CHB’s Comic Strip Thread

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  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,749Chief of Staff

    I used to read this whenever I could…sometimes you’d swap comics with your mates…I remember getting a couple of the Christmas annuals too 😀

    YNWA 97
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 4,108MI6 Agent
    edited June 21

    CoolHand said:

    @caractacus potts Look what I picked up at the market this morning 😁

    _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    oh those are excellent CoolHand! actually some of the first superhero comics I ever bought. did you find those in the Philippines?

    DC has the rights to reprint Fawcett's Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family stories from the 40s and 50s, but despite repackaging so many other historic comics in upscale archival format in recent years, theyve barely reprinted any vintage Captain Marvel. They reprinted much more in the early 70s in more conventional newsprint format and those are becoming hard to find now. Those 100 page issues from the early seventies are the best places to find vintage Captain Marvel comics, unless you can afford the originals. They also put out four tabloid sized "Limited Collector's Editions" round the same time, also full of vintage Captain Marvel reprints.

    in each of those 100pg issues youve shown, theres 20 pages of new stories, in which early 70 DC creators try to capture the old Fawcett style (and fail I think), and 80 pages, minus ads, of the vintage stuff. Even as a wee lad I could tell the vintage material was better than the new material, and at that early age I gained a bias towards historic comics vs contemporary, which also is true for films and music.

    in general, all those 100page issues DC put out in the 70s were great, it wasnt just Shazam!, it was almost every title, Detective Comics, Justice League, Superman Family, etc that they put out in that format. For a couple of years a huge part of DC's monthly output were those 100 page comics, and they all had 20 pages of new content and close to 80 pages of vintage historic reprints that (I thought) were better than the new stuff.

    Mike's Newsstand has a handy page that lists every comic DC put out in the 100pg format, showing the covers, and hyperlinking the reprint sources

    this very first 100pg Shazam! is especially good if you can find it, all 100 pages are classic reprints from the 40s/50s, no new material, no ads, and several of the reprints are origin stories or first appearances


  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    @Sir Miles Glad to see some nostalgic memories there 🙂

    @caractacus potts I bought them here in Cebu at a market. Thanks for that link it’s excellent. I’m going to enjoy reading them in my rocking chair on the balcony and sipping a rum cocktail 😁

    I purchased some more 100 page issues and a bunch of 80 page giants too…


    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent
    edited June 20

    APOLOGIES - THE LAST TWO PAGES HAVE BEEN REVERSED - READ PAGE 9 BEFORE PAGE 8


    Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi (2020) - Chapter Three (Part 1 of 3)


    Superb artwork…more tomorrow…

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,861Chief of Staff

    It's stunning, brings Stoker's text to ... life.

  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 4,108MI6 Agent

    I may have to fly to Cebu to look for some comics myself. from your photos those all appear to be in good shape, no tears or creases or bent corners. When I see them here theyre usually either too expensive for me or in poor shape. The square binding wears easily and starts to tear.

    You can see from the link I posted above that the "Worlds Greatest Superheroes" title was the first in the 100pg format to focus on superheroes, the two previous issues were horror and romance genre stories. and if you go up a level, that Mike's Newsstand website has similarly organised info for all the DC Giants, of which there were several different series through the 60s and 70s, many of them full of oddball stories that have never been reprinted since.

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    Old American comics are pretty thin on the ground here, I pick them up if I see any at the markets, but that’s my first lot for several months, you’d cry if you knew how much I paid for them 😁 it would be good to see you here though!

    I’m not a professional grader but would think these copies are VG/VG+/FN

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi (2020) - Chapter Three (Part 2 of 3)



    More of this faithful adaptation next Thursday and Friday.

    LALD at the weekend.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,861Chief of Staff

    At the risk of repeating myself, I'm thoroughly enjoying this and looking forward to more.

    Though more Bond is hardly a travail in the meantime.

  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,749Chief of Staff

    Obviously it’s a good story…but I’m particularly enjoying the artwork 🍸

    YNWA 97
  • The Red KindThe Red Kind EnglandPosts: 3,336MI6 Agent

    Repeating myself too, the artwork is just brilliant. Really enjoying this. Thanks @CoolHandBond

    "Any of the opposition around..?"
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    I’m glad you’re enjoying it, gents.


    TRIGGER WARNING: “Live and Let Die” has always been Ian Fleming’s most controversial novel. Those easily offended are advised not to read the following adaptation.

    LIVE AND LET DIE (2019) Chapter Five:



    Chapter 6 tomorrow…

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,861Chief of Staff

    While reading these scenes in the novel I had pictured them in a sort of b&w film noir style, not having any other visual reference to the location.

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    TRIGGER WARNING: “Live and Let Die” has always been Ian Fleming’s most controversial novel. Those easily offended are advised not to read the following adaptation.

