Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 28,075Chief of Staff
edited January 11
Rubber Soul…my second favourite Beatles album…the cover photo was taken by Robert Freeman, he took several photos of them at John’s home then when he went to see the band with the photos he projected them on a screen, one image ‘fell backwards’ slightly to give that stretched image - and that’s the one they wanted.
Rubber Soul was their ‘pot’ album…
…I’m guessing this is them recording ‘’Girl” - but the wording should be “tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit” 😁
I remember excitedly starting to watch the "Magical Mystery Tour" when it was first shown only for my father to change channels in disgust after maybe ten minutes, saying it was rubbish.
And what's Mike Love got a guitar case for, to keep his laundry in?
As a kid it was always exciting to have a comic with your birthday on it. So, as an extra on Monday’s, I will post a front page of a British comic with every day of the year covered. Hope you enjoy the one with your birthday on it! And it’s a good excuse to see a lot of covers, anyway 😁
More next Monday…
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 28,075Chief of Staff
There are a couple of very minor issues with those strips…very minor…
@CoolHandBond the Beatles have quite a few risky/childish phrases in their songs…and, to the best of my knowledge, STILL have the only No.1 UK song with the words “f*cking hell” in it…and it’s regularly played on radio 😁
Sir Miles said - @CoolHandBond the Beatles have quite a few risky/childish phrases in their songs…and, to the best of my knowledge, STILL have the only No.1 UK song with the words “f*cking hell” in it…and it’s regularly played on radio 😁
I had to look it up, and I must be very deaf, I’ve never heard it before in Hey Jude, but now on re-listening to it, it’s so obvious 😂
I do love this site, I’m learning stuff all the time!
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
After exhaustive PM’s with my learned friend @caractacus potts we’ve decided to go with the 1st appearance of The Joker today with the first appearance of Robin tomorrow.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
story by Bill Finger, art by Bob Kane and new assistant artist Jerry Robinson (who drew all the good looking panels)
note how much creepier the Joker is here in his first appearance, compared to the silver age Luthor teamup we just read last week. The early days of Batman were dark and gothic, and became more bright and humourous as the decade went on. the Joker quit being creepy and became more of a comedian, the zany "clown prince of crime"
Batman was the second DC character to get his own quarterly solo title, after Superman. Batman had appeared as the lead feature in 12 issues of the anthology Detective Comics by this point, and Robin had just been introduced the month before in Detective 38. Batman 1 was 64 pages, like the anthologies, but instead of backup stories with different characters, there were four full length Batman stories plus a reprint ofthe two page origin from Detective 33 we read a couple months back. Batman 1 also features the first appearance of Catwoman, as well as a second Joker story!
We would not learn where the Joker came from til over a decade later, in Detective 168, Feb 1951 "The Man in the Red Hood"
...which was more or less what we saw in the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson film
edit: Batman 1also included these items of interest
a house ad for the six DC monthly anthologies, showing their lead features (UltraMan, a Buck Rogers like scifi charatcer, would soon be replaced by Green Lantern) (and these six titles would soon be joined by two more: Star Spangled comics, and Sensation Comics, which starred Wonder Woman. This total of eight monthly anthologies would last through the war, after which their lineup started to change)
another house ad for the next issue of Detective
this text feature about Batman's creator Bob Kane (making some claims writer Bill Finger and artist Jerry Robinson would dispute in years to come)
and on the back cover, this nice poster of our two heroes!
Detective 38, coverdate april 1940 , was on the newsstands March 5, 1940 , and Batman 1 Spring 1940 was available April 25, 1940
so Robin was a brand new addition to the series when Batman 1 came out
Detective 38 was also Jerry Robinson's first issue on art, making the series look much better than Bob Kanes simple cartoony style
according to Bob Kane, and others, Robin was added so Batman would have someone to talk to, as there was little dialog in early issues. somewhere upthread we discussed Robin and his influence on the cliche of the kid sidekick
theres one story in Batman 1 in which Robin does not appear, that also features the Batman logo used in earlier 1939 stories. I suspect that odd story was originally intended for Detective 38, but when the creators and their editors appreciated how good the brand new Robin story was, they bumped it up to the next possible issue and saved the leftover story for later. One clue is the Detective 38 cover is the exact same as the story's splash panel, suggesting they didnt have time to draw a separate cover.
here is the first page to that story from Batman 1 that I suspect got bumped in favour of Robins debut. This is a logo that only appears in the earliest stories. The Detective 38 story's Batman logo is I think unique to that issue, and the logo used in the Joker story seen above became the new logo used through the early 1940s.
