30-Day Comic Challenge Week 2

Day 8  -  A gorgeous comic

Burne Hogarth's adaptation of Tarzan Of The Apes was one of the first attempts at a graphic novel
( although the phrase hadn't yet been coined ) and is one of the most beautiful comics ever published. Stunning line work, dazzling colours and, of course, apes. ( We all loved apes in the 1970s. )

Day 9  -  A comic that totally blew your mind ( man )

Heavy Metal ( December 1978 )
My first issue of HM and what an introduction! Behind the generic SF cover I found the works of Moebius, Corben, Bilai, Druillet, Alcala, Angus McKie... mind indeed blown!

Day 10  -  Favourite writer

Well, it's Stan Lee, isn't it?
Looking back on Stan's work it's obviously corny, sentimental and hardly as literate as many that came after him ( Gerber, Engelhart, Moench, Wolfman, Moore, Gaiman et al ). But Stan's voice spoke to me as a kid about heroism, tolerance and just doing the right thing.

Day  11  -  Old comic you love

Obviously I love a lot of old comics but it's not all nostalgia. Here's a classic from before I was even born  -  yes, that long ago! The legendary Eagle ( "The new national strip cartoon weekly!" ) featuring, among many other strips, Frank Hampson's iconic Dan Dare.

I've got some collected Dan Dare strips ( the old, constantly falling-apart Dragon's Dream editions ) but you can't beat the original copies. Here are a few from my very small collection. The colours especially are just wonderful and something modern hi-falutin' printing can't recapture.

Day 12  -  Comic character you feel you are most like ( or wish you were )

Not sure how to answer this one, really. Maybe somewhere between these two?

Day 13  -   Great plot twist

Watchmen no. 12 ( October 1987 )

( SPOILERS! obviously, but this is from one of the most well-known graphic novels, from 34 years ago, so I think most people here  -  if there are any people here  -  will know what happened. )
So, near the end of the saga, after all the heroes' posturing, this happens...

Bam!

Day 14  -  A comic you love that you'll never read again (?)

Again, I don't really understand this category  -  like fellow Twitterer David H said "Is this a trick question?" If I love a comic I'll surely read it again. Except...

Although I think it's a landmark of the comic form, there are huge stretches of Dave Sim's Cerebus that I'll probably never read again. ( Ironic given my Blogger handle, really. )

I've still got a great admiration for Sim's artistic talent ( and Gerhard's! ) and his monumental feat of self-publishing  -  300 issues!  -  but so much of the later stuff is (a) boring and (b) deeply problematical. To be honest i carried on until the end of the series more out of habit than anything else and only skimmed the last few volumes. One day I'll sit down and properly read Guys, Form & Void, Going Home etc.  -  maybe I'll wait for the next lockdown...

And that's Week 2 done and, by my calculations ( I'm cleverer than I look ), that's half of the challenge accomplished. Hooray! If anyone else reading this ( Hello? Hello? Is that an echo? Echo? ) would like to take part, then please drop me a comment. I'd love to hear about your comic faves.

30-Day Comic Challenge Week 1

Hot on the heels ( as they say ) ( and why do they say that? ) of my 30-day song challenge, here comes another challenge for these slightly-less-locked-down-but-still-socially-distancing days.
Yes, it's another subject close to my cold, black heart  -  comics!

Day 1  -  Your favourite comic
Conan The Barbarian no. 24 ( March 1973 )

It's almost an impossible task to choose a favourite comic but I'll go with this one because it has a very special place in my heart. As I've banged on about before, my copy ( yep, the one above ) was bought for me by my parents in the legendary Dark They Were & Golden Eyed in ( I think ) 1978 on my first visit to that there London. Many, many years later I was lucky enough to have it signed by the even-more-legendary Roy ( The Boy ) Thomas himself. On top of all that, it's just one of THE greatest comics of the Bronze Age, skilfully scripted by Roy and boasting some beautiful, impossibly detailed artwork from Barry Windsor-Smith at the very height of his powers.

Day 2  -  A comic you recommend to everybody
The Hunt ( 2016 ) by Colin Lorimer

The Hunt is a spine-tingling, creepy slice of Irish folk horror by multi-talented artist, writer, storyboard-creator and friend of TGW-S, Colin Lorimer.

Here's the beautiful cover to issue 3 and above that is a signed print of some stunning interior artwork which Colin very kindly sent to me, all the way from Canada. Not only is he a very, very talented comics creator, he's also a great guy.

