The dullness of Lion & Thunder

There's a reason why i mainly only read the Lion & Thunder annuals and not many of the weekly issues - the incredibly dull covers.
Here's an example: the 10 year-old me goes into the Newsagent with his 10p pocket money and searches the shelf for something to read.
Is his eye be drawn to the above picture of a Moose - or one of the covers below that were out the same year?
'Nuff said.

Dog Days Afternoon

VERY glad to say that the really rather excellent Boo Cook has stepped up to the plate for my "Someone Old, Someone New" lil' project:

http://someoneoldsomeonenew.blogspot.com/

The Gauntlet Of Fate

This is a strip i've kinda ignored up till now, which is a bit unfair, so let's have a look now shall we?
The premise of the tale is that the Gauntlet drifts from owner to owner down through the centuries, bringing "justice to all who possessed it - the good or the bad".
I've always thought of it as being in the vein of the Amicus anthology films of the 60's and 70's which had a linking device (usually Peter Cushing) to tales of folk getting their just deserts.
And that's really strong here, as the tale is set in a second-shop that's the dead spit of Mr Cushing's one in "From Beyond The Grave".

The Gauntlet has been found by a tramp, who tries to sell it to the shop owner, "Ebenezer Mold" who, the caption tells us is "a sharp and miserly character". Really, with a name like that? No way!
Anyway, the old scrooge recognises the Gauntlet as being about 16th century and worth at least a hundred pounds - but only gives the tramp five bob.
So, that's the die cast, we know he's gonna cop for it and the fun is in waiting to see just how.
We don't have long to wait: at the stroke of midnight the Gauntlet comes to life, bursts out of the safe, plays a harp to wake the old codger, drops a stuffed crocodile on him, pushes a samurai suit at him, then ends the torture by plopping itself onto the hand of an upright skelton to point and accuse the miser.
Brainbox that he is, he decides if he wears the glove he can control it.
No way - the Gauntlet makes him dust and clean the antiques and shop, then write out bargain price price tags and open up the shop.
And stands there helpless - but not actualy saying anything to the customers - as everything in the shop is bought from him.
With the shop cleared out, with no profit made, the really rather unrepentant bloke chucks the Gauntlet into the dust cart passing.
And that's it. A fun little tale, but not exactly a memorable one.
Couple of other things to note from this issue of Thunder dated 21st November 1970:
"Fury's Family" is one of those strips i was never fond of, really not liking the main character and, especially, the odd, bizarre one colour colouring it always had, which really detracts from the really rather nice moody art:

Still, one thing i did gain this time is that, in true Skippy The Bush Kangaroo tradition, i now know that "Mikka Mikka Mikka!" is chimpanzee for "The winged one's want my help? They tell of a horned animal in trouble?" and "Twee Chwweek! Trikka!" actually means "A wounded deer".

Thanks for that Fury.
The other thing is "Black Max", which has the usual cliffhanger ending but, for once, isn't too fantastical or silly, with real tension as Tim struggles to escape the Giant Bat but then being shot by Max and falling into a huge crater.

Lovely stuff.
"AIEEEE!" WATCH:
Nowt

The return of Charlie Peace

The "Caballistics Inc" spin-off series "Absalom" is by far my top thrill in the Prog at the moment and its just been notched up another peg by mention this week of Charlie Peace.
Writer Droid Gordon Rennie has been known to drop in references to other realities in his tales before, and them being often the odd sentence dropped in in passing and never refered to again making them more inticing - such as "Hobbs End" and "the Yetis in the Underground" in "Cabs Inc".
So its no surprise really to see it happen here, as we find that the Victorian villian who was transported to the 60's in "Valiant" and then "Buster" didn't do so by means of an accident with a time machine but by using the London Stone in the same way the baddies in this latest tale are.
Excellent stuff.
Guess it would be too obvious for the fella to pop up though. But if he did, would he be like his original incarnation, or his modern "Albion" version?

POW! annual 1971 - #8 - Chet Blair

In at number 8 and i've no idea why.
Chet Blair was born a Sioux, has just finished college and is just about to start his career as a lawyer.
Even before the events that turn him into a hero, things are afoot - as he walks he's got "... a certain pride in his dark eyes, a kind of lazy freedom in the way he moved".
Sounds like me when i've had a few.
And he's pondering too - "Forget the past, i guess. I'm no longer a Sioux - just another American lawyer." and he wanders on, remembering "... green plains, rolling hills, winding rivers under a wide sky"
Blimey, makes you wonder, if he misses his previous life, why did he leave it?
We've no time to find out, as he finds himself caught up in a gunfight between criminals,gets mistaken for one of them and legs it.
Figuring he needs to find one of the guys to clear his name, he goes back to his apartment, where he has his Sioux togs hung up in the wardrobe.