Robin had a solo series in the late 40s/early50s, in Star Spangled comics, starting from issue 65 February 1947 through to issue 130, July 1952
heres a couple examples of opening pages from Robins golden age solo series I just happen to have handy (sourced from reprints)
Star Spangled 123, dec 1951
Star Spangled 124, jan 1952
in the Brave and the Bold 54, Jun/Jul 1964, Robin formed a superteam of sidekicks called the Teen Titans, along with Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl ... by the eighties Teen Titans was DC's most popular series!
in Justice League of America 55, august 1967, it was revealed there is an Earth-2 Robin. The previously unmentioned Earth-2 Batman had retired, and now a grownup Robin wore a costume that combined Batmans costume elements with his own
in 1976, DC revived the Golden Age series All Star Comics with new adventures of the Earth-2 Justice Society of america, starting issue 58, jan-feb 1976. and early issues featured the same Earth-2 Robin, now in a less ugly costume (and I'm sure youre wondering: the character to the right of Robin is Power Girl, the newly introduced Earth-2 counterpart to Supergirl)
in Batman 217, Dec 1969 (earth-1) Robin was written out of the main Batman series, with the instory explanation that he was beginning studies at Hudson University and thus had to move out of Wayne Manor. Behind the scenes, the creators wanted to take Batman back to his root and make him a "grim creature of the night", and brightly coloured, wise cracking Robin was cramping his style.
Robin continued to appear as a regular in the Teen Titans, and in a solo strip either in the back of Detective, or a new title called Batman Family.
in Tales of the Teen Titans 44, July 1984, Dick Grayson would change his codename to NightWing, and wore a new costume much hipper than the Earth 2 grown-up Robin. thats the character formerly known as Robin on the left
and almost as soon as that happened, there was a new character called Robin added to the main Batman series! Bruce Wayne adopted a new teenage ward and also endangered this kids life in his war against crime! in fact, I think theres been a half dozen Robin characters since then, different kids assuming the Robin identity, since behind the scenes the main priority is to keep the trademark in use so nobody else steals it!
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
Good to see you’re still loving this superior story.
WARNING NOTICE
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Chapter Fifteen - Happy Face - Part Two
Well, in real time we had to wait over a year for the next story arc to continue. There will be a short break until The Department Of Truth continues, but hang on in there because it’s an absolute corker. Next week - another terrific new story begins.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Two Virgins is really “Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins” - and it really shouldn’t have been started 👀
The White Album was going to be called A Doll’s House…
Ringo’s song Don’t Pass Me By was started in 1963 😳 not the quickest of composers 😁
Yoko Ono originally went after Macca - him not being married at the time and he was known for liking conceptual art…but he passed her onto John…Yoko sent letters to John whilst he was in Rishikesh with his wife every day…John would get up early every morning just to go get the post.
John & Yoko were living in Ringo’s apartment in London - Jimi Hendrix lived there just before them. John had been tipped off that the Police would be raiding them - led by the notorious DS Norman Pilcher, who was determined to arrest every rock/pop star in London for drugs…knowing Jimi was there before them, they cleaned every inch of the apartment…they needn't have bothered as Pilcher brought the drugs with him 🙄 he did exactly the same to George Harrison a little while later…when Pilcher ‘found’ the drugs in Harrison’s place, George said words to the effect of ‘those aren’t our drugs, ours are kept in the tea caddy…on the table in front of you’ 🤣
That's been a lot of fun, and I'm glad you posted it CHB. I'm sure Sir Miles has enjoyed spotting the errors (me too) which is only to be expected from Beatles fans.
