Copyright DC COMICS If I bought the above book in its year of publication (2008), I've now owned it for 16 years.  However, it's possible I may've got it within the first year or so after it hit bookstores, but whatever the case, I've now had it for a fair amount of time.  I always intended to get around to buying the subsequent three volumes, but only managed to do so fairly recently.  I never bought Wonder Woman at the time the comics reprinted in these volumes first appeared (1969-'72/'73), though I picked some up years later, including the first two or three in Dia ..read more

Copyright MARVEL COMICS Another couple of Marvel classic collectables added to the fold, Crivvies.  I've already got Journey Into Mystery #83, but it's the one with the UK price on it and without the month in the number box.  Now I'm spoilt for choice.  I wish Marvel would hurry up and do a JIM Facsimile Edition, as it would be nice to see this issue in a pristine presentation.  (Even though I already have brand-spanking new reprints of Thor's origin story in various publications.) Talking of being spoilt for choice, what should I do with myself now?  Gaze ..read more

Copyright relevant owners It's been many years since I owned a Scalextric set - decades in fact, way back in the '60s - and I have no plans to buy one any time soon, if ever.  However, when I saw this new FAB 1 car from Thunderbirds, I simply had to have it.  I'm content for it to stay in its display case and just enjoy looking at it from time-to-time.  It's definitely the best model representation of Lady Penelope's Rolls Royce I've ever seen, and the detail on her ladyship and Parker is amazing. It's also quite a bit bigger than the Dinky and Corgi versions, a ..read more

Copyright MARVEL COMICS Newly arrived at Castel Crivens, the latest addition to my burgeoning collection of comicbook classics, without which my life would be incomplete.  Two more arriving tomorrow for any of you who might be interested - if so, check in then.  Ah, I'm wishing my life away, fool that I am ..read more

I'll refrain from making the obvious "two 'puddies' for the price of one" remark (oops, I just did) because I don't want you to think I'm common or vulgar.  Not that I'm saying I'm not - I just don't want you to think I am. So, Crivvies - give a big cheer for Valerie Leon ..read more

Copyright DC COMICS An issue of Action Comics #1 was recently sold by Heritage Auctions for a record price of £4.75 million.  Above is my very own copy, which just arrived today in a secure van.  (That big Lottery win a few years back sure came in handy is all I can say.)  Or am I pulling your collective leg, Crivs?  Well, that's definitely my comic in the above photo so I'll let you make up your own minds.  Let's just say I'm a very happy chappie ..read more

Copyright BBC TV and the Estate of TERRY NATION Done it!  Finally managed to get a second copy of The Dalek Outer Space Book, meaning I now have two copies of each of the three Dalek Annuals from the '60s.  It bugged me that I had just two copies each of the first two books, but not the third - so situation now sorted.  This allows me to keep one set of the three books with the four '70s Annuals, and the other set in another room, allowing me to dig into them whenever I want to, whichever of my two rooms I happen to be in at the time.  Ah, the sense of freedom, t ..read more

I recently visited Planet KRALKA on a whistle-stop inter-galactic tour, where I spied the most amazing sight.  Believe it or not, there was the original incarnation of The DOCTOR, enjoying a quiet snifter of invigorating Kralkan air, in the company of a first-generation DALEK.  (They were obviously visiting from the 1960s as the Doctor's current manifestation is a camp chap with an effeminate accent and in desperate need of a good ol' Glasgow slapping.)  What's more astounding, however, was the fact that Doctor and Dalek appeared to be the be ..read more

Copyright BBC TV As far as I know, there were only two Dr. Who Annuals in the '60s that bore William Hartnell's image on the covers*, the first one being for 1966 and the second for '67, though they were each issued in '65 and '66 respectively.  I've owned the first one for many a year now and it's not a difficult Annual to obtain, popping up on eBay fairly regularly. (*There was also a book by World Distributors called Doctor Who And The Invasion From Space, but it wasn't described as an 'Annual' and contained only text stories, I believe.)   The second book is the ra ..read more

Copyright relevant owner As I've said on Crivens several times before, memory is a funny thing.  Case in point: I remember FRANKIE STEIN as one of my very favourite comic strips in WHAM! periodical back in the 1960s.  However, I didn't start purchasing Wham! 'til after it began reprinting MARVEL's FANTASTIC FOUR adventures, having first discovered the group in my regular weekly comic, SMASH! (which had presented FF #1 in weekly instalments, simultaneously with Wham!). Wham! #112, cover-dated August 6th 1966, was the issue that debuted t ..read more