ALBERT UDERZO DIES AT 92...

Copyright relevant owner

Sad to learn that ALBERT UDERZO, co-creator and illustrator (as well as writer after RENE GOSCINNY's death in 1977) of ASTERIX The GAUL, has died of a heart attack in his sleep.  He drew comic strips the way they deserved to be drawn. Thoughts are with his family, friends, and fans.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS - SUPERMAN #279...

Copyright DC COMICS.  Cover art NICK CARDY

I've asked this question numerous times before, but I'll ask it again anyway - just where do the years go to?  Following my recent acquisition of a replacement for my long-gone issue of SUPERMAN #268, I decided to get the follow-up tale to Supes' team-up with BATGIRL, namely issue #279.  Again, this is one I originally had back in 1974, a whopping 46 years ago while I was yet a schoolboy, but when it arrived a short while ago today, the decades melted away as if they'd never been upon the mere sight of it.

Just finished reading it, and it was a pleasantly entertaining tale, as was The FABULOUS WORLD Of KRYPTON back-up strip.  And as with #268, I remember where I was when I first read this mag, and the vanished world of my youth reappeared, resurrected as if by magic from the mists of time.  Such experiences are relatively short-lived until reality again intrudes, but can always be revived at a later date whenever the fancy takes me.  Who needs a TARDIS when we have old comic-books, eh?  (Don't get me wrong though - a TARDIS would be nice.)

Did you have this ish back in the day?  If so, what personal memories does it conjure up for you, faithful Crivs?  Let loose in the captivating comments section - and don't worry, it's a completely Coronavirus-free area.

BABE Of The DAY - LINDA THORSON...

It's luscious LINDA THORSON

to brighten your day and put a spring in

your step, even if just to walk around your

own house 'cos you can't go out due to the

'canary virus'.  Never mind, worse things

happen at sea.  (Or so I'm told - just ask

 Roger the cabin boy.  Ouch!)

TV TORNADO ANNUAL 1970 COVER...

Characters copyright relevant and respective owners

Above is the cover to the very first TV TORNADO Annual I ever had (and still have), given to me by an old school pal around 33-34 years ago.  This is the third Annual, issued in 1969 for 1970, and though I've now had it for all this time, I've never before read it until the very early hours of this morning.  Well, to be precise, I only read the comic strips, the text stories I've left for a rainy day.  Same with the other Annual I received as a gift from another school pal on Wednesday - read the strips, not the stories, but I'll get around to them eventually.

When I was first given this book, I somehow had the impression its previous owner had bought it (or had it bought for him) when it first came out, but I noticed a hand-written price of 10p (it had originally cost 12/6d in 1969) on the inside, so presumably he bought it at a jumble sale two or three years later.  I've now owned it for far longer than he did, but somehow I still associate it with him more than myself - maybe that'll change in another 30-odd years.*

I've also just bought the second Annual on eBay (for a price less than the postage), so that only leaves the fourth Annual to add to my collection, then I'll have the full set.  (Update: now bought it.)  Incidentally, the ridiculous MILE HIGH COMICS (obviously named after their exorbitant prices) is selling the first Annual for £510.92, even though there are several available on eBay for just a few quid.  And even though the Mile High copy is supposedly in pristine condition, it's still not worth anywhere near that price.

Did you buy TV Tornado comic back in the day, or any of the Annuals?  Feel free to share your memories of them in our sadly-neglected comments section.

******

*Unusually for me, I'd left this Annual completely unretouched (in regard to repairing any minor defects) since I first acquired it 33-34 years ago.  Until tonight (23rd March), when I straightened the dunted corners and gave them a slight colour-touch where required.  I also reinforced the spine as it was a bit fragile in places, so the book finally displays signs of my personal ownership after remaining exactly as it was since passing into my possession so many moons ago.  I can now truly regard it as 'my' book, and not anyone else's. 

GIT ALONG, LITTLE DOGGIES...

The above picture-frame hangs in my hall above the kitchen door and shows two photos each of the three dogs we had (at different times) from January 1973 to November 1998.  The first was PRINCE (1 & 2), the second was TARA (3 & 4), and the third was ZARA (5 & 6).  The interesting thing about these photos is that they were all taken within a few feet of each other in the same area of the same back garden over a period of 20-plus years.

Let's number the top pics 1-3 and the lower ones 4-6.  So going from left to right, pics 1 & 2 (Prince) are on the path seen behind Tara in pic 4, and pic 5 (Zara) is on the path to the right (our pov) of pic 4, which is in front of the doorway seen in pic 3 (Tara).  Pic 6 (Zara in her kennel) is on the left (our pov) of pic 3, and was a different kennel to Tara's, but in the same place that her's once occupied.  (Still with me?)  "So what?" you may be wondering.