Now remind me, did the Ministry of Truth cover "Paul is dead"? 😁
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 28,075Chief of Staff
Certainly have enjoyed this - many thanks…the errors are only to be expected and some of the ‘truths’ are simplified for this format…😁
In the spirit of the great tradition of British comics…
SEE INSIDE FOR EXCITING NEWS! (Or at least, further down this post)…
VICTOR DRAGO Part 7
And so ends the Sexton Blake inspired story. I love the artwork and the plot was good. After this, the Victor Drago strip changed to text only format (with the occasional illustration).
EXCITING NEWS READERS!
Due to requests received via PM, I have decided that The Department Of Truth will continue without a break from this Thursday. The intended comic strip for that day will now begin on Saturday.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Comments
Rubber Soul…my second favourite Beatles album…the cover photo was taken by Robert Freeman, he took several photos of them at John’s home then when he went to see the band with the photos he projected them on a screen, one image ‘fell backwards’ slightly to give that stretched image - and that’s the one they wanted.
Rubber Soul was their ‘pot’ album…
…I’m guessing this is them recording ‘’Girl” - but the wording should be “tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit, tit” 😁
@Sir Miles I’m not familiar with “Girl”, but sounds interesting! 😁
THE BEATLES IN COMICS Part Ten GOODBYE BRIAN and TRIP TO INDIA
More next weekend.
I remember excitedly starting to watch the "Magical Mystery Tour" when it was first shown only for my father to change channels in disgust after maybe ten minutes, saying it was rubbish.
And what's Mike Love got a guitar case for, to keep his laundry in?
VICTOR DRAGO Part 6
Tune in next Monday for the next instalment…
As a kid it was always exciting to have a comic with your birthday on it. So, as an extra on Monday’s, I will post a front page of a British comic with every day of the year covered. Hope you enjoy the one with your birthday on it! And it’s a good excuse to see a lot of covers, anyway 😁
More next Monday…
Mike Love 🤣🤣
There are a couple of very minor issues with those strips…very minor…
@CoolHandBond the Beatles have quite a few risky/childish phrases in their songs…and, to the best of my knowledge, STILL have the only No.1 UK song with the words “f*cking hell” in it…and it’s regularly played on radio 😁
It'll take you a while, CHB, can I ask for some obscure comic covers along the way?
Sir Miles said - @CoolHandBond the Beatles have quite a few risky/childish phrases in their songs…and, to the best of my knowledge, STILL have the only No.1 UK song with the words “f*cking hell” in it…and it’s regularly played on radio 😁
I had to look it up, and I must be very deaf, I’ve never heard it before in Hey Jude, but now on re-listening to it, it’s so obvious 😂
I do love this site, I’m learning stuff all the time!
It’s a project for the whole year 😁 and I’m aiming to include as many titles as I can without repeating a title so there will be obscure comics too.
Until it’s pointed out to you it’s very easy to miss, once it is you wonder how you missed it 😁
There is all sorts of filth in Beatles songs…☺️
After exhaustive PM’s with my learned friend @caractacus potts we’ve decided to go with the 1st appearance of The Joker today with the first appearance of Robin tomorrow.
excellent choice CoolHand
from Batman 1, spring 1940
story by Bill Finger, art by Bob Kane and new assistant artist Jerry Robinson (who drew all the good looking panels)
note how much creepier the Joker is here in his first appearance, compared to the silver age Luthor teamup we just read last week. The early days of Batman were dark and gothic, and became more bright and humourous as the decade went on. the Joker quit being creepy and became more of a comedian, the zany "clown prince of crime"
Batman was the second DC character to get his own quarterly solo title, after Superman. Batman had appeared as the lead feature in 12 issues of the anthology Detective Comics by this point, and Robin had just been introduced the month before in Detective 38. Batman 1 was 64 pages, like the anthologies, but instead of backup stories with different characters, there were four full length Batman stories plus a reprint of the two page origin from Detective 33 we read a couple months back. Batman 1 also features the first appearance of Catwoman, as well as a second Joker story!
