#tales to astonish (1958)

[inkforhumanhands]

Tales to Astonish (1958) #36 by Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby (id in alt text)

wh-where is ant-man…? 😳

[night-gay]

Into the Anthill pt 2 - The Wasp, The Fantastic Four, and The Avengers

This arc of Hank’s publication serves to establish his major relationships since he’d been a solo act up until this point. We meet his late wife Maria, his new partner Janet, and his eventual teammates in The Avengers. You know what that means? This marks the end of Hank’s publication as a solo act. Ant-Man vol 1 doesn’t come out for more than 50 years after this point.

And it’s about Scott.

🐜🐜🐜

Tales to Astonish vol 1 #44

We get the backstory about Hank’s first wife Maria and how she got kidnapped and murdered on a trip to Hungary. Her parting words that inspired Hank to be a superhero, you may ask?

“Go to the ants, thou dullard.”

This is also the first appearance of Janet van Dyne. Her father accidentally lured an acid monster to Earth with the laser he invented and it killed him, so Janet swore to avenge him and Hank decided to make her his partner. Jan basically fell in love with him the second she started to live a life of adventure but Hank insisted she was too young for him.

Tales to Astonish vol 1 #45

Egghead returns! Since his brilliant plan to use flypaper didn’t work last time, he decided to put Hank in a room with an anteater and see what happens. (spoiler alert: nothing happened. this guy sucks at evil plans)

Fantastic Four vol 1 #16-17

A big step up from Egghead, Ant-Man teamed up with the FF to fight Dr. Doom. This was his first time ever shrinking down to a microscopic scale as well as the first comic where he used flying ants to travel.

Dr. Doom set up a stronghold in a microscopic world and kidnapped the FF so Ant-Man shrank down to save them. Sue called him handsome, Ben joked about her wanting to fuck Namor instead, and Reed didn’t trust him, but ultimately they were all just thankful he came to help.

Tales to Astonish (1958) #46

Hank & Janet vacationed in Greece and fought a mechanical cyclops. Nothing else to say really.

Avengers vol 1 #1

Loki faked an attack by the Hulk to lure Thor into a trap. Ant-Man and The Wasp intercepted a distress call to help and somehow flew more than 1,000 miles on ants to help out (still arriving at the same time as Iron Man). Hank trapped Loki in a conveniently placed radioactive waste disposal truck after the rest beat him up.

Jan suggested they name this group ‘The Avengers’ and the rest is history.

[marvelinorder]

Tales to Astonish (1958) #30 [E Story] recap

"Quogg" by Stan Lee & Steve Ditko

Once again I'll only be focusing on the relevant story from this issue rather than reviewing all of them. Our story is called "Quogg!" and as you can see didn't merit a spot on the cover. I want to say this is because the story just isn't very good and the creators probably knew it. Anyway, on to our recap!

Our protagonist is a guy who gets caught stealing and flees from the authorities and into the jungle! They follow him, so he tries to shake them off by...throwing his car over a ledge.

Not surprisingly, this maneuver doesn't work and the men continue to follow him until he steps onto a crumbling cliff and falls into some water and they give up.

He eventually makes his way to a village, where in no time he's already making plans to be an asshole.

As you can see above, he sneaks into Quogg's valley. Once inside, he sees there's a lone hut. He begins making plans to fool the villagers, assuming they are merely superstitious...because man, this guy is an asshole.

At this point, I don't know about you but I'd very much like this guy to get his comeuppance. Luckily, this turns out to be the case because there IS a Quogg!

The hut was Quogg the whole time! Welp, can't say I'm sorry for our racist criminal. I hope Quogg ate the shit out of him.

If you're wondering what the hell this issue is doing in the Order, it's because Quogg reappears in Monsters Unleashed (2017) #3, making him a reoccurring character.

The End! And see you next time for Incredible Hulk #1!

[bygones-bby]

Tōei Dōga’s first full-length film, Hakujaden, was released in October 1958. It was based on a Chinese tale. Miyazaki Hayao, who saw the film during a break from studying for his college entrance exams, was astonished by its quality. © Tōei (source)

[justforbooks]

Hugh John Lofting was born on 14 January 1886 in Maidenhead, Berkshire. He was an English author trained as a civil engineer, who created the classic children's literature character of Doctor Dolittle. It first appeared in illustrated letters to his children written by Lofting from the British Army trenches in the First World War.

Hugh Lofting's character, Doctor John Dolittle, an English physician from "Puddleby-on-the-Marsh" in the West Country, who could speak to animals, first saw light in illustrated letters written to his children from the trenches, when actual news, he later said, was too horrible or too dull. The stories are set in early Victorian England in the 1820s–1840s – The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle gives a date of 1839.

The Story of Doctor Dolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed (1920) began the series and won him a posthumous Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958. The sequel The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922) won a Newbery Medal. Eight more books followed, and after Lofting's death, two more appeared, composed of short, previously unpublished pieces.

The chronology of the stories differs somewhat from the publishing order. The first book was followed by Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1923), Doctor Dolittle's Circus (1924) and Doctor Dolittle's Caravan (1926). Only then came the second, The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922), continued in Doctor Dolittle's Zoo (1925). After that, the chronology is restored; Doctor Dolittle's Garden (1927) was followed by Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928) and Doctor Dolittle's Return (1933), ending with Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948).

