THE BRITISH MAJOR MATT MASON...

Here's something you won't have seen before, Criv-ite chums.  "What do you mean?" I hear you ask.  "We've all seen Major MATT MASON before!" you declare.  Ah, but never one like this.  Take a closer look - see what I'm talking about?  Matt has a Union flag on his suit, not the Stars and Stripes of the United States.  Does that mean I've got a rare Mason figure, previously unknown until now?  Well, yes - and no.

Believe it or not, when I got this figure, it was in a bit of a state;  paint peeling off with practically none remaining.  So I removed what was left and completely repainted it.  See those red dots on the arms and legs?  I painted them on by hand, with a brush - and everything else on the figure except the head (and flag).  I doubt I'd be able to do it with such precision now, as my eyes simply aren't as good as the were back in the '90s.  The flag is a water-slide decal from a model kit - I forget which one.

Still, it makes a nice little collectable with a bit of a difference.  Like it?  You can study it in more detail in the photo below.

WINDOW ON THE PAST - TAKE TWO...

You're looking at my current screen-saver, which is a photo taken in 1991 from the bedroom of the house I'd moved from 19 years before.  I'd previously returned to the house 3 years earlier, which was the first time I'd been back since flitting in 1972, but on that occasion the day was sunnier.  However, there's something about rain which I find relaxing, and though the house across the back didn't have an extension when I lived in the area, the picture captures, mood-wise, exactly how it would've been on a similar day when I occupied the room.

The toys on the sill are mine, taken with me to 're-connect' them to the home in which I'd first obtained the originals.  The owl is from the Aurora BATMAN model kit, and was painted and affixed to the model when I finally assembled and painted the rest of it around 1993/'94.  (I'd obtained it in 1984/'85, as a replacement for the one I'd owned in the '60s.)  The photo below is taken from a slightly different angle, and you can glimpse my old school, which was demolished in 2014.  Houses now occupy the spot.

When these photos were taken, the original windows were still in use, though they were replaced around 1992 with new PVC ones.  I'm glad to have got the chance to look through the same windows I'd known as a child, and see again my reflection staring back at me as it had done when I was a boy.  I wonder if the panes recognised the taller, older face that stood before them as the one it had once been familiar with - or was I just a stranger who meant nothing?  I'd like to think otherwise.

Click on the images to enlarge - then just relax as you look at the rain on the glass - just as I often do when I want to relive the past.  Remember, the droplets you see are 26 years old - so, in a sense, you're reliving the past too.  Just thought I'd share the moment with you.   

   

FUNKO BATMOBILE & FIGURES...

BATMAN and related images copyright DC COMICS

Looked out of my bedroom window a short while ago, and there was the Batmobile with BATMAN and ROBIN on the street below.  They were staring at the sky and seemingly in the grip of a hypnotic trance, but it wore off in a few moments and then they were on their way.  Could they have been smoking a couple of joints?  Nah, the Caped Crusaders don't go in for things like that - shame on you!

Yes, I'm havering again.  This great item by FUNKO is on sale in selected shops now!  Get one while you can. 

ARE YOU A WARLORD? (CONTEST - WIN A COMIC)...

Standard image, copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

Okay, peeps, here's the deal.  I have a battered, beat up, repaired (but complete) copy of WARLORD #1 that I'm aiming to give away.  It'd make an okay 'reading' copy, so if you want it, all you have to do is say why I should give it to you.  The best answer (in my view) gets it.  The funniest, smartest, daftest answer has more of a chance, so get your brain oils cooking and see what, if anything, you can come up with.

When I choose the winner (assuming there are any entries), I'll announce it right here.  Then the winner sends his address to the comments section and I'll despatch the mag.  Relax, the address won't be published, nor will it be used for any other purpose, and will be deleted from my files after use.  Interested?  Then get going.  Competition closes on the 20th.

******

Right, DS - you're the winner.  Send me your address (which no one but me will see) and I'll get your comic in the post to you.

