POW! annual 1971 - #9 - Mr Tomorrow

Right, at number 9 we have Mr Tomorrow, "Criminal From The Future!". Take one look at him and, yep, that's Lex Luthor in his nifty prison garb, but even more so when he's in suit and tie.

Its 2971 and the worlds worst criminal is on trial. Oddly, he's not named at all but, anyway, he's sentenced to "be cast into eternity" - which means being put into a box with a chair in it, the dreaded "Time-Ejector". Its not made clear just what ejecting into time involves, nor what casting into eternity means, but it must be terminal as they do keep going on how he's going to perish. He doesn't though - at the moment of the big event "the current doesn't seem to be regulating corectly" and he's sent back to present day America.
So far so good.
Except he goes on a crime spree, robbing banks across the world and can't be caught as "To me, everything here has already happened. I can live in history and remould it to my wishes as i already know what they're going to do next!".
Now that means either (A) He's a genius who has totally recall of all events that happened 900 years before, or (B) In the future he'd already learnt of what's to happen in the past and gens up on it.
Either way is strectching it, yes?
Anyway, ne notches things up and demands that he be made world leader and at that point things stretch to breaking point:
The authorities agree that he can't be stopped as "he never stays in one place long enough". To which one bod pipes up with the bampot "But you're forgetting one thing. This man must sleep!"
Eh? What?
What has that got to do with anything?
It gets even more bizarre - after they've decided they've got to find him then catch him asleep, Mr Tomorrow somehow knows and decides all of a sudden that he mustn't sleep. Kinda odd, if he has got foreknowledge, that he decides that right at the point the good guys point out that's how to get him.
So, anyway, he builds a super bomb but in the end blows up with it as he can't find his pills to stay awake and crashes his plane.
And it ends with the bod going "When it old you i wanted him asleep i was hoping he'd be foolish enough to try and stay awake".
So there we have it - Mr Tomorrow is from the future and, being from the future, it means he knows everything as it happens, everything that's said as its said.
Dear, oh dear.
As usual with this annual, its the art that made the impact (certainly not the plot here) and this one panel i was always fascinated by, even though its just a bit of perspective i found it odd and faintly disturbing.

Which sums this whole annual up.

2000AD 11 Feb 1978

Not visited Tharg's periodical for quite a while, so lets have a delve shall we?
Mr Dare is on the cover, replicating his Eagle days, and, boy, Star Wars was showing its influence in this tale - "Laser Swords", "Dark Lords" and a "Star Slayer Empire" - but its still a rollicking read and back then my number one tale. Looking at it now, the "Stomm" expletive seems odd outside of Dredd's world and the character himself could be anyone. In fact, in the action scenes, the way Dare carries himself and his innner monologues, that could be Johnny Alpha or even Dredd fighting there.
"Visible Man" was terrific, then and now, not for the plot - which is a bog standard man on the run tale - for the terrific art by Montero. It really is terrifically gruesome, each episode usually having a frame to show off Frank's predicimant, and here we have him wolfing down some wedding cake:

Brilliant Dredd tale by John Wagner under the nom de plume of "Howard", with brilliant early Dredd art by Brian Bolland. Its an excellent tale with an excellent premise - war between America and the Sov's is fought out by two small bands of warriors on Luna-1. Its got excellent action for sure but its unusual for the time in that it end with a proper anti-war message, literally rammed home by Dredd:

"Invasion" is still plodding on, but its got lovely, gritty art, which i thought was by Mike Dorey, but turns out its J. Clough. That look on Savage's face as he stands there with the rocket launcher is a classic:

And last up we have "Inferno", a truely naff tale - but Belardinelli's art is still oustanding.
Can't think of anyone else who could draw a simple fire extinguisher firing look so weird and unique:

"AIEEEE!" WATCH:
Oddly, considering the action going on, none.

Captain Pugwash in the flesh

Not very on-topic, but he was great and a part of my childhood, sooo:
Rye art gallery are just to start running a collection of original art by the brilliant John Ryan - creator of "Captain Pugwash", "Mary, Mungo & Midge" and "Sir Prancelot" among others.
Will be nipping down to be 10 again and advise you to do the same if you can.

