A Chronicle of Doom....

Thank the heavens above is it time for another expedition to Ice Station to visit Agent Johnny? Indeed it is, Agent Rob surviving Sunday bus drivers on a Saturday and dodging dodgy 20p pieces in LIDL to make the round trip to Slateford to see everyone's favourite secret agent (shh!). Only this time, as Rob was heard to remark, he was (in contrast to his previous, morose, trip) "bringing the vibes" - you get out what you put in for sure - as well as a couple of brilliant butter croissants, some luscious Lebkuchen and other assorted food supplies fer the day. And, yes, that means cooly kranking the Karmi, shaken (in Rob's rucksack) not stirred, with a cheeky can of Brooklyn Pilsner sandwiched between bottles, and getting deep down to Braw business....

Er, which basically involved a very pleasant afternoon of contented chuntering through Saturday morning serials (after a genuine and yet gentle negotiation addressing 'the elephant in the room' of last time - not forgotten!) that kicked off with chat about the Lifeforce fillum, before covering the Draculas of Prince of Darkness and AD1972, The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, Shatter, Infinity magazine, the PBS channel, Public Eye, Star Trek old (positive) and new (negative) and Doctor Who - specifically the Target books of old, Rob talking at length about Tom Baker's The Nightmare of Eden novelisation, before Johnny got on to the topic of William Hartnell's run, continuing the 'classic' appraisal by recollecting The Web Planet and The Keys of Marinus in (incredible childhood) detail....

Talk then moved on to more musical matters with an interestin' back and forth about Hawkwind - a band Rob has only just begun to properly explore in depth - as well as his recent 'excursion' to see Rose City Band at The Hug and Pint in Glasgog. Oddly enough there wasn't much time to discuss any ongoing Braw projects which, y'know, was fine as they all remain in a sort of painful stasis, both Agents admitting they've done next to nowt (actually nowt!) in the past few months. What, indeed, happened to 2023's proposed burst of renewed creative energy...? Oh well, what's left to say but 'here's to 2024'....

Sights: The Buccaneers, Devil Girl From Mars, The Outer Limits and various Talking Pictures TV....

Hawkwind - Space Is Deep

A Chronicle of Doom....

 

And so once again Agent Rob takes a long overdue troop up the 'The 16 Steps' to visit Agent Johnny at Ice Station MKII, amazed to think that since his last visit The Buccaneers - he perused a distinctly battered copy of the above annual on his last trek - has begun airing on Talking Pictures TV, actor Robert Shaw looking remarkably mature for his 29 years in the title role. Even at that young age he has a rugged, icy quality that suggests a very real inner menace hiding behind his frisky warmth. (Indeed, the episode Rob saw at home even had future Carry On... stalwart Sid James jauntily friggin' in the riggin')....

With several fresh Infinity Magazines to hand there ought to have been no shortage of topics for contented chunterin' - there's Sinbad and The Eye of the Tiger for starters! - only it turned out there was.... so with the Karmi kranked it was left to Talking Pictures to provide the bulk of the stimulation, which they duly did by trotting out their Saturday morning regulars, from the upturned buckets of Radar Men From The Moon to the cold blooded killings of Teenagers From Outer Space and the leery The Outer Limits - starring Robert Duvall of all people! - via the aforementioned vintage swashbuckle of The Buccaneers....

But for whatever reasons, there was no welcome dreamy reverie to be found on this day - likely a genuine 'view to a swill' would have ended in alcohol induced tears - Rob suddenly acutely aware of the time (and lives) trapped between the pages of John's countless books, many, but not all, forgotten records of vanished and rapidly vanishing eras.... Just as our two Agents are trapped in time themselves, slowly vanishing, winding down day by day, knowing the wheel must forever turn - even if they cannot pass muster to voice that they see it, this melancholy elephant in the room - and that all things must pass....

 Tonstartssbandht - What Has Happened

A Chronicle of Doom....

https://cottonon.com/UK/typo-home/

Aha, and so we come to the first, long overdue, Chronicle of Doom of 2023, Agent Rob booking himself a most welcome 'awayday' to visit Agent Johnny - the cartoonist that Broken Frontier just recently called "A dizzyingly brilliant genre unto himself" - at Ice Station Zebra. It's about now (in every sense) Rob can insert his obligatory 'what a pair of April fools' gag....

