Get Marwood & I

Morning It's easy to see why the Marvel Super Heroes #104 escaped detection for all these years. One of the oddities of the pence production process was the 'inexplicable random issue title', i.e. the title for which only a handful of pence issues were produced often months apart with no pattern or logic to them (see Battlestar Galactica post earlier in the thread). So MSH was two issues, for many years, but is now 3: During my research I spent thousands of man hours scouring these titles. So the 104 discovery was a real, genuine surprise to me. Especially when ebay searches always bring up 72 and 80 time and time again in the UK. Take Man-Thing v2 for example - only two pence issues exist - 1 and 6. Here is my current record: Countless searches, over many years went in to deciding upon that position. A quick look on ebay and this listing supports the position: So one and six (hmmm ) is it I believe. But if MSH 104 can appear from nowhere, could there be others? We shall see

It's back! Operation got cancelled, so I'm back early. Sorry! You'll just have to miss me next year instead. Up to 197 Dell's now: Of that 197, 62 are Four Color's and a whopping 8 are Giant's: Here are the Giants that I currently own - 6 of the 8: 35 is a new one I have some theories on which of the outstanding books may or may not exist in pence - there are 424 books in the date range - and will share them another time. Have fun...

Yep - found my old docs - looks like 20 it was: I remember seeing a website with an official statement from Marvel on the end of the newsstand distribution but I cant find it now. Should've kept a record.

I'm sure you'll enjoy them. Take a day off sick!

I had them all at one point. I'll dig my old notes out tomorrow. Should have pictures too somewhere

 That's it. 700 is the last issue of ASM (v.2). Correct. The first twenty issues of Superior Spidey had newsstands, then they stopped. It was 20 wasn't it?

It all ended at 180. The original thread title! 176 to 180. Can't beat em

Yes, I agree. The Andru original looks vaguely sinister. Like he's not that happy about the graduation. You can see why they changed it. I always thought the replacement looked too big though. All in all, one of his worst covers. Still good though

New Romita head!

I know. See ya tomorrow if you're about Gnash. Updates on Dell, Miller, AUS, Charlton are a comin. At least I think you're Gnash? Keep changing your flippin avatar. You'll never see me do that.... Cheeoww

Neigh.

Not! I have no words. Except 'Three' 'Thousand' and 'Eighteen' that is.

Now, those in the know of the know all knowing knowledge know that we are stuck on 3,017 confirmed pence copies. If that number is to rise, it will likely come from one of the early, hard to find books like Patsy & Hedy or the aforementioned Battle. Right? Wrong. How about from December 1981? Yes, that's right. The last month pence copies were made. Impossible!

Five! Five copies tatty of ze Westerly Gunmanfighters, Ah, ha, ha, ha, hah! He iz a bit of a wally bags zis Marwood with his love of ze Gunsmoking same, no? Six! Six copies tatty of ze Westerly Gunmanfighters, Ah, ha, ha, ha, hah! I am thinking zat ze Canine Like Sparkenwood has misplaced ze plot, no? What a wally bag wallykin of ze cretinous cretins

Y fronts?

On we go. In my post here from page five I show the three differences between the pence copies of ASM #1 and it's centless cousin: Those differences again (Mr Plow): Price (duh!) Missing month in the issue box Thorpe & Porter indicia I saw some speculation in a thread elsewhere once about trying pass off a pence copy as a cents, by removing the cover price. I joined in, mentioned the other two differences, and was ignored. No change there. Sure enough, someone has had a go at it - look at this ebay listing here: Hmmm. The copy conveniently has its price and date box removed A closer look: But look - they haven't torn off the bottom so, if it is a pence copy, the indicia will give the game away with a Thorpe & Porter logo. If you think about it, assuming it's a pence copy: CGC missed it. Don't they read my threads? The buyer will pay 'cents' prices Mycomicshop are selling it (in good faith) Not very satisfactory is it? I wish someone would buy it and crack it open. Of course, it may just be a brutalised cents copy. But can you think of another reason to cut away the date and price? There are unscrupulous people out there.... possibly called Brian

A few posts back I pontificated on which books may or may not have pence copies, based on the presence or otherwise of the cent price fonts. One of the books I believe should have a pence copy is Battle #70. It hasn't thrown up a copy yet, but I look regularly and found a good example of a sun faded copy on the bay. I used to collect Amazing Spidey printing errors - had about 100 at one point - so always enjoyed rifling through the genuine ones and the sun faded copies that sellers would insist were rare variants (despite the back covers always having full colour!). Often, a price sticker would come to the rescue if there was any doubt - see below and you'll see what I mean: Note also one is a 'bold' cents copy, the other a 'tall' one. So maybe a pence is out there somewhere.... Here endeth the lesson!