Spelling it out with Hookjaw

Blimey, it wasn't until i went on the 2000AD Forum to see what other folk thought of Strip that i learnt that, as well as being coloured, the lettering had been changed.
Never noticed it as i was so keen on studying the full colour - and i certainly didn't need to read it, as i'm darn near word perfect on this opening episode.
I can see why they did it, and they did it well, but i do prefer the standard for that time, typed text and those odd straight-lined speech balloons.


Looking closer, its rather curious as its not just a straight erasing of the original and putting a new one in.
In many cases the speech balloon has been moved elsewhere in the panel to allow for it, resulting in some of the art being covered up.
And the old balloon has been removed, either uncovering some previously unseen art or, if they were working from stats, drawing new art. If that's the case, its been done very well.
A good example is here, where the divers air tanks were originally obscured but are now on view:


Another alteration is to change some of the script itself:
As the unfortunate Bannion makes it to the surface, we originally had just the one balloon going:
"It's Bannion! What-? He's blown up!"
But now we've got two:
"Wait - there's Bannion!"
"Hell! He's BLOWN UP!"
And we've got the odd word removed here and the odd extra exclamtion mark added there.
But the oddest change is to remove some of the boxes with descriptive text. We've lost "The injured Great White turned savagely" and "Bannion dropped his weight belt" and "While the sharks finished Bannion, Mason surfaced"
Now, can understand why they'd remove them all, as that way of story telling is kind of dated now, but why remove some but keep others.
I'm hoping we're going to have a nice, indepth article in a future issue explaining the thought processes and decision making that was involved.

Had a Strip

So, finally got me hands on one, sat down with a coffee and a bagel and had a good read.
Ticks all the right boxes for me straight away with John's editorial stating the aim was (A) have an action/adventure comic for all ages out there, (B) a way of publishing our childhood heroes again.
And they've certainly hit the mark on both counts - its a comic i'd be happy with my 11 year-old reading (and he will) and the feel of the characters, plots, script and art all seem continuations of the titles we all bought when nippers, before they died or "grew up".
Highlights for me?
"Age Of Heroes" The setting and premise are right up my proverbial, with lovely art by John Ridgeway. Lovely colouring too. I don't really need colour in my British comics as that's how i prefered my strips back then, but the colours used are pretty darn good here in Strip and i don't mind them.
"The Iron Moon" is terrific fun, with some great design work - may well have a go at making my own helicopter-thingy.
"Recovery Inc" is my favourite of the new strips, Mia coming across as Modesty Blaise equipped with Black Widows tech. Lovely, action packed stuff with superb art - more please.
"Hookjaw". Was inevitable that it'd be my number one wasn't it? Must say, was dreading a full-colour version - the original two page colour spread was garish and over the top and a product of its time, bit like the bright red blood in the Hammer films - but its done really, really well. Nice, subtle colours used well and sympathetically to the art, allowing the detail to still be seen. Top work fellas!
"AIEEEE!" WATCH:
Sadly none. It's only a matter of time before it pops up in "Hookjaw", but it'd be nice if it pops up in the new strips eh?

Combat Encounters Of A First Rate Kind!

Not apparent in this here cover shot, but that's the pun-tastic tag line to this issue of Battle Action from June 1978.
Behind the rather odd Ezquerra/Western/Cooper montage cover, we find:
Joe Colquhoun on "Johnny Red". Need i say more? Not really, but i will. His art here is truly up there with the best he did on Charleys War, raising this rather pedestrian episode up tons of notches. Only thing noteworthy in the script is this mouthfull from a Spitfire pilot, who warbles on while having a dogfight with Johnny. Talented multi-tasker and no mistake: "Its no use running Redburn! I know you're wounded and my spit can fly rings round that soup strainer you call a plane! You're coming back to face the music!"

Next up is "Hellman" and, again, top notch art from, for me, the best artist there was for this character - Mike Dorey. He always did incredibly gritty art but here, with these tales set on the Eastern Front, it suits the strip even more. And this train crash here also shows how well he could do action. Quite stunned to re-read this. From his very first tale, Hellman's been seen as a decent German, appallled by the Nazis in control. Its been a running theme, with him equally fighting them as much as the Allies. But here, we have a tale set in a concentration camp. A brave move, although we never see any of the inmates or the atrocities, the horror felt by Hellman's troops is handled well, and is played as straight as could be.

Skipping over "Spinball Wars" (as ever), we've "Major Eazy". Its not that good really - four pages telling the tale of Eazy and co going into the desert, blowing up a bit of road, covering it with sand, then waiting and watching as the German tanks roll over it and sink. Nice art by Carlos though - but who thought coloured speech balloons were a good idea?

