Thats all folks!

Thanks to all the folk that have visited my wee blog over the years. Sadly, due to various personal reasons culminating in a health issue that has landed me in hospital ( for some time) I won't be updating this blog again. Take care and watch your health.

Top Tens: Jim Aparo

From the first time I saw Jim Aparo’s art in the pages of DCs “The Brave and the Bold” #100 he has remained one of my favourite comic book artists of all time. His style was both realistic and yet at the same time cartoony which only added to the appeal of his storytelling. For many comic book fans Aparo’s Batman is the definitive version of the character, although that accolade for myself rests with the equally legendary Neal Adams, Jim Aparo will always be the artist that defined both Aquaman and the Spectre for me. Below are a few of my favourite covers by the great man:

Jim Aparo began his artistic career working in advertising at a Connecticut ad agency, but his true passion as a lifelong comic book fan was to become a comic book artist. In his pursuit of that goal he gained his first professional work with Charlton comics where he worked with the companies then editor Dick Giordano, providing art on (among other strips) “Nightshade” a female super-hero back-up feature that appeared in Captain Atom, and most notably on Charlton comics version of Lee Falk’s “The Phantom”.

When Dick Giordano moved to DC Comics, he took Jim Aparo with him where he worked on Aquaman and the Phantom Stranger. After seeing his excellent art on the Phantom Stranger, editor Murray Boltinoff asked Aparo to work on a Batman/Phantom Stranger team-up for “The Brave and the Bold” #98 - The rest is the stuff off comic book legend and Jim Aparo stayed on this title for almost every issue until the final 200th issue.

The mystery skier in the above cover was "Two Face"

I have shown Jim Aparo's covers for his excellent run on the Spectre when it appeared in "Adventure comics" . I couldn't leave out showing an Aparo Spectre cover and recenlty came across this issue of "Ghosts" #97 which features a great Aparo Spectre cover (sadly he didn't draw the actual strip).

Jim Aparo passed away in 2005 at the age of 72. His final work for DC during his life, was the cover of the trade edition of “Batman in the Eighties” published in 2004. To this day everytime I see one of his great covers, it always makes me smile.

Gone but not forgotten: Near Myths - The early work of Grant Morrison and Bryan Talbot

Near Myths was an A4 SF magazine (similar to Dez Skins’ “Warrior”) published out of the Science Fiction Bookshop in Edinburgh under the ”Galaxy Press imprint”. Although the magazine only ran for 5 issues between 1978 -1980, it has gained a bit of a cult reputation over the years (in the UK at least) as it was the first home of Bryan Talbots excellent “Adventures of Luther Arkwright” series. The magazine also featured some of Grant Morrisons earliest published work with his "Gideon Stargrave" character. In line with many British comic magazine at this time Near Myths was printed in black and white on newsprint with full colour (glossy) covers.

I can still recall the first time I saw the first issue of "Near Myths" in 1978 in a small village newsagents, from memory the initial excitment of seeing a new sci-fi comic magazine (and a Scottish one at that) was tempered by the fact that most of the strips were pretty poorly illustrated, the exception being the excellent "Adventures of Luther Arkwright" by the talented Bryan Talbot (splash page from #1 above).

Above: "Near Myths" #1 (cover from internet as my copy has lost its cover)

Above:"Near Myths" #2

Above: "Near Myths" #4 (issue 3 at header).

Above: the contents page to #4.

Above: from #4 the splash page of Grant Morrisons "Gideon Stargrave" strip which he wrote and drew as a teenager. Below from #4 a page of Bryan Talbots "Luther Arkwright" series.

Although Near Myths had national (UK) distribution and was planned as a monthly title most issues arrived late following its debut in October 1978, with the final issue (#5 cover below) appearing around 18 months later in April 1980. This along with the magazine being clearly tagged as being for “mature audiences” may have resulted in its demise although there were also some pretty serious finacial issue at play with the magazine.

The Science Fiction Bookshop at this time was run by Rob King who edited issues 1-4 of "Near Myths". Sadly Rob King and the Science Fiction Bookshop were heavily in debt with Mr King abandoning the shop, his debtors and the magazine leaving Brian Talbot to edit the final issue (cover above from Internet). Due to the long delays between issues I missed the last issue of "Near Myths" (or perhaps I lost interest) which looks to have been heading in a more commercial (for an "alternative" magazine) direction with excellent creators like Hunt Emerson and Trina Robbins contributing.