"Great News Chums!" was the dreaded phrase that met British comic fans in the 1970's when they opened up their favourite weekly only to find that from next week, it would be merging with a crap publication you never bought. I can't guarantee that we won't merge this blog with one on, say, Taiwanese politics. But for now, enjoy a trip into pre-1985 graphic goodness.
My first contact with David Aaron Clark came in late 1990, when he wrote to ask for a copy of my fanzine Sheer Filth; a few months later (April 91 to be exact), he reviewed it in Screw, calling it "one of the rockingest pubs we got from the whole bunch of outlaw editors who responded to our tarnished feelers" - which made me feel pretty good.
A couple of years later, I was publishing Divinity - a once-popular 'transgressive culture' journal, when Masquerade Books sent through a couple of novels by that self-same David Aaron Clark for review. The books - The Wet Forever and Sister Radiance - completely transcended the porn genre that Masquerade specialised in - these were dark, disturbing and poetic novels unlike anything else out there. I was seriously impressed. Around the same time, I bought an album by the band False Virgins in a secondhand shop in Glasgow, and there was that man Clark again as a member.
By this time, I was getting the idea that DAC was going to someone that Divinity should be investigating, and when mutual friend Doris Kloster told me that David was also giving kinky, bloody SM performances in New York clubs, it was clear that an interview was necessary. Doris agreed to do it, so I shipped over a handful of fairly generic questions, expecting to get enough back to fill up two or three pages. A short time later, I received two hours worth of recordings - a lengthy, detailed, expansive interview that I knew immediately would be the centrepiece of the next edition. Doris also supplied several shots she'd done of David and his girlfriend, and so both the cover and main feature of Divinity 3.1 were set.
Except Divinity 3.1 never happened. A mix of financial, legal and personal issues saw to that.
I stayed in contact with DAC though, as he moved from New York to San Francisco to Los Angeles. There were more novels - the brilliant Juliette and Into the Black - graphic novels, and a couple of experimental SM videos, before David found himself in the LA adult film industry, working through jobs with the notorious John T. Bone and the even more notorious Rob Black before creating his own very unique movies - movies that, like his novels, mixed sexual deviancy with a dark atmosphere, highly personal moments and some genuine beauty.
In 2000, I finally made it out to LA, and DAC was kind enough to offer me a place to stay for the duration of my trip. More than just giving me somewhere to crash though, David went out of his way to make my visit a memorable one - fixing up meetings with his industry chums, taking me to meet the good, the bad and the ugly of the business, and generally giving me a taste of LA life - be that visits to strip clubs, looking for our work in the Hustler store or just checking out video stores while we debated the merits of Millennium and Dr Who. I also got the experience of watching his films with live audio commentary - something that should have been recorded and added to the DVDs.
I never made it back to LA - the 'noughties' haven't been the best time of my life and expensive flights were a no-no. But I stayed in contact with David - sometimes regularly, sometimes with a gap of a year or so between chats. His sense of humour and world-weary cynicism always made me smile, even when we were sharing stories about shifty publishers, dodgy distributors and general lowlifes that prevented us from achieving the things we planned. DAC had great affection for the industry and many of the people in it, but was also only too aware of the bad aspects of it. Like me, he'd struggled over the years - no wealthy porn mogul he - and so could relate to my latest tales of woe.
Recently, we'd talked about another LA trip next year - doing it all again ten years on. Our last conversation over Facebook was to discuss whether he could send his latest film, Pure, without causing any customs issues. He was proud of the film - justifiably so by all accounts - and it had been nominated for several AVN awards.
Sadly, David died on November 28th of a pulmonary embolism. The news of his death was a massive shock, and a couple of weeks on, I still can't quite believe it. There is a gap in my life that shouldn't be there.
There is more on David's life and death here: http://gramponante.com/?p=4121
And here are the recordings of that unpublished 1995 interview (the Liveleak embedded files might not be working - if not, try the direct links instead. Clunky, I know.)
We've been silent these last few months, but with good reason - Great News Chums is about to be reborn as a fully-fledged website!
With extensive galleries, reviews and news, hopefully this will be just what any GNC fan loves.
The site will be online from the end of November, launching officially at the beginning of 2010. Stay tuned for more details.
Meanwhile, this blog will undergo some changes to help it complement the new site. Possibly more of a commentary / opinion page... possibly not. We're still working on that.
Thanks for your patience (if you've been patient). The best is yet to come!
