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| Image by Tumisu from Pixabay |
Can it be true?
Can there really be barely more than a month to go before Christmas is once more upon us?
Yes, it can.
But is that what's on the minds of dear visitors to this dear journal?
That, I cannot say.
But I know how to find out.
And that's to fling the doors of Speak Your Brain open to the world again!
That's right. It's the return of the feature in which you The Reader get to decide just what the topic for debate shall be.
Therefore, waste no time in posting that topic and we shall see in just which direction our collective wind is blowing.
Posts
15 comments:
Last month, SPEAK YOUR BRAIN died – died I tell you! - on the altar of ATLAS COMICS. I suggest those two dead SPEAK YOUR BRAIN posts are reanimated, like Hermione in the Winter's Tale! 3 topics might accomplish such a necromantic feat!
Patterns & Coincidences
Are there any strange patterns or coincidences in your comic buying history? Some examples from my childhood:
1.) The First will be Last!
a. ) My first ever Captain Britain story was C.B.'s final outing, in his original form ( in Super Spidey & CB # 247! ) Incredibly enthused, I bought earlier ones, later.
b.) The first - and only – Karate Kid I read was its final issue ( # 15). A masterclass in surrealism!
c.) The first Tarzan book I read was 'Tarzan & the Castaways' (ERB's final Tarzan book.) I know it's not a comic, but I was obsessed with Tarzan books, and it fits the pattern!
2.) It's the Super-Agents again!
Two Captain America All-Colour Comics ( # 215 & # 228 ) were all my brother & myself had, for a long time ( we got a couple more, later.) Despite being separated by 13 issues, both Cap comics' continuity was followed by Super-Agents (Texas Twister, Marvel Boy, Vamp, etc) stories. A strange coincidence!
3.) Important stories with identical issue numbers!
Number # 137! That's the X-Men's most famous issue, without a doubt ( largely because it never made it to the Newstands, disappointing thousands of kids!) But, another great comic also had that issue number – Iron Man # 137! Bethany's partner/best friend, Ling McPherson, is left critical in hospital, leaving Bethany devastated and finally needing Iron Man's help/support.
Often, stories numbered # 6 & # 9 I bought seemed good, for some reason! Shade the Changing Man # 6, Human Fly # 9, Moon Knight # 6 & # 9!
4.) A writer's swansong being brilliant – or, so it seemed!
Thor # 296 & # 299's Pollard covers were amazing! The stories inside were fantastic, too ( some members of SDC hate the Niebelung saga, I know. But not me! ) Roy Thomas got thrown out (?) at this time, despite those glorious issues!
Avengers # 156 – An amazing issue, with Wonder-man knocking Namor unconscious (something nobody had ever done before – not the Thing, not the Hulk, not Thor! ) The previous two issues were fab, too. Yet Conway got kicked out, shortly after that brilliant issue!
5.) June 1980:
https://www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/newsstand.php?publisher=marvel&type=cover&month=6&year=1980&sort=alpha
So many great comics, published with the June 1980 cover date!
2 Perez masterpieces – the Taskmaster Avengers, & MTIO Stingray issue!
Byrne's Hellfire Club, in the X-Men!
Captain America's “Joe” issue!
A reprint of the Wedding of Yellowjacket & the Wasp (or the previous issue! )
Thor # 296, with its Pollard cover brilliance – one of my Thor faves!
And that's just glancing at June 1980 - it really was a “high” month!
The only month to rival it, is covers dated June 1975 (Warlock # 180, Defenders # 24, etc) :
https://www.mikesamazingworld.com/main/features/newsstand.php?publisher=marvel&type=cover&month=6&year=1975&sort=alpha
Is June a good month, for some reason? Wines ending 5 or 0 are supposedly the best vintages - are comics the same?
Anyway, those are some patterns/coincidences in my comics history (some tenuous, at best! ) Does your comics experience have any odd connections?
Phillip
Topic 2: Duos!
What Superheroic duo, do you envisage, which has never taken place before? I considered Captain Marvel & Starhawk, at first. Both cosmic characters – both Milgrom & Austin. But then, a better duo sprang to mind...
Wait for it...
Skull the Slayer & Devil Dinosaur! Here's the kicker...Skull kills dinosaurs (normally), so let's make Devil become Skull's best mate! There...we've got ourselves a show! It practically writes itself! ( Hey! No sniggering at the back of the class! )
Phillip
Topic 3: 3 Favourite corn snacks
Which corn snacks tickled your fancy, back in the day? Here's my top 3!
