Hibou

RIP Bernie ... 

Another legend passes.

Very nice Baker additions and the fact that you were able to meet up and buy them from a boardie is a nice plus too!

So I'll get to that discussion but I do have to go back and talk about Christmas at World of Beer.  Since Tim Horton's closed up around here, we decided that WoB would be an excellent substitute.  Besides, comics and beer do seem to go together nicely. 

Earlier in this journal, I described what this place is and that they have an app that allows you to track your 'progress' and record the beers that you've tried.  In addition, you can earn these virtual badges based on the beers you try... now when I was first told about these 'badges', I didn't realize that they were virtual or digital badges... I was thinking something like the Scouts.  I say this for a reason...

 

 

(This is a generic version of what that looks like on the app.)

 

 

So Rob and I met up and ordered a couple of beers to get things going. After an hour or so, we exchanged gifts and this was the awesome assortment of goodies that he got me...

 

 

 

 

 

During a previous get together, Rob mentioned the Great Lakes Avengers and Squirrel Girl... I hadn't read them and didn't know much if anything about that series.  He thought I would like it and so he got me the collected volume along with the individual issues.  He was right!  It was a very enjoyable yet disturbing read.  Interesting characters and story line.

The IDW Jack Kirby Artisan Edition book is AMAZING!  It features Kirby's 70's DC work on The Demon, Kamandi, and Omac with Inks by Mike Royer!  Such great stuff to look at and see how tight his pencils truly were, along with the transition to the full inked page by Royer. 

In addition, he got me some playing cards and some Doctor Strange goodness featuring the Sorcerers Supreme of days past.  Again, this was something he thought I'd be into and he was right yet again...

Now the box in the back had 4 beers in it but those are long gone.  An amazing Flanders Red called Duchesse De Bourgogne. This was a beer he had me try a couple of months back and I thought it was very, very good and quite unique.  Unfortunately it's pretty expensive and difficult to find around here... outside of WoB, that is.

It's described as "a sweet, fruity tasting beer with a pleasant sour oakiness, refreshing after-taste".

 

 

 

 

The last gift he gave me had to be the best though!

He remembered how disappointed I was to not get a physical badge from one of our last meetings and so...

He made one for me!

I am now the proud owner of the Hop Head badge! 

 

 

 

 

He works at the University and has access to a laser cutter... he was able to provide the image from his cell phone app.  It was cut out of bass wood in three pieces and then scaled down slightly.

I just think that's awesome!  (The angle I took the picture makes it look off but it's not.)

So that was this past Christmas although we met up after New Years.  It was a lot of fun but the incident where I went on a tirade about the Fantastic Four and Marvel occurred about a month before that... I think it was the 1st week in December.  We stayed there for maybe 7 hours... trying some great beers, eating good food and glancing at the football games from time to time and talking comics!

Good times! 

 

 

Ok, let me start here...

The world has gone mad. 

I recently had a short interaction with Sharon (skypinkblu) in which I stated, off the cuff, that perhaps my divergence to the FF was "a rebellion"... it's funny how things clarify themselves when you're not calculating each and every word.

That would be a good place to start.

Get rid of the calculations... get rid of the numbers.

Well, all but 41...  

 

 

 

A rebellion. 

Marvel without the FF is like Baseball without the Yankees... Football without the Cowboys (Or Colts, Giants, Packers, Patriots... etc.)

You get the idea.

Comics are changing faster than NASA can discover new habitable planets... and that's where my new focus stems from. 

Some months back, actually, right around Christmas time, Rob and I were at World of Beer here in Syracuse and upon my 4th beer, I announced (to all within earshot) that Marvel without the FF was sacrilegious!

 

 

...

 

 

Yeah, that happened.

 

To be continued...

 

 

Wound up in circumstance beyond my control ...

 

Strange days indeed.

 

I'm thinking the best way to catch up will be to go backwards in time once again. 

 

My submissions to CGC were put off by a week but I'll finally get a couple of books out this week for grading.  One book will be my stepson's copy of New Mutants 98 - I'm very intrigued on what this might get but for reasons I'll reveal much later.  The other book is one that simply makes me smile. And yes, that one will be interesting too!

 

I'll leave it at that.

