Comics comics comics

Yes, comics. 

Specifically a few mags I've picked up recently, most from the aptly-named Fantastic Store on the Isle of Wight. Fantastic Four no. 56 ( Nov. 1966 ) is slightly older than me and is in slightly better condition than me. This was one of the few affordable issues of the Lee / Kirby FF that I didn't own, so £25 for a decent-looking copy seemed reasonable. "Klaw, The Murderous Master of Sound" sees the return of Ulysses Klaw, the Black Panther's nemesis who, while only being introduced a couple of issues previously as a murderous soldier of fortune, has now been upgraded to become a creature of solidified sound. Not even Charles Atlas could transform eager young incels that quickly. With an ill-defined plan to lure and capture the Panther, Klaw launches an attack on the Baxter Building, only to have his solidified-sound arse kicked by Reed, Sue and Ben ( Johnny is off on a quest to find his missing Inhuman girlfriend, Crystal, and mope about like a proper moody teenager while he's doing so ). This issue, which also features cameos from the Black Panther, The Inhumans and the Silver Surfer, is a minor segment in the sprawling super hero soap opera which was the FF of Stan & Jack's glory years, but it's still good fun. Kirby's bombastic action scenes are as explosive as ever and he finds, er, space to slot in an impressively weird denizen of Sub-Space ( aka the Negative Zone ), prompting The Thing to utter the immortal dialogue "Nuts! Ya can buy my share'a sub-space for a plugged nickel!" as seen below:

I've never really been into war comics, but this couple of anniversary issues with their cool Joe Kubert covers seemed worth a look.

The Unknown Soldier no. 250 ( April 1981 )

The Traitor Without A Face is a full-length story ( unusual in a war book of the time ) which leads us to believe the bandage-faced anti hero has swapped sides and is cozying up to Hitler and co. Just about all of DC's war heroes ( including Sgt. Rock, The Losers, Mlle Marie and even the Haunted Tank ) turn up to take the Soldier down. Of course, it's all a double-bluff, as the semi-Mummy is actually on a secret mission to shut down a nazi germ-warfare project. It's a typically outlandish, logic-defying story from "Zany" Bob Haney, with some fine layouts from old dependable Dick Ayers and lush inking from Gerry Talaoc.

Weird War Tales no. 100 ( June 1981 ) is less successful and more of a mixed bag. The main story ( Dinosaur Convoy by writer Mike W. Barr, and artists Bob Hall and Jerry Ordway ) is a crossover between The Creature Commandos and the War That Time Forgot series. Neither artist seems very comfortable with the subject matter and it all looks very bland, certainly nowhere near as dynamic as Kubert's cover illustration. More interesting is back-up strip The Scavengers by John Warner and the enigmatically-named Vacatan, which is a dark fable of feudal Japan with moody artwork and some surprising black humour.

Howard The Duck no. 2 ( Dec. 1979 ) is from the post-Gerber era, when Marvel were attempting to relaunch the temperamental fowl in a B&W magazine, without his co-creator ( let's not forget Val Mayerik! ) and without Comics Code restrictions. The magazine and strip were, of course, short-lived and suffered without Steve Gerber's idiosyncratic, acerbic stories and philosophy. The first strip in this issue is a bitter swipe at the House of the Mouse for threatening to sue Marvel over the Duck's appearance, and forcing the character to change his image, in theory to look less like D****d D**k... which he never really did. In the story, failing clothing designer Wally Sydney ( ha ha sounds a bit like W**t D****y, get it? ) whips up hysteria about the fact that animals are naked (?), causing the Cleveland branch of the Moral Majority to go around picketing pet stores and the like. "Illegalize pet porno!" they shout at one point. The upshot of this madness is Howard ends up having to wear trousers and Sydney makes money by selling more clothes. The satire is pretty clumsy and Howard acts totally out of character by giving in to the pants pressure, but at least the artwork by Gene Colan and Klaus Janson makes up for it. The second story, featuring the return of Howard's first nemesis, Pro Rata, the financial wizard, is overlong and unfunny, with Dave Simons' inks being a poor match for Colan's pencil work. In one panel, it looks like one of Colan's images of a half-dressed Beverly Switzler ( Howard's human gf ) has been redrawn, possibly by Simons. So much for the lack of editorial interference...

