London Loves Comics

Gosh!

2011-07-24T21:24:00.003+01:00

I'm so out of touch that I had no idea about this: http://www.goshlondon.com/move/

I'll definitely be there on the 30th to bid farewell to the old shop (and meet Alan Moore).

The new place sounds like it'll be just grand.

Gene Colan and Night Force #12

2011-07-03T12:13:00.006+01:00

Gene Colan. Others out there can write a good deal more articulate obituaries and summaries of the man's career. They have. Go read them.

He was obviously incredible. Grab yourself a Marvel Essential Tomb of Dracula - the fact that they are in black and white is good. The art is amazing.

I remember a couple of years ago when Colan did that Captain America special, Marvel offered the standard version and a black and white variant. I bought the variant, obviously. Given that he was an octogenarian with eye problems, some of it was predictably rough, but there are parts of that comic which were still incredible. Get a copy on ebay, it's worth a look.

Why Night Force #12? That cover. I picked it up from the newsagents back in the day - I must have been about 11 years old - because it was just one of the random haul of American comics which had turned up that particular month.

I had no other issues of Night Force, but the cover really unsettled me, so I bought it. It's the nutso second part to a story about The Beast from The Book of Revelations, rumbling through a 1920s funfair killing people. I always thought the cover was the view of someone stuck at the top of a ferris wheel. It stuck with me, and it was the first thing that came into my head when I heard Colan had died. Great artist. RIP.

Seen on ebay

2011-07-03T12:06:00.001+01:00

Description: "Intact and no rips"

ON YOUR KNEES!

2011-06-19T10:24:00.001+01:00

Creepy praying doll...

You click. Make Big.

Scan from the back of The Mighty Thor #267, January 1977

Magnificent Mart

2011-06-13T20:05:00.005+01:00

MART!

Wasn't really in the mood for the stinkfest at the start of the day. I was knackered, it was pissing with rain outside and I've just got heavily into this online pinball game.

Still, I am nothing if not dedicated to tat, so off I trudged to meet Mr Bishop at the bus stop. There we boarded a 476 where we found this chap...

11.30am and unconscious. The smell of vodka hung about him. It was impossible to wake him up. We told the bus driver who stopped the bus and called an ambulance. This annoyed one lady who was more bothered about the fact that her bus journey had been affected than the welfare of this poor sod. Yay London! What a cuntwitch.

Anyways we made the mart. Given the weather we thought it would be empty and grim. Not so!

It was one of those marts where they open up the back room and fill it with British tat - and it was heaving. The busiest mart I've been to for some time. Not only that, it was LOADED with treasure.

First stall BOOM! I complete my run of Teen Titans for £2 and pick up the first few issues of Alien Legion for pennies. Mr Bishop scores a silver age Captain America for 50p. Further in more bargains to be found. Plus beauty.

Oh yes, real beauty...

Shrines to 60s tat!

Shrink wrapped 80s wank mags (under the counter, if you please)

Blurred British Annual stall - trust me it looked lovely

Batwomen

Original fucking Ezquerra 80s Strontium Dog pages - obviously the robber selling them wanted hundreds of pounds. But still they were lovely.

THAI HORROR FILM POSTERS!!!!

THAI HORROR FILM POSTER MAN!!!

He kindly agreed to hold my favourite poster on his amazing stall (Evil Dead II) up for me

What a nice man. What an incredible stall!

WHAT AN AMAZING FUCKING MART!

I bought heaps and heaps of good cheap rubbish. Even managed to score some reasonably cheap Heroclix off the notorious Heroclix robber.

All the dealers seemed to be doing pretty well. Absurdly high priced near mint silver age key issue man was there. I saw him sell five comics to one bloke for £1,100. "Shall I charge it to the usual account, sir?"

EC comics man held court. Krypton comics man smashed out his 25p boxes of filth. All was good.

In amongst the man throng, I caught up with LLC chum Tam, and then went for post mart drinks with Mr Bishop, Dex and special guest star Bruce - who had come all the way from Hitchin just to load up on 25p issues of Captain America. What a man!

The now traditional window seat was a fine place to compare our water-damaged, creased and torn treasures and to watch the dealers loading their boxes back into their vans. One of them dropped a box in a puddle, picked it up, wiped off a now wet copy of Valiant and shoved it back in the van.

Truly, the best mart for years. Huzzah!

Ace reporter

2011-06-05T21:16:00.004+01:00

I should probably explain.

I haven't been updating properly because I've got a new job as a reporter on a local newspaper. It's punishing and consumes all my time, leaving me exhausted - in my pants, on the carpet - every night.

Don't get me wrong, I love it. But basically, it's killing me and I just haven't had the energy to blog recently.

Oh, and my scanner's blown up again.

Anyway, I suppose I'm sort of still here. I do love doing this blog. But until I get used to this new life...fergedaboudit.

PS I am planning to do the mart next weekend and I WILL write a report. Promise.

Nostalgia bytes

2011-05-17T10:58:00.003+01:00

Via the Twittering of Charlie Brooker comes this quite splendid link to ancient Spectrum game cover art.

What a sensational collection that is. It really deserves a nice coffee table book.

My ebay disgrace

2011-05-06T00:14:00.006+01:00

So, I make a bit of money freelancing and it immediately goes on this...

Seal's getting cracked as soon as it arrives.

I now own Giant-Size #1!

Yeeeeeeeeeeees!

It's a sickness.

May Day! May Day!

2011-05-01T10:23:00.006+01:00

Happy May Day, comrades! There's a mart today. Lovely day for it, too. Sadly I will not be in attendance. This pains me but I've got another appointment at 2pm, so any visit I did make would be ridiculously short. Part of me wants to go just to stick my head round the door and take in the bouquet - you know the one, the whiff of acid spewing old comic bags mingled with the sweat of King Stinker and his chums? Mmmmmmm. Breathe it in! I will not let myself be that sad, though. Next one! Yes. Next one!

Not that I need any more tat anyway. I've got humongous amounts of yellowing rubbish to plough my way through as it is. Even though I dropped my weekly comic habit months ago, I'm still faced with piles of unread comics. I have a feeling that I'll never read everything I own.

On a different subject, I went to see Thor the other day. I was meant to be doing the shopping, but there was Thor, looking all lovely and shiny on his poster, so off I went. Enjoyed it quite a bit actually. Saw it in 3D, which was quite odd. Never been to a 3D film before. Those glasses really bring down the brightness, don't they? The stuff with the frost giants looked really dark through my specs. Great special effects though, and lovely costumes. Loved the Destroyer and the Rainbow Bridge. I'm also a fan of black Heimdall - yes. Don't fuck with Stringer! Thought Volstagg was more like Gimli than Volstagg, but that's just a minor gripe really. Overall it was a highly enjoyable romp. I'm ashamed to say that the obligatory Stan Lee cameo made me laugh out loud. I'm too easy. Nice Odin from Hopkins - still think Brian Blessed would've been a braver/funnier choice. Natalie Portman was fairly fit. Loki's helmet was spectacular. And is just me, or does anyone else get an immense feeling of nerdish superiority watching people leave the cinema before the post credits extra scene? "Ha! You're leaving! Don't you know there's a secret bit at the end? You clearly AREN'T a proper comic fan type. Your loss, well adjusted normal people! Your loss!"

Seeing things

2011-04-23T10:18:00.006+01:00

This is quite cool - a page from Denny O'Neill and Dick Giordano's 1989 retelling of Batman's origin, "The Man Who Falls."

It's a decent story which was published exclusively in the trade, "Secret Origins" alongside a bunch of reprints. Apparently it was used as a reference by David Goyer and Christopher Nolan for Batman Begins.

Anyway, that's not why I scanned in the page. I wanted to draw your attention to this panel...

That's Thomas Wayne rescuing young Bruce from a cave full of bats. It could be accidental, but I think Thomas looks like Joker here.

Purple coat. Green hair. No?

Scans from The Man Who Falls, by Denny O'Neill and Dick Giordano, colours by Tom McCraw. 1989

Cracking Cap page

2011-04-19T13:22:00.012+01:00

I bought a skipload of bronze age Captain America at Kapow. It's largely great. Just finished issue 227 which sports this terrific cover...

Mein Gott!

Amazing!

The plot here is that the Red Skull has taken over the SHIELD helicarrier, turned all the operatives on board into Red Skulls and taken Nick Fury hostage. He straps Fury up to some solar powered death ray which will incinerate Fury once the sun hits its mirror. Top stuff.

Anyway, Cap fights his way to Fury just as he's about to get roasted, at which point the Skull starts his inevitable head fuck speech about Bucky. That moment gives us this quite splendid page...

Click it to see it nice and large. My issue is a bit yellow, but I think you can still appreciate some great storytelling here. Tip-top job by Sal Buscema. Love how the panels flow vertically as well as horizontally. Brilliant way to show a lot of stuff happening at the same time while maintaining the sense of drama and urgency. Tick-tock-tick-tock - Know what I mean? And what about this panel...

That's eye-popping, face-stretching, spit-flecked horror for you there, folks!

Magic.

Scans from Captain America #227, November 1978. Written by Roger McKenzie. Drawn by Sal Buscema.

PS - It's not really Nick Fury! He'd never scream in the face of death. It's a SHIELD 'life model decoy' (obviously!) which the Skull used to trap Cap into making a rescue attempt. Ah, this issue is so gloriously ridiculous.

The Fink Brothers

2011-04-18T17:04:00.000+01:00

Brief Kapow thoughts

2011-04-16T10:37:00.016+01:00

There's not much left to say about Kapow. I'm very late to the after show party and you've probably read all you need to about the convention already. Still, here are a few thoughts...

The general vibe I get from those who attended was good. It wasn't perfect, but then I only say that because it wasn't quite what I wanted. Selfish git, eh? I would have liked to see less movie fluff and more comics. I'd have ditched all the video game nonsense and replaced it with 25p boxes of tat, and I wouldn't have let some of the shite awful indy creators past the front door. No offence to indy creators, I love a good independent comic me, but there weren't many good independent comics on show. Far too much floorspace was taken up by sixth form standard bilge -IMO. What about those jokers at the end of artist alley selling dog rough sketches of aliens for a fiver?! If you bought one of those you want incinerating. So yeah, fuck them off next year and either get some decent indy creators OR replace them with more purveyors of old tat.

I bought a fair amount of old comics BUT, I have to say, in the main there were not many bargains to be had on the vintage stalls. Same old problem, I'm afraid - the sellers seem to be in denial over ebay. NEWSFLASH: thumbing through your Overstreet guide, deciding you have a NM copy and then slapping an extra few quid on top of the guide price isn't good enough any more. If you want to sell your water damaged copy of Giant Size X-Men #1 then you're going to have to quote a sensible price! I'm sure the stalls peddling the high price silver age tat sold some of those comics on their wall, but only to mugs. I am not paying you £270 for a comic that I can get for half as much on ebay! You have to adjust or you WILL die! Sorry. I don't want to see you die, I am just telling you the truth.