1.) Piglets:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/piglets--411797959665458076/
2.) Farmer Brown's:
https://www.doyouremember.co.uk/memory/farmer-browns-crisps
3.) Rancheros (availabe in Malta & Ireland, but not Emgland! )
https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/rancheros-retro-recipes--60657926203142605/
Honourable mentions:
4.) Spicy Tomato flavour Snaps
5.) Frazzles
6.) Skips
7.) Monster Munch
8.) Chip Sticks
9.) Nibbits Wheels
10.) Griddles
Which top 3 corn snacks did it for you, back in the day?
Phillip
Phillip, thanks for the topics.
When it comes to corn-based snacks, the only ones I recall from childhood were cornflakes. In adulthood, I have become familiar with - and approve of - Monster Munch.
As for comic book coincidences, I suppose that the main one, for me, was Marvel UK launching in October 1972, mere weeks after I first got into US Marvel comics during the summer holiday.
Steve - With me, it was the reverse - Marvel UK first, then Marvel US a few weeks later. On these nostalgia topics, my memory's hazy sometimes, so I consult my brother, on Sundays, for a second opinion. Since drafting the corn snacks piece, I'm vaguely remembering a Worcestershire sauce flavour corn snack, with a curly stick shape - probably French Fries (not literal French Fries, of course! ) I loved those! But I'd strangely forgotten about them until tonight!
Phillip
Worcester sauce French Fries - not Worcestershire sauce. Palm slaps forehead! It looks like they're still on sale today!
Phillip
Phillip:
Mike Ploog leaves a series, then Tom Sutton replaces him. It happened on Ghost Rider, Werewolf By Night and Terror on the Planet of the Apes . That’s the only pattern I can think of, off-hand.
Duos: I dreamt of teaming up Shang-Chi and Luke Cage long before Cage actually paired up with Iron Fist. I love your idea of Skull the Slayer and Devil Dinosaur being a Prehistoric Team Supreme :)
Favorite corn snacks : I love almost any kind of Caramel Corn (Cracker Jacks, Fiddle Faddle, Screaming Yellow Zonkers, etc). My favorite kind of corn chip is a freshly-made plain tortilla chip, like the kind you get at any good Mexican restaurant. Deep-fried, lightly salted, with a bowl of salsa for dipping — YUMMY. For ‘processed’ chips, I’m partial to Tostitos (‘Original Flavor’) and Nacho Cheese Doritos. Crunchy, funky shaped Cheetos are an especially addictive guilty pleasure.
b.t.
My first Frazzles are seared on my memory. My school chess team was playing against Salt Grammar school (a more high brow school than our common as muck comprehensive. ) I lost my match, but my opponent opened a bag of Frazzles, proffering it in my direction. Clearly, a consummate gentleman! Frazzles have retained a high standing for me, ever since!
Phillip
b.t. - Your Ploog/Sutton thing reminds me of myself often remembering Byrne being followed by either Jerry Bingham or Mike Zeck. But, often I get this wrong, because Marvel UK's chronology's sometimes out of whack!
The only UK thing vaguely similar to your caramel coated corn snacks is either Treats or Minstrels, one of which was peanuts covered in chocolate. I used to get them in Christmas stocking selection packs in the 70s.
Phillip
Or was it Revels? Palm slapping forehead again!
Phillip
I think it was Treats, Phillip.
Or were they toffee?
Anyway, Minstrels are just chocolate, and Revels were an assortment.
Charlie dont know about comic book coincidences, per se, but one has to admit that Dennis the Menace UK and Dennis the Menace USA debuting on the same date like 70 years ago is a jaw dropper given they are totally unrelated.
Philip:
I go with pickled onion Monster Munch, then and now.
Second place, salt and vinegar chipsticks (and variants thereof, eg the M&S version).
Honourable mention to standard Walkers crisps. The bog-standard flavours like plain, s&v and cheese & onion.
Corn snacks back in Charlie’s yute… probably BUGLES. You could append the crunchy cornucopia-shaped things on the end of your fingers and eat them in batches of 10!
It's easy to knock Chris Claremont and the X-Men, but #137 was a pretty good comic in it's day, Phillip (I got an import at one of those new fangled comic shops before it's non-appearance at newsagents).
I don't think I ever read an Iron Man comic I actually liked much.
Cerebus #137 - the epilogue to the 'Jaka's Story' arc - was a good one though.
-sean
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