Tornado was a 1979 IPC weekly, aimed at the 2000AD readership. It failed because its mix of strips was too broad (and mostly not good enough) - after 22 issues it merged with 2000AD ('great news chums!') and any vaguely popular, vaguely sci-fi-ish stories (including Blackhawk, which clumsily transmuted from a story of Roman slavery to an intergalactic adventure) were transferred over. Superhero editor Big E was portrayed in photographs by an awkward looking Dave Gibbons.
I know, I know, it's been awhile... work, weddings (not mine) and other things have conspired to keep me away from the all-important job of collating rubbish from the past. Expect such shortages from time to time. But as a reward, here are the first five volumes of groundbreaking erotic video seriesElectric Blue, from 1979 - 1981 (approx). Electric Blue used a magazine format, and in these early editions, aspired to the sort of pseudo-sophistication found in most girlie mags of the 70's (most notably Mayfair and Penthouse). After the 10th edition, it was all downhill; censorship dealt a severe blow after volume 20, and the series finally died, long forgotten, in the 1990s.
Although there were Dr Who novels and annuals from the late Sixties on, the merchandise only really began to kick in with the Tom Baker era.
Marvel's Dr Who Weekly proved an instant success with its mix of new material, reprints and photo features. Rubbish free gift though.
This dreadful poster magazine from the mid-Seventies was bought at the Dr Who exhibition in Blackpool.
The series inspired this Top Trumps card game.
The basis of the game was that the various monsters, aliens and villains from Dr Who were attacking Earth, and only a coalition of the Doctor and earth's greatest heroes could save us. Annie Oakley vs the Cybermen? Possibly the shortest war in history.Note that the designers have got their monsters muddled in the examples above.
A range of Dr Who action figures also appeared, including - oddly - the one-shot monster The Giant Robot.
Cult movie star David Carradine died today, aged 72. The star of TV series Kung Fu, Death Race 2000, The Silent Flute (aka Circle of Iron), Kill Bill and dozens of B-movies was found hanging in his hotel room closet in Thailand. Thai police suspect suicide, though certain ambiguities - the BBC report he was found "with a cord around his neck and other parts of his body" (my emphasis) - may lead to other conclusions. Whatever the truth, we'll miss him.
British soft porn mogul had made a star of Fiona Richmond in the Seventies, and she appeared in a handful of typically dismal movies (Hardcore, Let's Get Laid, Expose etc). In 1980, Raymond produced this vanity project, mixing bland sexual romping from Euro porn star Brigitte Lahaie with footage shot at his legendary Revuebar in Soho. Heavily pushed at the time - probably the last time any British 'sex' film got this level of promotion, it quickly became something of an embarrassment for Raymond - who appears in it - and it's been buried for the last 25 years. Now the producer is no longer with us, maybe I should ask my chums at Paul Raymond Publications to lobby for a re-release.
Technical issues have kept me from updating for a couple of weeks, but hopefully that is behind me now. Here are a couple of UK Tarzan comics from the 1970's - one a weekly, one monthly, and both unconnected with the US Marvel comic from around the same time. Neither lasted very long. The 'survival kit' turned out to be a plastic bag with a bit of paper inside it. Very poor. And sadly, I've forgotten all the ape language learned, so I'm screwed if gorillas invade my house.
The young people today might think they're 'all that' with their Lynx body sprays, but back in 1978, there was only one scent to use if you wanted to impress the ladies - and no, it wasn't Brut, Hi Karate, Denim or even Old Spice. No, if you wanted to make damn sure you never went home alone - ever - then you'd splash on Monsieur Le Stud.
Brought out to coincide with the year's most sophisticated film, Monsieur Le Stud mixed the legendary powers of musk and ginseng, and was just the thing before heading for a night out at the local discotheque and dancing to the latest hits from Tina Charles, Leo Sayer and Smokie - that is, of course, if you could fend off the ladies! Or, you could stay at home and listen to The Stud's soundtrack LP on Ronco - where this enticing ad could be found. Sadly, Monsieur Le Stud is no longer on sale. If anyone out there has any, I'd be happy to take it off your hands. After all, as the ad says, 'wearing Monsieur Le Stud can be very demanding'. And I'm happy to make your life that little bit easier.
Time has again run away from me, like a freeloading MP fleeing the angry mob, so no exciting updates today kids. It's just like the time when the staff at your favourite weekly went on strike, resulting in no comic that week. Oh, how we wept. However - I'll soon be mixing the visual thrills that you have come to know and love with insightful, probing reviews of similar tat as it arrives at Chums Towers. Producers of morally and artistically indefensible rubbish take note and message me for details of where to send your offerings. While I'm banging on - opinions are solicited on whether I should label this blog as 'mature' (or whatever the term is) and include some of the nippletastic stuff that abounded in the 70's, from LP covers to newspapers to ... well, just about everything. Let me know what you think!
