CHRISTMAS IS A COMIN'...

Single frame from WINKER WATSON - The DANDY Annual 2004

Received a Christmas card from comics legend TERRY BAVE and his wife SHIELA this morning.  It's great to be so honoured by someone whose work I was reading and enjoying as a kid, from the glory days of WHAM!, SMASH!, WHIZZER & CHIPS, COR!!, KNOCKOUT, SHIVER & SHAKE, MONSTER FUN, and many more comic publications.  It was a thrill when I got to letter some of Terry's pages back in my freelancing days - and it's still a thrill when I think about it today.  Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year (when it comes) to two sterling stalwarts of some of Britain's finest comic periodicals.

FACEACHE VOLUME ONE...

Images copyright REBELLION

I already have every FACEACHE strip by KEN REID ever published (plus a copy of the strip he was working on at the time of his death), but it's still good to see this new volume from REBELLION, reprinting the first hundred pages of RICKY RUBBERNECK from JET and the combined BUSTER & JET, when the former was merged with the latter after only 22 issues.  Looking for the ideal Christmas gift for that someone you love?  (In my case, that's me!)  Then rush out and buy a copy of this tasty volume today.

KLASSIC KIRBY KOMIC KOVERS...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Take a look at these these two beauties, frantic 'King' KIRBY fans.  Originally splash pages, they've been pressed into service as alternate covers on recent issues of The HULK and SILVER SURFER.  Did you miss 'em?  If so, it's a good thing you've got enough good taste to visit this 'ere blog then, ain't it?  Otherwise you'd have had to do without seeing them, thereby impoverishing the quality of your life as far as your comicbook experiences go.  Hell, no - don't thank me - I live to share!  (But buy your own copies.)

THE DANDY'S 80TH ANNIVERSARY... (Updated)

Images copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

The DANDY first appeared 80 years ago in 1937 and ended its run 5 years ago in 2012.  There's no arguing with the fact that a 75 year life-span is a great achievement for a comic, but why did it die?  Forget what you read elsewhere from people determined to rewrite history - The Dandy finally came to an end because it eventually failed to appeal to a large enough readership to sustain itself.  Simple as that.  But there's more to the story.

Immediately after its 2010 relaunch, it actually increased its circulation for a short time before dissatisfied readers simply lost interest and stopped buying, leaving newsagents with no option but to reduce their orders accordingly.  Sales had been in general decline for years, but what killed the comic at that specific point in time was that it failed to deliver the goods.  A few exceptions aside, bad artwork and poor stories meant that readers old and new abandoned the comic in droves.  You can dismiss talk about all those who enjoyed the new Dandy as proof that it was great.  Remember, they were in the minority - the majority voted with their feet (and their wallets) and walked away.

Yet still a few deluded former contributors persist in trying to perpetuate the myth that the relaunched Dandy was absolutely brilliant in every way and deserved to succeed, and that other factors were mainly responsible for the comic's cancellation.  (Being hard to find on the shelves apparently.  Well, not in any WHS I was ever in.)  The facts speak for themselves.  The 'great save' designed to rescue the comic from oblivion failed.  That's the important thing to remember here - the relaunch ultimately proved to be inadequate and completely the wrong direction in which to go.  DCT themselves have never denied that the comic lost around half its readers - only some disgruntled contributors and fans have tried to put a different spin on the facts.

If you're a singer and only manage to sell a fraction of the available tickets  - and then half the audience walks out during the show, to deny that the songs you sing and the way you sing them is more than likely the primary reason for such a sorry situation is totally ludicrous.  Yet that's what the determined apologists for The Dandy's failure claim - it wasn't the content, it was everything else but, they say.

Anyway, you can safely ignore their deluded witterings, secure in the knowledge of the actual facts.  However, let's not dwell on The Dandy's demise - let's take a look at some pages from its very first issue from 80 years ago.  It was yet to achieve the greatness for which it became acclaimed in its heyday, but it's interesting to see it take its first steps on that journey into legend.

YOGI BEAR & THE DALEKS...