The Story of Mrs Tubbs (1923) and Tommy, Tilly, and Mrs. Tubbs (1936) are picture books aimed at a younger audience than the Doctor Dolittle books. They tell of the old woman and her pets, with whom she can speak, and the animals who help her out of trouble.

Porridge Poetry (1924) is the only non-Dolittle work by Lofting still in print. It is a lighthearted, colourfully illustrated book of poems for children. Noisy Nora (1929) is a cautionary tale about a girl who is a noisy eater. The book is printed as if hand-written, and the many illustrations often merge with the text.

The Twilight of Magic (1930) is aimed at older readers. It is set in an age when magic is dying and science beginning. This work is the only one of Lofting's books to be illustrated by another person: Lois Lenski.

Works

Lofting commented, "For years it was a constant source of shock to me to find my writings amongst 'juveniles'. It does not bother me any more now, but I still feel there should be a category of 'seniles' to offset the epithet."

The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920)

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (1922)

Doctor Dolittle's Post Office (1923)

The Story of Mrs Tubbs (1923)

Doctor Dolittle's Circus (1924)

Porridge Poetry (1924)

Doctor Dolittle's Zoo (1992, mass-market paperback) (1925, hardcover)

Doctor Dolittle's Caravan (1992, mass-market paperback) (1926, hardcover)

Doctor Dolittle's Garden (1927)

Doctor Dolittle in the Moon (1928)

Noisy Nora (1929)

The Twilight of Magic (1930)

Gub Gub's Book: An Encyclopedia of Food (1932)

Doctor Dolittle's Return (1933)

Doctor Dolittle's Birthday Book (1936)

Tommy, Tilly, and Mrs. Tubbs (1936)

Victory for the Slain (1942)

Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948)

Doctor Dolittle and the Green Canary (1950)

Doctor Dolittle's Puddleby Adventures (1952)

Seriously wounded in the war, in 1919 Lofting moved with his family to Killingworth, Connecticut. He was married three times and had three children, one of whom, his son Christopher, became the executor of his literary estate.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at http://justforbooks.tumblr.com

[whileiamdying]

The astonishment about Billie Holiday in her 100th birthday summer is how differently we hear her. Back in the day — in her music, in her autobiography — Lady Day was the full catalog of suffering in a 20th-century underground: abandonment and child prostitution on the way to drink, drug addiction, and death at 44. “The most hurt and hurting singer in jazz,” said the authoritative Nat Hentoff.

But resurrection in art jumps out of the soundtrack here — starting with her breakthrough film with Duke Ellington in 1934, when she sings, at age 19, “Saddest tale on land or sea, was when my man walked out on me.” Then, when we hear Billie Holiday’s recording of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” from 1944, she has stopped at our table in a small club and started speaking directly to us. There’s no other singer who ever made us cheer and cry at the same time. So Billie Holiday stands less for all that pain than for Hemingway’s dictum that a blues hero “can be destroyed but not defeated.”

In Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth, the meta-biographer John Szwed (also of Sun Ra, Miles Davis and Alan Lomax) traces the self-invention of an icon and finds the life and art of Billie Holiday running side-by-side with a truth-telling drive that did not quit. In our conversation, Szwed finds that to the end she was “smarter, tougher, funnier” than all but a few knew.

The Lovers, by Jacob Lawrence (1946).

Five fine singers — Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dominique Eade, Marissa Nadler, Janice Pendarvis, and Rebecca Sullivan — are guiding us through their favorite Holiday songs: her vocal tricks and the social, emotional resonances of her music. Re-listening with them, we begin to understand and experience not just the Billie Holiday story, but the atmosphere of Harlem streets, nightclubs, and living rooms. We hear an “unflinching” voice and a “sophisticated” new sound in music.

The greatest jazz singer? The perfect jazz singer? Perhaps the only jazz singer that ever lived.

A Very Brief History of the Microphone

Lady Day not only embraced the use of the microphone, she revolutionized it. By bringing the “Harlem cabaret style” into the studio, she helped introduce a more subtle and restrained style of singing to recorded music. Our guest John Szwed gives us the rundown on how Holiday—along with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Orson Welles, and Johnnie Ray—helped to permanently change the way artists approached the mic. Read the complete story on Medium.

—Zach Goldhammer

Music From The Show:

“They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (1937)

“Symphony in Black” (1935)

“Solitude” (1941)

“Fine and Mellow” (1939)

“Love For Sale” (1945)

“Them There Eyes” (1949)

“Strange Fruit” (1939)

“What a Little Moonlight Can Do” (1935)

“Me, Myself, and I” (1937)

“No Regrets” (1936)

“I’ll Get By” (1937)

“I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944)

“God Bless The Child” (1955)

“Gloomy Sunday” (1941)

“Lover Man” (1945)

“I’m a Fool To Want You” (1958)

“The End of a Love Affair” (1958)

“Fine and Mellow” (1957)

[frankendykes-monster]

Jack Kirby did stories centered around giant monsters as the majority of his work for Marvel between 1958 - 1963.