Right, moans out the way - the good...

The people. I had such a nice time meeting comic chums. Really. I even announced this after a couple of beers, at which point Little Ad said I was just sucking dick! Well, Little Ad - not so sir! The people (including Little Ad) were the undoubted highlight of the weekend for me. From Dexter and John, who schlepped the floors with me, to Dave who tore up the cosplay and provided plenty of laughs in the pub. It was spiffing to spend so much time with like minded folk. I got to meet Pete Kirkham, have a chat with Mike Leader, a bit of a yarn with Mr Salmond. Marvellous. It really was very pleasant. Then there were the brief but - for me anyway -enjoyable chats with creators. Shaky Kane - what a lovely fellah. He spent ten minutes apologising for the fact that the free sketch he was doing for me was shit. It wasn't shit and even if it was, it was fucking free! Chris Weston - politely breaking off from some proper work to pose for a snap and chatting happily about The Twelve with me (nearly finished, apparently). A 10am chat with Leinil Yu in a kebab shop. Nerdgasmic stuff. And what about the cosplayers? I saw a lot of this bunch in action because I spent a good proportion of the con following Dave around. Didn't talk to them, but enjoyed watching them doing their thing and got a little bit of an insight into the politics at work within their community. Some good soap opera there, for sure. Lesbian cosplay grooming FTW! Plus - Domino, PHWOAR!

Venue. Great place. Lovely and bright. Big high ceiling with natural light. Rooms for the panels (I only went to two) were spacious and air conditioned. Plus Upper Street is great for restaurants and pubs AND it's really handy for my house, which is obviously the most important factor.

Anyway, yes. Next year - bring it on! More cosplayers. More tat. Less video game and film shit. Reasonable prices. There's a chance HMV might go bust, so at least we won't have their wank stall. Tell that strange lot with the electric guitars and their rip off of Detroit Metal City to piss off, too. Or not. Whatever. I'll be back. The fact that it wasn't perfect doesn't matter. It's a comic convention! That's what I care about. It's in London. Tickets were fairly priced and those involved clearly put a lot of work into organising it.

Overall I give it a 7.5 out of 10. Really enjoyable weekend.

New old tat!

2011-04-11T23:00:00.010+01:00

Samples of tat I bought at Kapow!

self-aware panel...

Great (but arguably ruined) cover...

Click pic to enjoy BIG Wrightson horror GOLD!

If only those Twisted Tales Comics hadn't had that banner take up a third of the cover! This Wrightson piece is good as it is, but if it had been allowed a bit of extra headroom (excuse the pun) it would've been even better. All they had to do was superimpose the title on the sky. Instead they slapped it on a bright orange background and cut off the top of the psycho killer. I bet there was a moon in the original drawing. Tossers.

Scans from Captain America #222, 1978 and Twisted Tales #2, 1983

Kapow! Day Two

2011-04-10T19:47:00.005+01:00

Leinil Yu enjoying a kebab at 10am.

Sad Beast.

Bored Spidey.

Cosplayers getting ready for cosplay contest.

Posers.

Chris Weston.

Dave and Lady Deadpool.

The winner!

Dave won best cosplayer award for Kapow! 2011!

Amazing!

What a great weekend. Report when I have time (few days)

Kapow! Day One

2011-04-10T09:20:00.008+01:00

Good craic. Off to day two now. Here are the snaps I took of day one. Mostly Dave. Obv.

Queuing. 9.30am. Robot and guide.

Inside.

Dave breaking the punters in.

Bane buys a round.

Someone's wank fantasy (mine).

Great minds.

Lex Luthor AKA Little Ad on the angry juice. Shortly afterwards he was threatening people for laughing at cosplayers. Behind the smile, Mike Leader is crying.

Why so serious?

Kapow!

2011-04-04T21:23:00.004+01:00

It's this weekend, people.

Details of all the panels HERE.

I'm not that fussed by any of that. Sorry. The Mills and O'Neill thing might be worth a look.

I do want to get a few sketches from artists. Wonder if Mike McMahon and Dave Gibbons will be doing them. How much you think McMahon would charge me for a sketch of Dredd dragging Mean Machine from a chain tied to a Lawmaster?

Speaking of sketches - what size sketchbook do I need for one of these things?

Other than the sketches, I'm really hoping there are some 25p boxes of rotting tat for me to go through.

If not I will be sad.

But I am looking forward to seeing my comic chums! Let me know if you're coming and we'll have a drink! If enough people are up for it, we could even go for a curry on Saturday night.

Baaaaaaane!

2011-03-31T17:03:00.004+01:00

Big Dave F has been posting pictures of himself dressed as Bane on Facebook...

What can you say?

He's going to Kapow in this costume.

I fucking love Dave.

Readers

2011-03-29T11:19:00.007+01:00

Couple of bits from friends of London Loves Comics.

First off, Peter Kirkham sent me a link to a very affordable ebay listing of Roger Langridge art. £35 a piece for some very, very lovely original art. Go get it before someone else does! LINK

Next, John Bishop posted a brilliant piece of vintage convention promo work to his Facebook page.

Here t'is...

Classic bit of Stan Lee: "I think I'm probably my biggest fan!"

HaHa!

How about a date?

2011-03-28T22:06:00.001+01:00

No chance, mate.

2011-03-28T14:02:00.002+01:00

This makes me laugh...

This soap joke victim just looks so fed up. It's like the tosser who did this has done it a thousand times before and this poor person is just resigned to being the butt of yet another tedious practical joke! HeeHee!

1979 Fun Factory Ad, scanned from Daredevil #158 - Frank Miller's first on the book!

Strike a light!

2011-03-26T10:28:00.010Z

Here's a funny thing; for all the fuss Fredric Wertham and his pals kicked up about the pernicious influence of horror comics on the children of 1950s America, they never once complained about ads like this...

(click the ad to spark up the size)

*EDIT: As per usual, I don't know what I'm talking about. A quick Google search reveals that Wertham did mention ads for whips, guns and knives in his testimony before the subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency and Crime. Read what he had to say here.

He probably would have had a pop at this ad, too, if he'd seen it.

Scan from Tales From The Crypt #22, February 1951

Things I Want #1

2011-03-23T23:36:00.011Z

On the last episode of 11 O'Clock Comics, host Vince B was enthusing about a mid 90s Mars Attacks! comic from Topps. This got me thinking about one of those holy grail-type collectibles that I'd really like to add to my piles of decaying man-tat - The 1962 Mars Attacks bubblegum card set. Designed by no less than Wally Wood and Bob Powell, the final painted art for this classic set was provided by Norm Saunders, the same man who came up with this classic...

A quick google for Mars Attacks cards revealed a Boing Boing link to a rather lovely Flikr show of the English version of the set*. Check it out HERE. Truly stunning, eh?

I have to own these! Full sets go for quite a bit on ebay. Incomplete ones are pricey, but not totally out of my reach. Individual cards are very doable.

So it begins.

*The cards in the English version are smaller than the American ones.

Sheik Toxic Moron and the 3-D Confusion Maze

2011-03-22T23:30:00.003Z

This is genuinely nuts.

1991 ad from Captain America #387

MART!

2011-03-21T20:12:00.013Z

Good God, has it really been seven months since I hit up a Royal National Stinkathon?

Ridiculous. I am ashamed.

Sadly, yesterday's affair was a bit of a let down on the comic buying front. I blame the noticeable decrease in 25p boxes. Mr Krypton, the cock who normally rules the 25p roost, had ditched his cheap tat completely, replacing it with one of his famous "50% off silver age sales." Lots of mylar. Not much value. It was ever thus. Bah!

I loitered at Heroclix man's stall for a bit, but his Man-Toy prices have hit absolutely insane levels. As pretty as it was I wasn't going to give him £15 for his Surtur figure - it's £3 on ebay you robbing little gimp! And what about those issues of Kick-Ass he had pinned up behind him?! £20 for number #1, tenner for the others? Is he melting his Heroclix down and smoking them? If anyone bought those they should be burned on the huge pile of money that they can clearly afford to set fire to!

I should have bought the 2000AD #1 that was going on one stall for £35, but I balked and bottled it at the decisive moment. It was a decent copy, and £35 was a fair price, but my days of paying £35 for a comic are behind me for the moment.

So what did I buy? Nothing much. An old 2000AD I needed for £1.75. A couple of Marvel Handbooks which I probably already have, a Captain America issue featuring MODOM for 40p and one of the three remaining issues of the original Iron Man Armor Wars that I'm missing for 50p. That's it.

No matter, for Mr Bishop was on hand to brighten my day with a stack of 2000AD doubles that he didn't need. For those that don't know he recently scored the first 300 issues for NOTHING on Freecycle. Ridiculous. Also in attendance were LLC readers Tam and Dex. We had a nice yarn about comics in the shitty pub next door, procuring a window seat from where we watched King Stinker rifling through the bins for food, and various miserable dealers packing up box after box of unsold tat into their comic vans. Heroclix man had the nicest motor. No surprise there.

Tomorrow

2011-03-19T10:12:00.000Z

MART!

I'm there.

Come.

Drugs!

2011-03-15T01:10:00.005Z

Stumbled on this.

I like that Wikipedia has shit like this clogging up its orifices.

Go to these events and read this comic!

2011-03-11T20:41:00.003Z

Few quick plugs!

Friend of London Loves Comics, Lord Hurk is one of several artists who currently has work on show at Orbital Comics as part of their Kaleidoscope exhibition. Details HERE.

Tom Pearce has requested a plug for the upcoming Pencil It! event at Westminster Library. It's on March 25th. Details HERE you'll have to do a bit of scrolling to get to them. Is 'graphic novel supremo' an official title, by the way?

Mr Wheatley sent me a text. It said: "Axe Cop...Wow!"

Wow is right. Check out The Axe Cop HERE

Some fine 2000AD Reader Art

2011-03-09T19:19:00.006Z

Straight from the Greg Land/Salvador Larroca school of extreme photo reference, comes this superb 1988 reader pic of Linda Lawsardi!

Couldn't find the exact pic it was copied from, but here are a couple of classic Lusardi Page 3s from back in the day...

Dog

Cosmonaut

Actually, if the reader hadn't made it clear who he was drawing with the whole Lawsardi thing, I'd have guessed the woman in his picture was Anita Dobson.

No confusing the identity of the chap in this pic though, or the film it's ripped from...

Judge Stallone?

It'll never happen.

Scans taken from The 1988 Judge Dredd Annual

Kapow!

2011-03-08T16:30:00.003Z

Just bought a weekend pass tothe Kapow! comic con which takes place in London in April.

Could be terrible. I fear it'll be more about films and video games than comics, but I've never been to a proper comic con, so I'm quite excited.

Anyone fancy it?

Link HERE

Welcome to my parlour

2011-03-07T20:47:00.003Z

In this case the kiddies were the flies...

some toy for $1.98.

Maddness (sic) indeed!