Crazy no. 63 ( June 1980 )

By 1980, Crazy had been daring to be dumb for quite a few years and was on its last legs. I didn't expect this mag to be particularly great, but you rarely see these in the wild so I thought I'd give it a go. As a humour mag, this issue is about as funny as Embalmers' Weekly* ( now in it's 150th year of publication! ) but it does feature another Howard the Duck appearance. Unfortunately, this Roger Stern-scripted strip is even more pointless than the Bill Mantlo stories in Howard's own mag. There's some nice artwork by Vicente Alcazar, but that's about it. The Apocalypse Now parody features some pretty decent caricatures of the movie's cast, but that's all I can really say about this issue of not-so-Crazy-actually...

The Titans no. 1 ( Week ending Oct. 25th 1975 )

This purchase was purely out of nostalgia. I was intrigued by Marvel UK's unusual, landscape format back when I was ( *checks notes... OMG! ) 8 years old and The Titans was an instant hit with me. Unfortunately, I didn't get the first issue and have never owned a copy since that dim and distant year of 1975 so, for £6.50, I finally picked up that "Fabulous First Issue". There's an overdose of Kirby's Kosmic Kreations inside: Jack Kirby's artwork takes up the first half of the comic, with classic tales of The Inhumans, Agent of SHIELD and Captain America. The King even gets a writing credit on the Inhumans strip, which was rare for his career at Marvel. There's a lovely reprint of the first solo 1960s Sub-Mariner strip, "The Start of The Quest", with some cool, aquatic artwork by Gene Colan ( he's getting a lot of love in this post ) and the much-maligned Vince Colletta. The whole issue is a great package, which introduced me to some groovy Silver Age stories back in the day, and is fun to finally read. No free full-colour poster, unfortunately, so the Quest continues...

And, to finish, here's the wonderful Fantastic Store where I picked up these cool comics. If you' ever find yourself on the exotic Isle of Wight, I'd recommend you drop in and sample its delights.

*You'll be astonished to learn that Embalmers' Weekly doesn't actually exist. But maybe it should. 

NICE Con ( Bedford ) 2023

 

From the Better Late Than Nearly Never files: here are some of the goodies I picked up at Bedford's wonderful NICE con a month ago. First off, a couple of issues of Stan & Jack and the only issue ( so far! ) of The Kids From Rec Road from my ol' blogging buddy, Peerless Pete Doree. As ever, these timeless tomes are frantically filled with splendid super hero satire, merciless mirth and creative cartooning, and will have you talking in agonising alliteration for doggoned days afterwards. Excelsior! You can order Pete's magnificent mags from his Big Cartel page here  -  and I think you should, Pilgrim.

And, speaking of British indie comics, I also picked up these beauties from the publisher of The '77 Comic. For those of us of a certain age, these artfully-constructed homages to British "papers" of the 1970s are like comics catnip. Evoking memories of Warlord, Action and Bullet ( Blazer ), and Misty or Spellbound ( Pandora ), they're an affectionate update of the boys' and girls' comics that were read in playgrounds throughout the UK back in the days of flares and hot pants. ( Calm down, it was only flares in my case. ) I had a long chat with the line's publisher ( didn't catch his name, unfortunately ) and we discussed the comics of our youth like a right pair of old fogeys. His sales pitch obviously worked as I bought these issues... which cost slightly more than their 1970s inspirations would have. But, they're good fun with a pretty consistent quality for indie comics. He told me that they'll soon be printing an original graphic novel from comics legend Ian Gibson, so that should be worth seeking out.

Of course, I had to trawl through the long-boxes for some Silver and Bronze Age mags. I was on a slight budget here, but I found some bargains, as you can see below  -  all under a tenner! Some fun stories with artwork from an array of industry greats: Ross Andru, Gene Colan, Jack "King" Kirby and the unbeatable Superman team of Curt Swan & Murphy Anderson. Excellent stuff!

This was my first comic con since the bloody pandemic and, as ever, it was lovely to be back at NICE, probably the most relaxed, comic-creator-focused event of its kind. I spent quite some time chatting with Pete, the first time we'd met in person in four (!) years, which was lovely. I'd hoped for us to meet up with former blogger, and Bedford resident, Mighty Joe Ackerman but he'd been ill and couldn't make it. He sounded gutted he couldn't come along, as we've been planning to all meet up for years now, but hopefully we can fix that next year. Sarah came along with me this time, and went shopping whilst I was in retro heaven, so we also had a look around the fair city of Bedford together... which also included a quick visit to the area's premier comic shop, Close Encounters, more of which in a later post.

