Black Max & Adam Eterno triumphs

Great episodes of Max and Eterno in this issue.
Not much in the way of the cursed Wilson in "Black Max", most of the story given over to the brainwashing of a captured British airman by Max. Its terrific stuff, my favourite being the fantastic perspective shot, done almost in widescreen, giving it an almost cinematic feel to it.
And over with "Adam Eterno", the fella is tied to a sacred monument and is about to be pierced by a bunch of gold-tipped, American indian spears. What does he do? Pull the whole thing down on top of himself to have it act as a shield. Brilliant!

POW! annual 1971 - #1 - Aquavenger

So, after a long long countdown, here he is, the 9 year-old me's top character in this most classic of annuals, Aquavenger!
Before even re-reading the tale, i can see why from the rogues gallery at the front of the book - he looks great, the most superhero-y of them all, and that's a neat shade of green.
Reading the tale, i think the younger me would have been enthralled but, now, its all a bit silly:
Bob Shane in the past had rescued some old bloke drifting in a storm, clinging to a bit of palm hut,
turns out the old codger is Neuptunius. Hmmmmm...
"a recluse possessed of ageless powers". Double hmmmm...
who, as thanks, gives Bob "unlimited power in the crusade against the powers of darkness!"
Then promptly buggers off without explaining why someone so powerful was near drowning like that, who he was, where he was going or anything. Thrice times hmmmm...
Anyway, so there's Bob now a superhero. All he's got to do is shout "Aquavenger!" and he transforms into the titular hero.
Does he position himself in society best suited to battle the "powers of darkness"? Nope, he becomes skipper of a rusty old tub. Eh?
But still gets an adventure in just in time for this annual, as niftly clad frogmen attack his ship and warn Bob and and his mate to stay away from the area.
Turns out "Admiral Nemesis" has a dastardly plan to rob New York by immobilising everyone with his nerve gas, a plan he's quite happy to tell our hero about as he then chucks him into the tank that houses his per giant squid.
Of course Aquavenger defeats them all and we have a happy ending, and i'm left thinking it was all good fun, but it ain't 'arf derivitive.
I was too young back then to know as i hadn't read them, but there's clear parallels with both Aquaman and Shazam in this strip, and i think i rated it tops not only because of the excellent art, but also that the character is similar to the very early Anime, Marine Boy which i certainly knew by then.
Anyway, that's my top hero, one i read endlessly, pouring over the artwork, with one panel i was particualy fascinated by - the almost last one showing the come-uppance of Nemesis, who's so furious, his eyes bulge and he seems to be scratching his hair so much his hats falling off.

POW! annual 1971 - #2 - Magno

At Number 2 we have the story of Magno, and what an odd story it is.
Sandy Laker is going home to London after graduating at a northern university (totally unnecessary info, but what the hey) and finds a couple of masked guys breaking into his Dad's shop when he gets there.
He has a fight with them, sees them off, gets into a car chase with them,
then:
with no explanation given then nor later in the story, a UFO appears, which shines a light on the two cars,
the cars crash, Sandy is picked up by a beam from the craft before his car explodes.
And finds he's become a human magnet.
And just accepts it - no ruesing on how he got the powers, where the ship came from, why it did what it did, nothing.
Instead he vows vengeance on the men who did his Dad wrong, who are apparently lead by "The Mask".
So he makes himself a natty suit, decides he's now MAGNO, and goes after the Mask.
The Mask indeed does wear a mask, but, again, no explanation is given to the why's of why he's like that.
And there follows a humdrum chase sequence once he's found the villains, topped in the Mask being captured...
but not unmasked.
And the story ends there.
If its true that these tales in the annual where try-outs for a set of on-going strips, it'd be nice to know that the origin of the UFO and the identity of the Mask would have been resolved.

The 2000AD 2015 Christmas special

I haven't collected 2000AD for a good few years now - i just don't find a lot of the strips engaging, and Judge Dredd is always so serious and grim and not really what i'm after for a bit of comicy escapism.
The nearest i get to it is to by the occasional graphic novel, have a peep though the latest Prog when in WH Smiths and to but the end of year special, just to see what things are like.
Very pleased this year to nab me one, as its proper Old School Thrill Power:
Ian Kennedy back for the wraparound cover!
neatly designed snowmen villains in Dredd - just snowmen, as silly as that with no deep meaning of hidden plot behind it,
great 80's style art on Bad Company,
Clint Langley nodding to the past nicely, with Hammerstien in the accurate brown colours, the return of Dr Feelyggod, and even the robot Overseers are spot-on accurate,
Jesus Redondo back! And drawing Tharg!
and Johnny Alpha's mates back together.
Eee by gum, its like its 1980 all over again!

Future Shock DVD

Watched this yesterday and i heartily recommend it to any Squaxx, no matter what point you jumped on board.
Be warned though, the tales of the abuse of original art may reduce you to tears *sob* *sniffle*

Getting all Misty-eyed

Great news chums!

http://downthetubes.net/?p=26953

Dan Dare has landed...

... and Bertie is one happy Biog to see himself in print.

Hurrah!

This is what i like to hear - just got this message from Amazon re the upcoming Dan Dare collection:

"We are pleased to report that the following item will dispatch sooner than expected:

Pat Mills "Dan Dare: The 2000 AD Years Vol. 01"
Previous estimated arrival date: November 11 2015
New estimated arrival date: November 05 2015"

Hurrah! Two days to go!

Terrific news!

The Judge Dredd tale, "The Cursed Earth" is to get yet another reprint - this time with the banned episodes put back in.
Time to put those issues up on the 'Bay methinks.