My room/study/studio is in some disarray at the moment and I've been picking things up from the floor and placing them on the nearest available space to get them out of the way.  That sometimes leads to some strange and random scenarios, as this completely un-staged scene demonstrates - YOGI BEAR being surrounded by The DALEKS.  (Probably just want his autograph.)  Now that's an episode I'd watch. 

IT'S A DOG'S LIFE...

It was 19 years ago last week that my dog ZARA had to be put to sleep and I'd meant to post a photo in memory of her.  Better late than never they say, so here's a nice pic of her in my front garden, taken in 1987 or '88 when she was still only a young doggie.  Ain't she braw?

BABE Of The DAY - ANNA BOR...

The beautiful ANNA BOR.  That's all

the info you get.  (Her 'phone number would

be nice, but it ain't ever gonna happen.)

JIM'S GOING TO HAVE A BLUE CHRISTMAS...

Say what you like, but Elvis's version of this song is one that makes you want to tap your feet - or even dance to it.  Jim sings the song the way it's meant to be sung - slowly and sincerely.  Give it a listen and see if you don't agree.

DOWN By The RIVERSIDE...

Following on from my recent post about the 1966 BATMOBILE, let's return to the Riverside Museum in Glasgow to take a look at a few more snaps.  First up is my pal, IAIN, posing in a re-creation of an old street.  I'll pretend that you're interested and explain the rest of them as we go along.  (Though be aware that some captions might not reflect reality.)

Iain posting a letter.  (It'll never get there)

The subway - not the eatery

Caught on camera vandalising the carriage

"Hello, sailor - do you come here often?"

"I'm just ignoring you.  Now feck off or I'll tell your missus!"

Drowning his sorrows in the bar

Me - leaning on a lamppost at the corner of the street... 

And just to round things off, below is a couple of random snaps.  Right, that's yer lot.

Remember CHOPPERS?

Is that car taking off?

SPECIAL EDITION Of TV21...

Images copyright relevant owners

Imagine this: It's your birthday, and your other half presents you with her gift - a hideous, hand-knitted multi-coloured monstrosity of a pullover that even NOEL EDMONDS wouldn't be seen dead in.  The sleeves are too long, the trunk too short, and it hangs off you like an unsecured straitjacket that someone's vomited over.  Then she asks "Well, what do you think of it?" while fixing you with that puppy-eyed look of expectation, relying on you to validate her knitting 'skills'.  Not since she asked you "Does my bum look big in this?" have you found yourself in such an awkward spot.  Do you give her an honest assessment of her handiwork, or do you lie through your teeth to spare her feelings and ensure your own peace and quiet?

I now find myself in a similar situation.  I recently acquired the special 'universe edition' of TV21 #243, which was originally produced for inclusion with a Blu-ray boxed set of GERRY ANDERSON puppet shows a few years ago, and which is now available on its lonesome.  The verdict?  Well, while not in the same category as the above-described item of knitwear, I find myself divided in my reaction to it.  How can one be so thrilled and disappointed by something at the same time?  It's a joy to see, to hold, to own, but - compared to TV21 as it was in its heyday, it's hugely disappointing.  The artwork, with the exception of the LADY PENELOPE, THUNDERBIRDS, MARS SPACE PROBE, and (go on, Gordie, force yourself) ZOONY The LAZOON pages, is nowhere in the same league as days gone by, and the shape of some of the speech balloons is dire.  I find myself wondering how they could get it so wrong, while at the same time feeling grateful that they did at at all.

Even GERRY EMBLETON's art on STINGRAY falls far short compared to his work on the strip back in the '60s when he took over from his brother RON.  However, allowances can be made for the fact that he must by now be an old man, so perhaps it's unfair to expect the standard of work he used to deliver.  MARTIN BAINES' art is really nice, though his TB2 shape isn't too accurate, and the difference in size between TB1 & 2 is unclear in one panel, leaving both craft looking more or less equal.  BRIAN WILLIAMSON's art is okay, but doesn't capture the mood of the original AGENT 21 strip.  The FIREBALL XL5 strip, while not bad, cries out for the hand of MIKE NOBLE, and one wonders why he wasn't offered heaven and earth to produce the one page required.  As for MARTIN CATER's and MARTIN ASBURY's art on the ZERO X and CAPTAIN SCARLET pages - leave it out boys, you're 'avin' a larf.  Cater's art is amateurish, while Asbury's betrays his later career as a storyboard artist for movies.  Only the colouring (by 'SPECTRUM') saves it from looking like not much more than a 'rough' layout. 