Scan from The Superhero Book of Goodies #2, 1977

The Green Horror!

2011-03-06T19:26:00.008Z

In case you didn't know, the excellent Four Color Fear has just been reprinted by Fantagraphics. This survey of obscure pre-code horror classics is a must have for horror comics fans. Every single one of the tales inside is a stunner, they all come with footnotes and, in the middle of the book, there's a glossy gallery of classic pre-code horror covers.

I had just started to scan in one of my favourite stories from the collection when my crappy scanner exploded. Bah! Got the first page. It's a particularly bonkers effort...

for a series of black-and-white scans of the rest of the story, (in which the cactus' face can be seen!), go here.

To read more about Four Color Fear, download four of the stories from the book as PDFs and check out one of Fantagraphics' nifty little flick-through preview vids, go here.

March!

2011-03-01T10:38:00.002Z

Greetings, dwindling band of interpals!

How goes it?

I come to you LIVE from LLC Towers where the search for employment continues at fevered and increasingly desperate pace.

The good news is I've secured some Saturday work to keep the wolves from the door, the bad news is full-time employment remains a distant dream. Ach well. I continue to rely on my lovely missus to keep me in food while I fritter away what remains of my savings on the odd graphic novel - to whit...ORC STAIN!

Oh man, I know I called Skullkickers my perfect fantasy comic, but honestly, Orc Stain tops it. I've still got a third of the first trade to read, but as soon as I finish it, I guarantee I'll be boring you with a hearty LLC Recommends. It's the best comic I've read in ages, and easily the most fun to look at. That James Stokoe fellow is a talent and a half, I tell ya.

So yeah, Orc Stain's brill. Other than that, I've been rereading old Hellboy trades and playing a lot of Bulletstorm on the Xbox. Top game. As I've said before, I'm not a big gamer, but I do like a decent FPS and this is really high octane, blood spattered FPS fun. Story is written by Rick Remender and the lead character is basically Heath Huston. Profanities abound + you get bonus marks for killing stuff innovatively. Fine, fine game.

LLC Recommends Skullkickers!

2011-02-18T10:24:00.011Z

Ah, Skullkickers - at last a comic which scratches my fantasy itch.

I'm a massive fan of ogres, skeletons, orcs, dragons and all that D&D, Tolkien-style gubbins, but let's be honest, fantasy comics and literature can be a bit of a bore.

All those characters with silly names doing ridiculous things with straight faces? Gaggh! Do me a favour! For something that's meant to be fantastical, reading fantasy is often a depressingly stodgy experience.

Not so Skullkickers!

First of all, no silly names! The two main characters don't have names. We don't even know anything about them. They're just there! Two mercenaries - a hulking human with a gun and a curmudgeonly dwarf with a thirst for booze and blood. Little and Large, Abbot and Costello, Penn and Teller - pick any comedy double act you like, the comparisons are there to be made. Forget the necromancers, taverns and goblins - this is your classic straight man/funny man duo and the reason Skullkickers works so well is down to the chemistry between the two.

They tool around an unnamed fantasy world, (which seems to be a composite of every other fantasy world we've ever seen), fighting stuff and getting into scrapes - and that's it! No pretentious overarching plot, (not yet anyway), just good, honest, blood-soaked shenanigans. It's fantasy which is a good deal closer to the hack-and-slash style D&D games you played as a thirteen-year-old than it is to the impenetrable 900 page epics that clutter the fantasy section of your local bookshop. Read it in 20 minutes, enjoy the bejiminy out of it and then move on. Magic.

Writer Jim Zubkavich is a funny man. There are moments when his story reads like a vintage 80s MAD Magazine-style parody of Hawk The Slayer. His script races along at glorious speed, gently poking fun at the fantasy genre while serving up generous portions of claret-drenched slapstick.

Pacewise it reminds me of Robert Kirkman's Invincible - all big, bloody, page turning action sequences. But even the most exciting battles are done with tongue tucked firmly in cheek - there's plenty of gore for sure, but the accent is always on laughs.

The art is stunning. I'm reading the series on an iPad via the Comixology app, and it springs off the screen. Misty Coates, (surely the greatest name for a colourist ever), drenches every panel in bright, rich colours that are a world away from the dark, brooding tones that are so often on show in fantasy comics. Her dynamic palette makes the tight pencils pop, not that they necessarily need help.

There's a Dragon's Lair sort of cartoony style to the art - shared by Chris Stevens and Edwin Huang - and it fits the tone of the book perfectly. The fight scenes are the obvious draw, but care and attention has been paid to every single panel of this comic. Indeed, the individual panels look like animation cells, a fact which only adds to my belief that Skullkickers would make a fine, fine cartoon.

The monsters are rendered really well and the town squares, forests, dungeons and grimy inns that act as a backdrop to the action are all beautifully detailed. Even the lettering is special - trust me, you'll laugh at the sound effects.

It really is a top comic and, although there's a trade due out next month, it's definitely worth considering reading on the Ipad, if you have access to one.

American Trademark Designs

2011-02-16T10:55:00.008Z

A nice Oxfam find t'other day - a 1976 survey of American trademark designs. Magic stuff. Pages of cool 70s design. Lots of familiar stuff, but some obscure beauty as well. Some of my favourites for you...

Triadex Corp

Don't know about you, but that screams 70s dystopian sci-fi at me.

'Grand Prix' for the John Frankenheimer film

Amazing use of motion lines. Love, love, love this design.

Information Science Inc

Ticketron

Parker Outdoor World

rogue lion in among the sports!

First Isaiah Corporation (a religious group from Philadelphia)

very grumpy religious lion.

Those are some of my favourites, but there are hundreds of other spectacular logos in this gem of a book. Got to love Oxfam.

Smokin' babe!

2011-02-15T14:36:00.002Z

scan from Collins Girls' Annual 1959

NerDgasm Valentine's Special

2011-02-14T13:10:00.003Z

I'm afraid I wasn't at my best last night. A couple of days on the sauce had left me rather fuzzy. Oh well, others were in fine form, witness this sensational MODOK sketch done by Mr Bishop (from memory). Marvellous.

Also, marvel at what happens to a flump when you put it in water...

That water was clear before the flump went in. Scary stuff.

Mr Joe Ewens and chum, (I've forgotten his first name, sorry. My memory for names is even worse than my memory for Sinbad films), playing some Magic!

THANKS FOR THE RIDE, LADY!

2011-02-09T16:44:00.008Z

Last night I watched the Creepshow Two DVD which I won at Dave's Halloween Nerdgasm Quiz.

This is the first time I've watched this film since I was at school, largely because I'd been taken in by the lie that it's terrible.

BOLLOCKS!

Creepshow Two isn't terrible. It's amazing! I mean yeah, it's shit, but it's fucking amazing shit!

Three tales, all appallingly acted full of the worst kind of moralising you could imagine - teenagers getting fucked up for having fun, women knocking people down on the motorway because they're too busy thinking about orgasms, stereotypes of Native Americans that just shouldn't be allowed. It's total schlock! And because of that it's really, really close to the spirit of the comics from which it draws inspiration.

Love it. Definite time for a critical rethink.

Some fantastic holes in the plot too, especially in the second tale, 'The Raft' where a teenager somehow manages to magic two reefers out of nowhere when he's just swum out to a wooden platform in the middle of the lake with no clothes on. Later he gets dragged through the raft and into the water, leaving a massive hole in the wood which totally disappears in the very next shot! WTF?!

But the highlight for me was the nostalgic hammer-blow to the head that this inflicted on me...

Oh my God! I'd completely forgotten this catchphrase!

We chanted this like a mantra for weeks at school after seeing it. I can even picture Dave going up behind girls in the playground and screaming it into their ear! Oh how they screamed! Brilliant! What a trip! What a film!

Sales and quizzes

2011-02-07T11:23:00.008Z

Sacked off yesterday's mart to spend time with the family. Not that the stinkers who roam the carpets of the Royal National aren't family of a sort, you understand, but sometimes a man must put his wife and child before Doom Patrol and Heroclix.

Mr Bishop was in attendance though, and he tells me there were bargains to be had in the 25p boxes where he picked up all four issues of Flex Mentallo for £1. Top score.

I will definitely pencil in next month for some mart(yr)dom. Been too long.

Oh, how I yearn for the smell of old comics and unwashed collectors!

In the meantime, there are bargains to be had at Gosh! Valentine's Day marks the shop's 25th anniversary and to celebrate, Gosh! will be knocking 25% off all trades AND reducing the price on all the back issues in their basement to 25p! That's immense, chums. Don't miss it.

In fact, if you can bare to wait until Sunday, you can pick up some bargains at Gosh and then head over to the Pillars of Hercules in Soho where Big Dave F is hosting a special Valentine's edition of Nerdgasm. It promises to be a lovetastic event full of the usual questions about horror, sci-fi and comics. AND, given it's Valentine's, Dave might get his cock out or something.

Romance chums, it's all about the romance.

Last night

2011-02-03T23:48:00.007Z

Fine doings in a cheap pub.

No Hurk - for sadly he was away with the vomiting bug.

But drinks with Messrs Bishop, French, Wheatley and Dexter.

Very pleasant.

I admit, I sat in a corner and didn't mingle with anyone but those four.

Sorry.

I didn't know anyone and I'm not very good at the whole introduce-yourself-to-strangers mullarkey.

I did chat to Mr Salmond of Gosh! if that counts.

And I bought issue #1 of the Comix Reader - it's really quite good.

Unfortunately, I must also report that McDonalds marinated in lager, rum, whiskey and peach schnapps causes terrible shit fucks to the brain and arse.

Big Dave F

An invitation to The Comix Reader launch party

2011-01-31T11:58:00.005Z

READ a new comics paper featuring industry giants like Hurk and Paul O'Connell!

FIND An excuse to drink!

MEET comic stars you never knew existed!

GET beaten up by angry comics-hating toughs at the bar!

Could you be a Starlord Tank Commander?

2011-01-29T23:08:00.006Z

Starlord was bleak.

Bad things happened in that comic.

Not just in the strips.

Look here -

Some brutal questions for readers to think about...

Quiz scanned from Starlord#3, May 27th, 1978

An evening stroll

2011-01-23T19:38:00.002Z

Can't walk past this place...

without whistling this...

Help Batman fight bicycle theft!

2011-01-20T21:58:00.004Z

Click the image to big up The Bat Bike

Ad scaned from Green Lantern Emerald Dawn #3, February 1990.

Doom has written a poem.

2011-01-18T23:40:00.010Z

Fear Doom's rhyme!

Scanned from a December 1984 ad for Mattel's line of Secret Wars action figures.

Beware the strange man in the lifeboat...

2011-01-17T22:36:00.006Z

Used an Amazon voucher that my mum gave me for Christmas to catch up on the Creepy Archives.

Things of beauty.

Volume seven includes this cracker of a cover...

Talking of sweet comic covers, Jonathan Ross posted up some of the weirder/rare ones from his collection last night. His brief tour included an absolute classic from Weird Worlds. Worth a look - here.