"Dredgers" kinda dull, with so-so art from John Cooper.
"The Sarge" was good, with nice art by Mike Western and the squabbling of The Sarge's troops was similar in feel to the lighter episodes of Mike's ultimate gig, "Darkie's Mob".
All in all, an okay issue.
"AIEEEE" WATCH:
The most elongated utterance i've yet come across with a Russian "AIEEEEEEEEEEEE!" from Dorey's train crash in "Hellman".
A "Naieeeeee!" from a bloke run over by a bike in "Spinball Wars". Also there, we've a "Aieeeee!" from his team mate being blown up.
What is it with elongated one's this time? "The Sarge" has "Aieeeeeee!" fron a sniper being shot out of his tree.

POW! annual 1971 - #10 - Kash Pearce

As i've mentioned here before, if there was one copy of a title i could keep that would sum up my childhood comic reading, it would be this annual.
I loved and cherished it, being totally enthralled by the thrills inside - a mix of high thrills, odd plots, odder heroes and even odder villains.
And slightly disturbing artwork which made it all the more intriguing. The 9 year-old me wasn't to know that was due to the European artists that were used - all i knew is what i was reading seemed vaguelly like the Marvel heroes i knew from the UK reprints, but they had a slightly bizarre quality to them.
As i say, i've always cherished the book, one of only two that i've kept from my childhood right up to now.
And you can see here, on pages two and three, there's a nifty rolecall of the characters, to which i'd added my ratings of them:

So thought it'd be an idea to look closer at each one and see why i rated them as i did.
First up is "The Time Rider", Kash Pearce, who comes bottom of the list and i'm guessing i valued so little that i couldn't even be bothered to put a 10 alongside him.
Having a re-read, i can see why: Mr Pearce is a "million dollar rancher - and genius! Among his many incredible inventions, the mechanical horse!"
So, a loaded genius who, rather than setting himself in a lab benefitting humanity, choses to be a rancher. On a robot horse. Hmmmm...
He bungles an attempt to catch some bank robbers, gets told off by the police for interfering, goes off in a sulk and ponders at home: "If i had been back in the old west i'd sure have shown the law how useful my horse could be"
The lightbulb pings on as: "Hey! Why NOT go back to the wild west? My time transporter's almost finished..."
So, a genius inventor, with a robot horse and a working time machine, choses to be a rancher. Double hmmm...
Off he goes then, all garbed up, back to 1877 to defeat the dastardly Buck Sawyer. Which he does in an incredibly predictable, dull way. The only things of note? See the bottom of this post.
The only thing that i can really recall before re-reading this today are the daft fruit machine handles that pass for controls of horsey:

"AIEEEE!" WATCH:
Oddly, yes there is one and, boy, is it odd. We get an "Aieee!" from one of a bunch of native americans who're chasing our hero. He exclaims it as, i kid you not, the horse farts smoke in their faces.
Yep, a smoke screen produced from a bum-hole. VERY surprised the kid version of me didn't note that - surely it would've been the height of comedy back then?

One day i will have a Strip

As i'm sure many of you will be aware, the oft-put back Strip Magazine went on sale in comic shops last Weds.
Had mine on order at my local one and could've picked up then, but decided to wait until tomorrow, when they are having a mini-con.
But had to change my work rota so i'm now working.
So went to get it today.
The owner had sold all his copies bar mine, but asked if i'd mind giving it up as someone going to the con hasn't got a local comic shop and was after one. So would i mind letting him have mine and i'll get my copy finally next Weds?
Said sure, so expect a ramble after then.

Look-In - May 1974

A title i've long over-looked and i really dunno why - guess it was a staple of most kids reading back in the seventies as it gave you a weekly dose of your favourite shows, albeit in FAR more ambitious adventures than the show that spawned the strip could ever hope to achieve.
Case in point here, "The Tomorrow People", which has the Jaunters trekking around a jungle planet for two pages. If Thames had tried that, it'd be all cardboard tubes for trees and an awful lot of plastic plants i guess. And the ape-like aliens would've been a couple of moth eaten gorilla suits loaned from the Benny Hill show or sumsuch. Nice art though, which i'm guessing is John Burns?

"Kung Fu" is better, by being an American show, thereby having a decent budget and even more decent locations the crew could visit, making the strip here being much more do-able. Again, nice art. Martin Asbury?