 

I'm spending this evening looking for the Mekon... nothing new on the Interwebs.  Perhaps I'm on the wrong shore. I've been craving some new Dan Dare material and I just might end up purchasing some older Eagle publications to quench that. In addition, I've been mulling over a couple of books but I'm not sure if I'll do anything with that at this time at all.

 

My friend Rob is somewhere on the West Coast of Ireland at this time... in some ridiculously awesome pub.  We did our Christmas get together a little late this year but it was a lot of fun and I'll get to that next.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agreed!

Um-

 

Just 'practicing' again...

 

 

 

From Photobucket:

 

Direct :

 

 

There we go.

 

 

Okay, so copy URL is the way to go for that I guess.

Nope... that won't do.

 

 

Testing vs. Photobucket...

Seems like a Photobucket image I've already posted is too large.

 

Okay, how about embedding videos?

 

A favorite of mine:

 

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/48d4irOHhLY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

 

On 2/8/2017 at 2:49 PM, skypinkblu said:

OK, they have Amethyst and I don't have to highlight, I'm happy.

 

 

Just placed a couple of bids... nice books Sharon!

What in the world... ?!

 

I take a few months off while the world transports back to the 80's and then this happens.

 

New paint- I like the decor... it'll work.  (I definitely like the beta version.) 

 

Anyways, Happy (late) New Year! I have a lot to fill in and should be starting again relatively soon.  I had an amazing Christmas and start of the New Year and it's looking like 2017 is shaping up very nicely.  I'm looking forward to sending in my first submissions this week and with that, I'll get to posting more in the coming weeks and months!

 

 

 

16 hours ago, Larryw7 said:

Gorgeous!

Absolutely is... good luck with the sale Ed.  I love looking at this cover!

Congratulations on the sales Harry and you've hit on a crucial Marvel point... the 'normalcy' of some of the problems that would plague our protagonists.

 

I think that in-itself, broadened the appeal of comics to a younger generation in the 60's.

 

Of course this has been well documented but I had to add that.

There's definitely something to be said for seeing artwork close up or original artwork for that matter... the chances of owning a vintage John Byrne piece from the 80's are quickly diminishing by the year as his early work is being bought and sold at some pretty impressive prices.

 

It makes me wonder if I should've held onto the one Alpha Flight page that I had... of course that can be said for pretty much everything.

 

Anyways, this John Byrne Fantastic Four Artist's Edition from IDW certainly provides a nice opportunity for those like myself who can't afford those pages, to be able to look at the work on a full size scale as the pages are reproduced at 12X17 in size!

 

Inside are 160 pages of pure vintage Byrne art from pages and covers of various Fantastic Four issues. But again, I can't emphasize enough how one's perspective changes when you look at artwork on a larger scale and close up. That's something I discovered with another book I purchased that I'll get into later.

 

But in the meantime, here are some examples of what's inside this beautiful book...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's pretty funny is that sometimes the thing that you're looking for... is the thing that has been there all along. I bought this Byrne Fantastic Four book a couple of years ago and it just never clicked until recently. Back in the early to mid 80's, in terms of comics, if it had anything to do with John Byrne, I would buy it. From the X-Men to Marvel Team-Up... Iron Fist, Spider-Man... and then later with Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman... it was just my preference.

 

But what I didn't remember or maybe what got pushed off to the edges of my memory was the work on the Fantastic Four and just how big that was. I purchased every issue back then and enjoyed them greatly. This run on the Fantastic Four was insane as it lasted for five years... from issue 232 to 295 (1981-1986)... it was such a great time to have his art featured every single month in a book like that for years on end!

 

And as I tried to think back to those years, I realized that I needed to go back and revisit that time... it felt like it fit in directly to what I had felt when reading a couple of those very early FF issues by Lee and Kirby.

 

Of course by now I knew what I had done... I had fallen into 'officially' collecting The Fantastic Four and it was feeling like a lot of fun for me.

 

I looked on eBay and found a deal that I couldn't pass up... basically a run of Byrne FF from 232 to 250 for only a dollar a book. The seller listed them on eBay as ranging from VG to Fine but in reality they're all mostly VFN to NM... maybe a few in the Fine range.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I haven't gotten into reading these issues yet... I just wanted to get them into my collection so I can read them in time.