Reading again

2011-01-16T11:20:00.008Z

Hello inter-pals!

Hope all is well with you.

It's been so long since I wrote anything on here that I've forgotten how to do it.

What was the old formula again? Mention a comic? Swear a bit? Scan in a panel?

Ah yes, I remember.

I have actually read some comics in the last few weeks. Prison Pit II, Powr Mastrs, couple of issues of Nancy in Hell, which I bought way back in September solely for the Juan Jose Ryp art (I was into his stuff before it was cool to like him, don'cha know?)

Also took advantage of a DC online sale to buy the entirety of Grant Morrison's Batman run for 45p an issue. The catch is that they are digital comics. My other half has an ipad though, so I thought I'd give the old Comixology app a try.

Oddly, I've found myself enjoying reading the digital versions. I'm quite into that feature where you can read the story panel by panel rather than having to look at the whole page. Probably disrupts the rhythms that the writer and artist are trying to establish but on the plus side, getting in that close to a piece of art really seems to work for me. I'm seeing things in panels that I never noticed on paper.

Last night I also downloaded the free zero issue of Image's Skull Kickers. Enjoyed it plenty and I'm considering buying the other issues. Might also pick up digital copies of Orc Stain.

Have to say though, at £1.19 an issue, I still think these things are too expensive. I would really get behind them if they were 50p a pop, but at the moment it's not going to be that much more expensive to trade wait. Still, I'm definitely warming to this digital business - certainly as far as mainstream comics go anyway.

COMICS!

2010-12-14T21:12:00.003Z

The first since September.

Can't really afford them, but I decided I could no longer do without these four.

The Brothers French

2010-11-02T00:06:00.006Z

I love this photo.

Little Ad' and Big Dave in all their glory (Ad's dressed as Lex Luthor. Dave always looks like that).

Taken at Sunday's Halloween NerDgasm special, which was the most fantastic NerDgasm yet!

We won it.

On a tie break no less.

The other team didn't know their Mirkwood from their Fangorn.

They also had the temerity to question my assertion that Ro-Jaws had once been an ABC Warrior.

The fools.

I now have Creepshow II, Tomb of Dracula pants and Dario Argento's Demons.

Good times.

NerDgasm Halloween Special!

2010-10-26T22:09:00.002+01:00

Dave's doing another quiz!

It's on Halloween!

That's this Sunday folks!

Usual place: Pillars of Hercules.

Slightly earlier start, 6.30pm!

See you there!

It had to happen!

2010-10-17T18:25:00.004+01:00

I am, as you know, in a state of suspended animation BUT there are others roaming these corridors while I sleep. Look, over there, in the shadows! A bulky figure, frothing gently down his vest.

Move closer...

HE IS HERE!

I live!

2010-10-08T10:11:00.002+01:00

Quickly, quickly, because I'm meant to be working and not listening to the new Manics album or blathering on about comics...

I haven't bought a new comic for more than a month.

It's clear that when I return to the fold I'll have a ridiculous amount of catching up to do, or maybe I just won't bother and start all over again.

It's odd, I'm barely missing the superhero muck, but when I hear there's a new Charles Burns or that Prison Pit Volume Two is out, well, I get a bit twitchy.

"All good things..." as they say.

Tell you what though, imaginary web chums, when I eventually get a job and some cash there's going to be a fuck of a big comics blow out at LLC Towers!

Oh yes, the postman is going to have his back broken by the number of Creepy and Eerie Archives he'll be carrying up my garden path.

As for single issues, I actually read a few of the freebies on Comixology the other day and I was OK with it. Think I might end up reading them digitally, or make the switch to trades.

Right, that's it. Barely worth saying, I know, but it's good to give the sleeping blog a prod every now and then just to remind you it's not dead.

BAMPF!

2010-09-26T17:13:00.004+01:00

Hey chums!
How goes it?
Thought I'd pop in and say hello.
I'm three weeks into this course now and it's wrecking me!
Intensive doesn't even begin to describe it.
Almost dropped after a week, but remembered that it had cost me three grand and thought better of it.
Anyway, I'm broke and tired and still gutted that I've had to cancel my standing order with Gosh!
Truth is I have neither the funds or time to be reading comics at the moment, but fuck my old boots I'm missing them.
Course ends in late January. Hopefully I'll get some work soon after and be able to resume my expensive comics habit.
Until then...

PS I seem to have been hit with a rush of spam posts in the comments section of late so I've decided to opt for the password protected comments from now on. Not something I want to do, but I'm a bit tired of all the meds and porn crap that keeps getting posted.

Very Briefly

2010-09-06T21:43:00.004+01:00

A fine time yesterday! I hit up the mart early and garnered the usual mounds of tat. Then an afternoon spent mooching around EVERY single one of the West End's comic shops INCLUDING the Used Record and Tape Exchange on Berwick Street. Great stuff.

From there I met up with John Bishop for a bit of Chinese at my favourite China Town restaurant, Mr Kong's and then to The Pillars of Hercules for Dave F's NerDgasm 7. In attendance beside me and John B, were Mike Leader, Joe Ewens and hitherto unknown LLC reader Dexter who also bought along his pal John, a man who knew fuck all about comics or SF but did answer a WWF question that nobody else knew - Top men both of them. Great to meet you lads.

We came second winning a pack of Star Wars Top Trumps and some Star Wars pants which we gave away to the team who donated me the Spider-Man aftershave at the last event.

Now, to the not so fine news. I apologise to all those who were expecting a more detailed mart or quiz report, but today I started a full-time course of study which is going to take absolutely all my time and energy for the next five months. It's highly likely that this blog will get a wee bit wheezy in that time. I don't intend for it to slope off and die or anything, but I'm pretty sure content will be LOW. Sorry about that, but I have to hit the books harder than the comics for a while.

Normal service will be resumed some time in January.

That Evening...

2010-09-04T21:19:00.003+01:00

Jesus! What kind of town is this?

Scan from Dennis The Menace Annual 1959

"$50 for an autograph? I say thee nay!"

2010-09-02T18:55:00.003+01:00

Thor about to knock the living shit out of Stan Lee at The Fan Expo, Canada.

The Coming of NerDgasm 7!

2010-09-01T08:53:00.004+01:00

Folks, it's been a while, but NerDgasm is back!

Yes, this Sunday at 7pm in The Pillars of Hercules, the Mighty Big Dave F will once again take the mic and bust some fresh quiz beats over your fat geek heads!

Want to know what it's all about? Then pick the bones out of this lot!

Feedback

2010-08-31T13:33:00.005+01:00

Following my little review of Burlesque Paraphernalia, (which made it onto the Fantagraphics blog), the good folk at The DeMoulin Bros Museum have been in contact to thank me for the publicity. They are also sending me some DeMoulin freebies in the post! Magic! This on the back of the copy of The Sound Of Drowning, (another great issue by the way, go order your copy HERE), which I received from Paul O'Connell the other week.

Even the spamlords who plague the comments section have been in benevolent mood. Why, only yesterday this appeared under my old post about the comic shops of London's West End: Viagra Online said: "Gosh is my favourite one...I've been going there for quite a wile (sic) now and I have a good time there, the shopkeeper is a very nice man and most of my friends go there, and I've made friends there too."

Good old Viagra Online, a valued Gosh customer!

This new, engaging form of spam comment is cropping up more and more, I had another Viagra one the other day claiming to have a Green Lantern poster on its wall. Mike Leader of Wild Tyme has also had some pleasant feedback from the blue pill pushers. Odd.

Congratulations!

2010-08-30T10:14:00.002+01:00

I'm pretty sure that I've told you to visit his site before, but now seems like a very good time to remind you of the excellence of Colin Simon's fantastic "Too Busy Thinking About My Comics" blog.

I realise that I may sometimes come over as ever-so-slightly anti-intellectual, but I like a good bout of chin-rubbing and deep analysis as much as the next emotionally retarded man, and nobody does thoughtful, intellectual comics analysis like Colin.

Many's the long train journey I've passed reading his articles on my iphone, marveling at the stuff he spots in books which I just plain miss. He gets deep into character analysis, highlights themes that I never realised were present and generally treats comics with a critical eye that has traditionally been reserved for loftier forms of art. In short, he's a marvel and I'm made up for him that his amazing work has been recognized by a publishing company who have given him the green light to write a book about the work of Mark Millar.

Nice one, Colin! Richly deserved. I look forward to reading it.

The strangest crossover of them all

2010-08-29T21:45:00.006+01:00

From The Comica website: "Sunday 7 November brings the next Comica Comiket Independent Comics Fair, teaming up with the popular, long-running National Collectors Marketplace at the Royal National Hotel, Russell Square, and taking over the (Warren) Ellis Room from 12-5pm. A limited number of exhibitor tables will be available at affordable prices and there will be several special events and surprise guests throughout the afternoon."

Truly, this promises to be a titanic collision of two very different types of comics fan. I'll be lining up with King Stinker and his crew to smash those Phonogram lovin' gaylords to bits! BRING IT!

Thanks to Mike (Phonogram lovin' gaylord) Leader for alerting me to this extraordinary news.

Old man slags off youngsters for meeting up and reading comics/Ancient fanzines/An ad

2010-08-28T09:47:00.016+01:00

Apparently it's Read Comics in Public Day.

What a load of old wank.

If you're into this kind of thing then there are a bunch of nerds meeting up to read their comics in The Crown, New Oxford Street, just round the corner from Gosh and Comicana. They'll be there at midday, thumbing their copies of Scott Pilgrim and looking stupid. Someone will probably beat them up.

Frankly I like to read my comics in private. I'm too old to be enjoying them and I know it, so why the fuck would I want to attract attention and ridicule by getting them out in public? I'm a 38-year-old man for fuck's sake, if I read Spider-Man in a pub, then I deserve to be laughed at.

I'm not sure why comics fans feel this desperate need to legitimise comic reading anyway. Honestly chums, let's keep this embarrassing secret to ourselves.

Just a stone's throw from The Crown is the Bloomsbury Street Oxfam bookshop. I was back in there the other day buying more decaying early 80s tat - some Avengers, some Defenders a bit of Power Man and Iron Fist. All overpriced at £1 a pop, but hey, by buying them I'm doing my bit for Pakistan, so it's all good. There are still a fair few comics left in there. Get yourselves down if you have the chance - maybe buy a water-damaged copy of X-Force to read in public, that'll impress the grown ups.

**********************************************************************************

UK Comics legend, Dez Skinn has posted a shitload of old fanzine images featuring hitherto unpublished art by the likes of Dave Gibbons, Brian Bolland, Frank Bellamy and even Jim Steranko! Best thing I've seen on the web for yonks, it's HERE

**********************************************************************************

The most horrible monster of all time...

Ad from The Defenders #104, February 1982

Chilling Picto-Fiction!