Well, we moved to another house in a different neighbourhood in 1983, where Tara lived for the last three years of her life.  A month after she died, I bought Zara (who was born a month before Tara passed, so their lives overlapped), and a year after that, we moved back to our previous house.  That means there was a gap of just over four years between Tara and Zara living in the same house, so photos of them (and Prince) on the same few feet of pathway of the same garden is somehow very satisfying and significant to me.

The dogs never met one another, but they all knew and played in the same garden, and 'posed' for photos, each being captured for posterity within the same few feet of space.  How fitting, therefore, that their images are now housed in the same picture frame, almost as if they all shared the garden at one and the same time.  Perhaps their spirits romp about together out there, the best of pals, and greet me a with a ghostly bark of welcome whenever I go out to fill the birdfeeders every morning.

Anyway, do you have a similar pictorial reminder of any dogs or pets you may've once had, and does it make you smile fondly whenever your eyes fall upon it?  Tell all in the comments section. 

BABE Of The DAY - LINDA THORSON...

Seeing lovely LINDA THORSON

with her hair like this makes me wonder if,

instead of being TARA KING, she could've

just assumed the role of EMMA PEEL after

DIANA RIGG left for pastures new.  What

do you say, Crivvies?  Do you think such

 a switcheroo could have worked?

TV TORNADO ANNUAL 1968 COVER...

Characters copyright relevant and respective owners

Here's a nice little gift that one of my old pals (ROSS) from primary school gave me on Wednesday - the TV TORNADO Annual for 1968 (on sale in '67).  It's not one he's owned since childhood, only having bought it last Friday - presumably specially for me.

Funnily enough, back in 1986 or '87, one of our former classmates (PETE - he and Ross were best pals) gave me his Annual for 1970, so that only leaves the '69 and '70 books to complete the set of four.  Any other old school pals out there who want to fill in the gaps, feel free.

(Update: Too late, I've now got them.  You can't say you didn't have your chance.)

DON STARR Has An APPOINTMENT With FEAR! PART FIVE...

Copyright relevant owner

Time once again for me to try and think of something vaguely interesting and non-repetitive to write about DON STARR's 'APPOINTMENT With FEAR' strip from '60s POWER COMIC, TERRIFIC, published by ODHAMS PRESS.  It's no use - I just can't think of a thing to write that I've not written before in relation to Don's strips, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you all and not write anything at all.

(Hey, where'd that paragraph come from?)

MIGHTY MARVEL COLLECTORS' EDITIONS CHECKLIST - ON SALE NOW!

AVENGERS UNIVERSE #11

Copyright MARVEL COMICS.  Published by PANINI

The Avengers attempt an exorcism to help the Ghost Rider, but it triggers a possession that threatens the entire world!  Don’t miss a shocking new storyline: ‘Challenge of the Ghost Riders’ by Jason Aaron & Stefano Caselli!

Featuring material first published in Avengers #22-23 and Marvel Comics #1000.

On sale Now!

£4.50.

******

WOLVERINE & DEADPOOL #11

Wolverine takes on The Hand, and Conan confronts a terrifying mystic!  The Punisher, Doctor Voodoo and Venom join the battle – and the Savage Avengers are born!  By Gerry Duggan & Mike Deodato Jr!  Also: ‘Return of the Living Deadpool’ continues!  The Deadpool plague has spread across the world – can the guy who started it also stop it?!  By Cullen Bunn & Nik Virella!

Featuring material first published in Savage Avengers #1-2 and Return of the Living Deadpool #2.

On sale Now!

£4.50.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS - SUPERMAN #268...

Copyright DC COMICS.  Cover art NICK CARDY

Here's yet another of those 'CLARK KENT and SUPERMAN together' covers that DC COMICS liked to tease us with every now and again.  I had this comic back in 1973 or '74, but I don't remember too much about it, which is unusual for me (though I do recall buying it).  To be honest, I probably only bought it because of BATGIRL's appearance as I'd had a 'crush' on her since reading 'The MILLION DOLLAR DEBUT Of BATGIRL' back in the late '60s.

My youthful attraction to Batgirl was primarily due to CARMINE INFANTINO's and SID GREENE's rendition of her, and though not all artists managed to do her justice, the memory of her initial outing often made me pay more attention than usual to any mag she was in or on, resulting in me purchasing it.  In fact, I've just bought the one above on eBay so that I can remind myself of the story and delve once again into the delightful depiction of BARBARA GORDON in her skin-tight cossie.