Kirby mentions in this essay how a solid chunk of the major Marvel characters he worked on were directly descended from this wave of giant monsters, which is plainly obvious when the subject is investigated.

The Thing of The Fantastic Four is an obvious link, as he is just one of a long line of overpowering monsters, the example here being Orrgo from Strange Tales #90, published the same month as The Fantastic Four #1 (November 1961). Kirby has stated, "When I first drew The Thing, I tried to give him skin that was like a dinosaur's hide. I wanted to give the suggestion that he was as strong as a prehistoric beast." (Which is to say nothing of how The Fantastic Four fought giant monsters on and off for their first ten issues.)

The Human Torch is obviously a new incarnation of the character of the same name created by Carl Burgos in 1939 for Marvel, but its worth stating Kirby had already done a monster with virtually the same power set prior to The Fantastic Four #1. Here is Dragoom from Strange Tales #76 (1960).

The Hulk is a new incarnation of The Midnight Monster, from Journey Into Mystery #79 (1962), only appearing a month afterwards. He also shares the same name as yet ANOTHER Marvel monster, The Hulk, from Journey Into Mystery #62 (1960).

Doctor Doom's design is virtually identical to that of the monster from Tales of Suspense #31, published the same month as The Fantastic Four #5, July 1962.

Kirby's Thorr, from Tales to Astonish #16 (1961), a monster that resembles the Easter Island statues, is the genesis of a race of aliens that Thor would fight in his first appearance in Journey Into Mystery #83 (1962).

Ant-Man actually did appear initially in a monster story, Tales to Astonish #27, before making the transition into a superhero with his second appearance, Tales to Astonish #35, both issues being published in 1962.

Iron Man resembles Metallo, another human being inside a super-powered robotic suit whose weakness is a heart condition, from Tales of Suspense #16 (1961).

Magneto shares a name and power set with a previous human mutation from Strange Tales #84 (1961), who gained his powers after being exposed to radiation on a space flight, just like how The Fantastic Four would.

[stillthewordgirl]

LOT/CC fic: Somewhere on Your Road Tonight

Sara and Leonard made a life for themselves, together in 1958, after the Waverider left them, Ray and Kendra behind. But now they're back on the ship, Mick has been twisted into Chronos, Kendra is pregnant, and Savage is still out there. They'll deal--together. (Sequel to "Chances Are.")

Third one for "Last Refuge." With an added scene by popular demand. ;) Many thanks to LarielRomeniel for the beta. Can also be read here at AO3 and here at FF.net.

Leonard isn’t there when Sara wakes. A glance at the console nearby shows her that it’s quite late, nearly noon by ship’s time, but given how late she got in, she’s going to refuse to feel bad about it.

Still, time to get up now and see what’s going on. And check on the newest little Legend.

Gideon reports that everyone else is over at the house. Mary Xavier—whom Sara has come to respect a great deal over the past 24 hours—had moved Kendra and Ray, with little Alex in a bassinette, into a more normal bedroom next to the infirmary/medbay. Sara actually doesn’t run into any of her other teammates on the way there, but as she raps cautiously on the slightly ajar door and then sticks her head in at Kendra’s quiet “come in,” she finds one of them.

Kendra is sitting up, looking weary, but smiling, and Leonard is standing next to her, next to the bassinette. The empty bassinette.

Because the crook is holding the baby.

Sara stops in her tracks. Leonard glances up and nods to her before looking back down at the bundle in his arms. He’s holding little Alex rather expertly, if Sara’s any judge, the baby’s head supported in the crook of one arm, his other arm cradling the little one’s body, and he’s moving a little as if to soothe the child. It’s completely incongruous, the thief in his black leather jacket holding the baby in his pale blue blanket so calmly.

After a minute, though, Kendra actually giggles and Sara blinks, recalled to the moment.

“Did your ovaries just explode?” her friend asks shrewdly as Leonard smirks at her and tiny Alexander waves a fist in the air.

Sara just gives her a look. “How are you?” she says, moving a little closer. “And where is Ray?”

Kendra stretches a little. “I’m good,” she says. “Sore. Tired. Par for the course, from what I remember, and a lot better than it could be.” She sighs. “I have any more kids, I want to be sure to have a medbay setup nearby.”

“All that and you can make yourself think about more?”

“You’d be surprised how quickly it fades. Even without the pain blockers.” Kendra shakes her head. “Probably a survival-of-the-species thing. But as far as Ray, Mick and Stein, of all the strange pairs, dragged him off to get something to eat.” She laughs a little. “He wouldn’t put the baby down. And when he finally did, Mr. ‘Mind If I Hold Him?’ over there showed up.” She waves a hand at Leonard. “This kid is going to be spoiled.”

“Ah, but you can’t truly spoil a newborn.” They all look around as Mary Xavier, Rip on her heels, strolls briskly into the room. “And how are you doing, Ms. Saunders?”

While Kendra and Mary talk, Rip takes a step toward Leonard, eyes fixed on the child as if he wants to take the boy himself, but Leonard’s chin goes up, as if daring the captain to try. Rip stops, and Sara closes her eyes, smiling. She’d already known Leonard had a soft spot for kids, but she hadn’t known it extended to infants.

