Lost knives/comics I've read

Somehow my Mr Sin action figure has lost his tiny knife. I can't tell you how much this has upset me. Not only has my action figure been compromised, but I'm now in a world of worry over the possibility of my one-year old son swallowing Mr Sin's titchy blade before I can find it. Gahhh, I knew I should never have brought a man toy into the house! Let this be a warning to you all.

When not panicking about classic Doctor Who toys, I've found time to read a few comics. Finished the Starman Omnibus volume one which was just as good as everyone said. My one gripe is that by the time the next volume comes out I'll undoubtedly have forgotten what's going on. Ah well, I suspect this is a comic I'll enjoy reading again. I missed it completely when it was originally published because I had temporarily stopped reading comics in favour of getting a life. Thankfully I'm over that phase.

What else? Superman Beyond 3D of course, another top Final Crisis book. After swearing not to get drawn into DC's big crossover I've found myself buying every single fucking tie-in. Obviously I feel used, but at the same time I'm enjoying the whole thing. It's hard work, but that's good. I like comics that take more than five minutes to digest and I'm sad enough to get a kick out of trawling the web for background info on the likes of Earth 10's Nazi Superman.

Of course I like quick comic thrills too, and no-one does those better than Mark Millar. I chuckled my way through 15 minutes or so reading the latest issues of Kick-Ass, 1985 and Old Man Logan, before enjoying a genuine "wow!" moment in the latest issue of The Fantastic Four when I hit that splash page revealing that the Hulk has rigged up a comatose Galactus as a giant battery!

There's nothing particularly worthy going on in any of these books, but I find all of them to be entertaining distractions from real life. And, for shame, I really do enjoy Millar's taste for sensation and hype. I know it sounds unlikely, but I think there's something of Stan Lee about him. He knows how to pace a Marvel superhero comic that's for sure.

Saturday 8am...

...and your attractive host is preparing to read Superman Beyond 3D!

Note that the specs are from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier, and not those provided with Superman Beyond 3D. As any true comic cunt knows, cutting the glasses out of Superman Beyond 3D would destroy the value of a comic which is CLEARLY going to be worth a FORTUNE in the very near future.

Brilliant piece about the demise of Virgin comics

HERE

It's Jack Kirby's birthday

Go read some of his out of print comics


It's also Wrong Door day. I might be biased because it was written and directed by my good friend Mr Wheatley, but I can't see that anyone who likes comics could fail to enjoy The Wrong Door. It's on BBC3 at 10.30pm, give it a go.

Bye bye Virgin comics

So apparently Virgin Comics are dead in the water. Hardly a surprise when you consider that the people in charge had no idea what they were doing. Let's have a look at a few of their bright ideas...

1. Trying to sell books about Indian Gods to American spandex fans. X
2. Paying Dave Stewart and Guy Ritchie to put their names on comics into which they themselves had minimal input. Presumably this was done in the drug addled belief that a large proportion of comic book fans are also crazed followers of the Eurhytmics and Mockney cinema. X
3. Believing that you can sell Dan Dare to the Yanks. Hey it worked with Judge Dredd right? Oh wait. X
4. Putting Jenna Jameson's name on a comic WITHOUT any porn in it XXX

I thought the Gamekeeper started off well enough before fizzling. Ditto Dan Dare. I never bothered with any of the Indian God twaddle, neither did anyone else apparently.

Not much of a legacy then, but least Virgin did give us the coolest comic book ad EVER

Time for Tea

A few panels from House of Secrets #89, December 1970...





I only scanned them because they remind me of one of my favourite sitcom characters of all time...



Any excuse for a bit of Mrs Doyle

Welcome to leafy Hackney, home of the 2012 Olympics

Spotted this fine Bank Holiday Monday in Dunston Road E8