BABE OF THE DAY - ABI TITMUS...

ABI TITMUS looks stunning in red - or

practically any colour in fact.  She has that 'girl

next door' quality about her - 'cos she lives next

door to me, which is handy.  Get the kettle on,

Abi, I'll be chapping your door in a sec.

AURORA'S DR. JEKYLL AS MR. HYDE...

Well, okay - it's actually the MOEBIUS reissue of AURORA's famous Dr. JEKYLL As Mr. HYDE kit, but why split hairs?  I built and painted this for someone I know, so let's hope he feels that his many months of waiting were worth it when I finally hand it over to him sometime tomorrow.  In fact, he may well see it on this blog first along with the rest of you, so count yourself lucky to have front row seats to its unveiling.

You may be wondering why he had to wait so long for it, and the reason for that is because I can only apply myself to anything that requires intense attention for very short periods at a time before I need to go lie down and have a rest.  So it's a wee bit here and wee dod there when I have the energy, but, in this case, I like to flatter myself that the finished result is worth the many hours of time and effort I put into it.  (Incidentally, for some curious reason, the head didn't have any teeth, so the teeth you see are ones I made out of spare bits of plastic.)

Who'd ever think that assembling and painting a plastic model could feel like constructing the Forth Road Bridge?  (Unless it's a model of the Forth Road Bridge that is.)  Don't be shy about showering me with praise for the completed item;  in fact, I insist.    

(BOND) BABE OF THE DAY - NADJA REGIN...

The stunning NADJA REGIN gazes over at

me adoringly, filled with desire for my manly-

man physique.  Well, who can blame her?

LEN WEIN - R.I.P.

LEN WEIN, co-creator of SWAMP THING and WOLVERINE, passed away on Sunday, alas.  Yet another of the greats gone to that comicbook contributors club in the sky (where he's doubtless catching up with his old friend and collaborator BERNIE WRIGHTSON).  His work shall live on. 

BABE OF THE DAY - ELKE SOMMER...

I'm having a rest today, so you'll have to write

your own caption for lovely ELKE SOMMER.

(Good of me to let you participate, eh?)

ONE BOY & HIS DOG (AND A CAKE TOPPER)...

THE OPTIMIST

One of the items I remember from my childhood right up to my late teens (at least) was a biscuit tin that was kept in a cupboard (or larder) in four of our houses.  I don't recall it ever having biscuits - it was used for storing screws, nails, clips, curtain hoops, and all sorts of odds-and-ends that had no other place for them to go.  One day it just disappeared, though I'd have been unaware of its absence until some time after the fact.  I've thought about it often over the years, and, with the passage of time, slightly misremembered the illustration on the lid.  I recalled it as a TOM SAWYER-type boy (wearing a straw hat) on a raft, with a little Scottie dog, but it was actually a wash-tub, as I discovered when I saw a picture of the tin on PINTEREST recently.  'Twas good to see it again - and in the very same house I was living in when I last laid eyes on it.

In a previous post (here), I showed you a photo of a chalk snowman (or Eskimo) the original of which had been one of our Christmas decorations ever since I'd been a kid.  The first one got damaged at some point, and was relegated to the biscuit tin which, at that time, was stored in our larder.  They may well have been consigned to oblivion on the same day, but I managed to obtain a replacement for 'Chalky' around 30 years ago, and he's adorned the base of the Christmas tree ever since.  I thought I'd show that photo again, and reunite both of them (or their images at least) just for old times' sake.  I guess I'm just a great, big, silly, sentimental old Hector.

Any Criv-ites ever have this tin?  It contained biscuits by McVITIE & PRICE, and was available circa 1960 onwards.  (I've managed to track one down and hope to be buying it soon.  Update:  Bought it.)

