Bronze Age Beauties - Sorcerers, Spies and the Supernatural

I haven't posted anything about comics here for a while ( in fact, I haven't posted much full stop ) so I thought I'd share a few recent-ish purchases with you, Dear Readers. ( See, I still kid myself that people actually read this 'ere blog... )
We'll start with Doctor Strange's last appearance in Marvel Premiere from March 1974, just before the Sorcerer Supreme regained his own comic book. This is the finale of the Cagliostro / Sise-Neg / Genesis epic by the titanic team of Steve Engelhart and Frank Brunner.

Doc and arch nemesis Baron Mordo are on a mind-bending trip back in time with the futuristic magician Cagliostro ( aka Sise-Neg ) who is absorbing magical energy as he goes, becoming stronger all the time, with the ultimate ambition of arriving at the beginning of the universe and becoming God. A very cosmic, quintessentially 1970s story which would probably have been unthinkable a decade before under the then restrictions of the Comics Code... or indeed a decade later when the so-called Moral Majority were making their censorious presence known in the USA. This is a fine example of Bronze Age Marvel at its peak with plenty of Engelhart's philosphical musings amidst all the psychedelic action and some beautiful artwork from Brunner and inker Dick Giordano...

And, for a change of pace, next are a couple of issues of Marvel's most successful entry into the martial arts craze The Hands Of Shang-Chi, Master Of Kung Fu  -  or MOKF for short...

Issue 28 ( May 1975 ) has a striking ( literally! ) Gil Kane cover but unfortunately the interior artwork is by a committee of second-tier artists, due of course to the ever present Dreaded Deadline Doom which affected so many Marvel Comics of the time. Luckily the story by MOKF stalwart Doug Moench makes up for the weak artwork, giving us insights into Shang-Chi's past and his relationship with his devious half-sister Fah Lo Suee...

The next issue sees the series back on track with the return of regular artist Paul Gulacy and a change in direction as the strip becomes more espionage-based and less about Shang's war with his father, the Devil Doctor himself, Fu Manchu.This is the point at which Gulacy's artwork goes full Steranko and also, seemingly, full Bond  -  secret bases, evil masterminds and glamorous women all become mainstays of the series from here on in...

Incidentally, both of the covers of these two issues depict scenes that don't actually happen in the comics themselves  -  par for the course for the times, but at least they're eye-catching, exciting images that almost command you to hand over your money and buy the damn things...

As a contrast to all that Marvel-ous action here's a moody masterpiece by the great Neal Adams for DC's Phantom Stranger no. 16, Nov-Dec 1971. A classic example of the "clutching hand" trope, this is a restrained but still effective image with Adams' flair for design in evidence. ( Notice the Stranger's shadow looming across the logo. ) The interior is nothing too special, unfortunately. The lead story has some nice Jim Aparo artwork but a fairly humdrum plot, and there are a couple of back-up strips  -  a Doctor Thirteen tale by Len Wein and Tony DeZuniga and a Mark Merlin reprint from the '50s  -  neither of which start the pulse racing.

Over at Charlton Comics we find Ghostly Haunts no. 31, April 1973. Although not one of the best examples of Charlton's horror comics it's a fun issue with some typically idiosyncratic artwork from Don Perlin, Steve Ditko and Jack Abel. The cover's by Abel too and is a beauty  -  check out that eyeball on the giant squid thing! And isn't "Sewer Patrol" a job we've all wanted at one time or another? No? Just me then...

Finally, the pick of the bunch for me: Haunted Love no. 6 from October 1974. This short-lived excursion into Gothic romance is always difficult to track down so I was pleased to pick up this issue.  ( I actually bought the two Charltons and the Phantom Stranger for £1.50 each in a junk shop in St. Ives. ) The main draw was of course the fantastic cover by that madman Tom Sutton  -  very spooky! The witch alone is enough to give you the cold sweats...

Sutton illustrates the main story that this cover is based on and it's a suitably overwrought tale of cursed love in Fin De Siecle Paris, with the occasional nod to Aubrey Beardsley  -  great stuff!

And here's the Wuthering Heights-esque corner box by the stupendously talented Joe Staton...

Right, I'll have to go now  -  I need to read some comics...

Chuck Mosley

Very sad today to hear of the passing of former Faith No More vocalist Chuck Mosley. He was one of the most memorable front men I've ever seen, a ball of energy and passion. Faith No More at the Bristol Bierkeller back in the late '80s was one of my all-time top 10 gigs. And here's a link to one of my old Favourite Gig Fridays posts about that self-same night.
Strangely enough, in the last couple of days I've been playing FNM's fantastic second album Introduce Yourself on repeat in my car, thinking about what an idiosyncratic, compelling vocalist he was, not realising he had passed away. RIP Chuck...

New Doctor, new look

Trapped In A Cult

A few weeks back I finally decided enough was enough and dropped out of society to join a mysterious cult. Well, only for about two hours on a Sunday afternoon...