A great day!

Comics: recent acquisitions

 In our recent trip to the fair city of Hereford I was pleased to see that "Q's Comics" in the historic Butter Market had weathered the Covid storm, lockdowns etc and was still trading. I managed to pick up these beauties:

Marvel Fanfare no.s 4 and 6, Master of Kung Fu no. 113 and Bat Lash no. 4.

The Marvel Fanfares boast some wonderful artwork from the likes of Paul Smith, Michael Golden 

( with the late, lamented Dave Anthony Kraft ), Charles Vess, and a stellar collaboration between the underrated Sandy Plunkett and P. Craig Russell. How's that for a line-up? Wonderful stuff!

The MOKF, on the other hand, features some of the worst artwork I've ever seen in a mainstream comic. The perpetrators are Rick Magyar & Alan Kupperberg  -  the latter I know has done much better work but, really, this issue is dire. Doug Moench's solid scripting just about redeems it, but at least the Gene Day cover is very nice.

By complete contrast, the Bat Lash ( very happy to find one of those in the wild ) features some beautiful work from the incomparable Nick Cardy, with his Eisner influences to the fore, especially in this masterful page:

Just the thing for reading whilst relaxing in the garden on a Summer's day:

I was doubly pleased with this purchase because I did a deal to trade in one of my duplicate copes of Fantastic Four no. 44 for the above comics  -  and, in fact, I was £3 up on the deal :-)

Here's the copy I traded, safely in its ( temporary I'm sure ) new home:

I'll definitely have to get back to Q's Comics when I can, it's really a great little business and the owner is always friendly and helpful. ( Wow! Things like that *almost* make it feel like the "old days" )

NICE Con 2019

Last weekend ( keeping things current, as ever with this blog ) I went to Bedford for this year's NICE con. The main draw for me last year had been meeting the legendary Don McGregor and, while there was no one creator I was as interested in this year, there was certainly an inviting array of artists in particular on display.
After a trouble-free drive on a sunny, late-Summer morning I arrived at Bedford's lovely Corn Exchange and almost instantly bumped into my old blogging buddy Joe Ackerman. After a quick look around the con we went for a walk into Bedford where we had some lunch and Joe took me to local comic shop ( and sponsors of NICE ) Close Encounters. This turned out to be a pretty cool little shop with a surprisingly well-stocked back issues department  -  I bought a couple of recent Marvel comics, just out of interest ( including Marvel #1000 ), and an issue of Planetary which now completes my collection of that title. As ever, it was great fun to chat with Joe as we covered such subjects as DC's TV shows, tattoos, Brexshit, the merits or otherwise of drinking alcohol, and which inkers worked best with Gil Kane...

Back into the Corn Exchange where I spent some time just wandering around, trawling through the long-boxes of comics, chatting with some of the exhibitors and watching the artists at work. This last is always a pleasure, whether it's Dylan Teague working on a Batman sketch or Esad Ribic putting some finishing touches to a Conan painting. As well as the big players ( Alan Davis! Adi Granov! ), there were also plenty of independent comic creators there and it's heartening to see people being creative and often not just following the latest super hero trends. If I'd had unlimited funds I would have bought quite a few art pieces and indie comics but I had to settle for the three comics shown above.
I've recently been re-reading my New Teen Titans collection ( the wonderful Marv Wolfman / George Perez run from the early '80s ) and I'm now on the hunt for some issues to fill the gaps. Funnily enough, I'd been talking to Joe about the DC TV version of the Titans compared to the source material, and then I came across the two Titans comics above and promptly snapped them up. The Fantastic Four issue  -  number 80 from November 1968  -  is one I've been after for a very long time. This is one of the very few post-1965 issues of the Lee / Kirby FF that I don't own and it's one of only two FF stories from the Silver Age that I'd never previously read in any form. ( The other being FF #21, the first appearance of the Hate-Monger, if anyone is feeling generous and wants to buy me a copy. )

This is quite a goofy, stand-alone story in which Reed, Ben and Johnny go to the aid of almost-forgotten supporting character Wyatt Wingfoot, whose tribe of Native Americans is under attack from Tomazooma, the Living Totem. ( Of course. ) Hardly a classic but fun nonetheless, with Tomazooma being one of the last new antagonists created for the Lee / Kirby run, almost a precursor to the Celestials from the later Eternals comic with its shiny, metallic, robotic look juxtaposed with cod-mythology. And it's a lovely copy  -  cents-priced with no UK price-stamp, a shiny cover and some lovely white pages  -  all for less than £30.