Evening all Even though I no longer actively collect Marvel books, I do like to pick up the occasional hard to find early pence copy when I can, especially when they're reasonably priced. And by that, I mean priced with pence prices. Heh heh. They all laughed when I said I'd be a comedian! Well they're not laughing now! Shut up. Anyroad (Fred Elliott), those in the know of the know all knowing knowledge know that TGK 62 is one of those hard to find pence books. It's uncommonly rare and doesn't often show it's face. The cents copy isn't that prolific either come to think of it, but here's the pence copy in all it's splendour: Who can resist a bit of Moose Morgan anyway? Nice book. 61 is also an uncommonly rare book in pence. So I was happy to snag a copy of that too - here she be: Nothing like a stand off with a Snark while Nancy lets her hair down for you (bonus points for Prefab Sprout references in this thread). But why stop there! Here's the oddly more common, but rather more prestigious, numero Sixtenhausen: Peeown! They say that old Ben Dancer was a private man, but would dance for money and do what you want him to do (point deductions for Turner references in this thread, unless accompanied by Ike. Not The Reverend Ike though, of Derek and Clive fame). Here's a peak inside TGK60, at the Thorpe & Porter indicia slaughter (which looks just how it oughta)... ...and the splash: Look at my splash! Batman Begins? The TGK beat him to it. He begun foist. Now TGK #60 is famed for it's 'hand written issue number' variant, of which this copy is one: Those in the know of the know all knowing knowledge know this. But those in the complete knowing of the full know all knowing knowledge know further; they know that all TGK60's had hand written numbers. Cents too. You can Google it if you like. After all, I only have the one copy to evidence the phenomenomenom (never say that word when eating a toffee) so why take my word for it? Or do I......?