Day 3  -  A great adaptation of another work
Amazing Adventures Featuring Killraven  -  Warrior Of The Worlds

Roy Thomas ( it's that man again! ) and Don McGregor project HG Wells' War Of The Worlds into the future of a barbaric, dystopian Earth ( 2019 )  -  with the help, of course, of such awesome artists as Neal Adams, Herb Trimpe, Gene Colan and ( especially ) P Craig Russell. This series was one of the highlights of Marvel's 1970s output, a savage but philosophical examination of a world crushed under the heel tentacle of Martian invaders, and of the conflicted band of freedom fighters struggling to overcome their slimy conquerors. Here's my copy of issue 29, signed by Dauntless Don himself.

Day 4  -  First comic series you seriously pursued
Of course, it's The Mighty World Of Marvel  -  Nuff Said!

For many British comic fans of my generation, MWOM ( as it's affectionately called ) was our gateway into the world of far-out fantasy. An anthology comic that began by reprinting the early years of the Marvel Age ( starting with the debuts of The Hulk, The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man ), MWOM lasted through many incarnations over the decades, and kicked off the relatively short-lived but often glorious Marvel UK line. It really was Ground Zero for me and I soon went on to collect Spider-Man Comics Weekly, The Avengers, Planet Of The Apes, Dracula Lives, The Superheroes, The Titans, Captain Britain... the list goes on...

Day 5  -   A great love story
Swamp Thing and Abigail Cable

Only Alan Moore in his prime could craft the story of a love affair between the daughter of a super villain and a walking compost-heap and make it one of the most beautiful and sensitive romances in comics.
"My vegetable love should grow / Vaster than empires and more slow"  -  Andrew Marvell
( Pretentious? Moi? )

Day 6  -  A comic that is underrated
Starman ( 1994 - 2001 )

With its intricately-designed Opal City, huge cast of characters and deep dive into DC mythology, James Robinson & Tony Harris' Starman is, at heart, a very human story about the bonds of family

Day 7  -  Your comfort comic
Fantastic Four no. 51 ( June 1966 )

Possibly the single greatest work of the Lee / Kirby team ( with Joe Sinnott! )  -  a poignant but inspiring story of how even the worst of us can find heroism.And then there's THAT iconic cover! You can read more of my thoughts ( should you want to, of course, it's not mandatory ) on this classic comic here

So, yeah, week one done. Phew! If anyone would like to join in with the challenge please leave a comment. What are your favourites?

Portsmouth Comic Con 2019

A couple of weekends ago ( trust this blog to always be up to the minute! ) we spent two days in sunny Portsmouth, home of the Mary Rose, the HMS Victory, the Spinnaker Tower, and the beautiful Portsmouth Guildhall which was playing host to hundreds of Wookiees, superheroes, gamers and Imperial storm troopers. Yes, you guessed it, this was the Portsmouth Comic Con and a very impressive con it was too, definitely the biggest one I've been to so far. The major draw for me was the appearance of those comic book legends, "Rascally" Roy Thomas and "Stainless" Steve Engelhart, two of the defining writers of the Silver and Bronze Ages. This was also an opportunity to catch up with the nearly-as-legendary Kids From Rec Road, but more of them later...

Whilst Sarah headed off to Gunwharf Quays for some retail therapy James and I| plunged into the maelstrom of the con. It was really quite bewildering with room after room and floor upon floor filled with toys, games, comics, artwork, cosplayers, families, people with very poor bodily hygiene, all squeezed into a labyrinthine building which was lovely but didn't seem to follow any logical pattern. After a little while getting our bearings I made a beeline ( whatever that is ) for "Sturdy" Steve Engelhart himself who was signing comics in the artist / writer area ( I'm sure it had a snappier title than that! ). For those who don't know, Steve was one of THE most prolific writers of the Bronze Age of comics who had celebrated runs on some of the most important mags of the day  -  The Avengers, The Defenders, Justice League Of America, Doctor Strange, Captain America, Detective Comics  -  whilst also creating or co-creating and writing such characters as Star-Lord and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. In later years he also wrote an excellent update of the Fantastic Four as well as working for Malibu, Valiant and Topps. Phew! My personal fave of all his comics work was the time he spent with the following master of the mystic arts...

Naturally, this was the comic I'd brought from my own collection for Steve to sign. He was very gracious when I gushed about how much I'd loved this series as a young reader and how it had been ahead of its time in terms of philosophy and concepts. He told me briefly about the differing working relationships he'd had with artists Frank Brunner and Gene Colan on Doctor Strange  -  basically, Steve and Frank would brainstorm story ideas together over some jazz cigarettes and then Steve would shape those ideas into a story, whilst Gene was happy to work from a full script and didn't contribute to the plots. He also briefly touched on his time working with Marshall Rogers on Silver Surfer after I'd raved about that series too. Unfortunately our time was cut short after someone reminded Steve that he was due on a panel so I had to move on, but at least I'd spoken to one of my all-time favourite comics authors who had turned out to be a lovely bloke... and he'd signed my comic...