2010-08-26T14:31:00.009+01:00

I've been waiting on the publication of The Weird World of Eerie Publications for ages. Sadly there's still a few months to go until this survey of the schlockiest publisher in the business hits the shops BUT as a member of the Facebook group devoted to the book, I've been treated to a regular look at some of the many great covers which will be reprinted inside. Today's was a total treat...

Wow! This is such a great example of the art of schlock horror. Not only is it a horribly gory image, not only does it feature Dracula, The Wolfman AND (a vulcan eared) Frankenstein, but the artist has gone for COMPLETELY the wrong facial expression on the mutilated victim! To quote the Facebook page: "Man the victim looks PISSED that her legs are being eaten in front of her!"

Magic, magic stuff.

I really, really, REALLY can't stress just how excited I am about this book.

Out tomorrow!

2010-08-25T17:32:00.007+01:00

From the company that brought you the appalling comic bios of Princess Di and Stephenie Meyer (yes I own them both. Yes, I am ashamed)...

WTF?

The solicitation notes: Female Force goes overseas for a special edition featuring former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Writer John Blundell has known Dame Thatcher since 1970 and she recently commented that he 'has been one of the most effective champions of the free-enterprise economic model which has delivered progress and prosperity around the world. Therefore he is very well placed to explain to Americans the beliefs and principles which underpinned what became known as Thatcherism.'

I get the feeling that this isn't going to tell the whole story.

Superheroes on acid #2

2010-08-24T21:37:00.008+01:00

Thor shaking as he contemplates the wonder of the night sky.

Peter Parker pretty much just freaking out.

Part one of superheroes on acid here

Scan from Essential Marvel Team-Up Volume One

A battle from the Great Zombie/Dinosaur War

2010-08-23T19:51:00.002+01:00

Played dinosaurs v zombies with my three-year-old yesterday. The zombies landed in a flying saucer and fucked up the dinos!

He requested more of the same today. Dinos were joined by Dazzler Heroclix and got their revenge.

In other news, he greeted his mother with the words: "Galactus eats planets"

All is gong to plan, chums. All is going to plan.

LLC Recommends Burlesque Paraphernalia and side degree specialities and costumes

2010-08-22T22:11:00.007+01:00

Burlesque Paraphernalia and side degree specialities and costumes. Not exactly a name that trips off the tongue. But if you see this Fantagraphics book on the shelves of your local comic shop or book store, then at least give it a look.

It's not a comic but, if like me, you love vintage comic book ads, then this will appeal to you. It's not a book of comic book ads either though (bear with me), Burlesque Paraphernalia is in fact a reprint of a vintage catalogue of machinery and costumes designed to be used in the initiation and hazing ceremonies of early 20th century American fraternities and secret societies.

At the turn of the last century, some 40% of American men belonged to these societies. Organisations such as The Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks provided a place for men to get together, fraternize and, err, play pranks on each other!

Taking their inspiration from more serious groups such as the Masons, these clubs often adopted quasi-ceremonial initiation ceremonies and, as unlikely as it sounds, an industry sprang up supplying such groups with the equipment needed to make their ceremonies as authentically weird and scary as possible.

The undisputed leaders in the invention and supply of this bizarre paraphernalia were the DeMoulin Brothers, three fairly earnest looking Victorian men with a taste for sadistic pranks and the capital required to put their Heath Robinsonesque ideas into practice.

Burlesque Paraphernalia and side degree specialities and costumes reprints The DeMoulin Brothers 1930 Catalogue. It comes with an introduction from David Copperfield, who sets the tone by recounting the time that he had a hole burnt in his arse by an antique gunpowder charged spanking paddle from the catalogue. From there we get two lengthy essays on the history of early 20th century fraternities and initiation ceremonies before catalog no. 439 is presented in all its bonkers glory.

What to say about catalog 439? It's a crazy-arse thing, full of richly illustrated intricate drawings of smartly dressed men torturing each other with ridiculous devices. There are electric carpets, exploding mallets, vats of boiling lead, spiked pathways, cages, boxing rings, spiky blocks and branding irons. All items come with gleeful descriptions of the terror which they can inspire in the minds of prospective and unwitting fraternity candidates and detailed illustrations of the gadgets in action. Here's an example of the kind of thing on offer...

De Moulin also sold the costumes for these ceremonies. Along with the devils and goats there was a selection of "Race Costumes" available, all of which are illustrated in the catalog. It's an offensive section which nonetheless provides a fascinating insight into the prevailing attitudes of the day. If looking at the racial masks leaves you with a nasty taste in the mouth, then you can always cleanse your palate by flipping back for a look at some of the mind-bendingly weird initiation gadgets.

With its electric canes and exploding cigars, the De Moulin Bros catalogue was clearly a source of inspiration to the novelty item manufacturers who plied their trade within the pages of the American comic books of the 50s, 60s and 70s. All those joy buzzers and whoopee cushions are after all just shrunken down versions of the prank machinery on display in catalog #439.

What you get with this book then is not just a fascinating glimpse into a little known corner of American social history, but the template for many of the ad pages from the silver and bronze age comics that so many of us comic collectors love. I really enjoyed it and, although it isn't about comics, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the history of comic book advertising.

For more London Loves Comics recommendations, click the the LLC Recommends tag below.

Rediscovering an old friend

2010-08-21T13:08:00.005+01:00

Snagged this in the Oxfam shop on Bloomsbury Street on Thursday...

Classic cover from an issue that I used to own before my comic collection was used as wallpaper. One of my favourites. Not exactly breaking the fourth wall, but threatening to, if that makes sense. Certainly would have jumped off the newsagents shelf back in the day.

Brought back some nice memories anyway.

A brief diversion through the tasteless backwaters of DC's Who's Who

2010-08-18T00:49:00.005+01:00

An extract from the DC Who's Who entry for the obscure super-villain team Helix...

Surely the sickest fucking origin story ever!

Doctor Love - evil gynaecologist. Part Josef Fritzl. Part Professor X. Urgggh!

And Helix? Stolen gene-mutated babies? It's bit like a nasty version of The Umbrella Academy, innit?

Doctor Love is topped in the tasteless stakes by this fella, though...

To quote the entry: "Der Zyklon, whose name means "The Cyclone" in German, was given the power to move at superhuman speeds by scientists who served Germany's Third Reich"

Yeah, because when you think of Nazis and Zyklon, you automatically think of cyclones, not Zyklon B!

How on earth did that one slip through the net?

Shopping List

2010-08-17T09:11:00.004+01:00

Like I said yesterday, I've been uber slack on the four colour fun front lately. It's been a couple of weeks since I went near a comic shop and I haven't even been making up for that by chiseling away at my teetering "To Read" mountain.

I have made some effort to cut back on my pull list, so a three week backlog doesn't look half as bad as it might once have done. Amongst the titles to go from my regular order are House of Mystery, Northlanders and Secret Warriors. Don't get me wrong, all good books, but I'd fallen way behind on all three titles and decided that I wasn't enjoying any of them enough to merit stockpiling them any longer.

To be honest there are probably several other titles on the shopping list below which are also going to get hit with the Sutton axe. Which ones? Read on chums, read on.

Brightest Day #7 and #8

I'm actually enjoying this quite a bit. The regular release schedule makes remembering what's going on nice and easy, there's enough mystery about the whole premise to keep me interested and the art is generally pleasing. Geoff Johns haters will point to the trademark violence and bouts of purple prose as evidence of bad comics, but while his tropes are all too evident here, I still think Johns writes a good superhero book.

Bulletproof Coffin #3

Ah, this is so good. Like Eightball and an EC comic all smooshed up into a lovely comicy ball of yumminess.

Captain America #608

I am really close to dropping Cap. I don't read the Nomad back-up and while I haven't fallen behind on the main title, it doesn't fill me with the same comics joy as it used to. I can't quite put my finger on why I've gone off it, it just seems to have lacked energy for a while now.

Chew #13

Falling behind on Chew is a sin. Considering some of the bilge I keep up with, there really is no excuse to have lapsed on a book this good. I think I've got like five issues or something to catch up on. When it gets to that stage I might as well be saving dosh and trade waiting.

Emerald Warriors #1

More milking of the Green Lantern cash cow. Like the sucker I am, I drink it up. Mind you, I think this will have to be super good for me to stick around.

Green Lantern Corps #51

There are times when GL Corps is actually better than GL. I'm not saying that it's an essential read or anything, but it satisfies a childish need of mine to see aliens fighting in space.

Iron Man #29

Said it before - Fantastic story, terrible art. I can just about ignore the pictures, but it is difficult at times especially when you get those panels where the artist really can't be fucked to draw a background so he either leaves it out altogether or just sticks in a photo. Poor.

Irredeemable #16

OK, so we're sixteen issues in and this series is still meandering through the second act. No matter, it's still a decent superhero title with some enjoyable shenanigans. I particularly like the demon bounty hunter who is as cool a new villain as I've seen in a long time.

REBELS #19

Definitely on a downward turn. It's not gone shit or anything, it just doesn't have that grand space opera feel to it that made it so good during the whole Starro story.

SHIELD #3

Not sure if this is visionary excellence or pretentious bunk. Somewhere in between I suspect. I think I stopped understanding what the hell was going on somewhere in the middle of issue two. If I could remember where I'd put it then I'd give it another read before picking up #3.

Showcase Presents The Doom Patrol Volume Two

Obv.

Sweet Tooth #12

This is such a fucking good comic folks! If you aren't reading it, then you're really missing out.

Thor The Mighty Avenger #3

I get the feeling that this is a book which has been heavily influenced by Jersey Gods, which, given the quality of that book, is no bad thing. The first issue was fabulous, as good a set up for a new book as you'll see. The second issue? Not so much. Still, I really like the fact that this is an all ages title which still packs enough of a punch to appeal to older readers. I'm hopeful that it'll get back on a hammer-wielding track with issue #3.

2010-08-16T14:27:00.004+01:00

Been a bit quiet round these parts hasn't it? Truth is I've been busy with other things: my son's birthday, the start of the football season, multiplayer Bioshock II on the XBox. So wrapped up in this non-comics business have I been that I haven't even made it to Gosh for two weeks.

Terrible.

I'll be heading down on Thursday to pick up three weeks worth of bumph. I had planned to grab the latest issue of The Sound of Drowning, but SOD supremo, Paul O'Connell was kind enough to send me a comp copy. What a gent. Haven't read it yet, but I'm going to give it a look before bed tonight. Unsettling dreams sure to follow.

In other Southern English indie comic based news, friend of LLC, Lord Hurk has an art show in the offing. I'm a huge fan of Hurk's work and have big-upped his stuff a few times before on this blog. You can check him out via his website here and find out the details of his show here.

That's it for now chums. More when I'm finished my househusbandry and tire of being killed by annoying teenagers in multiplayer Bioshock II.

The Balaclava of Liberty

2010-08-11T20:44:00.008+01:00

This year's must-have fashion accessory for the criminally deranged?

Yes, it's a Captain America Ski Mask!

