tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post5562177849348921990..comments2024-03-29T02:53:08.837+00:00Comments on Steve Does Comics: March 4th, 1981 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.Steve W.http://www.blogger.com/profile/09191442559702617745noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-80841812579228999592021-03-07T17:16:16.692+00:002021-03-07T17:16:16.692+00:00Chiller Pocket Book # 12
Inside cover - that ubiq...Chiller Pocket Book # 12<br /><br />Inside cover - that ubiquitous Star Wars watch, yet again.<br /><br />Dracula's the main story. Frank Drake's suicide(he staked his fiancee) is prevented by Rachel van Helsing (more specifically, her giant Indian henchman). Frank's mate Cliff's been vampirised (I've made up a word) & is looking after a coffin full of gold coins for Dracula. There are various twists & turns. At the end, a top fashion model, who's middle-aged, and has lost her looks, now owns castle Dracula. She freely invites Dracula in, hoping to regain her beauty. <br /><br />Ads for Dangerous Visions back issues.<br /><br />This one's that Man Thing story in which 2 German Shepherds turn out to be gods, at the end. Howard the Duck, Man Thing & a generic barbarian are led by a wizard to save a girl, named Jennifer Kale, from a demon called the Overmaster, who peels off his face to reveal another demon Man Thing's encountered before. Typical Steve Gerber fare. Oh, Howard the Duck falls into the abyss, presumed dead. You don't see him after that!<br /><br />"There is Something Strange About Mr.Jones!" - A Stan Lee super short!<br /><br />Ads for Conan monthly, Rampage Monthly & Frantic. <br /><br />Outside back cover - Ad for Starburst. <br /><br /> PhillipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-64604366937078289222021-03-07T16:44:12.555+00:002021-03-07T16:44:12.555+00:00Sean - just curious if you are familiar with the f...Sean - just curious if you are familiar with the french graphic novel I mentioned above. IT would be a real treat for ole Charlie to be able to recommend something you haven't read yet!Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-31183974373390036632021-03-07T16:31:56.701+00:002021-03-07T16:31:56.701+00:00Dangermash - Sorry! Your accidental typo 'turn...Dangermash - Sorry! Your accidental typo 'turn off the screw' made me think you were indulging in whimsical humour, both times!<br /><br />Sean:<br /><br />The strong ones - Gan, Chewy<br /><br />The cynics - Avon, Han Solo<br /><br />The naive idealists - Blake, Luke<br /><br />The comic relief - Villa, C3PO<br /><br />The planks - Tarrant, Lando<br /><br />Doesn't do much - Leia, Jenna<br /><br />The brains - Obi Wan, Orac<br /><br />The ships - The Liberator, Millennium Falcon<br /><br /> PhillipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-46469528837895271932021-03-07T16:16:59.752+00:002021-03-07T16:16:59.752+00:00That's not me being funny Phillip. I just cou...That's not me being funny Phillip. I just couldn’t remember the name but remembered it was something that sounded like Taming Of The Shrew. It worked because it got Steve to the proper name. If I was in a pub quiz and a question came up asking the name of Henry James' most famous story and the team couldn’t come up with the answer but then afterwards when they read out the answers, I said "Ah yes, Turn Of The Screw. I knew it was something that sounded like Taming Of The Shrew." I'd be lynched by angry team mates for not telling them that before and costing the team a point. Two if we'd played the joker.