We would not learn where the Joker came from til over a decade later, in Detective 168, Feb 1951 "The Man in the Red Hood"
...which was more or less what we saw in the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton/Jack Nicholson film
___________________________________________________________________________________
edit: Batman 1 also included these items of interest
a house ad for the six DC monthly anthologies, showing their lead features (UltraMan, a Buck Rogers like scifi charatcer, would soon be replaced by Green Lantern) (and these six titles would soon be joined by two more: Star Spangled comics, and Sensation Comics, which starred Wonder Woman. This total of eight monthly anthologies would last through the war, after which their lineup started to change)
another house ad for the next issue of Detective
this text feature about Batman's creator Bob Kane (making some claims writer Bill Finger and artist Jerry Robinson would dispute in years to come)
and on the back cover, this nice poster of our two heroes!
Some parts of that seem to have been included in the 1989 movie? Thanks as ever.
Thank you @caractacus potts great information 🍸
Yes, Barbel, there is definitely a connection between that story and the 1989 movie.
DETECTIVE #38 Robin The Boy Wonder
More Batman next Tuesday.
Love these. 👍
Detective 38, coverdate april 1940 , was on the newsstands March 5, 1940 , and Batman 1 Spring 1940 was available April 25, 1940
so Robin was a brand new addition to the series when Batman 1 came out
Detective 38 was also Jerry Robinson's first issue on art, making the series look much better than Bob Kanes simple cartoony style
according to Bob Kane, and others, Robin was added so Batman would have someone to talk to, as there was little dialog in early issues. somewhere upthread we discussed Robin and his influence on the cliche of the kid sidekick
theres one story in Batman 1 in which Robin does not appear, that also features the Batman logo used in earlier 1939 stories. I suspect that odd story was originally intended for Detective 38, but when the creators and their editors appreciated how good the brand new Robin story was, they bumped it up to the next possible issue and saved the leftover story for later. One clue is the Detective 38 cover is the exact same as the story's splash panel, suggesting they didnt have time to draw a separate cover.
here is the first page to that story from Batman 1 that I suspect got bumped in favour of Robins debut. This is a logo that only appears in the earliest stories. The Detective 38 story's Batman logo is I think unique to that issue, and the logo used in the Joker story seen above became the new logo used through the early 1940s.
Robin had a solo series in the late 40s/early50s, in Star Spangled comics, starting from issue 65 February 1947 through to issue 130, July 1952
heres a couple examples of opening pages from Robins golden age solo series I just happen to have handy (sourced from reprints)
Star Spangled 123, dec 1951
Star Spangled 124, jan 1952
in the Brave and the Bold 54, Jun/Jul 1964, Robin formed a superteam of sidekicks called the Teen Titans, along with Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Wonder Girl ... by the eighties Teen Titans was DC's most popular series!
in Justice League of America 55, august 1967, it was revealed there is an Earth-2 Robin. The previously unmentioned Earth-2 Batman had retired, and now a grownup Robin wore a costume that combined Batmans costume elements with his own
in 1976, DC revived the Golden Age series All Star Comics with new adventures of the Earth-2 Justice Society of america, starting issue 58, jan-feb 1976. and early issues featured the same Earth-2 Robin, now in a less ugly costume (and I'm sure youre wondering: the character to the right of Robin is Power Girl, the newly introduced Earth-2 counterpart to Supergirl)
in Batman 217, Dec 1969 (earth-1) Robin was written out of the main Batman series, with the instory explanation that he was beginning studies at Hudson University and thus had to move out of Wayne Manor. Behind the scenes, the creators wanted to take Batman back to his root and make him a "grim creature of the night", and brightly coloured, wise cracking Robin was cramping his style.