Mary soon ousts them all from the room so she can examine both Kendra and the baby, and Leonard returns the child to the bassinette, joining Sara outside. She studies him as they climb the stairs toward the ground floor, wondering.

“Didn’t know you were quite so fond of babies,” she says eventually, as they emerge into the parlor.

Leonard gives her a tiny smile. “Well. Can’t say I’ve had much of a chance to interact with one in a good long time.” He shakes his head. “But I remember clearly when Lisa was born,” he says quietly as they head for the kitchen. “Holding her on her first day home from the hospital.” He glances at Sara. “Figured I’d do anything to protect her. Still would.”

Sara reaches for his hand, squeezing his fingers before letting go. “You’re full of surprises, crook.”

“You know it, assassin.”

Maybe it’s because they both still have little Alex on their minds. Maybe Sara just can’t resist seeing her younger self, since everyone else has seen theirs. But they drift next toward the Refuge’s nursery, where young Sara, Stein and Jax are being housed.

Leonard finds it a little odd (and unnerving, actually) that he still hasn’t seen any other adults (besides the Legends, if they even count) at the Refuge, and this is, again, no exception. Stein, though, is standing there, holding baby Jax, a rather paternal expression in his face as he gazes down at his partner-in-Firestorm’s younger self. The other two babies are sleeping quietly, but Leonard sees Sara’s gaze drift to the bassinette that holds her infant self, then determinedly away. They’re still supposed to avoid their younger selves, although many of them have rather ignored that edict. (Although none quite so much as Leonard had.)

Stein looks up and smiles at them, then, shifting young Jax to one arm and holding a finger to his lips in a reminder of quiet. Then he steps over the one empty bassinette and gently puts the sleeping boy down before stepping back and turning to them.

“Ms. Lance, Mr. Snart,” he says in a low tone. “This is quite surreal, is it not? All the potential and promise innate in our younger selves…” He waves a hand. “…all here in this one unassuming building. Astonishing.”

Leonard reflects that at least the older man is including the entire team in that assessment of promise. It wouldn’t always have been the case. But he’s not going to point that out.

“Little you doin’ all right, professor?” he drawls instead, folding his arms and glancing toward the bassinette that holds baby Martin Stein. “Had an interesting beginning, didn’t he?”

The scientist chuckles. “Indeed. It went from rather an amusing family story to something else altogether, hearing Captain Hunter and Mr. Rory tell the tale. But, no harm done.” He glances over too. “I was…am…apparently a rather resilient child.”

Small Stein chooses that moment to wake up, however, making an annoyed noise and kicking his feet, which are now encased in tiny green booties. Sara takes a step toward him, then glances toward the adult version in question. The professor waves a hand, smiling.

“I’m heading back out now,” he says. “Perhaps I will go visit our littlest Legend. Or...” The smiles flags a little. “Talk with Jefferson some more. My attempt at a good deed seems to have gone...rather amiss.”

He’s gone before either of them can ask, and Sara and Leonard share a glance before baby Stein makes another noise that’s distinctly pissed off. That seems to disturb baby Sara, who wakes with a vaguely irritated gurgle, then draws in a breath and squalls as only an upset newborn can.

The adult Sara pauses in collecting young Stein, glancing at her younger self, and Len makes his decision quickly, trying not to think about the oddness of the moment. He walks over and collects the baby efficiently, cradling her in the crook of his arm and humming to her, wondering when she’d last eaten and how that’s handled here. Don't infants this young have to eat frequently? He sort of remembers that.

The baby quiets more quickly than he’d expected for all her ire, staring up at him with blue eyes that are quite focused for one so young. She appears to be frowning and Leonard lifts an eyebrow at her, amused at what seems to be the familiarity of the expression. Even little Sara is a spitfire.

He glances up at older Sara, then, and see her watching him too, as she tries to get small Stein settled. After a moment, the corner of her mouth ticks up, and she shakes her head.

“The crook and the assassin are the two soothing the babies,” she says wryly. “Who’d have thought it?”

“Speak for yourself. I’m good at everything.” Unable to hide his smile, Leonard looks down at little Sara, who’s still watching him with a small “v” between her nearly invisible brows. She waves a hand and he catches it, letting her wrap those tiny fingers around one of his. “Good grip.”

“Yeah, well, watch it. I’m told I was a grumpy baby—and I raised hell as a toddler.” Sara laughs a little. “Well, they say second children are the troublemakers.”

“In my experience, that’s certainly true.” Little Sara’s eyes are drifting shut again. She’s still holding on to his finger tightly, and Leonard finds himself loathe to put her down, for all the oddness of the situation. He studies the baby’s face, looking for the beginnings of the woman he loves in the soft newborn features, wondering suddenly how her blond fairness would mingle with his own ancestry, what kind of child...

Holy hell, where did that come from?

Clearing his throat suddenly, he steps over to the bassinette, putting the infant down gently and tugging his finger away. Little Sara sighs in her sleep, but lets him, that hand falling in a loose fist to lie next to her cheek. Leonard turns away hastily to watch older Sara put the now-sleeping baby Stein back too, then reaches for a change of subject.