Yes, I know - I'm a perv.  What of it?  Fancying a drawing is pretty harmless (if sad).

HUNK Of The MONTH - BIG FRANKIE...

Here's big BORIS KARLOFF as depicted in the classic 1935 movie The BRIDE Of FRANKENSTEIN, wherein he reprised his 1931 role as 'The Monster'. LON CHANEY Jr. and GLENN STRANGE both gave creditable performances in later portrayals of the 'patchwork' creature, but for my money no other actor managed to capture the 'dead-but-alive' look that Karloff The Uncanny so convincingly conveyed.  What say the rest of you Crivs? 

HERE IS THE NEWS - YOU'RE GETTING OLD, MATE...

With the sad news of comedian ROY HUDD's passing, I was surprised to learn that his long-running radio show The NEWS HUDDLINES ended in 2001.  19 years ago?  Really?  It seems like only a year or two at the very most since I last heard it on the radio, not the duration it actually is.  In fact, I didn't even know it had been cancelled, assuming, on the few occasions I ever thought about it, that I'd probably just not heard it in a while.  Ahh, where does the time slip away to when we're not looking, and why are we not aware of it until long after the event?  (A bit like our childhoods, in fact.)

Condolences to Mr. Hudd's family, friends, and fans.  

MIGHTY MARVEL COLLECTORS' EDITIONS CHECKLIST - ON SALE NOW!

ASTONISHING SPIDER-MAN #49

Copyright MARVEL COMICS.  Published by PANINI

52 action-packed pages of arachnid adventure!  Can Spider-Man save J. Jonah Jameson (and himself) from the might of the GIANT Big Man?!  Plus: Classic Action!  Spider-Man and the Black Widow Vs. Silver Samurai!  By Nicks Spencer, Ryan Ottley, Chris Claremont & Sal Buscema!

Reprinting material from Amazing Spider-Man #13 & Marvel Team-Up #57.

On sale Now!

£4.50.

PART FOUR Of DON STARR'S APPOINTMENT With FEAR...

Copyright relevant owner

Ooh, an interesting plot-twist this time around, Crivs, but I'll let you discover it for yourselves in the accompanying pages.  Be sure and register your vote for continuing with this series, as response has been rather muted to be honest.  Is DON STARR a star with you or not?  Let me know, frantic ones.

(Note that the same dialogue is used in two consecutive panels on the first page, which means that the letterer missed out the correct word balloon and inadvertently did one twice.) 

MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #12 FACSIMILE EDITION - The SON Of SANTA... Er, SATAN! (THAT FIRST ONE SOUNDS INTERESTING THOUGH)...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's the Facsimile Edition of MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #12 from November last year, but I've only just received it after buying it recently.  Truth to tell, I didn't really need it as I already have a reprint of the tale in a collected edition, but there's something about these single ish re-presentations that I really dig, man.  (Hey, how hip am I?)  Anyway, if your local comics shop is sold out, you should be able to get it on eBay just like I did.  Grab a sizzlin' slice of the sensational '70s now!

I suspect that Marvel are laying new colours over the original ads to enhance their reproduction, as, in most cases, they're far bolder-looking than the ones in DC COMICS facsimiles, which generally look faded and tired.  Hey, Marvel - let DC in on your secret, will ya?  Their facsimiles would look a lot better for it.  (As would yours if you printed them on matte paper, like they do.)  

REFLECTIVE REPOST: WINDOW On The PAST...

Regular readers will be aware by now that one of the chief delights of my life when younger was gazing out of my classroom windows and losing myself in daydreams.  What cared I about matters pertaining to geography, history, maths and the like?  I was too busy flying around the sky or saving the world - in my fertile imagination, at least.  Sometimes I wasn't quite so energetic in my fantasies, and was content just to watch the clouds glide by in languid motion, going wherever it is that clouds go to.

It should therefore come as no surprise to anyone to learn that I still like to gaze out of windows today, observing the comings and goings of neighbourhood residents, the antics of assorted dogs, cats, birds, squirrels and foxes, and whatever else happens in a typical street.  And yes, I still enjoy just watching the clouds drift by or con-templating the rain pattering off the pavement.  Recently, however, I've become aware of just how few people I actually recognise in their daily perambulations past the panoramic perimeters of my property.