The other strips are all familiar stuff, though for the life of me i don't know why they'd be considered for comic adaptations: "Bless This House", "Doctor In Charge!","Micheal Bentine's Potty Time" etc.
One strip i didn't recognise at all was "The Kids From 47a" as i don't remember the show whatsoever. And i'm not the only one - the tale of some children leaving at home alone while their mum's in hospital is so obscure, there's not one clip of it on Youtube.
Looking at the TV ratings at the back, its interesting to see what the 12 year-old me was watching on Saturdays back then.
The kiddie bit went:

9.55 Captain Scarlet
10.20 Forest Rangers
11.00 Funky Phantom
11.30 Tarzan
12.00 World Of Sport
6.00 New Faces
7.00 Sale Of The Century
7.30 Kung Fu

"Funky Phantom" started ringing bells. So thought i'd refresh me memory by looking for it on Youtube. God, wish they'd been alarm bells ringing - i'd forgotten it for a reason:



Finally, i chose this issue to feature the title as 1974 is a looong way away now but i can so clearly remember even now waiting for that issue to come out as i SO wanted that Kung Fu medallion. And can still very clearly remember buying the issue on the way to school - then losing the medallion on the way. And the upset of being in the playground where i was seemingly the only one there not standing and admiring their new bit of fabbo jewellry.
Though looking at this ad on tips how to wear it, at least it saved me looking a pillock:

Lofty's One-Man Luftwaffe

Just been reading a Battle from 1975 for the first time since then, and its a pretty duff affair.
Even the usually reliable Rat Pack was poor - dull story with dull art.
Two things to note though:
1. Lofty's One-Man Luftwaffe, a story i don't recall in the slightest. Its typical British boys comic fare, of having a highly unlikely and outlandish setup that the hero is plonked down in to. In this case, Lofty Banks has escaped from a prison camp by posing as a German air ace and ends up flying for the Germans. Why he doesn't just fly his plane to the Allied lines and surrender i guess must've been addressed by now.
Or not.
It has another bampot premise in that the Germans have painted their airfield blue so it'll look like a lake from the air and the hills around said "lake" are actually fuel dumps.
In the midst of this hilarious nonsense there's an awful lot of cliche lingo. Of course, at this time, that was pretty common for the Japanese and German characters but here its the turn of the English and there's SO much iof it, you can't help feeling there was a point to it.
If so, i don't see it. What's the point of all the "Drat"'s and "Dashed"'s, calling each other "Bunny" and the downright Ripping Yarns "Drat- He's not going to give up. Better nail the cheeky perisher"
2. The other thing of note is the end of the installment of "Day Of The Eagle", which has Mike Nelson failing to stop Hitler pressing the button that detonates the worlds first nuclear bomb.
Will have to track down the next issue to see how that pans out.
"AIEEEE!" WATCH:
Quite a bit this time:
A cut short "Aiiee!" coming from a downed German fighter in "Lofty's"
Almost the same again with "AIEE!" from a German guard in "Rat Pack". Wonder if its the same unfortunate chap?
An odd "NAIEEEE!" uttered twice in "The Flight Of The Golden Hinde"
And a 100% "AIEEEE!" from "The Terror Behind The Bamboo Curtain"

Cheap Thrillpower at The Works

Just a quick heads-up for any UK readers - The Works have got the rather nice hardback Best Of Judge Dredd and 2000AD's for only £6.99 each.

Action - 10th July 1976

Another pick-up from 30th Century was this issue of Action that'd i'd not re-read since, i guess, when it first came out.
Lets have a look shall we?
First up, Dredger and, as usual, it sure don't waste no time - in THE VERY FIRST PANEL we've learnt that Dredger and Breed are at the "Hampshire Agricultural Fair", that the big guy's intent on shooting a member of the East German delegation, which is giving Breed the wobblies.
Brilliant stuff to do that in the very first panel, but the rest of the tale doesn't live up to it - pretty poor script with even poorer art.
Next, Green Grudges War has Belardinelli's art, which is always welcome. But that's it, and Hells Highway is the usual dull stuff.
But it picks up again with Death Game 1999, which has "Al Rico", the half cyborg baddie featured. He's apparently has his metal parts covered with strips of "artificial skin" to stop his team mates freaking out, but he looks the same to me. This guy is a bit of curiosity, seeming to pre-empt Judge Dredd by having an adversary of the hero called "Rico" and this "half cyborg with a psychotic hatred for a sports team" was in place long before Artie Gruber appeared in Harlem Heroes.

