AN AGE UNDREAMT OF - EXCEPT IN DREAMS (UPDATED)...

CONAN copyright Estate of R.E. HOWARD

Must've been back around 1971 I guess.  I was sitting on the back doorstep of a friend's house, going through a pile of comics his neighbour had given him.  Among them was the first issue of a mag about a barbarian hero, in which one of the villains had a vision of space travel, oddly incongruous in a sword and sorcery tale set in forgotten ancient times I thought.  (Many years later, the story's writer, ROY THOMAS, came to the same conclusion.)

Yes, it was CONAN The BARBARIAN #1, and I read the tale again four years later when it was reprinted in MARVEL UK's weekly comic, SAVAGE SWORD Of CONAN.  (In between, I got to read the fifth issue in the series when it was reprinted in the MARVEL Annual for 1973.)  That short span somehow seemed like an immense gulf to me back then, but I immediately 'saw' myself in my mind's eye, sitting on that very same back door-step.  Around five years or so ago, I was in the house once more (for the first time in nearly 30 years) and took quite a few photos of the front and rear gardens, essentially unchanged since my friend had moved into the house in the late '60s or beginning of the '70s.

Not long after my visit, the back garden was remodelled and changes were instituted, making me glad I'd had the foresight to pictorially capture its appearance as it had been in 'my' day.  Sadly, my childhood friend's mother died recently, meaning that I'll probably never see the inside of the house (or stand in its garden) again, as it will eventually be sold and the proceeds divided among the family, as is the way of things under such sad circumstances.  (He himself had moved out many years ago and his mother lived alone.)

You may be wondering why I'm telling you this as if you're at all interested.  Well, it's simply because I recently acquired a copy of that first issue of Conan, and whenever I look at it, I'm once again back on that step, looking through a bunch of comics as if there's no end of tomorrows, in an age when each new day seemed to last... well, perhaps not forever, but at least far longer than 24 hours does nowadays.

And yes, that's the cover to my very own issue of CTB #1 at the top of the post - isn't it a beauty?!  (Incidentally, I know the post's title makes no real sense, but hey - it captured your attention, didn't it?)

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Update, Saturday 31st March, 2018:  Today, I was back in the house again, and once more occupied that back step - holding the very issue of CTB that you see atop this post and reliving the moment from nearly 40 years before.  And thus the connection between house and comic is re-established, and things have turned full circle.  The house will soon be sold, but my memories (and hopefully my first issue of Conan) shall endure.

And would you believe it - the very back garden (and step) itself

Update, Thursday 17th May, 2018:  Back again this evening, this time got a photo of myself on back step with comic, below.

PSST! WANNA KNOW SOMETHING? THEN LOOK AND LEARN...

Images copyright LOOK And LEARN MAGAZINE Ltd

LOOK And LEARN was created by LEONARD MATTHEWS, editorial director of the juvenile department of FLEETWAY PUBLICATIONS, and was a weekly educational periodical designed for children.  It ran from 1962 until 1982, which means that it's now been gone from newsagents' shelves for 35 years - almost twice as long as it's 20 year run.  I never bought it back in the day, though I was aware of the magazine as it always seemed to lie around in doctors' and dentists' waiting rooms, and I'm sure the schools I attended also used to have issues of it dotted around the classrooms from time to time.  (I did start buying it around 1977 for a few months, and I still have those issues tucked away in a drawer somewhere.)

Probably Look And Learn's most famous strip was one that originated in RANGER, jumping over to the former publication when the two titles merged in 1966 - namely The TRIGAN EMPIRE by MIKE BUTTERWORTH and DON LAWRENCE.  The magazine featured the cream of the crop of British artists, names such as RON and GERRY EMBLETON, ERIC PARKER, OLIVER FREY, and far too many others to mention.  (There were also some foreign artists whose work appeared in its pages I believe.)

