Jovian Storm

And we think we've got a lot of weather!
Jovian Storm? - what a great name for a comic character!

Hit Counter

480 hits to go Swordies and we reach the heady number of 200,000! Reckon we'll hit it tonight?

Planet Yule Caption Comp

Here's a cute alien Christmas scene from a 1959 Galaxy pulp cover.

What would you say the two little green men are saying [or thinking]?

Christmas TV Heaven

Just got my Christmas Radio Times, which I'll savour going through later tonight over a small glass of sherry! If I was looking for my top five TV / Radio Heaven list it would look something like this:

1. Black Christmas [film]
2. Scrooge with Alistair Sim [film]
3. Elf [film]
4. A Ghost Story for Christmas e.g Whistle and I'll Come to You [TV] or something by Edgar Allen Poe in the Radio
5. Moon Zero Two [film]

What would your festive top five be Swordies?

Zero-Xmas Caption Comp

OK Swordies, what's this happy little chappy saying into his C21 Zero - X walkie talkie he got on Christmas morning?

Strombecker Boosters

Here is the beautiful box art of two Strombecker 1950's model kits with Booster Rocket-like multiple pods. The top one was based on a Krafft Ehricke design and the bottom one Wernher Von Braun. I particularly like the long symmetry of Ehricke's Convair Nuclear Vehicle [top]. More to follow on Booster Rockets.

The box top art have signatures but I just can't make them out. Anyone a Strombecker collector?

Lion Eagle Distaster Averted by RAB

Earlier in the week Andy B asked 'What Would You Do?' when faced with the crisis scenario posed in Lion Eagle comic. The comic's published 'answer' appears above. Amidst many excellently funny suggestions, reader Richard [Bensam] aka RAB posted any early solution which was simply spot on! [see below]:

Wait, I know! First, you orient the ship so your main cargo bay is facing at a 90 degree angle (i.e. perpendicular) to the direction of forward momentum. Your attitude jets are on a separate power supply from your atomic engines, I hope, or else you can do this by rotating the internal gyro. Seal off your cargo bay from the rest of the ship. Then open the cargo bay hatch to expel the air, providing thrust at a right angle from your previous course. This shoves you on a slight diagonal, veering away from the projected point of collision. You miss impact very narrowly. The crew says "Hurray, we're saved!" and everyone wants to have a beer with you. What do you mean, wrong?

I know who I want on the SWORD crew! Well done Richard, you are hereby promoted to SWORD Captain!

Jim's 12 Days of Christmas: Yes M'Lady, You've Got Your Own Comic

With Century 21 Publishing not wishing to lose out on any opportunity to exploit the release of THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO their sister publication to the amazingly popular TV CENTURY 21 comic for boys showcased Lady Penelope's involvement in the adventure. Published in weekly instalments like the 'TV21' photo-strip the text adaptation of THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO focussed on the beautiful London Agent for International Rescue and her companion Parker.

Seen today with less regularity even on eBay than TV21 LADY PENELOPE comic offers up many treasures in terms of comic art and background material. I have only managed to collect perhaps 40 or so issues but all have something of interest. Gorgeous Ron Embleton MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. artwork which far surpasses anything seen in the US Gold Key comics, an intriguing introduction to the CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS concept by way of a Jon Davis drawn ANGELS strip as well as one particularly appealingly LADY PENELOPE strip by the artist John Burns later known for his LOOK-IN SPACE:1999 work and the title strip in COUNTDOWN. Jim Lewis