    LIVE AND LET DIE (2019) Chapter Six:



    Wow, oh wow! Continues next Saturday.

    @Barbel That’s interesting in you imagining the nightclub scenes in b&w as that has never occurred to me in reading Bond, but I like the idea. I think the artist has drawn these scenes brilliantly.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,749Chief of Staff

    @CoolHandBond i agree that the nightclub scenes are brilliantly drawn 😊 but I’m a little disappointed with the rest of the artwork…some of it looks almost throwaway 🤔 but I’m glad that you are posting these…as I’m throughly enjoying them 🍸

    YNWA 97
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    @Sir Miles I agree, if the rest of the artwork was as good as the nightclub scenes it would have matched the CR adaptation - as it stands it is still a very good graphic novel but one that could have been so much better.

    Hook Jaw - Part 4



    The sign-off line says it all - tune in next Monday for more.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    Creepshow - Segment 4 (Part 1of 2) - From a short story by Stephen King published in Gallery magazine July 1979.

    This was the best of the movie segments and should have been the final story.



    The Crate will conclude next Tuesday.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,861Chief of Staff

    Next Tuesday???? Damn!

  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    British Comics:

    For those members who are not British here is a brief explanation of the industry. As opposed to monthly issues of American comics British comics ere almost exclusively issued on a weekly basis. When sales dropped below a reasonable profit margin that title would be “merged” into a sister title and one or more of the most popular stories would make the transfer to the new comic which would replace the least popular stories in the master comic. Usually the merger would be, for example, Buster & Jackpot, with Jackpot being absorbed into the master comic. Usually after a number of weeks the secondary title would be dropped and it would revert to just Buster.

    Free gifts were a staple of new comics and usually given in the first three issues. Free gifts were also sometimes given when titles merged - in both cases to drive sales.

    Christmas issues, with the date closest to Christmas Day, were the most popular issue of the year - some titles produced Easter issues and Fireworks Night issues. Large size Summer Specials or Holiday Specals were issued during the year as a bonus issue - especially popular in seaside towns.

    Christmas annuals - a hardcover (though some were softcovers) book - were issued each Autumn in time for Christmas presents - I would imagine that every child in Britain would receive at least one on Christmas Day. These were published in September of each year but dated the following year, so a Beano annual launched in September 1969 would have a 1970 cover date.

    I’m happy to attempt to answer any queries either on this thread or PM.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent
    edited June 26

    TV CENTURY 21 - 242 issues


    With Gerry Anderson’s multiple puppet television series being huge hits it didn’t take too long for a deal to be made with City magazines to tap into the comic market.

    The first issue was dated Wednesday 20 January 2065 – it was a great gimmick to date the comic (edited to look like a newspaper) 100 years in the future. At 20 pages, eight in full colour, with photogravure printing to showcase the superlative artwork this was a quality comic by no mean standards. Promoted by nationwide TV adverts, priced at a relatively expensive seven pence (The Beano was then just three pence) and with a ‘identicode’ free gift, issue one’s print run of 700,000 was an instant sell-out, with newsagents clamouring the distributors for more copies.

    Stingray, the adventures of Troy Tempest, was the Anderson show then airing on ITV and thus the logical focus of the first issue’s cover headline: STINGRAY LOST! A Stingray picture strip was a colour centre-spread fixture for the first year, beautifully rendered by Ron Embleton, whose previous work included strips in the Eagle. 

    Also gracing two colour pages was Fireball XL5, first drawn by Graham Coton before Mike Noble took over with issue 6. Adept at futuristic hardware, Noble drew a superb space opera featuring space battles and astonishing villains. Though readers were unaware, the third colour strip was also based on an Anderson show. Featuring secret agent Lady Penelope, her ex-convict chauffeur Parker and their extraordinary multi-wheeled pink Rolls Royce, it only became clear in autumn 1965 that they hailed from the impending series Thunderbirds which was already in production when TV Century 21 hit the shelves. The fourth and final Anderson strip was Supercar, monochrome pages only, and drawn by Juan Bernet Toledano in caricatured ‘funnies’ style.

    Completing the lineup were three non-Anderson strips, Gene Barry’s private eye show Burke’s Law, and a one-page funny of US sitcom My Favourite Martian. The Daleks strip was a master stroke addition on the back page in full colour, with the arch-villains from Doctor Who then a national obsession. Based on ideas by their creator Terry Nation most strips were written by ex-Doctor Who story editor David Whitaker, repositioning the Daleks as calculating anti-heroes. Issue 28 was something of a Dalek special, promoting the July 1965 premiere of movie Dr Who & the Daleks. Ron Turner later assumed art duties on The Daleks from issue 50 and his vibrant colours and inventive layouts made him the strip’s definitive artist.