“Shall we, ah, go grab something from the kitchens here,” he asks, extending an arm to her, “before it’s back to replicator food?”

Sara regards him, her lips quirking again, and Leonard has a feeling he hadn’t hidden his expression quite quickly enough. But whatever her thoughts are, she lets them go, taking his arm. “We shall.”

After Kendra and the baby have received a continued clean bill of health from Mary Xavier, Rip calls a team meeting in their room. It’s crowded, and Stein and Leonard squabble over holding Alexander until Ray pulls rank as the proud new dad and takes his son himself. He sits on the bed by Kendra, and the others quiet as Rip surveys them.

Finally, the captain sighs, but it’s not a put-upon noise, for once.

“This really worked out, for once, as best as I could hope,” he says. “I had planned to ask Ms. Saunders to stay here for the remainder of her pregnancy and the birth of her son, but since young Mr. Alexander had his own ideas…” He nods to them, actually smiling. “I will admit, this is not something I’d ever foreseen in my pursuit of Vandal Savage, but I am glad for your happiness.”

“Hear, hear,” Stein murmurs, while Ray beams and Kendra (Sara notices) studies the captain with the expression of a woman who’s waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Rip clears his throat, then. “So. Here’s the best plan I can come up with now.” He starts to pace, managing only a step or two before he has to turn. “Ms. Saunders and the baby will stay at the Refuge for now. Mum…Mary has agreed.” He pauses. “And we will return for them. Soon, for us. In approximately a year, for them.”

Ray stares. Kendra, who seems like she’s expected something like this, nods. Mick and Leonard both frown, exchanging glances, and Jax starts to say something before Stein nudges him.

Rip continues. “Ms. Saunders will have to continue training to get back into, err, fighting trim. And then…then we will continue our quest for Savage. The boy will stay here temporarily under Mary’s watchful eye.” He nods again. “It’s not perfect. But…”

Ray has found his voice, however. “I’m not leaving my wife and son here alone,” he protests.

Rip gives him a sympathetic look. “They won’t be alone, Dr. Palmer.”

But the new father is shaking his head vehemently. “I won’t miss it,” he says. “This is my son, too. I need to be there, I need to help. And all the firsts…” He looks down at baby Alex. “His first word, his first steps…” Ray looks back up then, determination in his eyes. “I’m not going to be that kind of father.”

Mick murmurs something Sara can’t quite hear, but she sees what almost seems to be sympathy in his eyes. Leonard’s watching the other man, too, then glances back at Sara, and that is definitely sympathy. She nudges his arm with her own.

But Rip, although he looks a touch resigned, is nodding again. “I really can’t say I didn’t expect that. Very well, Dr. Palmer, you stay here as well.”

Ray nods firmly, then opens his mouth to say something else.  But Stein is speaking up now, and everyone’s attention goes to him.

“How will that…I mean, won’t they be able to…” the physicist says slowly, as if working something out. “Eventually, one would hope, we’re going to be coming back for our younger selves. Later, for us. Earlier, for those at the Refuge. What if…what something’s different?” He sighs and clarifies. “Say, if one of us doesn’t return. Dr. Palmer and Ms. Saunders will find out before we return for them. Won’t that create a paradox of sorts?”

Leonard makes a thoughtful sound next to her, and Sara tries to work the knot out. She’s gotten a little used to the oddities of time travel, but it’s still capable of giving her a headache. However, Rip’s speaking again, and she gives it up to listen.

“There is a cottage on the outskirts of the grounds,” the captain is saying to Ray and Kendra, “and I think it would be a fine place for a young family.” He sighs. “We will have to keep you in…a state of some ignorance. Mary is aware of this.”

“Shouldn’t be hard for you, Raymond,” Leonard snipes, but it’s clear his heart isn’t in it. He’s frowning, clearly disturbed by some piece of this. Sara studies him thoughtfully.

Kendra sighs. “All right, then,” she says, looking at Ray. “I don’t have a better idea. I wish I had Sara to train with, though.”

Rip smiles again. “Well. You might be surprised by Mum. Ask her. You’ll see.” He shakes his head. “Good luck, Dr. Palmer, Ms. Saunders. I’m going back to prepare the ship for takeoff,” he says, turning for the door. “The rest of you, please return within the next 15 minutes.”

But when they do…everything has changed.

“Gideon has intercepted a trans-chronal beacon,” the captain tells them in a tone that’s so carefully blank that it can only scream “trouble.” Then he takes a deep breath. “Gideon, show them.”

A video flickers onto one of the bridge screens: The Pilgrim, staring grimly ahead.

“This message is for Rip Hunter,” the bounty hunter says. “I'm going to make this very quick and very simple.”

And then the picture changes.

Even if Sara hadn’t seen a photo of Lisa Snart before, it’s clearly labeled—and the way Leonard sits forward in his jump seat, tensing, would give it away.

“If I can't find you…” the Pilgrim starts. Sara takes a step toward Leonard. But then the picture changes again, to a very familiar photo. A younger Sara, a younger Laurel…and their father. “Quentin Lance,” says the screen.

Sara stops in her tracks.

The picture changes again: Clarissa Stein. Sara, as if through a haze, can hear Stein’s intake of breath.

