Colin Smith

So that was Tuesday October 7th 2025. Crikey. Another day done, another (more or less) here. So it goes.

(Out this very month in 1989, just 36 years ago, Clive Barker's Hellraiser #1, with its cover by John Bolton with Alex Jay.)

And so to bed. Sleep well, gentle sentients of Planet Earth.

A queue for bread during a bakery worker’s strike, Wordsley in the West Midlands, 1977, by Phil Loach.

Dated this very month in 1988, the very first issue of the splendidly idiosyncratic Deadline, with its cover featuring its soon-to-be-breakout-star Tank Girl by Jamie Hewlett.

I’m absolutely sure that’s 110% true 👍

Jean De Brunhoff’s absolutely classic front cover for the original 1931 edition of his “Histoire De Babar Le Petit Elephant”.

Why, it’s Thunderbird 1 & Lady Penelope on the cover of The Observer magazine from Sunday 18th December 1966. F.A.B. indeed.

David Bowie, during a soundcheck for April 20th 1992’s Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness at London’s Wembley Stadium.

June 1941 character sheet featuring intrepid newspaper reporter Lois Lane, for the classic Fleischer Studios’ Superman cartoons.

That was a day to be there, no doubt. I’m genuinely chuffed for thee. 👍

A queue for bread during a bakery worker’s strike, Wordsley in the West Midlands, 1977, by Phil Loach.

The interior pages are pretty darn wonderful too.

Jean De Brunhoff’s absolutely classic front cover for the original 1931 edition of his “Histoire De Babar Le Petit Elephant”.

David Bowie, during a soundcheck for April 20th 1992’s Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert for AIDS Awareness at London’s Wembley Stadium.

Why, it’s Thunderbird 1 & Lady Penelope on the cover of The Observer magazine from Sunday 18th December 1966. F.A.B. indeed.

Today in “crikey, that really was a terrific album, wasn’t it?”: Public Service Broadcasting’s Inform Educate Entertain.

Good morning! It’s Tuesday October 7th 2025! Already? Crikey!

(Dated today in 1950, The Dandy & The Beano’s covers find Korky The Cat, by James Crighton, being a cad in a zoo & Biffo The Bear, by Dudley D. Watkins, working in a circus.)

You be careful out there among them English, Joanne Book.

So that was Monday October 6th 2025. Crikey. Another day done, another (more or less) here. So it goes.

(Out this very month in 1988, just 37 years ago, Justice League International #10, with its cover by Kevin Maguire & Al Gordon.)

And so to bed. Sleep well, gentle sentients of Planet Earth.

Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Commander Spock & the USS Enterprise by Robert M. Thompson, the cover to a September 1966 edition of the entertainment trade journal Showtime advertising the new TV show Star Trek.

Arthur Adams’ hugely enjoyable original cover art for 1999’s Batman Annual #23.

I’ve always struggled to buy into Batman. (It’s me, not him.) But Adams’ cover, in its B’n’W form, seems to recast Bats as a 2000AD-type character, over-serious in an absurd world, and that makes perfect sense to me.

“Lunar Rocket”, a fabric designed by Eddie Squire c.1969, at the height of the Space Age.

Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Commander Spock & the USS Enterprise by Robert M. Thompson, the cover to a September 1966 edition of the entertainment trade journal Showtime advertising the new TV show Star Trek.

“Marseille - Porte de l'Afrique du Nord”, 1929, by Roger Broders, who created so many great travel posters.

“really does TAKE” - mea culpa.

A fine maxim. I too would raise my standards accordingly more often.

Of course, there’s little bravery in being a dandy in a tolerant situation, surrounded by friends & acolytes. Yes, it was safe being a dandy in, say, the Blitz Club. But defiantly walking the streets in the same get-ups, as say Steve Strange & Boy George did? That really does real toughness.

Rereading Alan Bennett’s diaries. Every entry a gem, like these few lines about Cecil Beaton’s 1980 death & AB’s phrase “The toughness of the dandy”. Being a dandy has so often been seen as a weakness,an affectation, a selfish & manipulative indulgence. But by gawd you do have to be tough to be one.

Beastie Boys, by Spike Jonze, from July 2004’s Spin.

Good morning! It’s Monday October 6th 2025! Already? Crikey!

(Released this very week in 1964, just 61 years ago, The Amazing Spider-Man #20, with its cover featuring The Scorpion by Steve Ditko with Stan Goldberg, Sam Rosen & Stan Lee.

You be careful out there among them English, Joanne Book.

So that was Sunday October 5th 2025. Crikey. Another day done, another (more or less) here. So it goes.

(Out this very month in 1976, Captain America #193, just 49 years ago, with its cover by Jack Kirby, John Romita & Gaspar Saladino.)

And so to bed. Sleep well, gentle sentients of Planet Earth.

(Sadly we live in a timeline where the Madbomb has been exploded by the very worst of us.)