Managed to get a few minutes to post this. It is with a genuinely heavy heart that I say that I watched the second episode on Sunday and found it simply awful. I have a lot to say about it and why I feel like I do but I’ll try to keep it brief. This is a total unplanned brain dump so won’t be in my usual structured format. First up, Jodie Whitaker clearly does not have the presence or acting ability needed to convince as the Doctor. Another female may have – but she does not. I found her irritatingly banal and without flair or mystery. When David Tennant was announced, I was worried that he was an unknown. But he took the Doctor to a whole new level with an astonishing, barnstorming performance. When Matt Smith was announced I was worried he was too young. But he managed to convey old man in young body in a delightful way and I was won over by his physicality. When Peter Capaldi was announced I was delighted. He became what I knew he would – the most convincing Doctor of all. Peerless. When Jodie was announced I was worried she looked too pretty, and would be too bland having seen nothing in her previous work to suggest the talents needed to pull off the first female Doctor. Alas, I was right. She is a bland looking young woman reading the lines of a 1,000 year old being. Now, a great Doctor can give you something to savour in even the worst story. And here is the real problem. The production team have no flair and no evident talent for Doctor Who story telling. When you get a new Doctor, you get the following: 1. New Doctor 2. New outfit 3. New theme / titles 4. New companions 5. New Tardis 6. New ‘direction’ Let’s look at how Chibnall and co dealt with some of these elements. New theme / titles – inexplicably absent from the first episode, we await them in the second. I think 99% of producers would have started episode two with a recap of the transfer to space, and then went from the shock of the Doctors face suspended in space in to the screech of the opening credits and theme. They didn’t. Straight into the theme. No suspense. Then straight into hanging in space. Any new joiner would have no idea what was going on. So bad set up, bad storytelling, bad narrative and the loss of the new theme cliff hanger moment. This shows a lack of flair New Tardis – finally appears at the end of episode two. A team with flair would know that we want to see the interior and marvel at it. We don’t see it in all its glory, just bits of it. It’s very dark. I can’t say I made out much of it. A production team with flair may have had a furry dice on the console which the Doctor could discard with a mock ‘hey, cheeky!’ but that would have required wit and flair. So I still don’t know what the Tardis interior looks like. Only that it’s dark. And has biscuits. The theme itself? Oddly dull. Grumbling. At odds with the young and fresh Jodie. The titles? What is it? Oil in water? No flair. Dull. Compare it to Matt Smiths Tardis bouncing about space to his upbeat theme which mirrored his energy. Or Capaldi’s eerie time clock The suit reveal. OK, in episode one – but as I recall we go from fat Nan dying to joking about in a second hand shop. What was the time frame here? With no Tardis, what was the Doctor doing from the death of fat Nan to the transportation into space? How many days elapsed? It doesn’t feel right So, many of the 'big moments' feel squandered to me, I think, because the production team have no flair or feel for drama and the shows heritage. Now the story of episode two. What was it? Not much at all. I can suspend disbelief when the story is cleaver or entertaining. This was neither. Why did they not die in space? How likely is it that the Doctor would crash land the spaceship (Revenge of the Sith anyone?) right on top of the others? Planets are fairly big things after all. The two competitors. Were they supposed to be hardened and mercenary to be the last two standing in this odd competition? Why did they not jettison the Doctor the moment it became clear she had an interest in the Tardis, which I understood to be the prize? Why would they allow her to tag along? Why did no one notice that there was no Tardis at the end, and therefore no prize? The -script and dialogue. What did anyone say that was either telling, clever or interesting? Did any of the Doctors lines strike you as Doctor worthy? Nothing witty, nothing clever. Here’s an example. When the Doc says “I was a hologram once – the gossip I picked up!” what does that mean? If she had said “I was invisible once…” the gossip bit would make sense. But I’ve never associated being a hologram with picking up gossip so the line fell flat. This indicates to me that the writer has no flair or wit. His words are banal across the board. Shoe horned in politics. We have the ‘I need to win to bring my family out of war torn etc’. That is a ‘be nice to immigrants’ message. “My mum never caught me so I’m on my own in life” Doctor – “We’re better together”. Brexit. Preachy. Lefty. Boring. Shoe horned in emotional scene. “Fat Nan's dead. I think of her all the time” Yes. She died yesterday – didn’t she? I’d be crying my eyes out, blaming the Doctor and saying helping her choose an outfit was the last thing on my mind. Better that we help the Police with their enquiries into her death. Although, if many days, weeks even, had passed (as fat Nan's funeral suggested) again, what was the Doctor doing without a Tardis. Walking the streets? In a B&B? Bad scene setting equals unrealistic feel. Bad production. No flair. Shoe horned in ‘possible future mystery’ line. “The abandoned Doctor”. Ooh, what could it all mean. I watched ‘Deep Breath’, Peter Capaldi’s opener twice when it first aired. It was funny, clever, exciting and with a Doctor who was disdainful of the threat (“Rubbish robots of the past….”). Here, Jodie gives up. That’s a good one for the first female Doctor. “I used to be able to” she said (when I was a man). Is that not the polar opposite of what we should be seeing? Oh, she as a Lady Doctor so must be expected to fail. Bad storytelling and bad, unconvincing characterisation. Some lines from Deep Breath that I remember without looking them up – ‘attack eyebrows’, ‘rubbish robots from the past’, ‘needy megalomaniacal game player (Clara!)’ etc etc. The scene where they are in the café and everyone moves as they move. Clever, creepy, fun. The Master/Missy, Madame Vastra, Sontaran etc. Look at Capaldi’s second show, Into the Dalek. He arrives, insults someone. Clara says ‘Sorry, I’m his carer’. “That's right” the Doctor says “she cares so I don’t have to”. Funny clever lines that I can remember years later. What lines do you remember so far from Jodie? Her lines are so banal. “I see summat needs fixin, Ah do wot I cahn” So, here’s the thing. The wrong actor is the Doctor. That is evident. And the wrong team are in charge. They are pedestrian where they should be outstanding. This means the show is dead. I may actually give up, as I can’t bear to watch them squander it all. I haven’t even mentioned the 'monsters', and how rubbish they were. More rubbish than Capaldi's rubbish robots from the past. For health reasons this will likely be my last post here this year. I’m gutted it was a downbeat one about something I care about, but that’s the way of things lately. We need our heroes more than ever and we need our entertainment. I’ve lost one of my favourites. Peter Capaldi was the last Doctor. My personal view, the Doctor is a man. My Dad is a man. There is no need for a woman to be my Dad. My Dad is my Dad, and he is a man. Bye everyone and hope to see you some time next year P.S. A quick look at the press between takes and it seems everyone loves the new show. So, it seems I just don't understand....

One.

I'm an engineer. CGC, you've engineered a faulty product. Please engineer it back to the previous version.

Blimey!

Cor. That's lovely

Found the Kid hiding out...