“…I can find those you love.”

Another change: Ray and a smiling dark-haired woman.

“Anna Loring,” says the caption.

And then another dark-haired woman, also smiling, in a photo that’s clearly older, sepia-toned.

“Diane Rory,” it says.

Leonard swivels quickly, staring at his partner. Sara looks, too, the anger, fear and adrenaline in her own heart only compounded by the knowledge that they’re all in this boat.

Mick just stares.

“That’s my mom,” he says, in a tone that’s so stunned it barely sounds like the gruff career criminal—or bounty hunter—they’ve known. “But…”

“The Pilgrim clearly pulled people from all over our timelines,” Leonard says when Mick’s words simply trickle off. “If she could…”

But then the video of the bounty hunter is back, and she’s hauling someone else into the screen with her, and…

“Dad!” Jax cries, as the Pilgrim holds a gun to his father’s head.

“All of them will suffer and die because of you,” the Pilgrim says coldly. “Your family, friends, anyone you've ever cared about. Unless you surrender your younger selves to me.”

Rip draws a breath. “So she can erase you all from history,” he murmurs.

But the bounty hunter’s message continues. “If it's of any comfort, you won't feel a thing,” she says. “As for your loved ones, I cannot promise the same thing.”

The screen goes blank. Rip hits the table in frustration, taking a step backward. They all stare at him—and then at each other.

Somewhat to Leonard’s surprise, it’s the professor who breaks through his own distraction first. “Someone needs to tell Dr. Palmer,” Stein says, turning toward the captain. “His fiancée…”

Rip turns back around. “Dr. Stein, I hardly think…”

“No, you don’t,” the physicist says, a clapback Leonard would probably appreciate more if he wasn’t dealing with his own circling thoughts.  (What age is the Lisa the bounty hunter captured? And Sara’s father…the one from 2016 Star City? A younger version? If…)

But Stein’s continuing. “The Pilgrim has a woman he loved…and he needs to know that,” he tells Rip. “Wouldn’t you want to?”

The captain hesitates, then nods. Stein hurries off the ship, presumably toward the house, to tell Raymond that the bounty hunter has his late fiancée, who’s not late at the moment, although he’s currently married to and has a newborn son with another woman. Because that’s not going to be awkward.

Leonard looks toward Mick, but the other man has backed up to the wall, a blank look on his face as he stares at the now-dark screen. Jax is sitting on a jump seat, looking distraught. Sara’s rubbing her hands up and down her arms in a characteristic gesture of quiet unhappiness. She paces toward Leonard, eyes meeting his.

“This is…” she says quietly but doesn’t seem to know what else to say.

“Yeah.”

He doesn’t really know what to say either.

Does the Pilgrim have adult Lisa? Last he knew, she was out of town, trying (she said) to turn over a new leaf. He’d left a message for her, just in case, but she might not even have gotten it yet.

Or is it the girl he remembers? The helpless baby, the toddler who’d followed him on stubby legs, the scared and wary preschooler she’d been when he’d first gotten out of juvie. The preteen who’d just wanted, with a desperate enduring passion, to be “normal,” or the teenager who’d realized they’d never escape their father’s legacy and devoted herself to trying to live “down” to it?

And then Stein’s jogging back onto the bridge, and Raymond’s on his heels, the inventor grim-faced in a way that Leonard’s rarely seen him before.

“I want to take her down,” he says fiercely, coming to a halt. “Then I’ll come back to the Refuge. But I can’t let her do this.”

Rip nods to him. There’s an expression on the captain’s face that’s different, too. Resolve? Calculation? A combination? Leonard frowns.

“Strap in for takeoff,” the former Time Master says shortly, taking his own seat. “Once we’re in the timestream…I have a thought.”

What can they really do but listen? And Rip’s as good as his word for once, hopping out of his seat as soon as they’re on an even keel in the sea of green.

“Gideon, I take it that the Pilgrim's transmission included a carrier frequency through which she can be contacted?” he asks, raising his voice.

“Yes, Captain.”

“Hail her,” Rip says in a voice that has more than its own share of anger. “Please.”

“What are you planning to do?” Stein asks quietly.

But then the Pilgrim is there, on the screen, and Leonard feels both fear and rage rising in a tidal surge, although he struggles to keep both under wraps. He might acknowledge feelings more these days, but this isn’t the time or place to let them go. Sara moves toward his side, Mick to his other, and at least there’s that.

“Captain Hunter,” the woman says in acknowledgement.

Rip steps closer to the screen. “Look, I'm gonna make this easy.”

“I already have,” the Pilgrim cuts in curtly. “The lives of your team's nearest and dearest for their younger selves.”

But the captain’s not taking the crap, for once. “And I'm going to counter that demand with an offer of my own,” he grits out. “I will surrender myself…” He holds out his arms. “…if you spare the lives of my crew and their loved ones.”

Leonard lifts his head in surprise, and the others do the same. He’s already thinking furiously, though. It’s an interesting…

”…gesture,” the Pilgrim says, dismissively. “But…worthless. My directive is to eliminate your entire team, not just you.”