<br /><br />My mother in law had this horrible habit of keeping stuff to herself at pub quizzes and then when the answers come out it's "Ah yes, Eric Idle. I knew it was one of the Monty Python team but couldn't remember his name." I try to stay away from pub quizzes these days.<br /><br />Dez > Frank Robbins > Henry James > Non Team Players > Cobradangermash aka The Artistic Actuaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15669793446608643884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-33843342859317351652021-03-07T15:00:56.259+00:002021-03-07T15:00:56.259+00:00The BBC really missed a trick not revealing that A...The BBC really missed a trick not revealing that Avon was actually Blake's sister, Phillip.<br />Now thats how you build a successful sci-fi franchise!<br /><br />-seanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-62045352268245674672021-03-07T13:45:10.293+00:002021-03-07T13:45:10.293+00:00The cover of Empire Strikes Back - Princess Leia l...The cover of Empire Strikes Back - Princess Leia looks like Paul Darrow/Avon, from 'Blake's 7'!<br /><br /> PhillipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-54561611723470513462021-03-07T12:59:54.576+00:002021-03-07T12:59:54.576+00:00The cover of Savage Action:
1.) It's almost i...The cover of Savage Action:<br /><br />1.) It's almost identical to:<br /><br />https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Savage_Tales_Vol_1_6<br /><br /><br />2.) Night Raven isn't featured, despite being advertised.<br /><br />3.) Ka-zar isn't a 'dark avenger, vigilante or soldier of fortune'!<br /><br />4.) Aren't brigands like bandits? Dominic isn't a brigand!<br /><br />5.) I've got rats in the loft/attic - Where's the Exterminator when you need him? <br /><br /> PhillipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-6423476210814565622021-03-07T08:29:02.214+00:002021-03-07T08:29:02.214+00:00Steve - I think Dangermash is deliberately misnami...Steve - I think Dangermash is deliberately misnaming 'The Turn of the Screw' with humorous alternative titles!<br /><br />Someone said that reading a Henry James sentence is like being inside Hampton Court maze! That's why Henry's writing style puts him only slightly above Fr*nk, in dangermash's sh*t l*st! <br /><br />As well as the unreliable narrator (as M.P. highlighted) in 'The Turn of the Screw', I think James is also known for a narrative technique named 'central intelligence' - or something - whereby, although a story is written in the third person, all the events are shown from the perspective of one particular character (as if it were the first person, "I"). However, don't quote me on this!<br /><br />Also, often Henry's novels have dramatic - melodramatic perhaps? - titles, like 'The American', 'The Europeans', 'The Ambassadors', etc.<br /><br />As many of you probably already know (teaching granny to suck eggs) Henry's brother, William James, was a famous philosopher (did he come up with something called positivism, perhaps? - I'm not sure) for us to further confuse with M.R.James! <br /><br /> Phillip<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-35325404891497126832021-03-07T02:21:24.961+00:002021-03-07T02:21:24.961+00:00Charlie, Stonehenge was never in Wales, thats just...Charlie, Stonehenge was never in Wales, thats just what the British are saying now that the evidence is out that it was originally somewhere else than Wiltshire.<br />Its a well known fact - as recorded by Geoffrey of Monmouth - that Merlin and Uther Pendragon stole it from Ireland.<br />www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uther_Pendragon#Historia_Regum_Britanniae<br /><br />-seanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-21310461771475627082021-03-07T02:03:39.940+00:002021-03-07T02:03:39.940+00:00I saw that in a film adaption.