And yet... and yet... this is a collectors' item and you should grab one while you can.  Despite my reservations with some aspects of the comic, it's still a thrill to see TV21 resurrected for one more issue.  (Though FANDERSON beat them to it in 2010 with their own version of the 'next' ish - see below.)  So ignore my negative reaction to parts of this special edition and order your copy from this link today.  (If only they'd put The DALEKS on the back page, I'd have been a very happy man.)  If you're a fan of the original TV21, then you'll be thrilled to hold this issue in your hands - though I reckon you won't be able to shake off a measure of disappointment at the same time.  Still, don't let it get away.

Already got this comic?  Agree?  Disagree?  Let's read your views in the comments section.  Insults and questioning of my parentage are most welcome.

THE 1966 BATMOBILE IN GLASGOW...

Now that's what I call a car!  Impressive, eh?

A friend and myself had been planning to go and see the 'original' BATMOBILE at Glasgow's Riverside Museum next week, but on a spur-of-the-moment decision we shot in yesterday afternoon to view the classic car from the '60s TV show.  Well, to be more accurate, it was a replica car we saw, but it was still quite impressive, as you can see by the photos.  And yes, that heroic, handsome manly-man in the last photo is none other than yours truly.  Someone give him a TV show - the women of the world deserve it.

(Click on images to enlarge, then click again for optimum size.  The last three only enlarge once.)

Here's my pal, trying to look as if he's leaning on the car

I'm sure I saw the Joker prowling about.  Hope the keys aren't handy

Who wouldn't like this car sitting out in the driveway, eh?

I wonder if the parachutes actually work?

Check out the interior - but what do B & R do when it rains?  (Get wet)

Same again from the driver's side

Oh, look - the Bat-Signal.  That can mean only one thing...

...yup, the Dynamic Duo (or not-so-close facsimiles) are bound to show

Say what you like - I think I cut more of a dash than the above pair

BOYS And THEIR TOYS...

One disadvantage to being an adult collector of childhood toys is that you can't really play with them, you can only look at, handle, and admire them - and perhaps even luxuriate in simply owning the items.  If you attempt to play with them, it's done in an embarrassed, self-conscious, "I'm glad no one's watching" manner that you're almost relieved is over when the toy is carefully returned to its box or space on the shelf.

Y'see, a grown-up switching on his reacquired MARX Bump 'n' Go DALEK is only trying to recall how he felt as a child seeing its flashing light for the first time.  As a kid, he could amuse himself with it for hours; as an adult, a few seconds of watching it bump into the skirting board and change direction is enough for him.  A memory has been reignited, which is the whole reason for now owning the toy.

I've replaced numerous toys over the last 35 years, and I've now had most of them for many more years than the originals.  The majority of kids usually only have any particular toy for a year or two at most, and though it seems in retrospect they owned every toy at the same time for years, the truth is that many were consigned to the dustbin or jumble sales long before their successors ever took a bow.  (True, some kids looked after their toys and stored them in the loft when done with them, but most toy hordes were in a constant state of ebb and flow.)

When THUNDERBIRDS enjoyed a resurgence in the early '90s, I bought some of the toys released at the time.  True, they weren't actually ones I'd owned as a youngster, but it was easy to imagine they were on account of them bearing forms familiar to me from childhood.  I'm staggered to realise I've now had them for a quarter of a century - far longer than any item (with a couple of exceptions) I ever owned in my youth.  Yet it still seems as if I had my childhood toys for far longer than the ones I bought in the '90s.