Rip tilts his head. ���Yes,” he says, and it’s almost a hiss. “Well, I'm not talking about me now. I'm offering you me in the past.”

For the first time, Mick’s head jerks up and he stares at the former Time Master. Leonard’s eyes narrow.

“Rip Hunter before he became a Time Master,” the captain continues. “Eliminate him, and this team will never have been.”

Never have been.

Leonard turns almost involuntarily, looking at Sara, who’s staring at the screen. If Rip never forms the team…

The Pilgrim stares back at Rip. All Leonard’s instincts tell him she’s taken by surprise as well.

“If this is some kind of trick...” she starts.

Rip cuts her off this time. “It's no trick,” he says, something like scorn in his voice. “Enough people have died at my expense. Gideon will send you the location.”

And then he cuts the transmission and turns away.

It’s rather a nice little fuck-you to the bounty hunter, but Leonard doesn’t feel capable of appreciating it right now.

“Hunter!” he says, raising his voice. “It occur to you that if you never form this team, that changes a hell of a lot for some of us!?”

No distraction for a restless crook looking for something new. No second chance for a lost assassin looking to find her way back to being a hero.

If they ever meet at all, it’d probably be as enemies. And all the things they’d changed in 1958, all the lives…

Raymond makes a slight noise and Leonard is reminded that this would change even more for him. Hell, there’s another new life at stake altogether.

Rip had stopped in his tracks, but he’s still facing away, shoulders slumped, silent. Sara takes a step forward, her own eyes narrowed. “Rip? I think that’s a pretty good question.”

“I’d answer it if I were you,” Raymond says, and damned if the Boy Scout doesn’t actually sound threatening.

And something else has occurred to Leonard. “You said before, that removing you, a former Time Master, from history would be ‘quite dangerous’ to the timeline. What changed your mind? What makes you think the Time Masters want that when they didn’t before?”

Rip’s shoulders heave in a sigh and he turns around.

“I know that this goes against the grain for you, Mr. Snart,” he says quietly. “But trust me.”

It’s Stein who answers, though. “You’re playing with lives here, captain,” the professor says. He sounds more tired and resigned than angry, but there’s steel in the words.

Rip looks at him. “You think I don’t know that? But I do have a plan. And I can’t tell you what it is. Not yet.”

The captain stares at his crew for another long minute.

“Trust me,” he says again. “What choice do you really have, right now?”

And frankly, Leonard has no response to that.

It’s just as well that the trip is a very quick one. Sara thinks that maybe she should try to get a moment with Leonard before they arrive, before they could…they could lose part of their lives. Part of her life she’s not willing to lose, not at all, three months on this ship and nearly a year in 1958, a grasp on the blood lust she didn’t have before, the memories of friends made and a thoroughly unexpected lover who’s brought a part of her back to life that she thought was forever dead.

But neither is she willing to lose her father, or Leonard’s sister, or any of the others. She sighs, watching Rip hold a quiet-voiced conversation with Ray, who still looks pissed at the former Time Master.

Leonard’s leaning against a jump seat next to her, and their arms are touching, as if he needs her to know he’s there. It’s a tiny gesture that’s nonetheless large, coming from a man who so notoriously is shy of contact and PDA, and Sara relishes it as they wait.

Mick ambles over, then, stopping in front of them. The big man has seemed almost…introspective?... during this whole thing, from Leonard’s younger self to his own toddler self, and now his mother’s capture by the Pilgrim. Sara knows, from bits and pieces, that Mick’s father had been an abusive asshole (although not, perhaps, on the lines of Lewis Snart), but she knows nothing about his mother, save that the woman had died in the fire teenaged Mick himself had accidentally started.

It must be incredibly hard, having her here, after so long. But that’s not what Mick’s here to talk about now. He stops in front of Sara, clearing his throat.

“Blondie,” he says almost formally. “Been an honor. Knowing you. Um. M’ sure it didn’t always seem like it, but it was.”

It’s the sort of thing that you just have to take as intended. “Thanks, Mick.” Sara manages a smile. “You too.”

Mick nods. Then he meets Leonard’s gaze, holding it a long moment. They won’t lose each other, at least, if Rip’s plan doesn’t work—or will they? Sara thinks. They’re not the men they were before. They might as well be two new people.

But after a moment, Mick nods again, and Leonard nods back, and that’s that. Sara shakes her head as she watches Mick walk away, then looks up at Leonard.

He’s staring after his partner, and there’s a muscle ticking in his jaw. He doesn’t look back down at her as he speaks.

“I’m not going to say it.”

Sara lifts an eyebrow. “Say what?”

“Anything.” Now he glances down at her. “If you don’t already know it, no point in saying it now.”

Sara nods. She leans against him as they watch Rip finish whatever he’s saying to Ray and turn to look at the rest of them.

“I love you too, crook,” she murmurs, and hears his quiet hum in response.

And then the captain is beckoning them over.

And then it’s time to go.

Leonard hates waiting. As it turns out, that’s precisely his role in this plan of Rip’s, at least to start. Because of course it is.

At least he’s waiting with Sara, crouched with her behind some sort of storage containers in this defunct Time Masters outpost. A few more minutes in each other’s company.