The ending is a my...I saw that in a film adaption. <br />The ending is a mystery, the reader (or in my case the viewer) has gotta figure out what was real and what wasn't. <br />Was the woman insane? Was she seeing only the product of her fevered imagination?<br />Or was she confronted by an actual ghost?<br />If it was a ghost, it's even more terrifying, because it happens in broad daylight. <br />To see something supernatural and diabolical in the clear light of day seems to me to be more horrific. My mom claims to have seen a ghost once in the daytime, in a cemetery no less, but I dunno about that. It mighta been some weird old guy walking around silently.<br />Which is also spooky.<br />Charlie, that was pretty wild, the backstory of Langelaan. I had no idea The Fly was a book, much less one written by a guy with such a fascinating history. <br />Talking about writers who have a problem with spiders, I suspect Tolkien probably did. Giant man-eating spiders show up in The Hobbit, The Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings.<br />I'll bet dollars to donuts he had a hang-up with arachnids. <br />It was like that was the scariest thing he could imagine. <br /><br />M.P.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-5258952129085322502021-03-06T23:15:27.457+00:002021-03-06T23:15:27.457+00:00Turn Off The Screw - yes, that's the one. I c...Turn Off The Screw - yes, that's the one. I could well believe it's a good film - it was the writing style rather than the storyline that bored me to death.dangermash aka The Artistic Actuaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15669793446608643884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-75035175423871568672021-03-06T23:05:53.527+00:002021-03-06T23:05:53.527+00:00Dangermash, I suspect the Henry James story you...Dangermash, I suspect the Henry James story you're thinking of is <i>The Turn of the Screw</i>. I can't comment on its merits, not having read it but it was filmed as <i>The Innocents</i>, starring Deborah Kerr, Peter Wyngarde and the creepy kid from <i>Village of the Damned</i>. It's one of the best horror films ever made.<br /><br />It's currently available on YouTube:<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0P4yNjMUvA&ab_channel=YamiBazFMSteve W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09191442559702617745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-83175889676746033812021-03-06T22:17:34.568+00:002021-03-06T22:17:34.568+00:00MR James >>>>>>>> Henry Ja...MR James >>>>>>>> Henry James in my opinion. I've read the "greatest hits collections" of both MR was everything I was expecting of a writer of ghost stories. Henry bored the pants off me though - there's some famous really long story about an evil pair of twins that I just couldn't get into. It's not the Taming Of The Shrew but it has a name like that, And did MR write The Beckoning Fair One? That was good.<br /><br />The dangermash hate ranking:<br />Dez > Frank > Henry James > Cobradangermash aka The Artistic Actuaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15669793446608643884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-82097604098684123932021-03-06T19:55:50.050+00:002021-03-06T19:55:50.050+00:00Steve - It's OK you are not familiar with Popp...Steve - It's OK you are not familiar with Poppy. Charlie isn't familiar with Play School, so...Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-63111823086291816122021-03-06T17:36:32.238+00:002021-03-06T17:36:32.238+00:00Sean, and anyone else if so interesetd, but Sean h...Sean, and anyone else if so interesetd, but Sean has the French thing going...<br /><br />A really solid graphic novel has just been released in the USA "Once Upon a Time in France" by Fabien Nury, Sylvain Vallee... <br /><br />It's originally "Il etait une Fois en France"<br /><br />Set before, during, after WW2. True story about a Romanian Jewish scrap dealer who somehow becomes a billionaire in France during WW2. There's a great scene where the SS escort him to the "judge" to be declared an Aryan, though everyone (literally) knows he's not.<br /><br />Reminds me of Georing's "I'll decide who's a Jew and who isn't!"<br /><br />ANyhow. I got it at the library! A great read!Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-17351644878420303552021-03-06T16:37:56.587+00:002021-03-06T16:37:56.587+00:00Charlie, I'm not familiar with Poppy, unless y...Charlie, I'm not familiar with Poppy, unless you mean the decidedly disturbing singer.Steve W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09191442559702617745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-33869255565084115782021-03-06T16:36:09.573+00:002021-03-06T16:36:09.573+00:00Dangermash, Chloe was a very brave woman. I wouldn...Dangermash, Chloe was a very brave woman. I wouldn't dare risk the wrath of Hamble in any way whatsoever.<br /><br />Thanks for the Twitter link, Phillip.<br /><br />Am I the only one who can never remember what the difference is between MR James and Henry James? Oh well, at least I never get them mixed-up with Sally James.<br /><br />KD and MP, I love <i>The Incredible Shrinking Man</i>. It has a truly memorable ending.