James and I legged it to the Guildhall's impressive council chambers for Steve's panel. Here we heard him repeat the stories he'd just told me about Doctor Strange and the Surfer, as well as further fascinating anecdotes about writing Captain America in the Watergate era, working with Marshall Rogers on Detective Comics, and his later creator-owned characters like Coyote and Scorpio Rose. Also at the panel were my ol' blog buddy Pete Doree of The Bronze Age Of Blogs and Kids From Rec Road fame, and Colin Brown, curator of the John M Burns Art Facebook page. We had a quick chat after the panel before going on separate quests. ( There's a wonderfully in depth post about this con on Pete's blog, which you can read here. He's remembered loads of stuff so I don't have to... )

James and I took a quick detour down to Gunwharf Quays to meet Sarah for some lunch and then it was back to the con. After nosing around the various stalls etc and briefly chatting with the guys from Knockabout Comics I queued up to meet the Rascally One himself... Mr. Roy "The Boy" Thomas...

Yeah, here I am with THE Roy Thomas! As someone who's been reading Roy's comics for nearly as long as I've actually been able to read this was an exciting, and surreal, experience.As with my meetings with Steve Engelhart and "Dauntless" Don McGregor last year I found it incredibly hard to encapsulate decades' worth of time reading and enjoying the man's work in the short time I had with him. ( I didn't get off to a great start when I shook Roy's hand and he said "Wow! You've got a strong grip... and I've got arthritis." Oops! ) Anyway, he was perfectly charming and allowed me to burble on about what a fan I am  -  I'm sure he hears this stuff all the time. For a long time, of course, Roy was Stan Lee's right hand man at Marvel Comics, taking over the reigns himself as Editor in Chief when The Man moved on to Hollywood, and is a legendary figure in the industry. He had a stellar career writing mostly for Marvel and DC ( excelling at team books like the FF, X-Men, Avengers, Invaders, Justice Society Of America, Infinity Inc ) but one of his characters clearly stands head and overly-muscled shoulders above all the rest and was the obvious choice when I was thinking of getting a signature...

Okay, Conan The Barbarian wasn't actually created by Roy ( that honour of course goes to the legendary Robert E Howard ) but he's probably the most important character that Roy developed for Marvel and he's the character that is the most associated with the Rascally One. And it was always going to be this exact comic that I'd like to have signed, Conan The Barbarian #24 from March 1973, the last regular issue to feature the incomparable art of Barry Windsor-Smith. I've had this issue since ( I think ) the Christmas of 1978. Back in the Summer of that long-ago year ( imagine? 41 years! ) we'd had a family holiday in that there London and I'd had my mind blown by my very first visit to a comic shop, the legendary ( there's a lot of "legendary" in this post ) Dark They Were & Golden Eyed. For my first glimpse of the world of comics retail, before the advent of such faceless shops as Forbidden Planet, DTY&GE was a pretty cool place to start. A veritable Aladdin's cave of comics, posters, "head shop" products and ephemera, it was a wonderful place to visit and I easily blew my limited budget. And then I came across a copy of CTB #24. I persuaded my parents to buy it for me but they kept it as a Christmas present so I had to wait half a year before I could marvel at Roy and Barry's four-colour masterpiece, The Song Of Red Sonja.

( Yes, it was a pretty good Christmas morning! )
As with my chat with Steve Engelhart I was aware that that there was still a queue of people behind me waiting to see the great man so I didn't hang around too long. I had a quick word with Roy about The Hero Initiative, the charity he's involved with which raises funds for healthcare for veteran comics creators ( read about its good works here ), gave some money to the cause and then moved on. It had only been a short moment really but... I'd met Roy Thomas! Very, very happy.
( Incidentally, did you notice that Roy signed the above with a Biro not a marker pen? He was concerned that the thicker ink from a marker pen might show through on the next page. Pete and I were talking about this recently and he remarked on how respectful Steve and Roy were for the artwork on the covers they signed  -  they always tried not to cover important parts of the art. A small but very telling point. )

In between these encounters with awesome authors I did manage to rummage around the long-boxes for some bargains. Unfortunately these were in short supply  -  for all its good points, the Portsmouth Comic Con was severely lacking in yer actual comics, in fact it's probably the poorest one I've been to in terms of back issues. ( I mean proper back issues, not just year-old American comics at a slightly reduced price. ) And, of course, virtually no British comics at all. I only picked up two
 ( two! ) comics  -  an issue of  Warren Ellis & John Cassady's wonderful Planetary ( only one issue of the series to go to complete my collection ) and this Fourth World wonder from the King himself...

