the correct listed order from the CD.  It's strange just what a sense of accomplishment I felt doing this, as if I were putting right some great injustice of many years standing.

It may have taken me nearly a third of my life to get to hear the tracks on that tape in the right running order, but it was worth it.  Although I didn't really need to play the tape because I had the CD, I made a point of doing so anyway, just so my effort wasn't wasted.  Still got those two tapes, and whenever I look at them, I'm back in that record shop in Fratton (JACK's, I think it was called) and I'm a young man in my early 20s again.

If only it could always be so.

CRIVENS' CRACKING COMIC (ANNUAL) COVERS: FIREBALL XL5...

Copyright relevant owner

Here's an absolute belter for you, Crivvies!  Mighty MIKE NOBLE's fantastic cover to the final FIREBALL XL5 Annual of the 1960s.  As Mike was considered the XL5 artist from his strips in TV CENTURY 21, it was only fitting that the series of four books bowed out with his drawing adorning the cover.  It'd make a great pin-up.  Clickety-click.

BABE Of The DAY - BECKY RULE...

There's only one rule you

have to observe when the beautiful

BECKY RULE is about - and that's

 to be grateful for her presence.

NO PRICKLY ISSUE For BLONDIE And BEST PAL SMITH...

Saw this in yesterday's DAILY EXPRESS, thought you might enjoy seeing it too. (I'm so considerate.)  Click to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.

******

This adorable image shows an ultra-rare blond hedgehog rescued by an animal hospital.

Blond, or leucistic hedgehogs, have a partial loss of pigmentation which results in pale colouration of everything other than the eyes.

This particularly cute example, aptly named Blondie, was brought into Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, late last year after wandering around during the daytime suffering from malnutrition.

Blondie had been born in August and should have weighed 600g but was only a quarter of the size at 165g.

The tiny mammal was rehydrated and given antibiotics by the centre's nurses.

Soon after arriving at Tiggywinkles, Blondie befriended a hog named Smith and has gone from strength to strength and is now fighting fit.

Despite the clean bill of health, Blondie has a weak immune system and will never be released into the wild.  The unusual colour would also be an invitation to predators.

Sharon Jacobs, a nurse at Tiggywinkles, said:  "Blondie was very underweight when we got him and not at all in a good state.

"Had he been in the wild for much longer there's no way he would have survived.

"Soon after arriving here he made a friend and things started to really look up - his health rapidly improved.

"We separated Blondie and Smith when they reached 400g, as you're supposed to do, but Blondie didn't like that one bit so we put them back together."

By John Ingham. 

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.)