Every week is different.
This one was spent in Spain. My time there was a whirl of activity and passed too quickly. A long weekend spent high above the clouds in distant view of Gibraltar and the edge of Africa with Pat and Lisa Mills was the highlight. Morning coffees and afternoon into evening ‘Vino Tintos’ consumed accompanied insightful and hilarious conversations. We even hiked to a castle, rang a bell and roamed a church like sarcastic atheist revolutionaries. Making memories whilst expanding the mind and conspiring to purchase a pool table. A big thanks to those two, I’m humbled to call them friends. As part of this always coincidental life I found this postcard in a small and strange antiques shop that reminded me how we are never more than six feet from the weird and scary echoes of 2000AD.
Hitting the cable car back to the Union Jack short wearing coast I also even managed to find a comic shop.
Tucked away with not much stock it just about warranted the two miles there and back.
It had a few collections worth photographing for you.
And a hardback of my favourite Captain.
Thanks to the advances in International Communication Satellites I also managed after a couple of attempts to log into Zoom and record our weekly podcast with Vince and Dan. A new segment we lazily call ‘Celebrity Question of the Week’ also featured Pat with a question about the future. This was another in our ‘3 Amigos do AMAYGO’ month and full of bd jokes, laughs and some international comics appraisals. I also reviewed new comics from Troma Studios AND Avery Hill Publishing. (How’s that for a mixture). Go have a listen here.
For those new to this column, I noticed that the Substack version is getting unusually large numbers, perhaps I should explain what I do here. Every week on a Wednesday (aka New Comic Book Day) I have a little rambling rant and then choose what was Top of my read pile and what was at the bottom. Lately I’ve also ben adding a wild card section that mostly appears as ‘Small Press Comic of the Week’ then occasionally does not. This is one of those weeks.
Fanzine from a large number of years ago.
Packed into the now still mostly unpacked suitcase was this randomly purchased comics fanzine from 1984. Considering it was both an issue 1 and contains an interview with Alan Moore and Garry Leach I feel like a bag & boarded price of £10 was a good price.
From the desk of Ian Jenkins and David Roach it also features everything I enjoyed. A piece on ‘Starslayer’ from Pacific then First Comics. The comic ‘Vander’ by Mr Roach (letters by ‘Greg’), a French comics guide ‘…for beginners’, some Fanzine reviews, a critical look at Frank Miller’s ‘Ronin’ and much more. All consumed overlooking the sea with an over-strong Mediterranean coffee in hand. THAT’S what I call a package holiday!
Tops.
Not something that in all honesty can be described as a masterpiece but a comic that hit a couple of sweet spots nevertheless. I purchased the Scott Koblish and Rachelle Rosenberg ‘Classic Variant’ with a taste of Sal and Herb. Memories of a lockdown viewing of an overly expensive Showa Godzilla BR movie collection returned as I cheered at an appearance of Dr. Demonicus and some secret military desert bases. Just fun. I often enjoy the writing of Gerry Duggan and he and Giuseppe Camuncoli tickled my pickle this afternoon.
Bottoms.
This is the cover of a Marvel Comic. Yes, I am aware that it is an online only release. BUT THIS IS A CURRENT MARVEL X COVER!!!! What the fuck has happened to that company!?
OK, Marvel made the Top and the Bottom this week. But that’s a pretty low scoring ‘Bottom’ that brings their appearances in that shitty category to a winning/losing spot over the last year easily.
See you next week and thanks for reading.
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