Look And Learn eventually became too expensive to produce for the declining number of readers who bought the magazine, and it ceased publication with issue #1049, cover-dated April 17th 1982.  Enjoy looking at the following select pages from the very first issue, cover-dated January 20th 1962, and I've even included the cover of the free gift, which you can see at the bottom of the post.  Did any of you Criv-ites buy Look And Learn in the '60s and '70s?  If so, feel free to share any reminiscences you may have of this quality magazine in our cultured comments section.

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(I don't believe it - I originally said Bernard Matthews instead of Leonard, even though I had 'Leonard' in my mind as I typed.  The decay has definitely set in.  No comments on it however, so perhaps no one noticed.)        

WHO YA GONNA CALL? SEND FOR KELLY...

SEND FOR KELLY was one of The TOPPER's comic strip delights, drawn by GEORGE MARTIN and first appearing in the weekly periodical in 1961.  Along with his assistant CEDRIC, Kelly was a secret agent who pre-dated the JAMES BOND movies, so he was more than a mere cash-in on the '60s spy fad that Bond created.  Here's the back page from the issue whose cover I showed you in a previous post.

BABE OF THE DAY - DANA GILLESPIE...

What can one say about DANA GILLESPIE?

Well, how about she's easier on the eye than DANA

ANDREWS.  (If you want anything else, you can

write it yourselves.  I'm off for a cuppa.)

THE TOAD CAME HOME (AGAIN)...

Thought you all might like to see this great Mr. TOAD porcelain figurine by WADE, which I acquired through ebay recently for a (surprisingly) few paltry quid.  It's based on a drawing by E.H. SHEPARD and captures it perfectly.  I thought it would be around two and a half inches high, like the other Wade figurines I have, but it's actually closer to twice that height.  Wotta bargain!

THE IRON MAN FROM EAGLE...

Copyright relevant owner

Due to overwhelming demand (nope, not a peep from anyone), I've decided to show you The IRON MAN strip from the very same issue of EAGLE as in the previous post.  This looks as if it was originally published in colour somewhere else before its b&w appearance in Eagle, but I don't have a Scooby where.  If you know, inform the rest of us and lift the heavy, burdensome veil of ignorance from our puzzled, furrowed brows.  Nice art, eh?  Why not extol its virtues in the comments section?

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Come to think of it, The Iron Man first appeared in BOYS' WORLD before it was merged with Eagle, so perhaps this strip is a reprint from that short-lived title. Illustrators on the strip were GERRY EMBLETON (brother of RON), and also MARTIN SALVADOR, who I'm guessing drew these two pages as they don't look like Gerry's style.  Again, anyone know?  

TALES OF ASGARD - AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE (MAYBE)...

Images copyright relevant owners & MARVEL COMICS

The once high-flying EAGLE was in trouble by 1968 and had been for a while.  It was merged with LION in 1969, but before that happened, the comic adopted the approach of its POWER COMICS stablemates and adopted a MARVEL strip in the hope it might help change its fortunes.  Eagle had originally been published by HULTON PRESS, but was now part of the ODHAMS PRESS stable, so such an approach wasn't as strange as it might seem.

Adopted and adapted, as the strip was resized into two pages, more in keeping with the larger, panel-heavier format of British comics.  I have to say that the two-tone finish looks good on JACK KIRBY's art, only having been seen this way before in single panels on the black and white contents pages inside the front covers of MARVEL COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS.

I also have to say that some aspects of the resizing are deficient, as the gutters are a bit too narrow between a few panels and there's absolutely no excuse for it.  This is quite a common fault in UK comics, and with just a little bit of extra care and attention, these pages could've (and should've) looked as if they were originally produced in this format.  When I resized pages for the IPC comic libraries, I always made sure that the size of the gutters was consistent. 

Incidentally, the IRON MAN above is not Marvel's Iron Man (obviously), but an altogether different character.  Want to see his strip?  Then let me know, frantic ones, as you're the real editors of this blog.  (That's a blatant lie of course, but it sounded good when STAN LEE said it, so I thought I'd give it a go.)

CLASSIC COMICS OF YESTERYEAR: YOGI & HIS TOY #1 - COMPLETE ISSUE...