The Raven series was written by Richard Kirk - in reality authors Robert Holdstock and Angus Wells, who co-authored the first volume and then took it in turns to write the next four.
Chris Achilleos' sexy cover art for Swordsmistress of Chaos caught the eye of Kate Bush, who modified the costume (ie covered BOTH boobs) for her Babooshka video.
Proving that naziploitation didn't start with Love Camp 7, Ilsa She Wolf of the SS and The Night Porter!
'Ernst was just a high-spirited German kid... until he joined the Hitler Youth. From that moment his development into a bestial Nazi thug --- inhuman, brutal and without conscience --- was only a matter of time.' Suitably restrained stuff from 1959.
'No indignity, no torture or suffering was forgotten' in this 'towering novel of moral disintegration' from 1965
Western prisoners are at the mercy of the fiendish Colonel Yamamitsu in this 1974 reprint of the 1958 original, based on the Hammer film.
The first annual from the famed Eagle comic, circa 1951. It came my way in the mid-70's, and as a Marvel-obsessed nipper, I was less than impressed with the frightfully polite, rather dull middle class contents. Today - it's still awful.
The Eagle was revived in 1982, complete with Dan Dare and The Mekon (both of whom had already had a more dynamic reinvention in 2000AD back in 1977), alongside some ill-considered photo-strips. A terrible effort that somehow kept going for years.
Blonde On Blonde were Page 3 Girls Nina Carter (aka Penny Mallett) and Jilly Johnson, and they failed to have a hit with this surprisingly solid disco version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, though the picture disc became the stuff of legend. Carter was married to Rick Wakeman, who probably doesn't play on this. This French(?) 1978 LP featured truly awful disco versions of Pink Floyd tracks. Yes, the world was crying out for dance versions of Interstellar Overdrive, Have A Cigar, One Of These Days and The Theme From 'More' apparently. Or perhaps not. Still, the gratuitously sexy cover stared out of record racks and bargain bins for years, defying you NOT to buy it. I succumbed in the end and it was worth at least half the 99p paid.
The Crunch appeared in 1979 and was DC Thompson's attempt to capture the Action / 2000AD market. Strips included the futuristic Arena, 'Injun' bounty hunter Mantracker, a vaguely sci-fi themed soccer story (!), The Walking Bombs, Hitler Lives (always a good standby) and the conspiracy thriller Who Killed Cassidy? Oh, and a feature on Eddie Kidd.
Issue 1's free Black Band was ill-fitting and uncomfortable, and the stickers were rubbish.
I can't recall how exciting (or more likely not) the Crunch Crazy Cars were, but four issues of freebies? You have to like that.
Sadly, though The Crunch was almost laughably macho and as violent as would be allowed in those post-Action days, it never quite hit the spot, and I stopped buying it after issue 9. Great cover though!
Alex Block was the first to cash in on the death of Bruce Lee with this biography, in which he implies that Lee was killed by the 'hand of death'
This biography by Lee's wife has more legitimacy, though of course is somewhat rose-tinted in its views
The JKD Band were disco opportunists who sampled a bit of Bruce's battle cries and dialogue to spice up a couple of pretty forgettable instrumentals
Lee's popularity was still high in 1979, and the publishers of Kung Fu Monthly (of which more at a later date) produced this photo-packed 'tribute'.
This poster magazine from around 1979 was published in Hong Kong. The publishers also produced a whole bunch of Bruce Lee softcover books - watch out for examples soon, chums!
James Moffat was the real name of Skinhead author Richard Allen. Complete with several pages of photos, this book was the only evidence that Queen Kong actually existed for several years after the film was legally blocked from release. You can buy it now and you won't believe your eyes!
Amazingly, this novelisation of the wonderfully tasteless 50's throwback went through two printings - the other version had gory images from the film on the cover, making this the 'tasteful' version.
Spiders were all the rage in the second half of the 1970s (see also Kiss of the Tarantula, Giant Spider Invasion)until producers realised that no-one was actually paying to see the films. This one stars William Shatner and was directed by John Bud Cardos.
This vigilante hit made a straight-to-video star of Robert Ginty (doomed from this point on to only be referred to as Robert The Exterminator Ginty - maybe it really was his middle name) and this tie-in boasts several pages of full colour stills.
Except Divinity 3.1 never happened. A mix of financial, legal and personal issues saw to that.
Recently, we'd talked about another LA trip next year - doing it all again ten years on. Our last conversation over Facebook was to discuss whether he could send his latest film, Pure, without causing any customs issues. He was proud of the film - justifiably so by all accounts - and it had been nominated for several AVN awards.
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