Anyway, as I said, I find that staggering.  Can anyone out there relate to that?

BABE Of The DAY - GAL GADOT...

It's glamorous, glorious, and

gorgeous GAL GADOT, sword

and shield at the ready, determined

to make me her prisoner.  She doesn't

really need them though, because I'm

already her willing slave - as is every

red-blooded man in the country, if

 not the world!  She's a wonder.

BABE Of The DAY - ANNA BOR...

Here's the sensational ANNA BOR,

gazing at me seductively and trying to lure

me in for a swim.  I won't be having a bath

for quite few months though, so there's no

 way I'm getting wet before then.

PROFESSOR KARAKTAKUS KID...

A dozen or so years ago, I got this photo taken when CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG was in town.  (Unfortunately, TRULY SCRUMPTIOUS was unavailable that day.)  The pic hangs on my wall and allows me to admire that sleek, glorious, thoroughbred - that paragon of perfection - me!  (And the car ain't too bad looking either.)

LIKE STRIPPING? THEN THIS MAY BE THE TALE FOR YOU...

So - what should I write about today?  How about a strip of wood?  Yeah, go on Gordie, let's see you make the topic of a strip of wood seem interesting.  Okay, I'll give it a go.

I first moved into my current house nearly 45 and a half years ago, and the room I'm typing in was once my brother's room.  He got his own flat around 31 years ago, when we were living in another house before moving back to this one.  (Regular readers will know the story by now.)  It's only in the last year or so that I finally got around to decorating this room, a feat which took me almost 29 years to start, and many, many months to almost - but not quite - complete.  (Still to paint the ceiling and doors.)

The strip of wood above the window, the one to which the curtain rail is attached (it'll have a name, but I don't know what it is), always looked a bit rough to me, though as it was mostly hidden by the curtains, didn't bother me too much.  I should perhaps mention at this point that the family who first lived in this house stayed here for around 17 years, having moved in around 1955, before swapping houses with us in 1972.  My brother never decorated his room until about a year before we moved away in 1983, although that wallpaper was removed during our 4 year absence.

However, the original wallpaper - the paper that our first predecessors had applied (presumably in the '50s) - yet remained.  When I finally got around to re-wallpapering, I merely papered over it, as my brother (or to be more precise, one of his friends) had done back in the early '80s.  There was a reason for such apparent laziness in my case, that being that areas of the walls had been re-plastered over parts of the paper when the house was refurbished during our absence.  Had I attempted to remove the original paper, chunks of plaster could've come away with it, so it was far less trouble to merely leave it in place as if it were lining paper.

I was determined to paint that piece of wood above the window though, so set about it with a sandpaper block - only to find that it was covered with wallpaper.  Yes, believe it or not, when the room had been decorated during the era of Elvis, the wallpaper hadn't been cut around that wooden strip, it had merely been pasted over it - but folded and tucked in around its contours.  It was therefore a simple matter for me to remove the wallpaper from the wooden strip, then sandpaper, undercoat, and gloss it.  I removed the curtain rail first of course, then replaced it when the task was done.

So, just think - that strip of wood had been covered with wallpaper since the '50s and had never been painted since council workmen had put the finishing touches to the house before it welcomed its first occupants 62 years ago.  I feel a real sense of accomplishment in being the first tenant to paint that piece of wood in the house's history.  I find that fascinating, so surely it must be at least vaguely interesting to the rest of you?

No?  Well, I did my best.  (Tough crowd.)

THE SUNDAY BABE - ANNA BOR...

It's a cold, dull day outside, so here's

ANNA BOR to warm you up and brighten

your mood.  I'll wager you can feel yourself

(stop it) cheering up already, can't you?!

Then my task here is now done.

"...NOR A LENDER BE..."

You saw the above photo in a recent post, but it's worth showing again because of a rather interesting fact.  See that bottle of COCA COLA on the mantlepiece?  It ain't!  A bottle of COKE that is.  In actual fact it's a radio (which I still have today), bought in my local CO-OP store back in the early '80s.  Looking at it reminds me of an event which took place in the bedsit room above the one in the photo, back in early '85, so in the absence of anything better to write about, I may as well share it with you now.