 

But it was at this point, I became very focused on some earlier issues and there were a couple that I had in mind! Of course this would mean that to raise the funds, Rusty Staples and Sunken Treasure would have to go... and so it did.

 

The collection was mostly dissolved and now I would be hunting Treens.

 

And Skrulls...

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the information on Dan Dare, very interesting.

 

My favorite Doctor Who stories are the ones produced by Philip Hinchcliffe. In more than one of the DVD documentaries he makes mention of Dan Dare as being an influence on his creative process for the show.

 

In one, he makes specific reference to the Mekon, but I can't remember what it was in connection to.

 

When I saw the Mekon images you posted it instantly reminded me of the Vogons for Revenge of the Cybermen:

 

 

But I'm not sure if that's what he was referring to. But at least now I have a better idea of what Dan Dare is.

 

Thanks Number 6... I'll have to look into that but it's another pleasant connection! And yes, the Vogans with that heavy brow do have a characteristic resemblance to the Mekon... that's pretty interesting. I do have much more to add on Doctor Who later but this is worth investigating further.

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

And thanks Harry... I did find about that and I'll look into picking up a few issues of the 2000AD Dan Dare. I did hear that the character was a bit different than originally conceived so I'll have to see how true that is.

Yes, it's late in the evening...

 

 

 

 

 

So... Dan Dare - John Byrne

 

I think it was around 2-3 years ago when my friend Rob told me about this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember that day vividly when he showed me this book... I remember what I had to drink and eat... medium black coffee with a Canadian Maple (of course this was at Tim Horton's - RIP)... but what was this?!

 

This was the Fantastic Four!

 

Once I saw these interior pages, it was like some work of magic... aside from the one sole interior John Byrne page that I once owned (Alpha Flight), I hadn't really seen an extensive collection of his work in this manner and on this scale!

 

This was like magic to me and of course I had to get a copy for myself.

 

To be Continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to admit... my love and admiration for the culture and people across the pond in the UK took a long time to develop.

 

I suppose as with anything, time formulates our direction and for me, it was a slow but steady process. How did I not find Dan Dare until this year?! How did I not see the connection to John Byrne, who I've long touted as my inspiration and guide when it came to comics and the dream of someday drawing them for a living?

 

A dream which I know has long passed...

 

Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future...

"So long captain Dan

I fail to see what motivates your hands

Goodbye restless night

You know I loved Dan Dare, but I couldn't make his flight..."

 

I described how I stumbled upon The Mekon and how in some bizarre way, I felt like there was some connection to the artwork of my favorite comic artist as a youth... John Byrne.

 

When this all sort of converged, I really had no idea where it would lead me but I certainly felt 'guided'. I just love when the Universe (or The Matrix) takes my hand and tells me to 'check this out'... good times.

 

Anyways, when I started looking into Dan Dare, the first thing I had to understand was the context of when this all first originated. As I wrote earlier, it was in April of 1950 when Dan Dare first appeared as the featured top page strip on the newly formed Eagle... a British childrens periodical. Eagle was founded by The Reverend John Marcus Harston Morris ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Morris_(publisher) ) ...

"Morris was impressed by the high standard of artwork in the US magazines, but disgusted by their content, which he described as "deplorable, nastily over-violent and obscene, often with undue emphasis on the supernatural and magical as a way of solving problems." He realised that a market existed for a children's comics periodical which featured action stories in cartoon form, but which also would convey to children the standards and morals he advocated" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_(British_comics)

 

Prior to forming Eagle, Morris met up with Frank Hampson and collaborated on some projects together but it was in April of 1950 when Morris and Hampson started Eagle along with Dan Dare and changed the face of British science fiction utilizing top end printing methods featuring beautiful full color plates on Hampson's Dan Dare along with a large publicity campaign.

 

The results were immediate... on April 14th of 1950, Eagle sold 900,000 copies!

 

Dan Dare was off and running and Hampson would lead him to adventures that are still very entertaining even by todays standards.

 

I saw a few strips online and looked a bit further into the development of Dan Dare going into the 80's.

 

I found a couple of copies on eBay and bought those first...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here I learned that in 2007, Virgin Comics resurrected Dan Dare and produced a 7 issue series written by Garth Ennis with art by Gary Erskine. I found out that a few years later, an omnibus was released which collected all 7 issues. I bought the UK HC edition and I've just started reading that... I'm just through the 1st issue and I like it so far.