Characters copyright HANNA-BARBERA

Well, okay, it's arguable whether this particular periodical can rightly be regarded as a 'classic', but that's how I regard it as I bought it when it first went on sale in February of 1972.  I was 13 years old and clearly too old for the comic, which was aimed at much younger readers, but I was always a sucker for anything to do with YOGI BEAR.  It seems to me that I was in the house I then lived in for quite some time after this title came out, so I'm surprised to discover that I moved to another residence in another neighbourhood a mere four months later.  Funny how the mind plays tricks, eh?

Anyway, if you had this comic back in 1972, then now you have it again - and if you didn't, then you do now.  Everybody's a winner - unless you're not a Yogi Bear fan that is.  That's unthinkable of course.

(Incidentally, I haven't cleaned up the pages too much, which still show some of the marks of time. I've only whitened up the margins and gutters just a tad.)    

LAUREL & HARDY IN SOAP & WATER...

Just saw this over on MARK EVANIER's blog - very funny, but contains a bit of swearing. It's PETER SERAFINOWICZ's parody of the two great comedians, LAUREL & HARDY.  Check it out.

YOU CAN'T MAKE A MONKEY OUT OF MICKEY - 'COS HE ALREADY IS ONE...

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

The famous Oor WULLIE from The SUNDAY POST introduces #649 of The TOPPER, wherein MICKEY The MONKEY gets up to his usual antics in order to amuse the readers.  Once again, DUDLEY D. WATKINS shows many of today's lesser artists how it's done, with clear, simple storytelling that doesn't induce a headache trying to figure out what's going on.  When I acquired this comic many years ago, it was folded in half (like The BEEZER in the previous post), so you'll have to forgive the crease in the middle of the cover, and the rippling shadows resulting from it.

GINGER DOES A BEEZER...

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

Above is the cover of my own copy of The BEEZER #600.  If you behave yourselves, I may show further pages from this landmark issue.  Look at how easy on the eye DUDLEY D. WATKINS' art is - he made it seem simple.  Some of today's newer artists, whose pages are abstract, convoluted and difficult to follow assaults on the senses, could sure do with taking a leaf out of D.D.W.'s work.

I'm almost ashamed of how I used to take this comic - and dozens of others - for granted when I was younger, as I'm sure we all did back in the day.  It seemed to us that theses comics had always been around and always would be, but, alas, we now know different, much to our cost, and also that of today's generation of comics readers.

Did you buy Beezer back in the day?  What's your abiding memory of this iconic comic?  Tell all in the comments section.

STOP THAT CAR - IT'S MINE!

PHILIP MARSHALL lived four rows away from me in the '60s and early '70s and inherited the mantle of superhero sidekick to yours truly after his predecessor, JOHN FIDLER, hung up his cape and domino mask when we retired our well-worn BATMAN and ROBIN identities.  (If you're wondering what I'm on about, see here.)  Philip was even more enthusiastic about costuming-up than John had been, so we became POWER MAN and WONDER MAN, and ran about our neighbourhood totally oblivious to how ridiculous we must've looked.  However, that's perhaps a tale for another time, as our alter-egos aren't really relevant in this rambling reminiscence.  Philip is though.

It was on or around the occasion of my birthday, perhaps my 9th or 10th.  I had money to spend and I spent it in my local WOOLWORTH'S, buying a MATCHBOX VOLKSWAGON 1600 TL, a Table Tennis (Ping Pong) set, and, I think, two wooden tops (which were a second pair, having acquired the previous ones back around 1963).  The tops may've been bought on another day, but for some reason I associate them with the other two items, so then again, maybe not.  I'd bought the car because it was red, my favourite colour, and at some stage down the line (months at least, at a guess), Philip Marshall asked me if he could borrow it to play with for a while.

Eventually, I realised that he'd had it for quite some time (weeks at least), and remember chapping his door to ask for it back.  I probably had to do it more than once because he claimed he'd forgotten where it was, but, strangely, I'm now uncertain as to whether I ever actually ever got it back or not.  Well, it may've taken me nearly 50 years, but I recently took possession of a replacement for my beloved and never-forgotten little red car (with opening doors), which you see in the photo that opens this post.  The car and box cost me less than a tenner (not counting p&p) on ebay, though pristine examples can go for as high as £50 or more.