A woman and her boyfriend took the room above mine for a short time, and one day, while her man was out, she asked me if she could borrow my radio.  Now, to be honest, I don't like lending things, mainly because folk tend not to look after other people's possessions, and what followed is a prime example of this.  I lent her my radio (reluctantly) and she took it upstairs, but a little while later I had occasion to ask her something, so went up to her room and chapped the door.  When I went in, she had the radio resting on top of a calor-gas heater, but it was sitting at the front with almost half of it over the edge of the heater - where it would've caught the rising heat and eventually, being plastic, warped as a result.

Well, I wasn't too pleased, but hiding my annoyance at her stupidity, I moved it into the centre of the heater's top, saying that it would be better there.  I have a vague memory of her saying that she was finished with it anyway and me taking it back downstairs to my room, but possibly I might've gone out for a while first and taken it back when I returned.

However, what a cretin.  It was almost as if she was trying to damage it on purpose, because what sensible person would balance something over the edge of anything, never mind a calor-gas heater?  From that point on, I resolved never to lend anything out again, and with one possible exception, I never did.  That one exception was a book, though it's possible that occurred before the incident with the radio - I'm no longer sure which came first.

On that occasion, a woman I knew asked to borrow a book of mine.  I explained that I'd only let her if she promised to look after it and return it in the same condition.  Yes, of course she would, she was always very careful with things and I could rely on her to handle it with care, she said.  What a fool I was for believing her.  When the book was returned, it was dog-eared, with ring marks from the bottom of a wet cup on the cover, corners folded over to mark her place, the spine was cracked, and it absolutely reeked of cigarette smoke.  If she'd been a guy I'd have punched her lights out!  As is typical of stupid, careless people, she couldn't understand why I was annoyed with her.

Needless to say, nowadays if anyone asks to borrow anything, my answer is a resounding "Feck off!"

Have you ever lent anything out to anyone, only to regret doing so when it was returned?  Tell all in the comments section, frantic ones!

BABE Of The DAY - NICHELLE NICHOLS...

Wish I could think of something apt to say

in regard to beautiful NICHELLE NICHOLS, but 

I'm far too busy swooning.  That's hardly surprising

 - in fact, it's highly logical, Captain.

REMINISCING REPOST: FINE BY THE FIRESIDE...

Calendar illustration for January

And now it's time for a deeply depressing descent into the depths of the doldrums, as I regale you all with yet another anaemic anecdote that's sure to arouse your apathy (if that's not a contradiction in terms) and have you reaching for the Diazepam to dampen your despair at my rambling reminiscences.  (Don't you just love loads of awesome alliteration?  I know I do.)

On my wall hangs a 1985 calendar, which I purchased from a bookshop in Portsmouth back in the month of January or February of that very year.  It's a The Wind In The Willows calendar, featuring the iconic illustrations of Ernest H. Shepard, and for a month or three, it hung above the tiled fireplace of the bedsit room in which I was based at the time, travelling up to London twice a week whilst freelancing for IPC.



The calendar in March 1985

That tiled fireplace was a relic of another era, conjuring up images of the '50s or '60s when such a feature was commonplace in most houses in Britain.  I could just imagine families huddled around the roaring flames, trying to heat their cold bones on dark wintry nights, whilst listening to the radio and supping cups of Bovril or Horlicks.  (Yucchh!)  Not so in my case however; the fireplace was empty, and a sheet of hardboard covered the recess where the grate should've been.

That year ('85), it snowed in Portsmouth.  Nothing more than a light fall covering the streets for two or three days, before turning to slush and then disappearing, but you'd have thought it was a calamity of immense proportions.  "The worst snow we've had since 1963!" was the common cry of complaint from the locals.  I imagined the date to be a rough 'guesstimate', chosen merely because it was the closest approximation anyone could remember.  Imagine my surprise then, when, 20-odd years later, I heard a radio weather forecaster confirm the year of 1963 as indeed one of the worst on record for that particular part of the country - and the rest of Great Britain too, as it happens.  (And what's more, I actually remember it.)