Actually there was nothing remotely amusin' about Johnny's sudden spike in pencillin' productivity, with several new startling pages on the go as well as several stunners in various stages of inking - a sight for Rob's increasingly screen sore eyes! Why, if anything should merit kicking back, kracking open the Karmi and kranking up The Dead's Europe 72 then....

There followed an interestin' conversation about the nature of true personal freedom - can ye honestly  'beat the system' or merely hope to 'bend the system', existing in it as best ye can, ploughing your own individual furrow but within the lines? This was followed by Johnny tall tailing a dim and distant past encounter whereby he wiz pinned to the ground by a loin, only to be passed up by the pride....

Thereafter topics ranged from the Honey West tv show, thru Philip K. Dick - via fellow sci-fi authors Robert Heinlein, Brian Aldiss and Clifford D. Simak - and on to Batman RIP and (current Agent obsession) Captain America. Not that any of this could stop the clocks ticking ever forward and soon it wiz time to hit the road, Rob contentedly train truckin' his way back to Glasgog....

Sounds: Europe '72 and the "Beautiful Jam" from '71 by Grateful Dead....

Grateful Dead - Truckin' (Live in London 1972)

A Chronicle of Doom....

Hi-Yah! Howzit gaun?

With absolutely everything seemingly 'drawing to a close' (without much actual comic drawin' to start with!) there's never been a better time to slip inside Agent Johnny's house and quietly ignore the world goin' by. And how better to celebrate this long overdue 'View to a (non-alcoholic) Swill' by kranking open the Karmi while Bob Dylan and chums noodle away in a pleasantly directionless fashion in the background....

See Braw's previous blog....

As (un)usual proceedings kicked off with a discussion around recent issues of Infinity Magazine and Spaceship Away before heading off in search of space, Johnny 'waxing lyrical' about seeing 'The Floyd' at Potter's Bar in '71, Tangerine Dream in Sheffield in '76  and, of course, Grateful Dead in Edinburgh in '81. Other topics of contented chuntering included the fillums Atomic Blonde and Lords of Chaos - both notable for their queasy violence - the Hammer/Shaw Bros collaborations The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires and Shatter, the leery X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, 1967's Quatermass and the Pit followed (quite literally) by Death Wish 4 and a mighty ye olde Lanark Regal Cinema double-bill of Enter The Dragon followed by Death Race 2000....

Maybe Braw's previous previous previous blog...?*

Next up our Agents got all misty-eyed for the days of proper seasonal programming, wondering if the cult likes of Zabriskie Point or Zardoz will ever grace (domestic free-to-air) television channels ever again, snow or no', before chat inevitably (re)turned to the possible release of the John Stark comic, anything to free it from its freezing over 'development hell'. Any longer and it'll be an Alan Smithee production. Of course, unlike auld Robert Zimmerman there comes a time when there is no direction but home for Agent Rob and bottles are drained, plans are hatched and partings are said....

*Following a discussion on the origins of Sinbad/Sindbad the Sailor, it transpires the character appears in seven voyages/stories in the Tales From The Thousand And One Nights....

Sounds: Bob Dylan - Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid: Bernard Herrmann - Taxi Driver OST: Tangerine Dream - I Dream of Star Trek (bootleg): Rose City Band - Dawn Patrol (track) and Eric Burdon & The Animals - Sky Pilot....

Bob Dylan - Main Title Theme (Billy)

A Chronicle of Doom....

It's nowhere near 365 daze since Agent Rob last slipped inside Agent Johnny's hoose, but with the world de- and revolving at an astonishing rate it sure felt like it! Still, with a nifty new table for 'ze comic drawing' installed John Stark page production has taken a sudden (and somewhat heartwarming) spike....

Not that that was enough to stop feet being duly propped up in front of the 'one-eyed-god' 'fer to watch' The Phantom Planet, vintage creaks and all (whether that wiz the aged fillum or indeed our nakt agents) while supping on a welcome bottle of 0,0% Karmi, admitting the days of wild 'View to a Swills' are long since gone and quietly chuntering about San Francisco - all will be blogsplained! - (the origins of) Sinbad The Sailor, Soylent Green, MARVEL movies, Infinity Magazine, The Shape of Things to Come (film) by H. G. Wells and Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius series of books....

Calvin Who?

Of course, there was further cause for a 'swillebration' given that the (most esteemed, authoritative, trusted and respected) Comics Journal gave Agent Johnny's astounding 1980's and 2000's collections the critical once over, concluding with (as Agent Rob has always known) "You can call that what you want, but I call it genius...." Praise be indeed! And that was that, Agent Rob brought back to earth with a bang, returning to Glasgog on a train jammed with Calvin Harris and Mrs Brown's Boys fans en route and en masse to their respective respites from the ravages of reality....

