THE BAXENDALE LETTERS - PART ONE...

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Sometime back in 1977, I wrote a letter to LEO BAXENDALE,

care of GERALD DUCKWORTH, to let him know how much I'd

enjoyed his first WILLY The KID book.  It's likely that I already

had the second book when I received an unexpected reply (above) to

my letter from the great man himself.  I was slightly astonished  that

he'd taken the time and trouble to respond to one lone Scottish fan,

but appreciated the fact that he had.  Not that I think I was singled

out for special attention - no doubt it was his custom to reply to

fan mail as I think reader feedback was important to him.

I've had a few letters from Bax over the years, which I've still

got.  Not that we were pen pals or anything, or that he considered

me anything other than a fan and customer of several of his books,

but back when I was depute editor of The ILLUSTRATED COMIC

JOURNAL, I had occasion to contact him a few times and he always

took the time to courteously respond.  There's nothing 'confidential'

about them, so I may post more of them in the future as no doubt

they're bound to be of interest to other Leo Baxendale fans.

So keep your peepers peeled for pending posts of pertinent

epistles.  And if you've ever received a letter from the legendary

Leo (or met him, even), tell your fellow Criv-ites all about it in

the captivating comments section.  Go on, get typing.

RECOMMENDED READING: THE GOLDEN AGE OF DC COMICS...

Images copyright DC COMICS

"The first shall be last" - and so it transpires as we finally look at

TASCHEN's great book, The GOLDEN AGE Of DC COMICS -

1935 - 1956.  As well as all the superb images you'd expect (you can

see some of them below), there's also an exclusive interview with JOE

KUBERT.  Written by PAUL LEVITZ, this terrific tome belongs on

the bookshelves of every true comicbook collector, so you have no ex-

cuse for not dashing 'round to your nearest comics shop or bookstore,

plonking your pounds on the counter, and saying "Slap me with a

wet fish and call me Bob - and gimme that super DC book!"

In fact , why not buy all three volumes?  Then you can say you're

doing important research on the history of DC whenever the wife asks

you to take her out to some swanky restaurant for the evening.  Think

of all the dosh having these books will save you in the long run.  You

know it makes sense, so rush out and buy them today!

RECOMMENDED READING: THE SILVER AGE OF DC COMICS...

Images copyright DC COMICS

Another of my recent acquisitions is this magnificent volume

by TASCHEN, devoted to The SILVER AGE Of DC COMICS -

1956 - 1970.  With an exclusive interview with NEAL ADAMS and

loads of great images, why wouldn't you want to rush out and buy this

right away?  What's that?  Your girlfriend's birthday's coming up and

you need to get your priorities right you say?  Decisions, decisions.

Well, I'm sure you'll make the right choice - and don't worry -

you'll soon find yourself a new girlfriend.

Available in your local comicbook store even as I type this!

FEARLESS TOMY ROBOT WALKS OVER OVEN...

Regular readers will know that I've shown a

photo of my wee TOMY robot before, but here's

a brief clip of him in motion.  "It's alive!"

RECOMMENDED READING: KIRBY COLLECTOR, BACK ISSUE, & ALTER EGO...

Was in a local comicbook store relatively recently and came away

with a big batch of goodies.  Amongst the pile of stuff I acquired were

the four mags you see before you - comics nostalgia at its very best.  So

get along to your nearest shop and buy your own copies before they sell

out.  You wouldn't want to live the rest of your life without them.

   

(Hard-sell?  Me?  Nah!)

IT'S APRIL - SO TIME FOR A POST ABOUT THE WOOLWORTH'S SANTA...

Yeah, I'm aware it's not Christmas ('though it will be before

you know it), but I've been meaning to do this post for a while.

Not that it contains any earth-shaking content (when do they

ever?), but I feel like wallowing in nostalgia for a bit.

The Santa in the above photo is from a set of four I bought

in WOOLWORTH'S back around the mid-'80s.  Every year

since then they've been trotted out to add to the festive cheer in

the living-room, adorning the wall-clock above the fireplace for

many a Christmas now - 'though I originally hung them from
the old tree (which pre-dates my arrival on the planet).

It's a classic Santa Claus design, very similar to the one

associated with COCA COLA.  And 'though I didn't acquire

the figures until the mid-'80s, I can easily imagine them as part
of the Christmases of my boyhood back in the '60s, accentu-
ating the yuletide mood of houses that they never once saw
the insides of.  Strange that, eh?

Anyway, I assumed when I bought them that they were
a relatively new product at the time ('cos I'd never seen them
before), but perhaps they're an old item that appeared every
Christmas for decades.  Does anyone else have them, and if
so, can you recall roughly what year you first got them?
Let me know in the comments section, will you?

(And remember - it's only eight months to Christmas.)  

KID'S KLASSIC (KIRBY) KOMIC KOVERS - THE INCREDIBLE HULK #5...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

I first read this tale in an issue of SMASH! back in the 1960s.