Hookjaw features some garish colour pages, which also seems to bend scale to its will, having the bad guy managing to get practically half a submersible in its mouth.
Back in scale for the next page though, which has a classic, and often used, rendition of someone chopped in two:


Only other thing of note is this classic ad for the Palitoy action figures. Buts its strange though - can understand the Apes bit, with the TV show on around about then, but - Star Trek? Surely it'd finished its re-reuns by then?

"AIEEEE" WATCH:
A really rather over the top "AHIEEEEEE!" from someone who'd been having a bit of trouble getting into the stadium for the match in Death Game 1999.

Major Leicht

This guy i only very vaguely remember, and i knew him as the German version of Major Eazy - but didn't have any issues of him since i were a nipper.
But me and the Bronze repaid a visit a while back to 30th Century Comics, and i bought this issue of Battle for the really lovely Ezquerra cover of the Main Man.

Pleased to have it for just that reason, but doubly chuffed to find it has Leicht in the strip.
And, being Eazy, it was typicaly off the wall.
He's in Italy just as Germany surrenders and is determined that he'll beat the Yanks to the Brenner Pass, seeing as he's fought for it and they're just there for the glory.
He meets his equivilant on the way and both decide to put such silly trivial things as war to one side to beat the Nazi's, who're are determined to blow up the very bridge the Americans plan on using to get there.
Its typical Battle barminess - neither has the means to stop the gun from doing the dasterdly deed, so instead drop a grenade-laden tank against the dam wall, blowing it up to wash the bad guys away.
It ends with Eazy indeed beating the Americans to the objective, but Leicht is mentioned no more.
No idea if he appears again, but the tag at the end saying from now on there'd be the early adventures of Eazy, guess that was it.
The only other thing of note this time is the incredibly vivid depection of a Nazi lookee-likkee of Churchill being blasted by Mike Nelson in "The Eagle Must Die!"

"AIEEEE" WATCH:
A short "AIEEE!" from a German in "Yellow Jack"
A really rather over-long "AIEEEEE!" from a Nazi in "The Bootneck Boy", who'd only been thumped by a rifle. Wimp.

Smash! 11th Oct 1969

Sticking with Smash! for my latest reading, this one came out when i was 7 and i'm pretty sure i wasn't reading the weekly at this point, just the annuals.

Inside we've inspired barminess in Janus Stark as he battles for his life in a recently constructed tunnel under the Thames, built by Isidore Royaume (great name). The bad guy could throttle our hero to death, but just stops to take look, allowing Stark to wake up. He then has a chance by knocking him out again, this time with a spanner. Does he learn his lesson and finish him off there? No, he leaves him to drown inside it. Not a very clever baddie, who gets his come-uppance by his boat being upended by Stark's escape chamber.
Fool.

Master Of The Marsh is interesting, in that we get a hint that Patchman is more than he seems, having a very Catweazle-like flashback to Norman times. It raises the question: which came first with that premise - this strip or that show?

The other highlight for me this time is the back page ad for Action Transfers, a range i collected avidly as a nipper and seeing them here really does strike a cord, even all these years later

Adios Senor Lopez

Ahhhh, no. Just heard of Francisco Lopez's passing. Anyone who's been with this Blog for a while will know what a crucial role he played in my comic appreciation growing up and, indeed, this Blog is a sort of love letter to him.
Such a sad day to hear of his passing but hopefully it'll kick start a true apprecation of just what a genius he was and what a massive influence he had on folk.
Just hope he knew it before passing

Smash! Annual 1975

Don't think i ever got this when it came out, and have just picked up a really nice condition copy off the 'Bay dirt cheap.
Far too cheap, as its a cracking read.
As usual, the factual features are horribly dated - being here all about the Wankel engine and Bisley rifle range "the mecca of marksmen".
The humour strips that i didn't care too much for - Consternation Street, Ghost Ship etc - are quite passable but, of course, top of the tree is the Swots And The Blots and we're treated to multiple helpings of their genius.