 

 

 

 

This is part of the introduction from Garth Ennis:

 

"In the winter of 1944-45, during the long, miserable Allied advance through the low countries and into Nazi Germany, a young soldier by the name of Frank Hampson stood on a freezing Antwerp quay and raised his head. And he saw rockets.

 

V-1s and V-2s, some on their way to London, some pounding hell out of the British and Canadian armies massing for the attack to come. These were the "vengeance weapons" with which Hitler swore he would still achieve victory. To Hampson, they meant something else.

 

Space Travel was born in those neat cottonwool lines reaching up into the clear blue winter sky, he wrote. The lines were, alas, the first realization of the dreams of scientists and inventors who had been working for years with little two or three foot models. Hitler warped their dreams into ends that were foul and repulsive.

But dreamers have a habit of not giving up...

 

Frank Hampson certainly didn't. Five years later he created Dan Dare."

 

I'll probably have more on this book later as I get through it...

 

But what I was really yearning for was the original Frank Hampson stuff and that's what my search focused on.

 

Luck struck, once again, on eBay as I found an original paper from 1957 which had a very attractive price and the piece looked like it was in pretty nice condition. The color is just amazing and it really showcases the craftsmanship that was poured into creating these periodicals... the artwork is absolutely beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And shortly after I found that page, I found exactly what I wanted (well almost), I found the first 2 years of 'issues' complied into one volume.

 

This was published by Hawk Books in 1987 and it features every Dan Dare page from April 14, 1950 to October 5, 1951. It was an absolutley fantastic read as it tells the story of Dan Dare, Professor Peabody, Digby, Pierre, Sir Hubert, Hank and Sondar.

 

Also, the fantastic Kingfisher, the Ranger and ultimately... the Elizabeth.

 

The war between the Treens, Therons and the Atlantines.

 

And then of course, on November 3, 1950... 30 weeks into the story, the UK is introduced to...

 

The Mekon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also found a 1954 trading card from F.C Calvert & Co. that came with their toothpaste...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading through that first massive tale was a lot of fun... the story takes place in the future which is 1995 / 1996... food has become in short supply on Earth and that's where the story begins.

 

I can certainly see the appeal this had to the youth of England in 1950 and beyond.

 

From what I've read, it left an impression with many creative people and like I mentioned before, I had a 'gut' feeling that one of those people would be John Byrne. I really had no idea... maybe I read it before and that thought got buried into the back of my mind and ignited when I saw the picture of the Mekon - who knows.

 

But what was a complete joy to find... my 'gut' feeling was right.

 

This was taken from John's website:

 

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=39320

"Every year when my birthday rolls 'round, I am reminded that it is bracketed by the deaths of two of my all time favorite (and most influential) artists, Frank Hampson and Frank Bellamy.

 

Bellamy died on July 5th, 1976, at the young age of 47, and Hampson followed on July 8th, 1985, at 67.

 

These were the artists who introduced me to DAN DARE, in EAGLE, the impact of which upon my career literally cannot be measured. (Hampson had created DARE, and, indeed, co-created EAGLE.)

 

Here are a pair of stunning pages from TERRA NOVA, the storyline that introduced me, at age 9, to Mssers Hampson, Bellamy and Dare. . .

 

Hampson (Studio). . . "

 

This was incredible to find... John Byrne was influenced, as a child growing up in England, by Dan Dare and Frank Hampson. I love that!

 

And then there's this...

 

I will rarely post any original artwork from John Byrne but I have to make an exception here. I'll apologize for using this image but I'll say that it was taken from this web page...

 

http://johnbyrnedraws.tumblr.com/post/141266799717/dan-dare-by-john-byrne-age-11-1961

 

In Rusty Staples and Sunken Treasure, I showed what I was drawing at age 11.

 

Well here's what John Byrne drew at age 11... in 1961.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there it is.

 

Frank Hampson.

 

John Byrne.

 

This was a Fantastic educational experience and just added to my love for this medium.

 

And what I like about this new Dan Dare fascination... there's sooo much out there to collect that I haven't seen! I look forward to the new discoveries!

 

Now here's a segue I couldn't have planned better...

 

I stumbled on these two interesting pieces of artwork by Frank Hampson for Marvel UK dating back to 1976-1977.