Grateful Dead - Here Comes Sunshine

A Chronicle of Doom....

 
'Living in Harmony' (Not likely....)

As we all stumble on into April, fools with but little spring in our steps, then what better time to retire from reality and slip inside Agent Johnny's house for a few hours of gentle chuntering while propped before the 'one-eyed-god' as it beams (courtesy of the Horror Channel) bountiful binges of The Prisoner into our bleary and beleaguered minds....

Na na na na na na nah thanks, I'm good....

As Patrick McGoohan gleefully glared his way through episode after episode - the man surely has the most Jack 'King' Kirby face made flesh of all time - random topics of conversation included Blakes 7, The Batman (or, indeed, 'The Batmeh'), Infinity Magazine and, wait for it!, a new comic script for Agent Rob 'fer to draw'....

....lies what indeed....

Soon enough it was time for Rob to dearly depart and head for the train to carry him beyond this horizon, and so leave 'Our Man in Slateford' to his solitary overheated television and his plentiful undercooked ideas....

Sights: The Prisoner....

The Prisoner - opening titles

A Chronicle of Doom....

At last the 1986 show! There's nothing like taking a trip across the dimensions to the (Agent Johnny) 'Millerverse', stepping outside of time and space as we know it, slipping into 'the comfort zone' to chunter contentedly while sipping a beer - the days of reckless swilling long since gone! - one eye on the 'one-eyed god' and another on the doomsday clock (the third on some slick and suited business-type indulging in the smart death of those twin terrors Facebook and Instagram for the duration of the journey).... 

And that's exactly how it was several 'Saturndays' ago in September, Agent Rob braving public transport to make the trip through to see (a hugely galvanised and not in the least bit rusty) John G. Miller at Ice Station Lima, a pleasantly plateaud(?) afternoon of television and music, the volume pitch perfect for conversations about Bob Dylan, Infinity Magazine, The Time Tunnel, (talking on the telephone to) The Lines and - would you believe it! - the notion of perhaps consolidating and collating countless 'comics-in-progress' in order to (finally) shape up a new Braw Book (or two.... or three....). Who can tell if time will indeed tell....

https://infinitymagazine.co.uk

Sights: The Phantom Empire, Dick Tracy

Sounds: Bob Dylan - Live 1966: Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship - Blows Against The Empire: The Lines - Nerve Pylon

Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship - Mau Mau (Amerikon)

A Chronicle of Doom....

J for Julie Christie shining like a star....

A for Andromeda. A also, of course, for Agents Rob and Johnny. B for Ballard Heights to I for Ice Station Zebra. C for (A) Chronicle of Doom. L for loooooooong overdue - can it honestly be two years?! - and (finally, thankfully!) S for Scockrail (who did everything in their power to cancel and delay the necessary trains needed to make this vital visit eventually happen)....

https://infinitymagazine.co.uk

They say that abstinence makes the heart grow fonder and it wasn't very long before Rob banished his mounting 'intrepidation' - Agent Johnny might be even more painfully slo-mo than ever before, but was on sparkling form having definitely landed sunnyside up in Slateford 'after the flood' - and was duly dispatched to the local Postie Office 'fer to buy' some swill to help the 'dafternoon' drift by that little bit more smoothly, our two Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. chuntering (al)most contentedly, feeling like days of old.... as opposed to these (quite suddenly just) feeling old days....

The 'ungoing' John Stark: Secret Agent comic was discussed at length, Rob offering 'fer to draw' any script that Johnny cared 'fer to think up', given that, at 67(!), the copious 'aches and pains' - cue much grumbling about both being (un)fairly 'f*kt in' - are putting (un)paid to any comic drawin', but, y'know, there's nothing wrong with (dis)gracefully retirin' into the sunset....

HBO's (somewhat inspired) Looking Glass character

Topics of conversation included everything from the A for Andromeda tv show and Anthology book (pictured above above above), Philip K. Dick, Infinity Magazine (pictured above above), Vampire Circus and everything Watchmen-shaped, with Doomsday Clock, Before Watchmen and the HBO series (pictured above) bringing us full circle and face to face. Round that off, the seconds ticking away, with Johnny reminiscing about seeing Pink Floyd in '71(!) and Grateful Dead in '81 and you have a mighty fine encounter, one worth writing up 'fer to blog'. Here's hoping there's another of these swell swilled dreamy daze soon.... 