I was always prefered them to their Bash Street cousins, as even though they and their teach are almost identical clones, the strip always seemed to have a more anarchic edge over the other school. Best one here is them having Bad Penny paying a visit, with both sides trying to win her over. Can never decide what's best: the humour of the art or the humour of the sound effects and descriptive prose. Cyril Swot looks funny on his own, but being described as " a cross between Dracula and a school dinner pudding" is the icing on the,er, pudding. Ditto Cutherbert. He's funny covered in perfume, but even better with "nice niff" and "flowery fumes" coming off him.

ar opposite with Cursitor Doom, with some INCREDIBLY moody art by Eric Bradbury. The tale starts with our hero(?) looking out his window up to the next door "Devil's Wood on Haunted Hill" which "looks more SINISTER than usual tonight!". I mean, really, why's no-one ever thought to put a wall round such a place? Sure would've stopped the brilliantly named "Hezekiah Moore" wandering in looking for the long hidden Book Of Evil, only to snuff it at the hands/branches of the trees he's accidently brought to life. Its down to Doom and his aide McCraggan to get the plants under control, in the end only being able to do so with the aid of "Thor The Hammerer, Lord Of The Nordic Deities". Brilliant, moody stuff, with Eric being able to draw trees with faces and make them scary and not silly.

He's back on the Simon Test adventure and saves it with yet more moody art, as the story's not up to much, it being the tale of "Jabez Coppenger" (who thought these up?), trying to come with a potion to control birds, directing them from his island that sits atop the "Geyser Of Doom". Pretty forgettable stuff, if not for Mr Bradbury.

Last highlight is Janus Stark and its odd to see regular artist Lopez being coloured. It doesn't work, even though he's away from his grim London and in the sunnier clime of Brighton. Doesn't help either that the page sides are bright yellow as well. The tales not bad - he's arrested for burgularies that have started since he arrived, thefts that only one with his abilities could perform. He solves the mystery with some Holmes-like deductions, although the capper of "All the robberies involved agility..." seems fair enough, but then "...and the hard skin on your hands told me you once worked in a circus. A trapeze artist perhaps" would have even the great detective balking.

Meeting Pat Mills & Glenn Fabry

Had a great time last Saturday at a tiny SF convention in a small church hall in Worthing.
What made it great was that both Pat Mills and Glenn Fabry attended. Odd too in that, in the very same weekend of the San Diego Comic Con, two legends should be there rather than there.
Not complaining though - it gave us the whole morning alone with the lovely Glenn Fabry, who did this stunning Adam Eterno meets Slaine for my "Someone Old, Someone New" project, more details here:

http://someoneoldsomeonenew.blogspot.com/

And long natters in the afternoon with Pat Mills. Read tons of interviews with the guy, along with Podcasts, and he's always come across as intelligent, articulate and passionate.
Which he was on Saturday. The sheer energy and friendliness of the guy blew away any nervousness meself and the Bronze might've had meeting the bloke responsible for so much we held dear in our formative years and it was a joy to sit there and listen to him and see too that he was interested in what we had to say.
Topics included, unsurprisngly, the genesis of Hookjaw, the history past and present of Flesh and the genius of Ken Reid.
Pat also talked of the future of the strips he's writing at the moment and it was a bit of surprise, knowing what a stickler and how thorough he is, to hear he's in some cases only the outline of some of the final oucomes.
Case in point, Savage. He'd like to do a tale set after the liberation of Britain, when Bill has no further use and goes back to being a taxi driver, bitter and twisted.
As we'd been discussing the merits of having all his tales set in one universe and how he MUST show how Howard Quartz in Savage becomes "Mr Ten Percent", the brain in a robot body of Ro-Busters, i pipped up with how, in Ro-Busters, there was was a robot character who's a human shaped taxi - the fare simply sits on a saddle on his back.
And maybe Savage is real hacked off when they're introduced and loses his livlihood from these robot newcomers muscling in.
How chuffed was i when Pat says he'd forgotten about that and it was a good idea. Chuffed indeed - be even more so if one's called Eric.
Anyway, a fantastic day. Just wish we could've been there for the Sunday too.

The Squirt Ring

A free gift that seemed to pop up all over the place, given away with various titles over the years.
Where the heck did they come from? Was there a whacking great warehouse full of them somewhere and a consignment was occasionally let out?
I never once saw their like in the many joke shops around in the 70's, just as free gifts. And you never see them now.
So, did the warehouse run empty - or did someone loose the key and even now there's crates full of them stored in vast Raiders Of The Lost Ark storage unit, waiting to be unleashed on a new generation of nippers.