There are now only two faces I can identify from around the time I first came to this house over forty years ago.  One was here before we moved to the area, the other took up residence a year or two after we arrived.  There are others who've lived here for maybe twenty or thirty years, but for some curious reason I still regard them as 'newbies' and not yet established in the neighbourhood firmament.  Strange how them not living here within the first few years of my arrival makes them seem like newcomers I haven't quite adjusted to yet.

There's a possibility that one of the old, familiar faces may sell up and move on in the not too distant future, and the other is retired and getting on in years.  When the last link to how things once used to be has finally gone, I wonder just how I'll react to being surrounded by complete strangers with no connection to my younger days back in the early 1970s.  I've noticed a feeling of 'displacement' gradually creeping up on me over the last few years as more and more 'well-kent' faces have faded from my everyday experience, and sometimes I almost feel like I'm the stranger who doesn't quite belong in these here parts.

It's then that I immerse myself in comicbooks from four decades ago and re-live the early years of when I first moved to this house, in an attempt to recapture the mood, the ambiance, the atmosphere - the flavour - of what it was like to live here back in the sensational '70s, when I was practically just a lad not too far removed from the start of my journey through life and all it had to offer.

Then I lose myself in visions of the past; where long-gone local worthies yet walk the streets beyond my window - living, breathing, laughing and chatting as they did in bygone days, before they gradually fell, one by one, victims to time.  I seek refuge in a place and a period which now exist only in memory, populated by the ghosts of yesterday, and the knowledge is not lost on me that, one day, my 'continuance' will consist of being nothing more than a lingering echo in the minds of others.  Until such time as they, too, are gone, and that faint echo falls forever silent. 

LEAN CLOSER - LET ME WHISPER...

Methuen edition

Regular readers may be aware that my favourite book (of its kind) is The WIND In The WILLOWS by Scottish author KENNETH GRAHAME.  The book (unintentionally) started as bedtime stories for the author's son ALASTAIR, which continued in the form of letters when, sans parents, the child was on holiday with his governess in Littlehampton.  The rest, as they say, is history.

In 1944, ELSPETH GRAHAME (Kenneth's widow) wrote a somewhat fanciful introduction to FIRST WHISPER Of 'The WIND In The WILLOWS', a thin booklet which included a then-hitherto unpublished short story entitled BERTIE'S ESCAPADE, along with transcriptions of Grahame's letters to his young son.  I'd previously acquired a 1947 CHILDREN'S BOOK CLUB edition in 2017, but today I took possession of a 1946 METHUEN (3rd) edition with original dust-jacket.

Now all I have to do is find the time and energy to read it, but it's nice to know it's sitting on my shelf waiting for my attention.  What's your favourite book from childhood or youth, fellow Crivs?  (If you can remember that far back.)  Tell your fellow decrepit members of this blog just what it means to you, and why.

The Children's Book Club edition

TERRIFIC'S DON STARR In APPOINTMENT With FEAR - PART THREE...

Copyright relevant owner

Okay, Crivs, here's what you've all been waiting for (I'm foolin' myself) - DON STARR's close encounter of the third kind (see what I did there?) with DOCTOR FEAR!  No dreary preamble from me, let's get straight into the action!

PART TWO OF GERRY'S GOING TO HAIRMYERS...

I'd imagine that the accompanying photos won't be of much interest to most Crivs, but for GERRY, who works in HAIRMYERS HOSPITAL, they'll be a trip back in time, as the buildings here (with one exception I think) are all now demolished.  I believe the new hospital (which looks a bit like a factory warehouse) was built nearby first, then the old one was razed to the ground and new houses were built in its place.

The first two photos (taken in '88, a few years before the others) show the stumps of trees that, back in the '60s, were the source of conkers to me, my brother, and our neighbourhood pals, who would trek along to the area and fill our pockets with fallen chestnuts, sometimes even climbing the trees to retrieve them.  If I recall correctly, the trees still stood unchopped well into the mid '80s, but perhaps Gerry can supply the precise year.

It's a shame things had to change, because the new Hairmyers just doesn't have the character of the original.  It's a bittersweet experience looking at these photographs, as although I'm glad I was able to capture the area more or less as it was, they remind me that a piece of my childhood no longer exists.

Gerry, the sequence of these photos (and the previous ones) probably isn't entirely accurate, so if you can arrange them in better order, feel free to do so.  If you save them, you'll see that each one is numbered, so if you have the time or the inclination, could you list the numbers to represent a circular tour starting from the hospital shop and working its way around?  (From either right to left, or vice versa.)  I'd appreciate it.