Robin continued to appear as a regular in the Teen Titans, and in a solo strip either in the back of Detective, or a new title called Batman Family.
in Tales of the Teen Titans 44, July 1984, Dick Grayson would change his codename to NightWing, and wore a new costume much hipper than the Earth 2 grown-up Robin. thats the character formerly known as Robin on the left
and almost as soon as that happened, there was a new character called Robin added to the main Batman series! Bruce Wayne adopted a new teenage ward and also endangered this kids life in his war against crime! in fact, I think theres been a half dozen Robin characters since then, different kids assuming the Robin identity, since behind the scenes the main priority is to keep the trademark in use so nobody else steals it!
Thanks, as ever.
WARNING NOTICE
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Chapter Fifteen - Happy Face - Part One
Continued tomorrow…
Weird…and I love it 😬
Seconded, it's fantastic.
Good to see you’re still loving this superior story.
WARNING NOTICE
The content of this comic strip contains very strong language not permitted in the ongoing threads of this site. It also contains themes that some readers may find upsetting. Reader discretion is advised for those who may be easily offended. The content has been cleared for posting by the moderators.
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
THE DEPARTMENT OF TRUTH - Chapter Fifteen - Happy Face - Part Two
Well, in real time we had to wait over a year for the next story arc to continue. There will be a short break until The Department Of Truth continues, but hang on in there because it’s an absolute corker. Next week - another terrific new story begins.
Well, I for one am glad not to have to wait a year. Thanks for bringing this to us, CHB.
A whole year? Thats brutal…a week is bad enough 🫣 I just love the layers on layers on layers in this…
THE BEATLES IN COMICS Part Ten YOKO ONO and THE WHITE ALBUM
The final chapters tomorrow…
Too kind to "Two Virgins".
And it’s follow up album ‘Wedding Album’ 🙉
Two Virgins is really “Unfinished Music No.1: Two Virgins” - and it really shouldn’t have been started 👀
The White Album was going to be called A Doll’s House…
Ringo’s song Don’t Pass Me By was started in 1963 😳 not the quickest of composers 😁
Yoko Ono originally went after Macca - him not being married at the time and he was known for liking conceptual art…but he passed her onto John…Yoko sent letters to John whilst he was in Rishikesh with his wife every day…John would get up early every morning just to go get the post.
John & Yoko were living in Ringo’s apartment in London - Jimi Hendrix lived there just before them. John had been tipped off that the Police would be raiding them - led by the notorious DS Norman Pilcher, who was determined to arrest every rock/pop star in London for drugs…knowing Jimi was there before them, they cleaned every inch of the apartment…they needn't have bothered as Pilcher brought the drugs with him 🙄 he did exactly the same to George Harrison a little while later…when Pilcher ‘found’ the drugs in Harrison’s place, George said words to the effect of ‘those aren’t our drugs, ours are kept in the tea caddy…on the table in front of you’ 🤣
Thank you for your comments @Barbel and @Sir Miles this is all new to me and very interesting!
THE BEATLES IN COMICS Part Eleven PAUL IS DEAD and ABBEY ROAD/LET IT BE and THE BREAK-UP
And that ends The Beatles In Comics. Something new begins next weekend.
That's been a lot of fun, and I'm glad you posted it CHB. I'm sure Sir Miles has enjoyed spotting the errors (me too) which is only to be expected from Beatles fans.
Now remind me, did the Ministry of Truth cover "Paul is dead"? 😁
Certainly have enjoyed this - many thanks…the errors are only to be expected and some of the ‘truths’ are simplified for this format…😁
It would be interesting to see how The Department Of Truth would handle the “Paul is dead” conspiracy theory.
Thank you both for pointing out the errors and added information for our enjoyment.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————
In the spirit of the great tradition of British comics…
SEE INSIDE FOR EXCITING NEWS! (Or at least, further down this post)…
VICTOR DRAGO Part 7
And so ends the Sexton Blake inspired story. I love the artwork and the plot was good. After this, the Victor Drago strip changed to text only format (with the occasional illustration).
EXCITING NEWS READERS!
Due to requests received via PM, I have decided that The Department Of Truth will continue without a break from this Thursday. The intended comic strip for that day will now begin on Saturday.