<br /><br />When it comes to spider gods, didn't some of the native peoples of Central and South America depict the constellation of Orion as a spider god?<br /><br />Charlie, Sheffield has Carl Wark, an Iron Age fortification probably dating back to 800 BC. It's where I'll be making my last stand in the event of war with Leeds.<br /><br />Then again, the city's Wincobank Iron Age hill fort is just up the road from the Meadowhall shopping mall. That might be a more convenient place to make my last stand, as I'd be able to do my shopping while I'm at it. I have no doubt that's why the hill fort was built there.<br /><br />Colin and Phillip, I too am a lapsed <i>Fortean Times</i> subscriber. I stopped reading it purely because 86 pages a month was too much for me to plough through with all my other commitments. If only they'd stuck to their previous 64 pages every two months.Steve W.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09191442559702617745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-84106401390524563252021-03-06T16:20:57.466+00:002021-03-06T16:20:57.466+00:00IF we're going to talk about Hamble, we need t...IF we're going to talk about Hamble, we need to talk about Poppy. (Gee - was she so named because she has something in common with Poppy seed?)<br /><br />Any SJWs out there today?Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-29119300291183272622021-03-06T16:18:08.407+00:002021-03-06T16:18:08.407+00:00Whenever anyone mentions The Fly movie. I think of...Whenever anyone mentions The Fly movie. I think of Lord of the Flies. I guess they are like sub-atomic particles of the same particle in Charlie's mind: forever entangled.<br /><br />The author of Lord of the Flies was a Brit.<br /><br />The author of the book The Fly was a French - Brit born in Paris: George Langelaan.<br /><br />During WW2, he became a spook for the Brits and parachuted into France early in the war, was captured, and actually escaped the Nazi camp just prior to being executed. Prior to parachuting in, they did plastic surgery on his ears b/c they were too big and altered the aerodynamics of the parachute.Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-40491411713514176012021-03-06T16:10:59.296+00:002021-03-06T16:10:59.296+00:00KD - while you were MIA those weeks / months, Sean...KD - while you were MIA those weeks / months, Sean mad us aware that Stonehenge was originally in Ireland and dragged over to Wales and then to its current resting place. At least that's the working theory among some research types?<br /><br />Charlie Horse 47https://www.blogger.com/profile/00906538705798228800noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-20696439565581280032021-03-06T15:31:18.059+00:002021-03-06T15:31:18.059+00:00Steve - nobody can ever mention Hamble without me ...Steve - nobody can ever mention Hamble without me sharing this story.<br /><br />Although it was originally a very common type of doll, sold in Woolworths, by the time Play School was in full flow there were only two Hambles in Britain. The other was owned by a woman in Chester, who would hire it to the BBC for £40 a week whenever the Play School regular was injured.<br /><br />That happened quite often, as it wasn't just the audience who detested Hamble. None of the presenters could stand her either, so she'd get drop kicked across the studio, and once, when she wouldn't behave, Chloe Ashcroft took a dreadful liberty.<br /><br />"I did a terrible thing to Hamble. She just would not sit up...so one day I got a very big knitting needle, a bit wooden one, and I stuck it right up her bum, as far as her head. So she was completely rigid, and she was much much better after that."dangermash aka The Artistic Actuaryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15669793446608643884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-9584299968620318332021-03-06T09:09:11.555+00:002021-03-06T09:09:11.555+00:00Steve - I think Comicsfan's twitter feed is po...Steve - I think Comicsfan's twitter feed is pointing out that, on the original cover of Cap vs Dragonman, Dragonman is much greyer than on the Marvel UK version!<br /><br />https://twitter.com/peerlesspower/status/1367771051430674433?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet<br /><br /> Phillip Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-46175526652296537762021-03-06T08:41:33.068+00:002021-03-06T08:41:33.068+00:00M.P. - M.R.James was petrified of spiders, them fi...M.P. - M.R.James was petrified of spiders, them figuring prominently in a lot of his stories.<br /><br /> PhillipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-6867887870326404122021-03-06T07:14:31.915+00:002021-03-06T07:14:31.915+00:00Yeah, MP! Both movies are wonderful childhood nigh...Yeah, MP! Both movies are wonderful childhood nightmare goodness!!Killdumpsternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6263300365798803459.post-85934729355499835672021-03-06T06:35:50.726+00:002021-03-06T06:35:50.726+00:00I did see that, K.D. Yikes! What did he have, a se...I did see that, K.D. Yikes! What did he have, a sewing needle? <br />That and also that scene from The Fly (1958 version). "Help me!"<br />That stuff gave me nightmares as a kid. <br /><br />M.P.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com