Crossover of the Week - Batman and the Shadow

From the depths of my comic collection, here is Batman #259 a 100 page special (gotta love those) in which Batman meets the Shadow - initially encountering him when Bruce Wayne is still a young boy. NB: Batman also meet the Shadow in #253 (got that around here somewheres). A classic 70's story with the 100 pages padded out with reprints. The story itself is dedicated to Bill Finger.

Crossover of the Week - The Thing and Doc Savage

This crossover does not appear in the first Marvel Two-In-One Essential volume, so perhaps on that basis it is worth seeking out. It is written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by the mainstay artist Ron Wilson. Since the villain's real name is Lightner and his alter ego is Black Sun, In wonder if Doc Savage bad guy John Sunlight was part of the inspiration for this story. Interestingly, (!) there is a typo in my Bantam edition of Fortress of Solitude (in which John Sunlight appears) - he is referred to as John Sunshine. Which, frankly, is not such a good name for a bad guy; too cheerful!

Who, What, Where, and When the Heck?

Congratulations to Jenny Hardy for guessing the previous Where the Heck was - which was the beach at Dymchurch back in 2008 where a battle was in progress between the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and the Excise Men. Here's a different puzzling image. Feel free to apply Sherlock Holmes style deductive reasoning to determine exactly what is happening.

Where the Heck is this? Mystery Beach

This seems like an easy "Where the Heck?" to me. But I have been known to be wrong. So don't be shy. Have a guess. What's the worst that can happen?

Where the Heck is this? Mystery Forest...

Sometimes I like to play a game called 'Where the Heck is this?' So people...what do you think. Clue 1. Not Loch Ness. Clue 2. Did you ever watch the Gerry Anderson TV Show UFO?

T

From My Bookshelf

It is a particular pleasure to read a book by a favourite* author that you've never read before...in my case I've managed it twice in two months. Firstly with Roger Zelazny's non-SF book The Deadman's Brother...which could almost be a precursor to The Da Vinci Code since it is a tale of art and international Vatican related skullduggery...and secondly with Philip Jose Farmer's Lord Tyger - I am almost at the end of this and now reading at a snail's pace because I don't want it to end. Two copies of this have languished disgracefully on my shelf for years - but now it might just be my fave Farmer novel. The cover is by Richard Clifton-Dey who I know best as the cover artist on the Mayflower Six Million Dollar Man books Cyborg and Operation Nuke.

* Yes US readers favorite has a U in it in England.