As the day began to wind down we headed to the local Wetherspoon's ( only the best pubs for us! ) to meet up with the Kids From Rec Road for a swift drink before we went our separate ways. Although the dreaded ( and pseudonymous ) Arnold Lipschitz didn't show, I still caught up with Pete ( blogger extraordinaire! ), the mega-talented and award-winning Sean Phillips, and met the third of the Kids  -  Dave H who actually lives in good ol' Gloucester just like your humble blogger. It's a small world but I wouldn't want to paint it etc. etc. Here are the Kids in full flow, with Dave explaining just why Marvel are better than DC ( probably )

Not long after I took this photo, Sean headed back into the Guildhall for the Tripwire Awards where he won for Best Artist and Best Original Graphic Novel  -  very well deserved!
Whilst Sarah, James and I headed off as well  -  to our hotel just outside Portsmouth and an extremely average meal in a local restaurant. We then spent the next day in sunny Portsmouth, more to follow...

So, a fun day out with some fine people  -  shall we do it again next year?

Comics 1973

It's customary at this time of year for people ( and bloggers ) to take stock, to cast an eye back over the events of the past 12 months. Well... I'm not doing that here. Instead I'm looking back at a time 40 years ago when I was just a nipper and the universe was less than half its present size... or something. Looking at various years for my Mammoth Movie Meme series I realised that 1973 was one of my favourite years for movies, music and, indeed, comic books. So, I thought I'd do a few posts on that far-off time, starting with comics, probably not always the most important ones of the time, but long-time faves of mine  -  and I'll have to acknowledge here the wonderful work of fellow bloggers Steve W and Booksteve who have also covered similar ground on their own respective blogs...

 

First up is Savage Tales no. 2, a barbaric bonanza of Hyborian high jinks, featuring everyone's favourite Cimmerian in the classic Red Nails. It's a moodily faithful adaptation of Robert E Howard's short story with a fine script from Roy Thomas and absolutely jaw-dropping artwork by Barry ( Windsor ) Smith. This story definitely ties for my All-Time Fave Conan Comic Story Ever Ever with The Song Of Red Sonja from the same creative team. It really is the good stuff, by Crom...

 

As a total contrast, in Captain Marvel no.29 our space-faring Kree super-soldier takes time out from his battle with death-god Thanos to have a suspiciously psychedelic conversation with one of those all-knowing extra-terrestrials that always seemed to crop up in 1970s Marvel comics ( except for Night Nurse )  -  and thereby attain cosmic consciousness. OK. I'm not sure what Jim Starlin was smoking back then, but I'm glad he was, because he was really pushing the boundaries of what could be presented in mainstream comics at the time. This strip was, at the time, a fairly unique blend of science fiction, philosophy and Starlin's patented cosmic angst... before that became a bit tiresome. And that Starlin / Romita cover is awesome! Maaaan!

 

It's that Cimmerian again! Conan The Barbarian no. 32 sees our bare-chested battler caught up in nefarious goings-on in a fantasy version of China, and getting tangled up with the squid lady on the great Gil Kane / Ernie Chan cover above. And the John Buscema / Chan artwork inside the mag is a thing of beauty too.

Meanwhile, in Defenders no. 11, Doc Strange and his non-team of misfits have barely drawn breath after the end of the Avengers / Defenders War before they get whisked away to the Middle Ages where the Crusades are being further complicated by an evil wizard. Speaking of wizardry, continuity-magician Steve Englehart here manages to tidy up half a dozen plot-lines whilst spinning more, without seemingly batting an eyelid. I always loved these glimpses into the myths and legends of the Marvel Universe, before it all got too convoluted to follow...

Fantastic Four no. 142 introduces Darkoth the Death-Demon, a suitably Kirby-esque creation from the pencil of Rich Buckler. I always had a soft spot for ol' Darkoth, even though he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the box. ( Oh, and if you're wondering who is "the most sinister super-villain of all" as announced on the cover... well, it's the Fantastic Four... take a guess... )

Whoops! Spoilt it.