    Issue 52 saw its first major revamp, Lady Penelope spun-off into her own sister title (to be covered at a later date). A new masthead and a stunning Thunderbirds cover headlined THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO! marked the arrival of the Thunderbirds strip, superbly drawn by former Eagle artist Frank Bellamy across the centrespread in colour, and initially with a third monochrome page. It is acknowledged as one of the finest strips in British comic history, its groundbreaking framing and layouts re-evaluated the boundaries of comic art.


    Stingray, Fireball XL5 and My Favourite Martian were all retained in the shake-up but Supercar and Burke’s Law were dropped. Two new single-page funnies were added, spy spoof Get Smart and horror sitcom The Munsters.

    Boosted by the Thunderbirds craze of early 1966, TV Century 21 was regularly selling around 550,000 copies and Lady Penelope 650,000, a combined weekly sale of over 1.2 million. Buoyed by this success, TV Century 21 ploughed on through 1966. Thunderbirds Are Go! arrived in cinemas for Christmas 1966 and TV Century 21 promoted it with a four-part colour photostory from issue 101. The comic’s next revamp would be influenced by Thunderbirds Are Go!, slightly problematic as it had prove to be a box office flop. Issue 104 saw The Daleks strip bow out, with Skaro’s favourite villains plotting an invasion of Earth. Issue 105 launched Zero X based on the spaceship and crew introduced in Thunderbirds Are Go! even if few had seen the film.

    Gerry Anderson had a new puppet series in production, and the comic over several issues teased of its arrival in autumn 1967. Issue 141 saw the official arrival of Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. After almost three years, the title looked to Captain Scarlet for a boost, with weekly sales levelling off to around 500,000 copies. Just a few months later, entering the new year of 1968/2068, new editor Chris Spencer oversaw a radical revamp for issue 155. Now renamed just TV21, the newspaper headline covers were controversially replaced by a Captain Scarlet strip. Scarlet’s adventures continued with three further pages inside, a weekly output unsustainable by one artist, leading to a rotation of talent, and confusing artistic differences.

    Issue 162 saw the comic lose an inch in height. Sales were down to 350,000 when two new strips The Saint and Tarzan suddenly appeared in issue 190, the former starring our own Roger Moore. This became became clear in issue 192 when TV Tornado merged into the title. After England’s 1966 World Cup win, football was added to the mix, to many readers’ annoyance.

    The comic was carrying adverts for Joe 90 merchandise, Anderson’s next series, yet no related content. Issue 208 carried a Joe 90 pin-up and promised exciting news next week, most readers were surprised to find that rather than a Joe 90 strip in TV21’s pages there was an advert for a new weekly companion title Joe 90: Top Secret. Launched January 1969, its strip roster including forthcoming US space drama Star Trek, Irwin Allen’s Lilliputian sci-fi update Land of the Giants and spy drama The Champions which was arguably more enticing than TV21’s current offerings.

    TV21 meanwhile stumbled on, and the editor persisted with football content, including new strip Super League featuring a futuristic football club of 2069, from #232. The title was foundering, sales were down to 250,000. Issue 242 became the final issue. But all was not lost as TV21 and Joe 90: Top Secret would be merged as a new title from issue #1 (to be covered at a later date).

    The usual plethora of annuals and specials were also published.


    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,861Chief of Staff

    Happy memories. I never saw the point of football content in that comic, since there were existing comics covering that (to me inexplicably popular) subject but only this one covering the Gerry Anderson shows.

    Once again if I'd kept my old comics I'd be able to sell them for a fortune now!

  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,749Chief of Staff

    TV Century 21 👏🏻

    I had a couple of the hardback annuals….I particularly loved reading (and re reading) this one…


    Happy memories 😁

    YNWA 97
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    @Barbel It was inexplicable to add football content to TV Century 21, it certainly led to it’s demise. I can understand your dislike of football, Scotland are home before the postcards again 😉

    @Sir Miles I sold scores of copies of that annual over the years, it was very popular.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi (2020) - Chapter Three (Part 3 of 3)




    Chapter 4 begins tomorrow…

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    Bram Stoker’s Dracula starring Bela Lugosi (2020) - Chapter Four (Part 1 of 4)




    I like the Van Helsing portrayal very much.

    More of this next Thursday…LALD continues over the weekend.

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,861Chief of Staff

    The artwork is fantastic. Again, this is a story which I know like the back of my hand and yet I'm dying (pun not intended) to see the next installment.

  • Sir MilesSir Miles The Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,749Chief of Staff

    I can only echo Barbel’s words…the artwork really is superb 🍸

    YNWA 97
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 7,211MI6 Agent

    LIVE AND LET DIE (2019) Chapter Seven:



    Chapter 8 tomorrow - a delicious 11 whole pages 😁

    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,861Chief of Staff

    Yes, please!

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