There's also the added bonus of a letter in the letter column from one Donald McGregor of Providence, Rhode Island. Yes, this letter is from that self-same star of last year's NICE con, who was then a 22-year old comics fan, just a few years away from his own breakthrough into the business. It's a small world...

So, I had a great time in Bedford and hope to go again next year. I'm also hoping to persuade another blog-buddy Pete Doree from The Bronze Age Of Blogs to come along as well, and hopefully finally meet up with the Mighty Joe. Wouldn't it be NICE?

Comics! New Comics! Action, Captain America and The Prisoner!

If there's one thing I don't do much of these days it's write posts on this 'ere blog. And if there's another thing I don't do much of these days it's buy new comics. What if I combined these two things I don't do much of these days into one thing? And put that thing here on t'internet for your perusal? Let's try it...

Yesterday I visited my ( sort of ) local comic shop, Proud Lion in Cheltenham  -  with my usual impeccable timing, only a week after Free Comic Book Day. I was after one comic in particular ( which I'll come to later ) but I managed to pick up another couple which looked interesting.

First up is Action Comics #1000, a landmark issue for the Man of Steel in his 80th anniversary year. There are a few variant covers out there, including a strangely sub-par one from Jim Steranko, but the only copy left in the shop sported the regular edition cover by Jim Lee. And I think it's a pretty fine illustration of the Last Son of Krypton, back in his iconic costume, red trunks and all. Unfortunately the contents are rather a mixed bag. There are nine separate short stories ( although "stories" is stretching the point ) which all pay homage in one way or another to the career of Earth's mightiest mortal. Even though there are some creators represented here with excellent track records with this character ( Dan Jurgens, Marv Wolfman, Curt Swan ) most of these short vignettes fall flat, being stuffed with often trite moralising, and mostly going nowhere very interesting. But there are lots of pretty pictures...

A far more satisfying landmark issue comes courtesy of Mark Waid, Chris Samnee and Matthew Wilson as the Star-Spangled Avenger reaches his 700th issue. ( I'm trusting Marvel and DC to have accurately worked out all this numbering, considering both characters have had various "first issues" and reboots over the years. ) As well as being an anniversary issue this is also the concluding part of a continuing storyline where Captain America has been catapulted into a near-future, Dystopian America ( yes, even more Dystopian than the one that exists in 2018 ) where he is trying to protect the crumbling Republic from various enemies both from within and without. Waid is at his dependable best, crafting a fast-moving adventure which tests Cap to his limits, mentally and physically, while Samnee proves yet again that he's one of the foremost stylists in the business with his wonderfully retro-yet-fresh artwork:

There's also a strange 10-page back up story which Waid has cobbled together from various Bronze Age Cap comics and added his own dialogue. It doesn't really hang together but it's nice to see the Jack Kirby / Frank Giacoia artwork. All in all, Captain America #700 works far better as an anniversary comic than Action #1000 because the main story is so engrossing and the tribute to the character grows organically from that...

And, saving the best for last, we have the brand new Titan Comics adaptation of The Prisoner by Pete Milligan and Colin ( friend of TGW-S ) Lorimer. ( Yep, this is the comic that prompted my journey to Proud Lion ) This modern-day updating of the 1960s spy-fi mind-bender sees an M15 agent on the run from his own side after a disastrous mission in the Middle East. Inevitably his luck runs out and, in an echo of the very first Prisoner episode, he is gassed in his London ( not so ) safe house, only to awaken in the mysterious Village.
Pete Milligan is an idiosyncratic writer, a creator of many surreal and intriguing comic book worlds who is the perfect author to chronicle the story of the new Number Six. And Colin Lorimer is a wonderful choice of artist  -  there's an enjoyable tension between his gritty, contemporary style and the psychedelic / Pop Art leanings of the original show which seem to bleed into the modern setting. It will be interesting to see how many of the McGoohan / Markstein creations will appear in this 21st-century nightmare...