Re-read it (and saw the above cover for the first time) in MARVEL

COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS #6 not too long after.  It was

reprinted in an early ish of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL

in the early '70s, as well as appearing in the comic's Annual around

the same time.  One of my favourite HULK stories - one glance

and I'm a kid again.  How about you?

(BOND) BABE OF THE DAY - CATERINA MURINO...

Lustrous hair, come-to-bed-eyes, seductive

mouth - but that's enough about me!  Cop a

load of the lovely CATERINA MURINO.

LION'S ROBOT ARCHIE: THE JUNGLE ROBOT - PART FIVE...

Oh, the things I do for you Criv-ites.  From LION #s 10 & 11,

another two episodes of The JUNGLE ROBOT, starring ROBOT

ARCHIE.  Someone had scribbled in blue ink on the other side of the

first page of the second strip (as well as directly onto the second page)

and it had bled through, obscuring parts of of the art in some panels.  I

had to painstakingly remove as much of the vandalism as possible with

the limited computer technology I have at at my disposal, but it took

absolutely hours.  I could only do a few minutes at a time as I

tire easily, but I hope you think the results are worth it.

If not, I expect you to lie and tell me what a great job I did.

CALVIN THE COMICBOOK FAN...

CALVIN's trying to be good in the run-up to Christmas so

 that SANTA will bring him lots of presents.  This one's fun.

RECOMMENDED READING: THE SUPERIOR FOES OF SPIDER-MAN...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's a great MARVEL OMNIBUS edition that I enjoyed 

recently - The SUPERIOR FOES Of SPIDER-MAN.  It's an ex-

tremely entertaining and humorous read, and I think all you panting

Criv-ites would love it.  You know the drill by now - rush around to

your nearest comicbook outlet, hand over your cash, and you'll have
your very own book to love and hug and squeeze and pat and
pet and rub and caress and read and call George.

Read the spiel on the back cover, then grab

your wallet.  You've got a date with excellence.

   

BABE OF THE DAY - PENELOPE CRUZ...

Now that's what I call a pout!  PENELOPE

CRUZ, with a hairstyle that simply demands to

be pulled - and I'm just the guy to do it!

THE MYSTERY OF THE MYSTIFYING MEMORY...

Many years ago I had a dream.  I dreamt I was in a shop

and saw a CORGI TOYS ASTON MARTIN DB5, but in a

bigger scale than its previous two releases.  I opened up the box,

took out the car, looked at it, and was quite impressed by this new

model.  Then I awoke from my dream, realized I had only been

dreaming, and was slightly disappointed by the fact.

A couple of years later I'm upstairs in JOHN MENZIES,

and my eyes fall upon a familiar object.  A JAMES BOND

Aston Martin by Corgi toys, and it's the bigger scale model that

I saw and handled in my dream.  I'm astounded.  Had I had some

kind of prophetic vision, or was it simply a coincidence?  Surely

the latter, because there's no such thing as being able to see

into the future, is there?  Tell me, is there?

That was back in the '70s.  The car was issued in 1978, so

my dream must have preceded the actual event by a year or

two.  But such things don't happen, do they?  Tell me, do they?

It's because of my doubt over such things that I've begun to con-

sider other possibilities.  Could it be I'd seen the car, but forgot-

ten it, then had a dream about it as if I was seeing it for the first

time?  Perhaps that's why I believe that the dream came

first, but that I'm simply mistaken.

Thing is, I had the dream more than once before I saw

the car for what seemed like the first time in real life.  So

now I'm in the position of wondering exactly what to believe.

Did I see the car first (but forget), and then have the dream - or

could it have been precisely as I thought for many years after-

wards before the doubt set in?  Obviously it's got to be either

one or the other, but which one?  Tell me, which one?

Or maybe there is another explanation.  Perhaps it was

only in my dream that I felt I hadn't previously seen the car

before discovering it on sale in a shop.  That's to say, I'd seen
the car in a shop, but dreamt I hadn't spied it until after seeing
it in a dream;  a 'dream within a dream' in other words, that
never happened despite me believing it had.  (I sure hope
that makes some kind of sense to you all.)

Ever had anything similar happen to you?  Something

you think you dreamt about that seemingly came true, but

now you're not quite sure if you remember things as they ac-
tually happened, or whether time is merely playing tricks

with your memory.  Tell all in the comments section.

RECOMMENDED READING: THE BRONZE AGE OF DC COMICS...

All true comicbook fans will love this great book by TASCHEN -

The BRONZE AGE Of DC COMICS - a large-sized tome with over

400 colour pages, detailing the years 1970 to 1984.  Rather than me

wittering on about it, here's a selection of images to show you just how

good it is.  Your local comics shop or bookstore is the place to pur-

chase your very own copy of this valiant volume.  Get going!