******

Captain's Log, Stardate Saturday 16th:  I received my tin today and the first thing I did was place it in a wall cupboard which now occupies the upper space of where the larder once was.  I thought it fitting to put it in pretty much the same spot I'd last seen the original, as it suggested to my mind a continuity and resumption of how things were in the 1970s.  It must be around 40 years since the first tin 'disappeared', yet seeing its replacement banished the passage of time in an instant and immediately returned me to back then.  Amazing, eh?  I only kept it in the cupboard for a short time to establish that link with the past, and as I type, it sits on the floor so that I can gaze upon it and continue the illusion that I'm 40 years younger than I am.  Sad?  Maybe.  Fulfilling?  Definitely.           

JAMES BOND & HIS ASTON MARTIN D.B.5...

Just dug out my Danbury Mint ASTON MARTIN D.B.5 from storage and snapped a quick couple of photos to show all you panting Criv-ites.  The ejector seat (which works) is lying upended inside the car, and there's a bit of tape on the roof to keep the hatch in place, but you can see what a beauty it is.  One day, when I have more time, I'll put the seat in place and remove the tape, then take some photos from different angles to give you a better look.

With the right background and a decent photographer, this would look like a real car - it's incredibly accurate, with opening doors, bonnet and boot, and other features.  (The over-riders extend, the rear lights pull down to reveal the oil dispensers, the tyre-slashers pull out, the number plates revolve, the petrol cap covers open, the bulletproof shield pops up, and lots of other stuff.)   Next time I'll show you the engine.

The JAMES BOND 007 figure is by CORGI and completes the display nicely. 

   

PLAYS, POSTERS, PINSTRIPES, & PAPERBACKS...

I acquired the above paperback of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE sometime in the early '80s (1980 or '81, I think).  It was a prop in a play by a local amateur dramatics group for which I supplied the occasional poster - and also my blue pinstripe suit for the lead actor to wear in this particular production.  The book was one of many gracing an on-stage bookcase in a living-room scene, and had been supplied by one of the amateur actors, a doctor whose medical career perhaps wasn't as fulfilling as it might be (I'm guessing).

As I collected BOND paperbacks with covers related to their movie incarnations, I asked if he would sell it to me, and he said I could have it once the play's run was over.  I've had it ever since, but never read it, mainly because I'd read the novel back in 1972 or '73.  I decided to start on it last night, figuring that, as I'd first and last read the story over 40 years before, I'd probably forgotten enough of it for it to seem new to me.  (Not the plot obviously, as I'm familiar with that from the movie. I'm talking about IAN FLEMING's writing-style and all the stuff that never made it into the film.)

The book is a 1963 edition, and is in such good condition that it seems more than likely to have been read only once when first purchased, 50-odd years ago.  I find that an amazing thought, and it's almost like stepping back into a vanished era - as if I'm once again in 1963 and have picked up the book only moments after the first person to read it put it down.  Of course, it also takes me back to the early '80s when I first laid eyes on the paperback, which makes it seem as if I've had two different lives associated with it.  Which reminds me of the title of another 007 novel - YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - so maybe I have.

(Gosh, that was quite a neat wrap-up.  I must be getting better at this bloggy stuff.)  Anyway, thought you might like to see it as it's a nice-looking cover.

KIRBY - KING OF COMICS (REVISED & EXPANDED)...

Just a reminder that MARK EVANIER's revised and expanded edition of KIRBY - King Of Comics is available at your nearest comicbook store.  It's a more compact version (height-wise) with even more images than before, and is sure to delight every fan of JACK KIRBY.  If you haven't already got it, treat yourself today.

ALAS, POOR GORDON - I KNEW HIM (NOT THAT) WELL (UPDATED)...

Regarding the post below, it turns out that I know too many Gordons.  The Gordon I had in mind was Gordon Neilson, not Wilson, but the ol' memory ain't what it used to be.  I've decided just to leave it as it is, as I'm sure I knew Gordon Wilson too (though I can't put a face to the name), and it's a shame he's died.  Anyway, remember that the following reminiscence applies to G. Neilson and not G. Wilson.