This is The Prisoner retooled for the Information Age where the Village seems to be an autonomous state, obtaining information from its "guests" by "mental fracking" ( ouch! ) while also carrying out bizarre crimes in the outside world. The surface has barely been scratched in this first story and I'm looking forward to uncovering more of this world where no-one dares trust anyone else.
Be seeing you...

FF Fridays: Happy Birthday to the King

Readers of this 'ere blog with long memories may remember a series of posts called "FF Fridays" way back in the mists of time. ( Actually about three years ago. ) Like many other intended regular features here they sort of fell by the wayside but a couple of things have prompted me to dust 'em off and bring 'em back. Firstly, it would have been the 98th birthday today of Jacob Kurtzberg aka Jolly Jack Kirby aka the King Of Comics and I thought a tribute to this sadly-missed genius would be in order. And secondly, I just happened to buy a trio of terrific tomes featuring the King's Kosmic Koncepts a couple of days ago. These were from the wonderful Dave's Comics down in ( not-so ) sunny Brighton. ( And, yes, I may have to inflict some photos from said two-day jaunt to the south coast on you, Dear Reader, at some point. ) I'm always looking to fill gaps in my FF collection and I was very happy to find these three issues all for very reasonable prices. So please cast your eyes on these fine examples of Kirby's cover artwork at its peak, circa 1967, when the FF really was The World's Greatest Comic Magazine...

And not forgetting Kirby's writing partner on the FF, here's some of Smilin' Stan Lee's deathless dialogue for Bashful Benjamin Grimm aka The Thing from FF #63:
"Shucks, you ain't seen nothin' yet! In fact, I got a real treat in store for ya now...! Just in case ya lost yer wrist-watch or somethin', I'm gonna show ya what time it is... It's clobberin' Time!"

More Bronze Age Covers

In my previous post on this 'ere blog I shared with you a recent acquisition from Bristol's Excelsior Comics, a copy of Creatures On The Loose #21 with that cool Gullivar Jones cover by Steranko. I also bought a few other £2/ £3 bargain bin classics and now, after literally one request ( I'm talking to you, John Pitt ), I've scanned them too and present them here for your viewing pleasure...
Worlds Unknown #8
This is the second part of Marvel's adaptation of The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad and has some nice artwork by George Tuska and Vinnie Colletta  -  clear, uncluttered comics story-telling, of a kind you rarely see nowadays. I nearly bought this back in the day but funds were tight for the seven-year old me and I had to choose between this issue and X-Men #89 ( "Now Strikes The Sub-Human" )  -  I bought the X-Men but that's now long gone. It's good to finally catch up with Sinbad. Just need to get part one now...

Marvel Two-In-One #1
Well, I like The Thing... but I like the Man-Thing too. Which is better? There's only one way to find out  -  Fight!!! ( Thanks, Harry Hill. ) Steve Gerber starts his short run on MTIO with a faintly ludicrous tale of Ben Grimm travelling to the Everglades for a scrap with Manny because he "ripped off" Benjy's name, only to end up in a three-way tussle with the equally ludicrous Molecule Man.The art team of Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott aren't the best fit for the Man-Thing and his swampy environs but produce some slick, action-packed visuals. And this comic earns bonus points for sneaking the word "porno" past the Comics Code...

Doctor Strange #8
Now you're talking! The Steve Engelhart / Gene Colan Doctor Strange is one of my all-time fave comic strips and it's good to fill a gap in my collection with this issue. This is the, er, climax of the Dormammu / Umar / Mother Earth story which is surreal, philosophical and quite sensual in places and features dialogue like: "But I am more human than you. And I am woman... in the womb of a world of a goddess!" It was the 1970s...

Werewolf By Night #6
The fact that the star of this comic, who turns into a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright and all that jazz... the fact that he is called Jack Russell always cracks me up. Anyway, this is a minor shaggy dog tale of the Werewolf ending up as a sideshow exhibit in an evil carnival, see above. Len Wein's story isn't a patch on the superior supernatural shenanigans he cooked up for Swamp Thing over at DC, but the early Mike Ploog artwork is crude, energetic fun with an Eisner influence shining through.