Sounds: Two From The Vault by Grateful Dead....

Grateful Dead - Death Don't Have No Mercy

A Chronicle Of Doom....

Long overdue return visit to IIce Station Zebra for Agent Rob on 'Saturn's day' past, pitching up regular as 'high noon' fer to see a suitably settled Agent Johnny. Indeed, this frankly fine form extends to a sudden increase in productivity - following on from the recent 'fer (Rob/Adam) to draw' 'Cross Of Wax' script, 'Bleeding Black' wiz handed over and countless pages of pencilling, including new strips and spot illustrations, were eye spied 'stacking up'. As if that wasn't enough 'Our Man No Longer In Pester Wails' had an interestin' looking The New Avengers tale roughed out, together with an epic (1/4 underway) Commando-ish comic rough (but kinda ready) titled 'War Against The World'....

It wasn't all about Rob scrambling to perpetually pick his jaw up from the floor at this doubtless display of genius of course, and a silly 'View To A Swill' took our Agents gently downstream as vintage Pink Floyd floated on by. Topics of conversation included 2000AD, Samuel R. Delaney's novel Nova, Kris Kristofferson and (prompted by The DarkSide's article) the film director Michael Reeves. All good things must, as ye'd expect, come to an end/get cancelled and soon enough Rob was drowning his sorrows in the pourin' rain as the return train edged into the station....

Sounds: The Early Years 1967 - 1972 Cre/ation by Pink Floyd....

Pink Floyd - In The Beechwoods (2010 mix) 

A Chronicle Of Doom....

At last! Agent Rob finally caught up with Agent Johnny after his 'emergency evacuation' from Ice Station Zebra, a situation that saw him off high plains a-driftin' fer a good couple of weeks. Thankfully Our Man (previously) in Pester Wails was on good form, seemingly unfazed by the complete lack of his 'material possessions' and looking quite at home - though definitely somewhat incongruous through Rob's eyes - and (nearly) as 'spick and span' as the blank canvas of an environment he currently inhabits....

Of course, let's not (fresh) paint too bleak a picture, certainly not one as grim as the well-thumbed stack of William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac books (evidently grabbed 'fer to read' at the last minute) would suggest. Indeed, time allowed for an afternoon's gentle 'View to a Swill', Agent X-27 slowly warming to his theme of plotting comics 'fer to draw' this year (and likely the next and the one after that and the one after that) while passing comment on the plethora of SF books Rob's ploughed his way through in recent months and intermittently describin' an episode of (Talking Pictures TV favourite) Callan. But, as we know, ScotRail timetables wait fer no man and before not very long Rob simply had to saddle up, leaving the 'man with no (fixed) abode' proppin' up the bar....

Sounds: Blows Against The Empire by Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship and Zabriskie Point Original Motion Picture Soundtrack....

Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship - Let's Go Together

A Chronicle Of Doom....

A Happy New Y.E.A.R.! ....and a first trip in months to Ice Station Zebra for Agent Rob 'fer to visit' Agent Johnny (fer a decidedly easy does it 'nyoo yeer's' 'View To A Swill'). First footing things first it wiz not before time for Rob to 'retyoon' the 'one-eyed god' so it was able 'fer to receive' The Horror Channel. Of course, with their welcome repeat of The Invaders having since been and gone in its entirety over X-Mas there was nothing for it but to default to The Avengers on ITV4, our Agents enjoying 'The Hidden Tiger' episode, the first beers duly cap twisted and glugged while Ronnie Barker grinned and mugged....

And what would X-Mas be without the 'SALES', Our Man In Pester Wails proudly showin' off his copy of Skull The Slayer 'wot he done bot cheap' from Forbidden Planet - just the sort of 70's MARVEL comic that fires Johnny's rockets....

Being unable to (empty) stomach Kojak it wiz time fer the 'music box' to make an appearance and contented chuntering to take centre stage. Talk - prompted by an auld copy of Shivers magazine - quickly turned to a fascinating 1968 episode of Mystery and Imagination that starred Denholm Elliot in an adaptation of Dracula (all of which was previously completely out of the unknown to Rob)....

Agent Johnny then reminisced about 19060's programme The Magic Boomerang (it stops time!) and how it wiz replaced in the 'tea-time-telly' spot by National Velvet, although presently he confused this with the forties fillum, talking at length about Elizabeth Taylor (and one of his/her look-a-like 'girlyfriends') in the lead role....