****** 

Reading through an old copy of the local newspaper from July, I spotted a name in the obituaries column that drew me up short.  It was for a fellow called Gordon Wilson, who, if it's the same chap, was someone who I knew slightly from primary and secondary school.  He was a friend of a friend, and, over the years, we'd nod to each other, sometimes exchanging pleasantries as we passed.  The last time I recall actually speaking with him was around 15 or 20 years ago (believe me, at my age, that seems like no time at all), but I'm sure we at least nodded to one another in our local shopping centre within the last 2 or 3 years or so.  There's also bound to be a more recent odd occasion or two when I saw him at a distance, but never got the chance to acknowledge him (and vice versa).  I always found it odd that my friend had a pal with a name very similar to my own, with only the first 3 letters of our surnames being different.  I can't help but wonder if Gordon ever thought the same. 

Regular readers may remember me recounting this tale, wherein the mutual friend mentioned above, on the night his mother died, made his way to a pal's house (I accompanied him for part of the way) to inform him of the fact.  Gordon was the very pal, and though I didn't know him particularly well, he was a familiar face from childhood and it's sad to learn of his demise.  Tomorrow I'll make a 'phone call just to make sure it is him, but, alas, it seems more than likely.  Ah, where does the time go?  As I said, I didn't know Gordon that well, but I still find myself saddened to learn of his passing.  Maybe that's a selfish reaction, caused more by the fact that his death marks the disappearance of a small (but significant) part of my own life rather than the expiry of his, but it still saddens me that I'll never get the chance to nod or speak to him again.  Not in this life anyway.

Condolences to his family and friends.  And acquaintances, of which I was one.

******

(Given the update at the top of the post, it looks like I'll probably get the chance to nod or/and speak to him again sooner than I thought.)         

BABE OF THE DAY - JOLENE BLALOCK...

'Ere, 'ere (or should that be ear, ear?), strike a

light (allusion to Vulcan matches) - it's the lovely

JOLENE BALLCOCK - oops, I mean BLALOCK,

looking as pretty as a picture.  Which, of course, she

is, because the alluring lady isn't actually here in

person.  (Just in case you were confused.)

THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL - 45TH ANNIVERSARY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

September.  Outside my window (and others' too no doubt), the rain shows that Summer is now over and that Autumn is upon us.  However, my mind is on another September day many years gone, that of September 30th 1972.  Ah, how well I remember it.  It was a Saturday and I was being taken into Glasgow to have a pair of school trousers bought for me.  On an impulse, my parents also got me a black anorak, but as it had pink lining I seldom ever wore it - and when I did, I made sure it was firmly zipped-up so that the lining wasn't visible.  However, that's not the main reason I recall the date and the day with such crystal clarity.

No, the reason for that memory remaining so vivid down through the years is because that was the day when the very first issue of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL went on sale.  I spied it in a magazine and newspaper rack at the side of a newsagent's doorway on our way along to the famous BARROWLAND market, and recognised The HULK, The FANTASTIC FOUR, and SPIDER-MAN as old friends from my POWER COMICS-reading days some years before.  Despite my entreaties, my parents declined to buy it for me (after all, 5p is 5p), but I managed to wear them down and they eventually gave in a little while later.

One thing I'm no longer 100% certain of is whether I got the issue from the shop I'd first seen it in or another establishment.  I think I did, but couldn't swear to it with absolute conviction.  Not that it matters much, but I always hate it when I forget things that were once (seemingly) embedded in my memory for so long a period.  Then, one day, suddenly, they've 'flitted', leaving a hole in the space they'd so comfortably inhabited for years.  Ach, well, never mind.  But wait - having just typed that, the recollection of my eager race back along to that very newsagent has resurfaced, proving that the memory wasn't dead at all, but merely slumbering (unless I'm imagining it).  Welcome back, sleepy-head.