With no reason given, other than he must use his Sioux training, he gets into it and "the man known as Chet Blair vanished and another man took his place."
No, that's still Chet but in a different outfit. With no mask. He hasn't even given himself another name.
And off he goes round the city dressed like that, carrying axe and bow and arrows.
And no-one notices.
We've then got three pages of tedium, as he tracks down the baddies and makes friends with a bloke from the FBI.

It ends with him turning down a crimefighting job to be a lawyer and its kinda left open-ended in case the character got his own series.
Which he didn't.
Which is no surprise.
Baffled why i voted him above Mr Tomorrow. can only think maybe at that time i was into the Lone Ranger and the guy was kinda like Tonto.

Warhorse

Had to pop down and check out a possible fault with our copy at work today.
So i'm stood there waiting, and the setting is the Somme, just minutes before they go over the top.
"Blimey", thinks i as the Sergeant wanders down the line giving the troops a final pep talk, "he's just like the Sarge in Charleys War - just minus the pointy moustache".
Think it again when the hero appears, and his demanour just from that brief section i saw didn't 'arf scream Mr Bourne.
And then we have a snobby, arrogant, junior officer.
And a mate of the hero who both in looks and character is the dead spit of Ginger.
And when they do go over the top, there's the "whizz-bangs" i know from the strip, there's the no-mans land EXACTLY like i've seen in Battle and, when they get to the German lines, there's even a dead German in the gas mask giving Charley, er, the hero a scare.
Like i say, blimey.

A new Someone Old, Someone New

Very, very pleased to report that Carl Critchlow has stepped up to the plate and contributed to my little project.
Just follow the link on the right here for more.

This week in... 1976

I thought i'd start a feature that i've been doing over on my Bat-Blog:

http://outofthebatcave.blogspot.com/

That is, to take a look at an issue from this time yonks back.
So i'm starting with this issue of Battle as it has one of my favourite ever covers from that title, courtesy of Mr Carlos Ezquerra. If only what he did here continued inside...
Before we get to that though, the main thing of note is:

A for once interesting tale of "D-Day Dawson". Too have often they're reptitive, standard war tales with the story's hook of the hero having the shrapnel near his heart and not knowing how long he's got, more often than not making him out to be a winging, moany trooper.
Here though we have a classic, barmy notion of causing our hero a dilemma, worthy of Adam Eterno himself - the squad have to infiltrate this German castle to nab samples of the scientists latest creation, mines that explode if any metal goes near them.
So the guys take off all their nailed boots, braces, knives, guns, coins etc.
But, what's Dawson to do? If he steps inside, the shrapnel that no-one knows about would be sure to trigger the bombs. They think he's running away but, good for him, he stumbles on the scientist, dispatches him with a jar of gas and all ends happily as his comrades escape with a couple of the mines.
The other thing of note is "Rat Pack".
Its interesting in that there's a heck of lot happening and the treachery of Taggart's team really comes to the fore here, with Dancer repeatedly trying to bump him off in the tale:
The team is sent to Devils Rock, a one-time French prison island and stepping stone for the Allies invasion of North Africa, and they have to check it out beforehand.
They rapidly find there's a similar German convict team guarding it.
Dancer threatens to shoot Taggart if he doesn't surrender.
They surrender.
They learn of "The Serpent Latitude 42", a torpedo that will attack the approaching fleet.
They're put in prison but Dancer bluffs the guards in letting them out by threatening them with a gun he made out of soap he found in the cell (yes really).
They escape to the beach and find an old convict message carved on a tree letting them know there's a buried raft there.
Once underway, Dancer holds a knife to Taggarts kneck to make him sail towards Spain, where he plans to join their Foreign Legion.
But wouldn't you just know it? Taggart realises they've sailed to lattitude 42. At just the moment the torpedo comes along.
So, the raft stops the deadly device, they're in the water and Dancer's finally had enough and swims over to Taggart to finish him off.
And its at that point the shark arrives.
Should be exciting stuff but he's only there for one panel as Dancer stabs him and "The beast, shocked and wounded, turned away".
Then they're picked up by the Allies.
Phew!
Sure did rush along, but the sharks a huge disapointment, being only there for a moment and the art is nowhere near what Carlos had promised on the cover:

But its a neat tale nevertheless.
"AIEEEE!" WATCH:
Two "AIEEE!"'s in "Rat Pack" from two German guards (unless its the same guy being very unlucky)
The same expletive from a Japanese guard in "Merril's Mauraders"

Strip magazine issue 2

Finally got down to my local comic shop and picked up this latest issue.
Reading it, the oft-cited "we're filling a gap in the market" really does ring home and you're left wondering why on earth these anthologies were ever done away with.
So great to see not only new, original British strips, but also the championing of small press titles and, with this issue, local small stores.
Long may they continue.
Read-wise, of the new strips, "Recovery Incorporated" and "Age Of Heroes" are still tops but favourite, of course, is "Hook Jaw".
This is proving to be a multi-level, multi-pleasure experience as:
(A) We get to read the strip again
(B) We get to compare and contrast the two lettering styles
(C) We get to do ditto with colour or not.
Especially interesting this time for me as we've two of my all-time favourite panels from the strip.