Now you can bankrob, murder or rape AND let your victims know that you're a big fan of Marvel comics.

Ideal.

Buy yours HERE

Fuck your Jekyll Atari, man!

2010-08-10T16:32:00.009+01:00

Click the image to read it in big mode!

I like this ad. It's honest. Kids are evil.

"Manholes of Venus? You're fucking lame"

"What kind of a spastic game do you call that cocknose?"

"Later gaylord"

"Your old man bought the wrong computer"

"And he's a fucking paedo!"

There were kids at school we treated like that.

They would have gone and bought the Atarisoft stuff for their Vic20 too.

We would probably have played it while calling them a cunt and telling them that it was lame.

Ad scanned from Power Pack #1, August 1984.

Bonus!

Genuine Atarisoft jingle!

Two links. Some Khunds.

2010-08-09T12:36:00.007+01:00

Remember that link to the Who's Who entry for War Wheel that I posted last week?

Good wunnit?

Well, it turns out that the fella who wrote it has written brickloads more about Who's Who and it's all just as brilliant as that War Wheel post. Some of his analysis is wee-your-pants funny, some of it is the kind of thing that will have you rubbing your chin sagely as you mutter, "ah yes" in a scholarly voice. Cracking stuff. Link HERE.

Back in Blighty, I was very happy to see that Paul O'Connell, the man behind The Sound Of Drowning, has happened across London Loves Comics. He commented on the Tiny Texas post I shoved into the ether a couple of days ago, which very much made my day. I've recommended The Sound of Drowning before, but I'm happy to do it again because it's as good a comic as you'll read - check it out for nowt HERE and if you like it - buy it!

That's it.

I leave you with a pic of some nasty Khunds...

Scan from DC Who's Who, 1985

High Crunch

2010-08-07T10:51:00.006+01:00

I forgot to mention that I scored another cheap issue of The Crunch at last Sunday's mart. It's full of the usual Crunch magic, (click the label at the bottom of the post if you want to read more Crunch related posts), but there's one panel which really stands out from the crowd...

I think that might be the most graphically violent panel I've ever seen in a British kids comic. Perhaps I'm forgetting something really obvious. Anyone remember anything more shocking than this?

Anyway, hard on its heels comes this panel...

...which is what I'd call "High Crunch"

Magic.

Scans from "Kill The Hit Man" which appeared in The Crunch #50, December 29, 1979

A tiny piece of Texas

2010-08-04T22:26:00.008+01:00

Presumably the Sheriff is there to ensure that your ranch stays free of microscopic cattle rustlers.

Ad from Super-Villain Team-Up #12, June 1977

Return to the mart!

2010-08-03T21:00:00.029+01:00

So, the mart then. It's been a while since I went. I've missed it.

Arrived nice and early for my return to the fetid fray, largely because I was meeting Tam who had very kindly offered to donate me a full set of Paul Jenkins' run on Hellblazer. Top score. Thank you sir.

Anyway, picked up huge plasi bag of Hellblazer comics and watched as the early arrivals filed into The National. No fucking about for me as I headed straight for the 25p bins in search of gold. Didn't find any, but I did dig up plenty of nice tat, including Dazzler and Power Pack number ones, a bunch of Iron Man Armor Wars issues, a couple of very beat up silver age comics and a terrible issue of The Flash which features a villain called Ubermensch. Ubermensch is a sort of Hank Pymesque figure who knocks his missus about...

She leaves him for The Flash (yes really)...

so he injects himself with shitloads of steroids...

and dons a special suit to become a super-powered wife-beater...

On the way to The Flash's house he kills a horse...

and runs into a wall by mistake....

What an utter loon.

When he eventually gets into The Flash's gaffe, he's completely blown out his eyes smashing into stuff, but he still manages to grab his missus from Flash's bed and jumps out of the window; at which point The Flash delivers this immortal bit of dialogue...

I don't have the next issue. I don't want it. This is the perfect end to the story.

Apart from that I got the first three issues of Warlock, the 80s Fighting Fantasy magazine. I bought these as they were coming out and this was a purely nostalgic purchase for me. They were a bit pricey (£4 for number 1 and £3 for the other two) but they will keep me warm in my old age. Ah.

Afraid the speculator in me took over when I spotted this in mint condition for £2...

I know, it's worth fuck all, but I did see other stalls at the mart knocking it out for a tenner, and you can sometimes get a fiver for it on ebay, so errm, you know.

For the same price I also scored issue #12 of Super-Villain Team-Up. I've gone on at length about my love of this series. Although I own the reprints, issue #12 is the one where Doctor Doom fights Red Skull and his flying Nazi cock gun on the moon...

and this was a beautiful cents edition for £2! So I had to have it.

From there I scored four very tatty copies of early 2000AD issues and wandered around idly looking at freaks before my eyes fell on the day's big prize - a complete run of the 1980s DC Who's Who + the updates for £11! Not in the best of nick, but what a treat - 31 issues of encyclopedic goodness. Less scholarly than the Marvel equivalent (which I also love) but even crazier and suffused with a sort of disco colored light that gives them a trippy camp vibe. Magical stuff.

I remember reading Who's Who as a lad and loving the entry for War Wheel. Obviously it was the first entry I flipped to in my newly acquired set. Still a thing of glory, so it is. I was going to write about its wonderfulness, but someone has already beaten me to it and frankly there's no way I can do better than this.

Genius.

So happy was I to have found that War Wheel entry after all these years that I wittered on a lot about it to John, Tam and Nell in the shit pub outside The Royal National. They listened politely. We had a nice chat. Good times.

Later on, as John and I finished our last drink and watched the depressed dealers packing longboxes of unsold tat into their vans, King Stinker (who I have mentioned before at the end of this mart report) loped into the pub. His T-shirt was stained yellow by months worth of sweat and he was hauling a heavy sports bag of comics behind him like a ball and chain. As he moved from table to table drinking the dregs of leftover pints and eating bits of food from long since abandoned plates, it became clear just what a terrible state he was in - utterly mad, mired in squalor, a deranged tramp. I felt momentarily awful for taking his photo all those months ago. Let's face it, I've taken the piss out of this tragic fellah. Not nice. Not nice at all.

As I was experiencing this rush of guilt, two lads got up from their table and started snapping pics of him. They laughed and I felt even worse.The guilt didn't last. See, I'm still a cuntish teenager at heart, so I'll go on taking photos of him and the rest of the oddballs who attend this strange get together. I really am fascinated by them. Morbidly so. They'll be gone soon. The marts will be gone soon. Someone has to record them in all their stinking glory. Might as well be me.

100 LEVELS!

2010-08-02T10:49:00.008+01:00

A fine, fine day at the mart yesterday. I scored stacks of cheap comics AND met up with London Loves Comics readers Tam, John and John's missus, Nell.

Huzzah!

An exhaustive and unnecessary survey of my purchases will follow. For now, enjoy this ad from the days when any old herbert could sell their dungeon designs through the pages of a Marvel comic...

Levels within levels within levels.

Christopher Nolan eat your heart out.

Scan from Iron Man #230 May 1988 (25p purchase at yesterday's mart)

Return

2010-07-31T21:44:00.006+01:00

Been away for a week, hence the lack of updates. Managed to squeeze in some reading while I was on my hols - the latest Walking Dead trade + the first two volumes of 52.

All good baby!

I'm hitting the mart tomorrow - report will follow. Yeah!

In the meantime here are some pics that have been clogging up my phone...

A sad sight/site to begin with...

The empty premises of what up until recently was the excellent Playing Games, a board and roleplaying game specialist just round the corner from Gosh in Museum Street. No idea what has happened to them, I just decided to pop in for a shufty on my last visit up west and they were gone. A real loss. I bought a couple of boardgames from this shop. The downstairs section was a real treasure trove of obscure stuff.

A happier sight...

Spidey Skates! Spotted at a car boot. I didn't buy them, but they are things of beauty and as such I felt it was my duty to take a photo.

Also, from a junk shop in Green Lanes, a fab old box of VHS cassettes. Don't have a video, so no point buying anything but, as with the skates, I felt bound to take a pic of the fantastic Caine cover...

Err, that's it.

Advance Notice

2010-07-24T23:07:00.004+01:00

I'll be at the mart on August 1st. If any of you are going and fancy a drink in the shithole of a boozer adjacent to the foyer of the Royal National let me know. We can compare our comic finds before lapsing into an uncomfortable silence and leaving.

A wonderful treat to the eyes!

2010-07-21T14:15:00.005+01:00

Yes, while the great and the good of the comics world whack themselves off over Scott Pilgrim, I'm still thumbing through ancient superhero comics and drooling over crappy ads.

I am old.

Scan from Amazing Spider-Man #46 March, 1967

VIDEO!

2010-07-20T13:06:00.005+01:00

Scans from 2000AD Annual 1980

Walking Back to Crappiness

2010-07-19T09:35:00.010+01:00

I'm not the biggest comic news reader. Don't have the time. It's read the comics or read the news about comics. What you gonna do? As a result, I was largely unaware of the big Superman news until Mr Kirkham alerted me to it. To summarise, after a year or two when Superman hasn't even appeared in his own book, he's back, but instead of smashing up meteors and burning stuff with his eyes, he's walking across America.

Yes, walking.

The man who flies faster than a speeding bullet and leaps tall buildings in a single bound is going for a gentle cross-country stroll. Ridiculous. It wouldn't be so bad if during that stroll, Braniac landed on earth and smashed Supes over the head with a red kryptonite hammer, but apparently there aren't going to be any super-villains in this story.

None.

Instead, Superman is going to chat to people. That's right chat. Chat and, (these are actual plot points from the first installment, by the way), fix cars, burn drugs and comfort suicidal women. OH MY GOD!

Now, I understand that I'm sounding like some precious, entitled fanboy by slating this nonsense without even reading it, but come on! This is Superman! Why on earth would anyone want to read twelve issues of a Superman comic in which he strolls across America having mundane conversations with a bunch of nobodies? It's a stupid idea!

Not that it should surprise us given that the whole concept comes from the mind of J Michael Straczynski, the man whose most recent stories include an arc on Thor where he put Asgard in Oklahoma and had Thor eat pancakes with pensioners - or something like that, I don't know how it turned out, because after two issues without Thor hitting anyone with his fucking hammer, I gave up.

I don't have a total downer on Straczynski. He's done some good stuff (be nice if he'd finish The Twelve). Who knows, this might even be good. I've heard a few people say that Thor got better, so maybe I'm doing it a disservice. But honestly, Oklahoma? Walks? Chatting? This is the kind of bollocks my two-year-old-son comes up with. He's always pitching me this one Spider-Man story where Spidey goes to Sainsburys to buy some pasta and cake for a party at Rhino's house. Straczynski would probably nick that idea if he could. It sounds more exciting than Superman's walk, at least it's got a villain in it.