I remember other things about that day, but I've regaled you with them before in previous posts about this landmark issue, so I'll spare you the ordeal of a repeat recounting.  Suffice to say that the very first issue of MWOM left an indelible impression on me, containing 40 pages of the earliest adventures of Marvel's main heroes.  Some pages were in full-colour, while the rest bore a green spot-colour - with 'Zipatone' - to punch-up their appearance and avoid what would otherwise have been plain black and white.

Just think - that was 45 years ago, but to me, even in my dotage, the memory of that momentous day yet resonates as if it were only a heartbeat away.  Isn't that a marvel?  (Yes, pun intended.)

Did you buy The Mighty World Of Marvel back in the day, readers?  If you have any happy recollections you'd care to share, then you know where the comments section is.  The following images should hopefully serve to prompt your memory of the glorious event all true British Marvelites will be remembering in just over three weeks from now.  So don't forget - September 30th.  And guess what?  This year, the 30th falls on a Saturday, just as it did 45 years ago.

Below, the free iron-on Hulk transfer (the right way 'round)

Amazingly, MWOM is still on sale today, though now as a monthly as opposed to a weekly mag.  Below is the next issue (Vol 6, #13) - available on the 21st from WHS, and all good newsagents and comics shops.

REMINISCING REPOST: THE TOAD CAME HOME...

Cover illustration (E.H. Shepard) to 1960 Charles Scribner edition

Going by the numbers, quite a few of you liked seeing the cover to my The WIND In The WILLOWS paperback a couple of posts back.  I therefore thought you might like to be reminded of how I first discovered that particular cover back in the early '70s, so have brushed down and dusted off this old post which recounts the details of the event in all its ever-loving glory.

******

A 1967 edition of the acclaimed classic

Are you all sitting comfortably?  Good, then I'll begin.  My first exposure (ooer, missus) to Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind In The Willows' was the Disney cartoon 'short' of the same name.  That wasn't the film's original title, which was 'The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad', two animated tales combined in a single cinematic presentation.  Singer Bing Crosby narrated the Ichabod portion and actor Basil Rathbone performed the vocal honours on the Mr. Toad one.

Later, they were re-released separately, and renamed after the  books on which they were based.  I saw TWITW at an inter-schools art competition prize-presentation (of which I was an entrant) in my local cinema on the afternoon of my very last day at primary school before the school holidays began.  The movie was screened, the prizes awarded, and we were then returned to our schools at the end of the day to collect our schoolbags and jackets, and thereafter revel in eight whole weeks of summer fun before some of us started secondary school at the start of the new term.

It was on a lazy afternoon sometime in first year that I chanced upon the novel in the school library, as chalk dust floated languidly in the white glare of the sunlight which pierced the large curtained windows at the side of the room.  I had enjoyed the cartoon (and recognized snippets of it from screenings of 'Disney Time' on TV one Christmas or other) so decided to read the book and promptly got it stamped out.  It was certainly a good read, but it didn't make an overwhelming impression on me of the kind that one might expect from an acclaimed classic of literature.  No, that would come later - and here's how it did.

I was in my local newsagent's one day in 1972 or mid- '73, and, on their paperback spinner-rack, was the book whose cover you see at the top of this post.  There were two copies, one of which I bought solely because the cover illustration and the pristine, sharply-defined newness of the tome fascinated and appealed to me in some indefinable way.  I had no intention of actually re-reading it - I merely wanted to gaze upon it, handle it, and luxuriate in its presence and the sheer joy of owning an item of such aesthetic perfection.

But then disaster struck!  The next day I inadvertently dropped the book over the side of the settee and dunted a corner.  The putrid portrait in Dorian Gray's attic could not have presented a more terrible vision of ugliness and imperfection as that one crushed corner which so transfixed my horrified attention.  There was only one thing for it - to buy its twin with which it had recently shared a space in the spinner-rack of the shop from where I had purchased it.  I had acquired the first copy on a Friday afternoon after school, so, at the first available opportunity - which was Sunday morning - I rushed to the newsagent's and took possession of the doppelganger destined to assume the place of its maimed and mutilated companion.