This one i'd rate #4 on my list. Even reading it first time round, i recognised it for the copy of the photo that it was, it being an iconic shot used in pretty much all the books that were churned out in the wake of Jaws' success. Most publishers would i guess, if they were using it, would use it as is. Its a true mark of the bods in charge to come up with the outrageous notion of a diver swimming right into it. Would love to know how it came about - did the script say "diver swims into the maw" and Sola decided to use the image, or was he given the image after it inspired Mr Armstrong to write the moment.
It still is a fantastic moment in colour:

with the now bright white of the teeth really standing out. Only niggle is that if the speech bubble hadn't been moved then we'd see more of them. But can understand why it was done and it doesn't distract at all.
This is my #2 panel,a classic iconic moment - if you wanted to sum up the strip in one panel, this would do it:

I used to stare and stare at it for ages, horrified by the snapping limbs and stunned by the length of the beast compared to the bloke.

In colour, it still has impact, the red making it more so, but the colouring on the face has rather obscured the face, alas.
Still, a terrific read and can't wait for more.
"AIEEEE!" WATCH:
None. Can we have some please?

Merry Christmas to y'all

Okay folks, up at an unearthly hour in the morning to travel to France to see family, then back again Christmas Eve eve.
So, very best wishes to you all and i'll see you back here soon.

Merry Christmas from... 1970

This time out we have a festive cover, though being Thunder, its a factual piece and therefore, to an 8 year-old, boring.
Inside we're still at the point where no-one belives Wilson about the Black Max and here we have him running from a court-martial, only to run into - literally - Max in the woods he's hiding out in. He's saved by some Tommies inadvertantly letting Max's bat out of his plane and we get, yet again, "the incredible Tardis plane or the ever growing Bat" as the creature goes from being small enough to fit in the tiny cargo box to being bigger than the plane itself in the space of just one panel:

"Adam Eterno" is set in WW1, which you'd think would be a the setting for some really dark, gritty art. Not so with this artist alas. Its all very light and forgettable, but the story itself is of note as it strays from the usual formula. Instead of the usual plot device of plonking Adam down in a time period just moments before it all hits the fan - something Slaine would do again and again decades later - here we have the start of a tale, with Adam being introduced as a stretcher-bearer, although he's not named and, if you're not a fan already, you wouldn't have a clue he was the hero of the tale. Its not until he's survived a bomb blast and the onlookers identify him as "Private Eterno", that we're tipped off to what's going on.

Seems he's been fighting for a coupla weeks and that fact that he never sleeps and has survived countless bullet hits is making him a bit of a pariah. That looks like its all at an end though with the arrival of "General Von Gruber" who also can shrug off bullet hits. And is armed (what are the chances eh?) with a solid gold sabre.
Much moodier art is on "Fury's Family", a strip i didn't care for, but there's no denying the effectivness of the art:

There's a few strips that mention Christmas in a panel or two, but "Phil The Fluter" has the only proper Christmas tale, although the moral of it is a tad dodgy, given the time of year. Its Christmas Day, Phil's parents haven't got round to getting a tree, so off he goes to the local woods to dig one up. When the owner of the woods tries, quite rightly, to stop him stealing one, the flute's used to dunk him in the river. So the guy in the right gets a dunking, but the tea leaf gets his tree using unfair means.
Hmmmmm...

"AIEEEE" WATCH:
Not an utterance nor a variance

Merry Christmas from... 1972

Back in '72, so lets see what the 10 year-old me was reading shall we?
Well, nothing to do with the festive period for sure here - not one strip even mentions the time of year, let alone wishing anyone festive greetings.
Instead, we have in the way of highlights here:

Adam Eterno resolving the problem of how to cope with a gold-topped tower falling towards him in Napleonic times. Which he does by being shot, thereby moving just out of the way of the tower. Worthy of a 50's serial get-out that. Excellent art but a so-so tale.

"Secrets Of The Demon Dwarf" continues the Black Max sequel, and has the British fighting the Germans still going on in the 60's. Pretty duff stuff if it wasn't for the fact that it was a Max sequel and that, somehow, there's still a Wilson to thwart the dasterdily plans.

Best of all though is "The Spider", which, as always, has stunning art, though this tale of him vs the Android Emperor is pretty foregettable.
Not a very distinctive issue then.
"AIEEEE" WATCH:
Nowt.

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.