Sadly nothing lasts forever and before long Agent Rob had to shortly spaceship himself away (clutching a newly finished page of Manderston Street Madmen!) to the Plaza 'fer to catch' the train back thru to Glasgog....

Agent Johnny will return....

Sounds: Two From The Vault by Grateful Dead: Nerve Pylon (the grand finale!) by The Lines....

A Chronicle Of Doom....

'Showdown in Glasgog!' ....and show up he did, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Johnny heading through from Pester Wails to receive the (slightly faded and frayed around the edges) red carpet treatment at Hope Street Studios. Of course the point of this mission, which he chose to accept, was to duly deliver a copy of (a brand, spanking new) The Girl With The Flowery Trousers comic strip page fer inclusion in The Great Big ComicScene UK Annual 2019....

This comic connection dates all the way back through the mists of time - Agent Rob's comic dreams(/nightmares) but a distant twinkle in his skoolboy eyes - to the late 80's when Agent Johnny contributed to the Atomic, er, comic. Indeed, all 13 issues of this underground gem are available to view here courtesy of editor/artist/Johnny's old mucker Tony Foster (who is currently masterminding a truly impressive array of comics and comics related journalism here)....

Naturally things didn't quite go to (Rob's) plan, and the morning/early afternoon wiz spent quietly and diligently 'doctoring' the A4 artwork, adding those (unfinished) finishing touches (instead of the much anticipated swilling, chuntering and noshing of tasty grub). Though 'hard wurk' has its own rewards and page completed our two Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. then took the train oot ter Anniesland 'fer to visit' 'Old Ma Miller' and 'wee sis', Our Man From Pester Wails enjoyin' a moment's peace reclined on the sofa, contentedly strokin' (the quite superbly and supremely aptly named) 'Luna' the cat....

Pink Floyd - Lucifer Sam

A Chronicle Of Doom....

"Laugh it up, fuzzball!" Er, waitaminnit, isn't that the wrong franchise! Then again, with the whole 'wurld' in supposed thrall to another type of 'fuzzball' then what better time to visit Our Man In Pester Wails, a man more than capable of naming every Avengers starting eleven. And so it was on 'Chewsday' that Agent Rob made a welcome return to Ice Station, braving the long journey from Bear Island HQ to join Agent Johnny in a long overdue 'view to a swill'. In fact, it was very nearly an own-goal, but thanks to Agent Austin's canny managerial strategy our two Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. managed to scramble it off the line (and thus head in happily over their heels together)....

With the guest's chair cleared of a 'stack of books' it was then time to sit down, crank open the swill and 'dock' the 'music box' (after a mild pause for panic while issue #2 of the recent Captain Condor reprints was successfully located). Agent Johnny seemed particularly taken with last week's screening of Orson Welles's'The Trial' and this 'fillum freakery' dominated much of the 'dafternoon's contented chuntering, before the conversation settled into a general SF orbit, incorporating the Planet of The Apes fillums, Arthur C. Clarke and 'Nova' by Samuel R. Delaney....

And just when you thought the afternoon could not get any more jammed it turned out Agent Johnny was power-packing the pencils for a mighty MARVEL-esque cover for the (proposed) John Stark: Secret Agent comic, as well as suitably eclectic takes on both (eternal favourite) Batman and (current favourite) Daredevil, events which saw Agent Rob gingerly leafing his way through some of our man's prized 1960's originals. Add to that two story roughs for strips featuring The (UK) Avengers and a vintage Ghostman strip salvaged from 1972(!) and you have what can only be described (at great volume) as a rip-roaring success! (Mind, you can expect the finished inks some time in 2020....) Of course, the volume was not nearly as deafening over and out at Deadhead Comics as Agents Austin and Rob peeked over the wall in deathly silence, watching as Poland stumbled, fumbled and finally fell to Senegal....

Sounds: Two From The Vault by Grateful Dead: A Saucerful of Secrets by Pink Floyd and (disc 1 of) Live 1966: The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert by Bob Dylan....

Grateful Dead - Death Don't Have No Mercy, live 24/08/1968

A Chronicle Of Doom....