 

 

1976

 

 

 

1977

 

 

 

Absolutely beautiful work!

 

And if you look closely at the Spider-Man piece, you'll see The Thing on the left of Spidey's arm.

 

I'm sure John noticed that too...

 

Holy Cow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dan Dare - Pilot of the Future

 

This one was pretty strange... it really was.

 

I'd say it was The Mekon that first drew me in, but I would be lying if I didn't say that Frank Hampson's work wasn't right along side with it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps I was looking a little too closely... maybe I was just utilizing an 'open mind'.

 

Regardless of what it was, I was hooked!

 

Whether it was a pretty cool story line, an association with John Byrne... The Mekon... it didn't matter.

 

This was going to be part of my story and my discovery!

 

To be continued...

 

 

Yeah, good point about the UK sales.

 

I've used that site a lot. I consider the cover date to be your 'birthday book'... it's more fun that way. It's interesting to see what was on the newsstand when you were born, however!

Fun post Harry!

 

I'm not sure if you have seen this site before but it provides a virtual (US) newsstand that will show you what was on sale at any given time.

 

I'll be using it myself for a future post...

 

http://www.dcindexes.com/features/newsstand.php

So I was very interested in reading the next issue of The Fantastic Four, after finishing that issue #5, but like I said, I would have to wait a week and hope that Mike didn't sell that #6 before I would get a chance to buy it.

 

Now originally, he was going to give me the #5 and the #6 for those books that I brought in but I had decided to take the issue 5 and the cash instead. Well, the next day that I had off from work (which was a week later), I stopped into his shop and sure enough, it was still there.

 

He gave it to me at a reduced price, consistent with our last deal and I was happy to get the book home to once again sit back and dive into this 'latest' issue of The Fantastic Four! And here's where I knew that something was different- I didn't care about the condition too much. This book has some interior tape and a detached cover... hey, it's a 'reader' and that's exactly the purpose I would use it as.

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

 

As soon as I opened that first page and started reading, it occurred to me once again... I never read this and I had no idea where it was going! From the smell of the pages to the fluidity of Jack Kirby's figures... the pacing of Stan's writing (perhaps with Kirby too), I just felt this amazing sense of renewal and discovery with this book and in connection with that FF5.

 

For the first time in a very long time, I was truly enjoying this!

 

The panel depicting the cut away of the Baxter Building and the interior reminded me of those comics I read as a youth and the wonder of just staring at the schematics of the Batcave or the Fortress of Solitude... Spider-Man's web shooters and belt... Iron Man's armor...

 

I found myself looking at this panel and just letting my mind wander with that for a moment.

 

 

 

 

I had to laugh at part 2 of this book though.

 

Right as the Sub-Mariner meets Doctor Doom for the first time, I see this and for some reason I had say...

 

"Now that's a really nice 3/4 page panel!"

 

 

 

 

 

The story progressed and despite the (at times) ridiculous science of the story, I just purely enjoyed it for what it was.

 

Doctor Doom is able to skate away with the ENTIRE Baxter Building because the Sub-Mariner placed a magnetic grabber in a "dark corner of the basement".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now come on, do any of you really know what's in that dark corner of your basement?!

 

There might be a magnetic grabber there too!

 

The climax of the story has the Sub-Mariner, now realizing that he's been played by Doctor Doom, end his fight with the Thing within the building (as they're wearing 'space helmets' nonetheless) and asks where the water storage tank is. Now of course there is one in the building and once the Sub-Mariner dives in and energizes himself, he crashes through the wall of the building... into space... and leaps from one asteroid to another until he reaches Doom's ship.

 

Pure genius!

 

...

 

 

So reading this story and enjoying it as much as I did, definitely provided me with a certain thirst for more. But in the back of my mind, I still had this image in my head of this funny green character and these pages of Dan Dare that I was seeing on line.

 

I wanted to look more into that too...

 

And this was pretty much where things converged.

 

Somehow, someway... in that "dark corner of the basement" within the recesses of my mind, I found Dan Dare and The Fantastic Four.

 

It all felt brand new again and then finally, after wondering whether this was all still something that I enjoyed, I felt some relief.

 

And I felt...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To have a shop like that would be very cool indeed, Brandon!