A scan of the calendar today

All I can say is that we Scots must be a hardy lot, as such a light snowfall for so short a period wouldn't have been a big deal to us.  If anything, we'd have been disappointed that it hadn't been heavier and longer-lasting.  However, let's not mock the English for being wimps - they can't help it.  (He said, in a deeply caring, affectionate and non-xenophobic way.)

Anyway, what has all this to do with anything?  Just this: As I type these words, it's snowing outside, and glancing at that calendar reminds me of when it hung on the wall of a bedsit in Fratton on a similar kind of evening nearly 30 years ago.  The fireplace gave forth no heat back then, but recalling that room today, with the self-same calendar hanging on my present wall, the embers of memory cast a warm glow that envelops me in its radiant embrace. 

JAMES BOLAM ON RODNEY BEWES...

It was good to hear JAMES BOLAM, in a radio interview, state that he has nothing but happy and fond memories of the recently-departed RODNEY BEWES, saying that his erstwhile co-star's death has hit him pretty hard.  He explained that the pair not speaking for 40 years wasn't due to a fall-out, but was simply down to them having separate lives and careers after the end of The LIKELY LADS in 1976, with the release of the movie based on the hit TV show.

He said: "This is what happens in acting.  You work with people, you get to know them, you like them, we have a great time and the job finishes and you go off and it all starts again with other people and you can't keep contact with everybody that you know."  This seems entirely credible to me.  I think that Rodney so loved The Likely Lads that he wanted to believe that, just as in the show, he and James were the best of pals.  And so they probably had been, but it certainly won't have been the first time that a workplace friendship fizzled out after one or both parties departed for pastures new.

Bewes wanted to make more episodes of The Likely Lads, and always hoped that the show would be revived, right up until his death.  Bolam, on the other hand, though proud of the show, seems to have regarded it as just another job and had no great sentimental attachment to it - at least not to the same extent that his fellow thespian did.  In the ensuing years, Bolam was never short of high-profile TV work in various series, whereas Bewes didn't fare quite so well in that department.

I must confess I found it heartwarming to hear that Bolam held no animosity towards Bewes, and regards him fondly, but it would've been good if Bewes had known that before he died.  I must say that I have mixed feelings about there being only two series of WHATEVER HAPPENED To The LIKELY LADS.  On the one hand, it would have been good to see further episodes, but on the other, then we might not have had Bolam playing ROY FIGGIS in his other excellent comedy series, ONLY WHEN I LAUGH.

Enjoy the brief clip of Bob and Terry below.

(BOND) BABE Of The DAY - CAROLINE MUNRO...

You really only really need

two words to describe CAROLINE

 MUNRO - "Wotta darlin'!"

HE'S CHEAPER THAN THE AVERAGE BEAR...

See the above YOGI BEAR pottery figurine from 1977?  Daft question - of course you do.  There are three of them currently available on eBay from two sellers, priced at nearly £25 each.  This little chappie (6 inches high) arrived to live with me today, and cost less than a fiver - purchased through eBay, same as the other ones mentioned.  Just shows that there are bargains to be had if you look out for them.

YOU CAN'T JUDGE A (COMIC) BOOK BY ITS COVER - OR CAN YOU...?

Image copyright DC COMICS

That's a great cover image above, isn't it?  So here's a question for all you cavortin' Criv-ites out there.  Have you ever bought a comic mainly for the cover, only to be disappointed with the contents?  Or found that, however brilliant you thought the cover was, astonishingly, it didn't do justice to the story within?  In fact, you can comment on any permutations of those two questions you can come up with.  And here's another - what were the covers, and what was it about them that appealed to you?  (Okay, that's another two questions, but who's counting - apart from me?)

******

I've just realised that the above cover is from 1988 - a kick in the pants off 30 years ago.  I'm flabbergasted - it seems so much more recent than that.  Where on earth does the time go?