POW! Annual 1971 - #3 - The Marksman

At Number Three of my nine year-olds countdown of the characters from this annual is the Marksman.
Gawd knows why.
He looks like the Punisher with a crew cut, is the "Dynamic Young Security Chief" at the Excel Advanced Rocket Research Establishment (though its never revealed if his natty clobber is an official uniform), and a more boreish, big headed good guy you'd be pushed to find.
He's deathly dull, in a deathly dull story.
In the space of an incredible seven pages, is a tale that in other strips would run to three tops.
We get:
Pages 1 and 2 set up how great he is - writing his initials in the target from a thousand yards away with a machine gun, shooting dead centre holes in a bunch of coins thrown in the air - and the sabotage of the companys new rocket that would guard against any enemy in the galaxy (!).
The whole of Page Three is given over to discovering the plans to the rocket have been pinched,
Page Four has him ride off on a nifty motorbike, fall off, then get tied up in a canoe and sent off to the Rocky Falls,
Page Five has him escape,
Page Six has him leap upon the baddies plane,
Page Seven has him jump out the plane with the bad guy.
That's it, - very dull and no reason why i'd have rated him so highly. He doesn't do much in the way of Markmanship except for his showing off at the start.
Thinking the only reason i'd have liked the strip would've been for the various James Bond-like devices he keeps concealed in his out fit, should just such situations arrive.

I'm back

LONG time posting here - life and other hobbies have kept me away from the comics just lately.
But, figure i've got to get back into them, so i'm all ready for THE graphic novel i've been waiting and waiting and hoping for, in just two months now.

Can you spare a kidney?

Blimey, has one of these ever appeared for sale before?
The almost mythical last pre-ban Action goes up for sale, one of only 30 printed:


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Action-comic-23rd-Oct-1976-ULTRA-RARE-ISSUE-30-copies-printed-FN-phil-comics-/271876254428

Bullet - 2nd October 1976

Right, lets take a look at one of my Welsh bargains shall we?
And lets start with a title i knew i bought to begin with (but didn't we all until the free gifts ran out?) but i'm thinking i dropped pretty quickly after Action started.
So it'll be interesting to see what Bullet was doing to compete with the young upstart.



Lovely cover with Fireball bursting out of the newspaper there, while proudly sporting his Fireball badge. As soon as i saw it, i remembered the thing but at this point didn't realise just how blatently it'd be promoted this issue.



Turn the page and we have "Frontline UK", a strip i'd totallt forgotten about until Bear Alley Books announced a while back that they were going to reprint it. As soon as i saw Ian Kennedy's stunning art on their site, it all came flooding back though (especially how i had my Airfix Scorpion Tank in all sorts of recreations in my bedroom) and i really must get that collection sometime.
In the meanwhile, i'll make do with what's here.
Boy, its "Invasion" from 2000AD isn't it? But a year earlier - instead of Volgs we have the Yellow Moon invade Britain, instead of a tough guy hero with a surname starting in "S" in Savage we have Strong.
All great fun, with fantastic art from Mr Kennedy.



Next, we have "The Killer Kangaroos" - an appalling piece of rubbish, with terrible art and cliched, stereotype characters (they're Australian and they're called Bruce and Blue), the only thing that can be said of it, and its a very slim thing, is that it kinda, sorta, prempts "Shako" in the 2000AD to come. Or its a "Hookjaw" knock-off.



I'm going to skip over "Ginger", the tale of a boy and his dog, and "3 Men In A Jeep", three men in a jeep, as they're so bog-standard i forgot each panel the instant i finished reading it.



And then we're on to "Fireball", the main strip - you can tell because he's in the centre and has a bit of colour. Coming across as a mix between Our Man Flint and Jason Wyngarde but looking more like Jimmy Hill, its a yawn of a tale, made interesting by just how blatent his medallion was. Whats the deal here? Its in every blummin' shot, whether it wants to be or not. I don't know if s there to remind readers who had one too that we're all part of the gang, or there was a way to buy them and this was product placement, but, boy, its jarring.



Final two strips are as duff as the two i skipped above. I think i'd have been drawn to "Smasher" as its a tale of a giant robot, but one read would've put me off.

"AIEEEE!" WATCH:
A 100% perfect one from a soldier being overturned in an armoured car in "Frontline UK"

Bargains galore in Wales

Just back from a lovely holiday in North Wales, driving 'round visiting tons of neat places.
Llangollen was neat and then made even neater when we stopped into a combined cafe/second-hand book shop and found, laying in piles and piles on the floor stacked high, tons and tons of 70's and 80's British comics.
2000AD, Bullett, Warlord, Cor!, Beano, Battle - pretty much every title out back then, loads of them, and pricing from 25p to £1.50 a pop.
This is what we got - some for me, some for the Sprogs - alas, not too many for me, as i don't need too many Actions etc now.
Highly recommended should you be in the area.

"AAAAHH! SHARKS ON LEGS!"

Slightly out of the remit for this here Blog but please indulge me.
It was a case of love at first sight when this appeared in 2000AD - big first panel kicking off some joyous imagination and bampot notions taking me right back to the early days of the Prog, Action, and a whole slew of early 70's titles when an ordinary, real life thing or situation is given a fantasy/SF angle.
And that's classic Dredd to just dispatch the threat so cooly.
And that caption is right up there with the classic "please let me drown before the Giant Scorpions get me".
So, love at first sight.
I got in touch with Carl, just on the off-chance that he might still have it, expecting the answer "no".
Stunned then when he said that, yes, he did.
And it became mine within a few days :)
Lovely piece of work - A3 with very fine linework. The backgrounds are missing out of a couple of the lower panels as Carl added them in Photoshop.
That don't matter not a jot - i've got sharks on legs and i'm a happy bunny ;)