"Thank God It's Only A View To A Swill!" An excellent 'view to a swill' on 'Woden'sday' of this week, Agent Rob (surprise?) visiting Agent Johnny at Ice Station Zebra for the first time since the end of January. In spite of the fact Our Man In Pester Wails looked initially bemused by Rob's being washed up at his front door things thereafter went swimmingly, the vintage swill was quickly retrieved from the fridge and cranked open as seat springs sprang under the strain, the contented chuntering already well underway....

As ever, Philip K. Dick, The Grateful Dead, The Shadow and The Masque Of The Red Death were 'finely whined' topics of conversation. Add to that an intriguing discussion about Agent Rob's enjoyment of 'skunk rock', then on to the impact of 'punk rock' in Lanarkshire - it seems it raised barely a sneer - and (alleged) meetings with Siouxsie Sioux and The Stranglers - tentatively filed away in the same folder as Agent Johnny's extra-ing in The New Avengers - and you have a cracking afternoon's entertainment. The Dark Horse reprints of the Doctor Solar title - it seems Johnny's been tanking a full volume a day - and Crack In The World - watched along with The War Lord as a double bill at the Regal Cinema in Lanark in the '60s - also kept the swill flowing at a brisk pace. Finally there was mention of a fascinating sounding 1968 'skill jottir' comic of Johnny's featuring the leery 'Cylindricone'. How 'Mr Christian', the strip's hero, dealt with that, well, only Johnny knows....

As if all this 'jolly good fun' wasn't enough, Agent Rob is pleased to report that he was allowed to return to Glasgog with the completed 7 pages of 'John Stark: Death March of the Missile Men' - quite possibly the best thing Agent Johnny has ever done! - in his possession. And indeed, if that isn't enough for you, dear reader, the borrowing of 5 aged issues of The Alchemist and 1 issue of Chewing Bricks in which there must be 10-15 pages of earlier material (that have thus far evaded the printed clutches of Braw Books) was also sanctioned. Whatever remains in the tank - both Agents had a quite frank conversation about the possibility that Johnny's drawing days are all but over - you can rest assure Rob will do his very best to realise every and any last drop of this most secret of agent's astounding creative output. Surely after over 30 years toil at the comic coalface any man would be entitled to put his feet up, read a few books and comics and enjoy whatever programmes or fillums of yesteryear took his fancy on the 'One-Eyed-God' - heck, as far as Agent Rob's concerned the return to nibbling at the salad days can't come soon enough....

Sounds: Two From The Vault by Grateful Dead: Sky Pilot by Eric Burdon & The Animals: Piper At The Gates Of Dawn by Pink Floyd and Nerve Pylon by The Lines....

Pink Floyd - Lucifer Sam

A Chronicle Of Doom....

http://cloud-109.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/snippet-literally-of-wrath-of-gods.html

Long 'overNeu Year's visit to Ice Station Zebra on Monday, Agents Rob and Johnny dodgin' the January 'blooze' - likely helped by the fact that neither has done a one-eyed-god damn's worth of 'comic drawin' in the 'winterim' since their last meeting - by easin' themselves gently into 2017's first official 'View To A Swill'....

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1331920

It was contented chunterin' all the way, 'Our Man In Pester Wails' takin' great pride in showin' off his recent Spaceship Away/Dan Dare: The Big City Caper (controversial?) issue and a few other 'oversize colour reprints', includin' Brett Million: The Angry Planet and Wrath Of The Gods: The Bow Of Delos (by Michael Moorcock and Ron Embleton)....

http://thingsthatgrip.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/greek-mythology-began-for-me.html

The latter especially, with its simply gorgeous fully painted artwork, harks back to a far superior era of 'comic illustration' that it's quite clear will never be seen again (aside from in loving reproductions such as these). It's fair to say a good amount of time was spent staring in wonder at these vintage masterworks, Agent Rob scrambling to pick his jaw up from the floor....

Then, Grateful Dead playing quietly in the corner - well, until the startling, rousing guitars of Turn On Your Lovelight (slowly filtering in from 10:30 in the video below) scorched a path across the room! - it was time to discuss the epic, explosive 'grande finales' to both Tobruk and Escape To Athena as well as the Hammer Film Productions of Kiss Of The Vampire and The Plague Of The Zombies and obviously Philip K. Dick's The Game-Players Of Titan, Clans Of The Alphane Moon and A Scanner Darkly ("....it's very well written....")....

Sounds: Two From The Vault by Grateful Dead: Blows Against The Empire by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick et al and Cool Snap and Nerve Pylon by The Lines....

Grateful Dead - Turn On Your Lovelight 24/08/1968