This was actually my debut as an extra in the video for the mighty Borrowed Time's new song Trapped In A Cult. Here are my fellow cult members above. ( I'm the one flicking "Peace" signs... I think... )
I turned up at Two Rivers Studios in Cheltenham for my indoctrination into the cult and instantly found myself on bubble-blowing duties. ( Please try not to think of that outrageous old Michael Jackson joke at this point. ) Yes, I had to stand in front of the band while they were filming a "psychedelic" middle-eight and blow bubbles from one of those cheap kids' bubble-blowers until I was blue in the face. All for about 1/2 a second of screen-time :-)
Here are four of the 5 BT boys in full hippie regalia, going for a Bohemian Rhapsody vibe:

The band had by this point finished their filming ( they'd been there all day ) and now it was time for the cult to assemble. Drummer Marcus assumed the role of cult leader and stood on the stage gesticulating ( he's that kind of bloke ) while us cultists marched forwards and reached out to our leader as if he were the messiah, and not just a very naughty boy. The director filmed various different takes of this from many different angles and then filmed us miming the letters "C -U -L -T" like some kind of Punk Rock Village People. It was all good cult-y fun. Finally Marcus put his hippie rags back on and surrounded himself with groupies. It's hard work being a revered leader...

And here are two fully paid-up cult members for life, the lovely Carol and superstar Chinese Burn bassist Ed...

It was great fun being a cult member for an afternoon and interesting to see behind the scenes of a video shoot. And below is the finished article which I think is pretty bloody good. ( If you squint really hard you can see me in the centre of the screen around the 1:36 mark, reaching up for absolution from my guru... )

Super... Boy?

This young man turns 18 today ( the one on the right )

Happy Birthday James! Love from Mum, Dad, Sophie, Hero and Jasper xx

Vintage Glamour

Because the world could do with some more beauty at the moment...

Ruts DC at the Bristol Bierkeller

My second trip this summer down to Bristol's Bierkeller and again it was to see a band whose music I've loved for years ( okay, decades... ) but haven't caught live before. The Ruts, like The Skids who I saw there back in May, were one of the best bands to come out of the Punk explosion and should really be mentioned in the same breath as the Sex Pistols or The Clash. Their potent blend of Punk and Reggae, mixed with razor-sharp lyrics and huge tunes, should have propelled them into the major leagues but the tragic death of original singer Malcolm Owen sadly brought the first version of the band to a close. They carried on as Ruts DC for a few years, accentuating their Reggae and Dub influences, but eventually went their separate ways. Well, now they're back and, when I heard my friends Borrowed Time were supporting them, I knew I had to make the journey to Brizzle...

I hadn't seen those Borrowed Time boys for a while so it was good to catch up. It seems they make a quantum leap in quality every time I see them and this gig was no exception. Their hard-edged, Metal-inflected take on '80s Punk just gets more tuneful and their playing becomes tighter all the time. New songs Oceans, Trapped In A Cult and The Day We Broke The World were the stand-outs, showing off their increasing range and even stirring the early-evening Bierkeller crowd into action. A fine set from BT and their merch seemed to be selling pretty well too... even the creepy "cult" masks...
The next band on were Knock Off, a rabble-rousing three-piece that play Cockney Rejects style Oi! / Street Punk. Although more melodic than I first imagined, with some killer riffs, they churned out the tired old, thuggish Oi! subject matter  -  fighting, beer, football etc.  - and were ultimately disappointing. Someone should tell them we're living in the 21st century...

 The Ruts were, by contrast, absolutely amazing. From the outset they impressed with their cool suits and hats and their red hot music. They played an absolute blinder, mixing beloved classics like In A Rut ( of course ), Jah War and the awe-inspiring It Was Cold with tough, biting new songs like Psychic Attack and This Music Must Destroy. And this music really did destroy  -  every song played with 100 per cent commitment, technical brilliance and pure passion. And pure groove...

No lumpen, meat-and-potatoes rock here, the Ruts have a swing, a groove and a funk to their sound that lifts them above the common herd of old Punk bands and onto another level. This was at its most joyously evident when they segued from the charging, surging Punk of all-time classic Babylon's Burning into its B-side, the aching Reggae lament Love In Vain. Stunning stuff! And, after a fun cover of Suffragette City and an epic West One ( Shine On Me ) they were gone, leaving us hungry for more. My mate Glenn ( Borrowed Time star! ) had seen The Ruts at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool this year and said they were the best band of the festival for him, and I could well believe it. I was so glad to finally get the chance to see them and I'll definitely have to catch them again.

Soundtrack: Music Must Destroy, Psychic Attack by The Ruts DC
                    plus 
Sorry Somehow, Diane, Don't Want To Know if You Are Lonely, You Can Live At Home Now
by Husker Du ( RIP Grant Hart, the multi-talented singer - songwriter - drummer from the great Hardcore band Husker Du who has sadly passed away at the age of 56 )