And that's it for my Bronze Age haul  -  all great bargains at a few quid each. I also picked up the latest issue of Neil Gaiman's Sandman: Overture but you're not interested in that, are you...?

Soundtrack: Come Together, I Think I'm In Love, Cop Shoot Cop and others by Spiritualized

Updates:
Sadly, the screenwriter of Golden Voyage Of Sinbad, the multi-talented Brian Clemens, has recently died. He made a major contribution to film and television fantasy and his passing is a great loss.
On a happier note, full scans of the Thing / Man-Thing brawl above can be seen at the ever-fab Diversions Of The Groovy Kind. Check 'em out, True Believers!

Creatures On The Loose!

It's been a while since I've bought any Silver or Bronze Age comics but I couldn't resist this early1970s Marvel monster mag with its lovely Steranko cover. I picked it up for the bargain price of £2 from Bristol's premier independent comic shop, the mighty Excelsior. Although slightly water-damaged / rippled it's otherwise in pretty good condition, with the cover's bold colour scheme undimmed by age. And what beautiful artwork by Jaunty Jim! A quintessential Sword and Sorcery image: barbarians, babe, blades and blood all present and correct. The comic's contents are worth a look too, with some fine, moody artwork by the late Gray Morrow.
( Ahh, this all takes me back to the long-gone days of Steranko Saturdays, gone but not forgotten... )

I also got hold of the following vintage beauties, all for around two or three quid:
Doctor Strange #8 ( Engelhart and Colan, the Dread Dormammu on the cover )
Werewolf By Night #6 ( great Eisner-esque artwork by Mike Ploog )
Marvel Two-In-One #1 ( Ben Grimm vs Man-Thing, cool Starlin / Sinnott artwork )
Worlds Unknown #8 ( the underrated George Tuska adapting The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad )
Great stuff! Excelsior!

FF Fridays: Fantastic Four 73

This is the most recent addition to my Fantastic Four collection, no. 73 from April 1698. It's a lovely FN copy, bought from Mega City Comics on my recent trip to that there London town. The shop has a small but impressive stock of Silver / Bronze Age comics, which the very helpful assistant brought out for me in a few long-boxes. I could only afford this and two others because they weren't exactly cheap... but they were worth it.

I've wanted this issue for many years partly because of the lovely Kirby cover, and partly because I didn't remember the story, even though I must have read a reprint of it in the days of Mighty World Of Marvel. As it turns out the story is a tissue-thin affair, and basically an excuse for a slug-fest between the heroes on the cover, and that could be why I didn't remember it :-)

After a bizarre body-swap between Daredevil and Doctor Doom in DD #38, the male members of the FF go after Hornhead, believing him to be the monarch of Latveria. Spider-Man and Thor both get dragged into the fight, through some very lame plot maneuvers, and they all have the standard

scrap-across-New-York-rooftops until the Invisible Woman turns up and stops the plot via some clunky exposition.

That being said, it's all still a lot of fun, with some explosive Kirby/Sinnott action scenes,

a de-powered Thor hitching a ride on Spidey's back (!), the unusual sight of the King drawing ol' DD, and some choice, corny dialogue courtesy of Stan The Man:

Thor: "What?!! Thou dost take me for a base impostor?!! Truly there be madness unbridled amongst ye mortals!"
Thing: "Watch yer langwich cornball!! There may be some chicks around!"

Excelsior!

Just a quick mention for Bristol's Excelsior comic shop. I discovered it by chance yesterday and was impressed. Very friendly staff, a nice selection of comics and other stuff, and a handy location near Cabot Circus and the motorway. And the main thing is, they're an independent shop, providing an alternative to the omnipresent Forbidden Planet chain.

Good luck to 'em!

I only bought the issue of The Jack Kirby Collector above - was on a budget and short on time - but I'll definitely have to go back.....

American Graffiti

Just a quick plug for Barnstaple's premier ( and only ) comic shop, American Graffiti. James and I went in there on Christmas Eve

( I know, very festive, right? ) and were pleasantly surprised by the friendly, helpful staff and the range of products on offer. They've got a small but reasonably-priced Bronze/Silver Age section which I, of course, went straight to and liberated these Marvel-ous goodies. Call it a Christmas present to myself. 'Cos I'm worth it :-)