So yeah, I'm less than enthused about this thing. Part of me wants to read it to see how bad it is. But it probably won't even be "funny bad", more likely it's going to be a bunch of earnest claptrap - Superman discovering the soul of America. Christ. I know there's a place for this sort of thing, but Superman's been shit for a while now and the last thing the character needs is to slow down. What's wrong with Lex Luthor blowing up The Fortress of Solitude or Bizarro kidnapping Lois Lane? Why do we need introspection in a Superman comic? Alright, a little bit perhaps. But a whole year's worth? I say thee nay!

IT'S A SUPERHERO COMIC, PUT SOME FIGHTING IN IT!

Shopping List

2010-07-15T14:18:00.009+01:00

Been a while since I've bored you about what I'm buying hasn't it? I know you need to know, so matchsticks in eyelids and let's go...

Conan The Cimmerian #22

Few issues behind on Conan. It doesn't matter. Conan's easy stuff, he never changes. Chopping up guards, mercenaries and sorcerers. Nicking off fat merchants. Shagging ladies who wear no bras and floaty tissue paper instead of knickers. Yeah, minimum brainpower required, I'll catch up over a flagon of mead some night.

Batman #701

What happened to Batman when he was dead, or something. I like all the Morrison Batman shit. Well, most of it - Batman 700 was a bit wank. Rubbish pin-ups, average story. Hope this will be better. Don't mind Tony Daniels' art at all. So there.

R.E.B.E.L.S. #18

All the Starro shenanigans are done and we're into this new arc about interplanetary racism and planet sharing. It's still pretty good, not stunning in the way it was during the early Starro issues, but funny and left enough of centre to keep me buying.

Strange Science Fantasy #1

I know nothing about this, but it's clearly some sort of homage to EC and that's enough for me to buy it. Hopefully it'll have lots of saucers, ugly aliens and ray-guns inside.

Bulletproof Coffin #2

Weird, exquisite mish-mash. Only issue #2, so too early to say it's something special, but it really looks like it could be. Has a sort of a Daniel Clowes vibe about it - that's what I thought anyway. First thing I'll read.

Chew #12

Behind, behind. Not feeling the same need to read this as I did when it first came out.

Invincible Iron Man #28

If it weren't for the art, this would be the best superhero book out there. This new arc is the flipping business! Tony Stark trying to rebuild Stark International from the ground up while Justin Hammer's relations set about moving in on Tony's territory with Tony's own tech. Yeah, it's another spin on Armor Wars. But it's a fucking good one!

Night Business #1 -#3

I heard about this odd little set of comics ages ago and made a mental note to pick it up if ever it should land in Blighty. Hey presto, Gosh got some copies in last week. A tribute to 1980s exploitation flicks, this looks right up my alley. Read about it here if you want.

Shooter's Page

2010-07-14T07:00:00.003+01:00

Rain pattering on the window, couple of hours to kill - time to sift through old comics. What a fine evening of solitary nostalgia it's been, chums. Just me and the long boxes, oh yes!

I've read a bit of vintage Teen Titans, some classic entries in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, some old Spidey, a little Strontium Dog and a beat up copy of Marvel Fanfare #9 from June 1983 which includes this beauty...

Click to enlarge

Top stuff. Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter riffing on some of Marvel's most iconic characters, trying to boil them down to their essence and then trawling through the archives to find the moment when that essence was distilled in a single panel. That's dedication!

And don't forget, this is Shooter at the high point of his reign of terror, striding the corridors of Marvel, slamming his collection of "Perfect Personality-illuminating panels" down on desks, hammering home how the icons should be done. I love it.

History there baby, history!

Eldica: A Great Shop

2010-07-13T10:08:00.011+01:00

Eldica, which is hidden down an anonymous little side street off the Kingsland Road in Hackney, isn't a comic shop, but it's such a beautiful little treasure trove that I thought I'd give it a plug. The good folk who inhabit this Aladdin's Cave are primarily vinyl nuts, but they also sell vintage magazines, board games, the odd comic and a fair bit of random tat. I picked up a lovely old Bionic Man game from them for a fiver a few months back, and I make sure to pop my head round the door for more goodies every time I pass.

I admit that I haven't bought anything since then, (to be honest, records aren't my bag), but I still love the vibe about this place. There's always cool funk or old soul playing, sometimes there's a bit of incense to sniff as you pick your way through colourful old magazines and yellowing paperbacks to get to the counter. It's just got a magic about it. This is the kind of place that eBay is wiping off the map, yet it's still here, clinging on. Got to love it.

So yeah, Eldica, well worth a visit if you're passing and an absolute must if vintage vinyl is your bag. It also has a great website where staff and regular customers have compiled lists of their favourite old records. There's even a downloadable mix of some of the rare tracks you can find in the shop, I'm listening to it as I write this. Brilliant.

If you're in Dalston, check them out. The address is Eldica, 8 Bradbury Street, London N16 8JN.

The greatest thing ever...

2010-07-13T09:27:00.001+01:00

...is here

Frustration

2010-07-12T12:23:00.003+01:00

My useless humming heap of a computer gave up the ghost, necessitating a mindwipe of its hot, malfunctioning brain. Now I'm trapped in the fiery depths of machine hell.

I backed up all those precious photos and my music before the electro lobotomy. But now I find that while the computer works, my scanner will not, that photoshop has disappeared forever and that my cuntwallah of an iphone won't sync. It's all wank. Annoying wank.

So I can't put any scans up on the blog, which makes the whole thing pointless, because what use is a cunting comics blog without pictures of comics?

Gah. Fuck off!

It dawned on me today...

2010-07-08T21:16:00.003+01:00

that Raoul Moat...

...is basically a real life British version of Nuke...

Reading Iron Man

2010-07-07T22:11:00.007+01:00

My fracking computer has turned up its cyber toes, which makes blogging a bit difficult.
This update is coming to you live and direct from my mobile phone.
Shit, these keys are small.

Briefly then, Caught up on Fraction and Larroca's Iron Man last night. The new arc is arms dealingtastic! An absolute treat, EXCEPT for the art, which is a pretty big except. I'm not as down on Larroca as many, I can usually live with his photo referencing. In the case of New Universal, I even thought it was a good thing. But in Iron Man? It's not working. Tony Stark is basically just Sawyer from Lost with black hair. Pepper is Nicole Kidman. Frankly, it's damn distracting! Backgrounds are often a blur, or just photoshopped in. Panels are repeated. Figures strike unnatural, rigid poses. It's not good. Not good at all. Which is a real shame, because Fraction's script is as savvy as you are going to find anywhere in a Marvel or DC book. Honestly, it's brilliant - really sharp, relevant, political and exciting. AND it's rooted in classic Iron Man. Needs a new artist though. Sorry.

Can't type any more. Thumbs dropping off.
OUT.

Mega Knitty One

2010-07-06T09:45:00.002+01:00

From an ancient 2000AD competition, this Earthlet manages to look simultaneously cool and naff...

Dude!

Scan from 2000AD Sci-Fi Special, 1984

Back issue boxes/Marvel: The End

2010-07-05T08:52:00.002+01:00

There was a mart at The National yesterday, but I couldn't make it. This left me blue, because the need to shove my fingers into disintegrating boxes of tat is strong.

To be fair, I did get a mini-mart fix on Saturday. I'd planned to look in on the Dalston car boot sale anyway, but when friend of LLC, Mr John Bishop sent me a text to tell me that he'd already got there and that there were comics, I was out the door instantly.

John mentioned that there wasn't anything special to be had, so I was slightly surprised to pitch up to the comic stall and see this staring back at me...

WTF?

Yup, in a plastic ring binder envelope, its colours gradually bleaching in the Hackney sun, a pretty damned decent looking copy of Amazing #39! Now, let's be honest chums, this is the kind of shit we saddos dream about. My heart jumped into my gob, I yelped, I grabbed...and then I saw the sticker on the envelope - £85!

Ballbags.

The old man on the stall smiled at me

"Yeah, I looked all of the comics up in a book" he said, "I know what they're worth and I'm still selling them cheap!"

A quick look at his other "cheap" comics revealed various late Micronauts issues at £3 a pop, some early Defenders for a tenner apiece and a beat up old copy of Tomb of Dracula #7 at the "bargain price" of £7. I couldn't be arsed/had no right to tell him that he had no chance of selling any of them, but I did ask him to take Spidey #39 out of the shitty plastic and keep it away from the sun. He nodded sagely and stuck it right back on top of the pile.

Anyway, it turned out that John had missed this stall entirely. The one he'd visited was nearby and a good deal more reasonable. I picked up all six parts of Kraven's Last Hunt, Emerald Dawn and Marvel: The End. Eighteen issues for £9. Hardly the bargain of the century, but some solid comics that I'll enjoy reading.

I ploughed through Marvel: The End yesterday afternoon. What to say? 2003 bumpf from Jim Starlin. It's part cheesy shitfest, part high Starlin cosmic magnificence.

I enjoyed it.

Here's what it's about...

There's this source of energy called "The Heart of The Universe" which these alien dudes keep in a big spaceship. An old pharoah gets zapped up to their ship and is filled with the heart of the universe. This turns him into a bonkers Space Pharaoh...

RAWWR!

He pitches up on present day earth, KILLS most of the superheroes, nailing them up on floating pink force field crucifixes...

FUCK!

He then transports all the World leaders to his space pyramid...

and, emerging from what appears to be an Egyptian ladies public toilet...

...informs everybody that he now rules the earth.

Bummer.

It's not all bad though...

Nice one!

Not nice enough for Doctor Doom though, or Thanos, both of whom want the heart of the universe for themselves! Doom sets out to fuck up da pharaoh by travelling back in time to shoot him...

while Thanos recruits the Defenders to launch a raid on the spaceship that contains the heart of the universe...

It's all a bit mad. Mad, but beautiful, because this is where the Starlin magnificence comes in! My shitty scanner can't do that double page spread justice, but when you've got it in your hands! WOW! It's truly, truly gobsmacking - all that spaceship, all those stars, the beams of energy shooting out the various funnels. Topola!!! And it's one of a TON of gorgeous cosmic splashes in this six-parter. Gold baby, GOLD!

Anyway, while Thanos and Doom are plotting their attacks, the various gods of the Marvel Universe get together to form a plan to stop Space Pharaoh. It's at this moment that we realise just how powerful the dude is, because he gets wind of this and fucks all the gods up on the spot!

BOOM!

TOTAL DEICIDE!

I say total, but he's not completely successful as Thor and Zeus escape to recruit Infinity and Eternity.

Told you it was mental.

Meanwhile, Thanos and The Defenders get scrapping with the aliens on the big phallic Starlin spaceship. While The Defenders are all busy smashing aliens and robots, sneaky Thanos dives into the heart of the universe, absorbing its power and becoming numero fucking uno power in the whole Marvel U!

He travels back in time to where Doom is about to get fucked over by the Space Pharoah (who, it turns out, knew Doom was coming and has travelled back in time to stop Doom from assassinating him by assassinating Doom - headfuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!!!!!), and, after a classic no-but-yeah-but-no moment...