Now I had two copies - one at which to gaze longingly in rapt admiration and appreciation of its awesome appearance, and one to - what, exactly?  Read?  Well, why not?  So that's precisely what I did!  It was on that second reading that the scales fell from my eyes and the wonder and mysteries and sheer beauty of Mr. Kenneth Grahame's (and Ernest H. Shepard's) captivating classic captured my heart and soul forever.  The River Bank, the Wild Wood, Toad, Ratty, Mole and Mr. Badger - and not forgetting the washerwoman, the pipes of Pan and the Stoats and the Weasels.

If you've never read The Wind In The Willows, do yourself a favour and do so before you die.  As A. A. Milne (the author of Winnie The Pooh and Toad Of Toad Hall) once wrote:  "When you sit down to it, don't be so ridiculous as to suppose that you are sitting in judgement on my taste, or on the art of Kenneth Grahame.  You are merely sitting in judgement on yourself.  You may be worthy:  I don't know.  But it is you who are on trial."

Truer words were never spoken.

    

ROLLICKIN' REPOST: ANOTHER KRACKING KOSMIC KIRBY (RE) KREATION BY KID...



Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

It's common knowledge that MARVEL's STAN (The Man) LEE sometimes rejected JACK (King) KIRBY's initial cover ideas and asked him to come up with another approach.  Such was the case with FANTASTIC FOUR #20, perhaps on the grounds that the good ol' FF - being covered with a coating of plaster - were not quite as dynamic (or recognizable) as Stan felt they should have been.  (And a stunted ALICIA MASTERS seemingly sprouting from the back of the menacing MOLECULE MAN wouldn't have helped.)

A few years back (1997  to be precise), The JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR printed a stat of the pencils of the unused cover, and I was consumed with a desire to see it in finished form.  I enlarged The THING slightly (Jack often drew him too small, compared to his original towering stature in FF #1) and "fixed" Alicia's position in the background.  I also decided to render the foursome without the plaster coating, the better to be able to see them.  TJCK printed it in one of their issues, but I forget which number.  Once again, there are a few areas which could stand improvement (The MOLECULE MAN lettering in the cover blurb for example) and maybe one day I'll eventually get around to doing it.

Anyway, I thought all you cavorting Criv-ites might like to see just how FF #20's cover could have looked.  (And maybe even does, in an alternative reality somewhere.)

A BALMY BREEZE BECKONS BENIGNLY...

A 1971 edition of the acclaimed classic

I've shown the colourful cover to this METHUEN paperback of KENNETH GRAHAME's The WIND In The WILLOWS before, but it's such a relaxing, tranquil scene (by E.H. SHEPARD, the book's definitive illustrator) that I thought I'd post it again for your quiet contemplation.  (Yes, I'm thoughtful that way.)  If you've never read this literary classic, then you really should get around to it before you fall off the twig.

CRIVENS' CLASSIC COMIC COVERS - SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY #141 (EXPANDED)...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's a great cover from the mid-'70s by KEITH POLLARD and DUFFY VOHLAND, which cleverly features all three stars of this MARVEL UK weekly periodical.  The spidey-signal on the wall ensures that SPIDER-MAN is no less present than THOR and IRON MAN, despite him being 'off-frame' (and his head in the corner box helps with that too).  A nice idea, neatly executed.

Inside, it's good to see that Marvel had abandoned the overpowering grey tones (which often came out as near-black) and let the artwork speak for itself.  If I remember correctly, eventually they returned to much more muted tones, which didn't obscure the line-work and subtly enhanced some panels.  For myself, I didn't mind the plain black and white, and the pages below ably demonstrate that it was far cleaner and, by and large, no less effective.