Over in the DC Universe, in Justice League Of America no. 110 to be precise, things get more festive as "TV's Super-Friends" have to deal with some Ho-Ho-Homicide. Someone's murdered Santa ( notice my resistance to using a "sleigh"-based pun ) and the JLA, along with stand-in Green Lantern John Stewart, have to deal with the bizarre villain The Key before everyone can eat their mince pies in peace. Quite a grim story but it ends on a positive note as Stewart uses his Power-Ring abilities to spread some Christmas cheer among the slums of the DCU. One of the reprints in the 100-page comic is a classic from the Golden Age with the Justice Society also dealing with social problems, this time juvenile delinquency. Nowadays the biggest delinquents in comics seem to be the "super heroes" themselves...

Doctor Strange is again in trouble in Marvel Premiere no. 10 as he fights the Lovecraft-inspired monstrosity Shuma-Gorath, which has taken up residency inside the Ancient One's mind. Obviously there was no room at the inn for tentacled Elder Gods. The dream Doc team of Steve Engelhart and Frank Brunner pull out all the metaphysical stops as Strange plunges deep into his master's subconscious and realises he will have to kill the Ancient One in order to save the world. As they used to say, it's far-out fantasy in the mighty Marvel manner.

In a less philosophical plot Mister Miracle no. 14 sees the world's greatest escape artist and pint-sized sidekick Oberon investigate a "haunted" house which turns out to be a front for a criminal organisation led by the fantastically-monikered Madame Evil Eyes. This is Mister Miracle with all the Fourth World references dropped from the strip ( sadly ) and Jack Kirby just having a ball with insane characters and spooky, Gothic situations. Not a great work of literature... but great fun.

 

Special Marvel Edition no. 15 is a landmark comic, featuring as it does the debut of Shang-Chi, Master Of Kung Fu. Although my favourite run of this strip is the Kung Fu / espionage mash-up of the Doug Moench / Paul Gulacy era, this establishing story by Steve Engelhart ( yes, him again ) and Jim Starlin ( yes, him again too ) is a terrific, two-fisted introduction to Chi, Nayland Smith, Petrie and the Devil Doctor himself, Fu Manchu. In 1973 everybody was indeed Kung Fu fightin'...

Although it's probably very uncool to say so, I was a big fan of Krypton's Last Son when I was a kid and Superman no. 263 is a great example of the kind of Supes story I grew up reading. It's a suitably dreamlike tale of an angry movie director who is given the power to have revenge on Superman by a character called Doctor Phoenix. The director sacrifices his ability to dream in return for bringing nightmarish scenarios to life. Superman goes through various torments in the story, including being turned into the titular "Man Of Molten Steel". There's some beautiful artwork throughout by the ultimate Superman art team ( in my opinion ) of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson. And that impressive photo-collage cover by Neal Adams too...

More living nightmares in Swamp Thing no. 5 as creators Len Wein and Berni Wrightson carry on working through old Horror movie themes, this issue covering witches, familiars and torch-bearing mobs. Wrightson's beautiful, intricate artwork conjures up the look of old woodcut illustrations as Swampy battles his way through a village full of gurning grotesques.

And yet more Horror in Tomb Of Dracula no. 12... but then that's what you would expect really. It's a pivotal issue in this long-running series as Edith Harker, daughter of wheelchair-bound vampire hunter Quincy Harker, is fanged by the Count himself, forcing Harker to stake his own daughter. From these early issues and all through the comic's life, main writer Marv Wolfman was never afraid to change the strip's status quo and confront his characters with realistic dilemmas and emotions. And vampires. ( I really need to post more about TOD, without doubt one of the best Marvel series ever. And I'm sure I've said that before. Maybe one day... )

I'll finish with issue no. 8 of the short-lived but fondly-remembered ( by me,

anyway ) Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Villains. This was a showcase for Golden and Silver Age reprints featuring ( you've guessed it ) villains, villains and more villains. This issue resurrected the frankly ludicrous Mister Who and also the Flash's coolest enemy, Captain Cold. I loved the Wanted poster designs on the covers  -  real "high concept" stuff. This was an experiment that was never going to run and run but it was fun while it lasted.

So, those were some of my comic book highlights of 1973. If you'd like to share any similar memories ( dear reader ) I'd love to hear 'em. Excelsior!

Soundtrack: Fireworks going off outside ( well, it is New Year's Eve )

I'm back...did you notice I'd been away?

We've finally had our PC fixed so I might be able to get back to whatever passes for normal around these 'ere parts. I'm very conscious of the fact that I'm two weeks behind on the Doctor Who reviews

( I know, I know... no-one's forcing me to write this stuff, but I do feel like some kind of slacker ) and I also have a handful of film and gig reviews and totally self-indulgent holiday snaps to post as well. For now, here's some assorted randomness...