Good Craic Comics Gallery.

A Page From History.

OooH Saucy! first published art in America from way back in the day, fan art for an issue of The Betty Pages from Spring 1989. Back when the world had seasons.
                  Betty Page; a Page From History Worth Remembering.

The Back Of Love.

                                                                      Geronimo!

Deadlier Than The Male.

Ho Boy just listened to this lovely boxed set of second Doctor adventures from Big Finish and what a lovely ride through the veil of years it was. it is one of a series of recordings by big Finish called The Lost Stories( stories scripted but never produced-as opposed to stories deliberately wiped.) using actual cast members and guest performers. The presence of some of the original teams lend the recordings a glowing authenticity. This boxed set was one I was particularly looking forward to. The amazing cover art on the slip case was enough to turn me into a drooling fool. With that lovely spot of science fiction green illuminating a Dalek highlighting an extra disc with a special recording of an unused Dalek pilot script by Terry Nation( Does this not sound like a Christmas wants list?)
              What a hoot Prison In Space turned out to be. With a truly sterling turn by Frazer Hines as the adorable Jamie and also a startlingly accurate turn as The Doctor himself. It was as though Patrick Troughton was there at the recording. I could see him standing in a darkened booth with a huge set of head phones atop his hair whilst he stood on tip toe to reach a mike and deliver with a sense of urgency and vigor. Wendy Padbury does a similar job with two versions of the science adventuress Zoe; her usual bubbly intelligent self and as a brain washed rubber clad zombie like prison warder(honestly, not kidding.) It is truly an odd script peppered with repressed saucy sixties kinkiness as the Tardis crew find themselves in a society where the female is deadlier than the male and men are mere servants and chattel. in all honesty it feels at times as though it were a lost script for an unmade Carry On film rather than a lost Who. Which is just fine by me as I love that genre of movies and know the format of Who is strong enough to survive this bizarre little diversion. It might even offend the sensibilities of the more serious minded listeners who collect Classic Who in all its many forms.
                Yes, there are some truly daft moments in this slice of groovy sixties science fantasy but they are performed with an innocent truth and joyful conviction by all concerned. In fact it sounds like a right old laugh was had by all which surely harkens back to happy times for the original cast members. Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury must have been rolling about the recording booths at some of the carry on.
                And speaking off Carry On it reminded me in tone of one of my very favorite Carry On movies Carry On Spying. A spy drama where all the regulars are on the top of their game( it is my favorite spy movie next to Casino Royale!)There is even a character called Babs in both stories.
                Go on, give them both a go. If only to feel your ear lobes try to roll.
                Or even to watch Kenneth Williams wear a fez with an unequaled degree of casuality in a world that predates the use of the word "cool".
                For in truth "cool" is not cool.
                It never was.

Bear Faced Greek.

                                                           (From my sketch-book)

Handsome Devil.

Its like a photograph, really, it is.This sketch of me is from the unreasonably talented pen of one Scott Petrie of Belfast, Son Of The House Of Petrie. He has certainly nailed my crazy paving dental plan.
              A face out of time.
              You know I am reminded that just the other day I was pottering around in a charity store when another customer strolling past remarked how quiet the streets of Belfast seemed in January in comparison to the frenzied experience that is December. I explained I believed that this was just the coming down after the cloud dancing of the holidays, when quiet reigns and the streets seem suffused with ennui.
                At that moment a Catholic Priest who had been browsing the board game section looked up in surprise and said I HAVE WAITED A LIFETIME TO HEAR THE WORD ENNUI USED IN CONVERSATION AND YOU JUST DID. YOU USED IT BEAUTIFULLY TOO.WELL DONE.
                Flattery goes a long way with me. I respond the same way a gannet or a seagull does to a dropped chip.
                FANNY. THAT IS ANOTHER WORD YOU NEVER HEAR USED IN CONVERSATION ANYMORE.I MEAN WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HEARD THE WORD SAID OUT LOUD?
NO ONE EVER CALLS THEIR DAUGHTER FANNY AND IT USED TO BE SUCH A POPULAR NAME,FANNY. ESPECIALLY AMONGST VICTORIAN PARLOR MAIDS. YES, NO ONE EVER SAYS FANNY ANYMORE.
                 The accompanying silence should have warned me to stop talking. I looked at the aghast faces of the stunned customer and the goodly priest.
                  YOU ARE NOT CALLED FANNY ARE YOU?I asked the customer with genuine surprise. CAUSE THE CHANCES OF THAT ARE JUST REMARKABLE.
                   Again there was that warning silence.
                   The priest rolled his eyes and went back to examining the second hand box of KERPLUNK.
                   One has to learn to absorb a compliment with a quiet dignity and not respond with oafish needy sycophancy.
                   Yet that is the closest thing I have to a super power.

Torn Curtain.

How about these two slices of almost perfectly formed murder only foiled by Hercule Poirot exercising his little grey cells. Although the two books share the same location for the scenes of the crimes and the two main characters remain the same they are as different as a life time telling such stories can make them. Agatha Christie wrote the first The Mysterious Affair At Styles in 1916 and it was published in 1920. The second Curtain, Poirot's last Case was published in 1975. Agatha Christie died a year later. One book is the first Poirot tale and the other is the final Poirot tale.
             I was struck by many differences in the style of writing by the author between the two books. As I said, the two main protagonists Hasting and Poirot are still the focus of the narrative yet everything about them and the world they inhabit has changed. In the first book Hasting is a young man who believed the best years of his life were behind him. Not suspecting they were just about to begin. Curtain is all it pertains to be, the shade is falling over two lives well lived but having run their course. Poirot is old, very old, his body is failing him yet his wits remain as sharp as ever. If anything his world view has become that more refined, as attuned to the instinctive aspects of crime solving as much as the evidence led features. One book is a clever conundrum of clues whilst the other is a swirling pool of agenda driven evil more common in modern times.
              My first Poirot novels. The first and the last.
              The lifetime of murder in between will be gravy.