So that's one more childhood item re-acquired before I fall off the twig.  What will I turn my sights on next?  Whatever it is, you'll no doubt read about it here on CRIVENS!  I can stand it if you can.

"- - AND SOON SHALL COME: THE ENCHANTERS!" (IF YOU CAN CALL NEARLY 50 YEARS 'SOON')...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Sometime back in 1968, I bought a copy of the above THOR comic (#143), and had fun comparing it with its British reprint in a couple of issues of SMASH!  I think I got the US comic first, but after 49 years I couldn't swear to the order I acquired them.  I read the story again in the '70s when it was reprinted in SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY, but in 1979 a pal gave me a copy of the subsequent issue, #144.  I'd previously read the UK reprints of this story in Smash! and SMCW, but this was the first time I saw it in colour.  It wasn't in great condition, so I cut a couple of panels out to put up on my wall (one of them's still there, the other lies in wait somewhere), but I don't recall being struck by the magnitude of obtaining this follow-up issue a whopping 11 years after its predecessor.  That was over half my life away at that time and such facts usually left an impression on me.

Anyway, I obtained a replacement for #143 many years ago (and it featured in one of my FAVOURITE COMICS OF THE PAST posts a few years back), and on Thursday I received #144, finally owning both issues at the same time, something I hadn't managed to do back in the '60s (or the '70s).  The first of these issues introduce The ENCHANTERS, two of whom Thor defeats in the next ish, with ODIN dealing with the third one in #145.  I already have all 3 comics reprinted in MASTERWORKS, OMNIBUS, and EPIC editions, but you know me - I like to be thorough so I may purchase #145 one day just to complete the 'trilogy'.  (Update: Bought one on ebay, so it's now scanned and added to the post.) 

So, Criv-ite chums, enjoy the covers of all three comics, the first two of which were, as I said, originally separated in my life by 11 years, and the second and third by 40 years.  To reiterate:  Got my original copy of the first in 1968, the second in 1979, and the third in 2017 - meaning I now own all three comics for the first time at the same time 50 years after they were first published.  Why do I feel I've accomplished something significant?  And why do I also feel that you all think I'm totally bonkers?  H'mm, don't bother answering that second question - just enjoy these three covers by JACK KIRBY.

   

SUPERMAN'S WORLD ADVENTURES...

SUPERMAN copyright DC COMICS

If I remember rightly, these WORLD ADVENTURE LIBRARY text stories (with illustrations) never read 'quite right'.  There was always something about them that suggested the writer wasn't too conversant with the characters whose adventures he was relating.  However, having had this SUPERMAN 'book' when I was a kid, I couldn't pass up the chance of owning it again when I saw it on ebay recently, and it now joins the ranks of the two BATMAN companion publications in my collection.  I got a replacement for the 2nd issue of the Batman one in Gosport in 1981 (meaning I've now had it for far, far longer than I ever had  my original '60s copy), and I got a replacement for the first ish a couple or so years back.

Guess I really must get around to actually reading them one day - hopefully before too much longer.

(And, yes, I agree - the above cover does seem like little more than a 'rough'.  The space for the shilling price has been indicated by the artist, but ignored, and there's too much space between the logo and the illustration underneath.)

Did you have any of these publications when you were a kid, readers?  Share your reminiscences of them in the comments section.  

TOYS 'R' ME...

Regular reader (and sometimes commenter) CJ asked me if all four of my walls are covered in posters or merely one.  He'd obviously forgotten seeing these photos the first time they were posted, so going on the assumption that others of you will have done the same, I thought I'd show them again.  True, I was taking photos of the toys rather than the posters, but you can still see them in most instances.  Some of them duplicate others, but there are two (even three) sets of photos here, taken a few years apart, so there'll be slight differences between them.  And remember - this is only one room.  (I had to pack all the toys away a couple or so years ago, and haven't yet put them back out.  Maybe one day.)