...new improved omnipotent Thanos whips Space Pharoah off and turns him into a butterfly, (honestly), before travelling even further back in time to track down the aliens who originally tracked down the heart of the universe and destroy them before they could find it, thus ensuring his place as the unquestionable, all-powerful king of everything.

WHAT?

It's very confusing and, to be honest, once the Space Pharaoh's out of the picture it all gets a bit slow and metaphysical. Which is fine I suppose, but the fun sort of withers away. There's still time for a couple of awesome Starlin double page splashes of Thanos getting ready to engage EVERYONE in the Marvel U, (they all come back to life once Thanos changes history you see?). Then Adam Warlock turns up in the void and (blah-de-blah) convinces Thanos to see the error of his ways. Thanos destroys himself and woop-de-do, everything's back to normal.

The End.

Like I say, quite a fun little mini series, even if it does disappear up its own trippy arse towards the end. Worth picking up (if you see it cheap) for the Starlin art which is spectacular in places. Plus, you know - SPACE PHAROAH!

Oh, and it's got Hulk Smash in it too, which is always infinitely preferable to intelligent talky-talky Hulk as we all jolly well know.

Wonder Woman costume bilge

2010-07-04T11:47:00.006+01:00

No mart for me today.

Bah!

Missus has got a two hour driving lesson at 1.30, which pretty much puts the kibosh on my plans to hit the Royal National for decaying comics.

Never mind, I scored some good tat yesterday.

Up West

2010-06-30T19:38:00.008+01:00

To town for bacon sarnies and a catch up with old pal Mr Wheatley. Then briefly to Orbital for a quick but very worthwhile nose. First up, into the alcove off the back issue section where the good folk of Shaking Street Gallery reside. Among the many fine examples of pop culture posters on offer were some very delicate looking Frank Frazetta posters from the '70s and a fantastic Japanese movie poster for Get Carter, where the grim streets of Newcastle have inexplicably been replaced with an aerial shot of 5th Avenue!

All very nice, but my favourite piece in the shop is this...

A beautiful old poster for the 1944 Captain America Republic serial. The three-figure price tag puts it out of my range, but by Bucky it would look nice on my wall! As would the various Shaky Kane pages on show in Orbital's gallery. Again, prices are in the three-figure range, but there's some lovely stuff on offer. A few shots for you...

Original art from Bulletproof Coffin

Classic Monsters of Movieland rendered in Fuzzy Felt!

£400 for the fuzzy felt monsters! If I had it, I'd buy it. Beautiful piece.

Love the Bulletproof Coffin art too. For those who haven't read issue #1, you really should. You don't even have to buy it, there's a free computer version HERE. It's gonna be a smash, I tell you. A SMASH!

Anyway, after admiring Mr Kane's gubbins, I foisted two of my favourite books of recent times on Mr W - Tales Designed To Thrizzle and Prison Pit. Then took my leave to mooch around the bookshops of Charing Cross Road. Found an absolute bargain on my travels - The Completely MAD Don Martin, for £30! This monster of a slipcase usually retails for £80 - even Amazon want £45 for it. Sadly, I couldn't justify the outlay, so left it sitting there for some other lucky punter to find.

Misery.

As I Grow Pale And Thin

2010-06-28T14:17:00.019+01:00

Someone sent me an email about two years ago asking me what the first comic I ever read was. I don't think I ever replied.

Very rude.

It's a bit late, (and I don't even remember who asked), but I'm going to attempt a vague answer today!

I say vague, because the truth is, I can't actually remember what the first comic I read was. It was probably an old Whizzer and Chips annual. One of my mum's workmates used to give them to me after her son had finished reading them. I also read a lot of a comic called Jackpot, which was in the same sort of vein as W & C, and had a strip in it called Laser Eraser about a lad who could zap stuff onto a spaceship with a pointy thing which he'd nicked off some aliens. That's all I remember. Of course there was The Beano and Buster and The Dandy, Whoopee and WOW! I read all of those at some point.

Proper big boy comics wise, I suppose it would have been Look-In or 2000AD - I was certainly reading both of those before I discovered American comics. I think the guy emailing me meant American comics though and, again, the honest answer is I don't remember my first. I do recall the first comic that made a nasty impact on my innocent mind though...

Ah, House of Mystery #304. I would've been 10 when I picked this up from the newsagent. Great Mike Kaluta cover, eh? I know it made an impact on me, because I vividly remember being shit scared by one of the stories inside. It doesn't seem very frightening to my jaded 38-year-old self of course, but as a kid? Yeah it was poo-your-pants grim.

So, here you are imaginary chums, not the first comic I read, but the first comic which I remember reading (all scans can be clicked to ramp up the spookiness)...

Dreams

2010-06-27T09:49:00.006+01:00

Ever have one of those nights where you toss and turn in a semi-wakeful state trying to remember the name of the female co-creator of Swamp Thing, only to realise, upon waking, that she doesn't exist?

Fuck you, delusional sleep deprived brain, fuck you!

Anyway, in the moments when I was actually asleep last night, I remember dreaming that I met Stan Lee on Kingsland Road in Hackney. He was wearing an Arsenal jacket and couldn't stop to talk to me because he was in a rush to get to Marvel. I insisted that I must take a photo of the two of us together, but couldn't find my camera. There ensued a mad, panicky run up and down the High Street, with me looking everywhere for my camera. When I eventually found it, (chained to some railings), Stan had gone.

Cunt.

Unsurprisingly then, I feel like crap this morning. I have to go and meet my partner and our child outside the swimming baths in a mo. From there we will be going to check out Carter's Steam Fair in Clissold Park. I'll then be returning home to watch England v Germany in The World Cup and read reprints of The Doom Patrol...

Lord only knows what nightmares this will give me.

That is all, chums. That is all.

sales and advertising

2010-06-23T22:10:00.007+01:00

Couple of bits before I hit the sack after another day of gruelling World Cup and potty training action...

Firstly, you may have noticed the Amazon ads over there ==>

Yes, I've sold out.

From now on, any graphic novel that I recommend is going to get a link over there. If you think you might like to buy it based on my review, it would be great if you did so by using the link in the sidebar. I'll get a very small kickback for bringing in your business, which in turn will help fund my horribly expensive comic habit which, after nine months without a pay cheque, is becoming increasingly hard to maintain.

I should add that I'm all for folks spending their hard-earned in the comic shop rather than chucking at Amazon, but if you do find yourself wanting to order anything I've recommended from the evil online overlords, then please consider doing it through London Loves Comics. Ta.

Right, enough whoring. In other news, the mighty John Bishop has made it on to the Covered blog. Check out his piece HERE. Excellent work, as ever - although I was shocked to see one of the biggest Marvel zombies I've ever met covering a DC book!

John follows in the footsteps of fellow friend of LLC Lord Hurk, whose equally brilliant contributions to Covered can be found HERE

LLC recommends: Gravel

2010-06-22T10:51:00.013+01:00

I've spent a very productive couple of evenings reading comics in front of the football. Magic!

Best of all I've cracked through the 10 issues of Gravel which I'd built up. Usually if I find myself getting behind on a title it's because I'm not enjoying it. With Gravel though, I just sort of let it build, knowing that I was going to dig it when I got round to it. And dig it I did.

For those who don't know, Gravel is a Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer comic published by Avatar. It's a violent book about an ex SAS man, William Gravel, who happens to be a combat magician.

I've been guilty of falling into the the easy trap of comparing the book with Hellblazer in the past. I feel lazy every time I do this, but comparisons between the two are inescapable. Like John Constantine, William Gravel is a working class Brit with a black sense of humour who also happens to be a practicing magician. And, as with Hellblazer, Gravel is all about using magic, demons and ghosts as metaphors to examine issues of class, culture, politics and society in modern day Britain.

Gravel is a different animal to Constantine though - older, chunkier, more cynical and willing to resort to violence. While he's definitely an outsider he's also a climber. So where Constantine is keen to stand apart from the world he occupies, Gravel is determined to fuck over everyone to get to the top and change things from a position of power. At the start of the current series, Gravel is one of the Minor Seven, a group of British magicians whose job it is to deal with problems on the street level of British society. Above this group stand the Major Seven, an altogether more powerful bunch who deal with loftier matters. The rest of the series to date has detailed Gravel's efforts to destroy both the Minor and the Major Seven and create a new hierarchy with himself at the top.

Structurally it's a bit like an American gangster flick. Tonally it's more like a Brit noir crime story. There's certainly a bit of Jack Carter about William Gravel, that's for sure. Of course, there's also more than a hint of Warren Ellis about him and maybe a little of Bill Savage too. The point is, that he's a very British character and this is a very British book. It's full of English folklore, it touches on the history of immigration and industrial decline. Its big moments take place in clasically British pubs, docks and country estates. And, above all else, it concerns itself with the all pervading power of the British class system. Gravel is determined to beat that system, but the overriding feeling after 19 issues is that he may ultimately fail to do so.

If that is the case, then Ellis is delivering a pretty bleak message. Who knows, I could be wrong, perhaps Gravel will prevail. The series is at a point where it appears he might already have done so. But the forces of establishment Britain are lurking, making their presence felt, issuing warnings to Gravel not to get any further out of line, insinuating that bad things will happen if he goes too far.

It's good stuff. Not perfect by any means - I felt the second arc moved towards a conclusion too quickly for example - but very enjoyable. It is, as are most of Avatar's books, extremely violent, often disturbingly so. I guess it could be labeled gratuitous, but I'm willing to accept the gore as a vital part of the world William Gravel lives in. If you don't mind the frequent disembowelments and decapitations, then it's well worth a spin, (there are a couple of trades out I think), London Loves Comics gives it a big fat 8 out of 10!

My favourite camera phone snap

2010-06-22T01:05:00.005+01:00

I took this photo four years ago, but it dawned on me today that I've never posted it here.

So here it is.

It's a tramp* with Einstein on his back.

I really like it.

*I suppose it would be more acceptable to describe him as a young homeless person, but I tagged it "Tramp with Einstein on his back" when I took it and I think that has a certain ring to it.

Future Cop!

2010-06-20T10:43:00.012+01:00

I bought my son a fantastic Thunderbird Two at the Dalston car boot sale yesterday. He loves it!

Anyway, to feed his new found puppet obsession, I spent this morning searching for classic Gerry Anderson clips to show him on Youtube. At one point a link to the titles of a show called Future Cop popped up in the sidebar. Nothing to do with Gerry Anderson, and I've never heard of it...

The sound's a bit low, but crank it up and give it a watch. 70s Robocop! If it wasn't for the star names, I'd swear it was a spoof. Wikipedia says it ran for eight episodes which, oddly, spanned a two-year period.

Slick cover

2010-06-16T23:36:00.004+01:00

World Cup. Disastrous attempts at potty training. Computer failure. Sickness. This is my life. There is little time for comics at the moment.

Still, did you see this?

via The Aquaman Shrine

Original cover HERE