Oddly, he’s not expecting this particular plan of Rip’s to go haywire, and he’s not sure why. It’s still nagging at him, that the Time Masters would want to cancel out all the actions of one of their greatest bounty hunters. And now, those of a Time Master himself? He hadn’t missed that no one had answered any of his questions about that.

It just doesn’t make sense.

They watch Rip, Mick, Stein and Jax walk into the cavernous former…warehouse? It looks like a warehouse. Leonard can hear their voices, but not their words, not at a normal conversation volume. But he recognizes Mary Xavier when she walks into the echoing space from another direction.

And he recognizes the boy with her.

“I saw that kid back at the Refuge,” he says quietly to Sara. “That’s little Rip?”

Sara gives him a surprised glance. They watch the woman exchange a few words with the captain and the others…and then the Pilgrim enters too, crossing the floor toward them.

“Where's my dad?” Jax asks, raising his voice, as Mary Xavier withdraws. While the Pilgrim answers, they can’t quite hear her, and Leonard tenses again, uneasy with the lack of information. But there’s not much he can do, not right now, and they continue to wait, watching, as the two sides exchange words.

At one point, the Pilgrim looks Mick dead in the eye, and Leonard’s reminded that they’d been colleagues, once, of a sort. An odd thought. Then the bounty hunter scans the room, and Sara and Leonard freeze. But she doesn’t see anything, apparently, and turns back to Rip, holding up some sort of device.

Then James Jackson appears next to her. The man, still in his fatigues, staggers, and Jax takes a step forward. But the kid stops himself, and Rip says something to his younger self…and the boy starts to walk toward the bounty hunter.

“Remember, we wait for Ray's cue,” Sara says quietly as Leonard tenses again. They can both see the blue mote that’s following the Time-Master-to-be, lighting on the kid’s jacket.

The Pilgrim and the young Rip exchange a few words…and then Raymond explodes into full size, yelling “Now!” and aiming his blasters at the bounty hunter.

She freezes him, but Sara and Leonard are already moving in tandem, Sara with her bo in her hand and Leonard with gun primed. Sara rolls to avoid a blast, but Mick joins them from the other side, firing, and Leonard fires too.

The Pilgrim, in the middle, freezes both blasts, fire and ice, and then throwing her arms wide, sends them both hurling back. Leonard lands awkwardly, and by the time he’s back on his feet, Firestorm is there too, ablaze and attacking. And then Sara’s next to him, her bo in one hand and a knife in the other, and Mick’s back up and firing and so is Leonard. Rip has his fancy revolver in hand and…

The Pilgrim has them all frozen.

She turns slowly, watching them, and Leonard really wants to wipe the look off her face, the slightly smug expression that says the bounty hunter thinks she’s won. And maybe she has, because while Rip said he has an ace in the hole, Leonard has no idea what it is, and no idea where.

“I was willing to proceed in good faith,” she says, barely audible over the crackle of the cold gun in his ears. “Now you'll watch those closest to you die.”

Leonard’s trying to get just enough freedom to say something rude, when young Rip does him one better. That skinny kid, ignored by all of them, the same kid he’d watched try to snitch food back at the Refuge, pulls out a knife with a wicked blade and buries it without ceremony in the Pilgrim’s back.

He says something to her, but Leonard’s already straining against her control, trying to break it. Then the boy stabs the bounty hunter again, and the Pilgrim knocks him backward, but they’re free, they’re all free, and Sara sweeps the boy out of the way as all their weapons and powers hit the Pilgrim at once.

Satisfyingly, there’s not much left after that.

Sara watches Jax go to his shaken father, even as Mary Xavier sweeps back in to collect young Rip, who doesn’t seem all that fazed by the experience. The woman gives Sara a slight sly smile as they pass, and Sara has an odd feeling that, maybe, Rip had had more than one ace in the hole.

Then she looks at Leonard. Her lover gives her a small smile, but he’s not the sort to do anything effusive, not here and now, anyway.

Later. They have later.

“That's you,” Mick says, faintly marveling, as he watches young Rip leave with his adoptive mother.

Rip shrugs. “Yeah,” he acknowledges with a sigh. “I was a cutpurse from the age of five. Starved more than I ate.” He shakes his head. “I knew what I'd do if she tried to harm me.”

Leonard makes a faint noise of…something. Impossible, to ignore the similarities there. (Though Sara knows perfectly well both men will. Acknowledging them would be far too close to admitting they do have some respect for each other.)

“Lucky for us,” he drawls, “you didn't forget your roots.”

Rip sighs. “Believe me, Mr. Snart,” he murmurs, turning away. “I've tried.”

The Pilgrim’s ship isn’t precisely hidden, and whatever the bounty hunter’s flaws, she’d told the truth about their loved ones. They’re all there, angry or scared or some combination thereof but also healthy and whole, and Rip and Mary have them ushered onto the Waverider quickly. The Time Masters almost certainly have a means of tracking the other ship. Best to leave it as soon as possible. A pity, Leonard thinks.

They go back to the Refuge, after that (although Leonard never does find out to his satisfaction how Mary Xavier got young Rip to the meeting point). He also never finds out if Raymond speaks to his former fiancee or if he leaves the past in the past-- but the other man heads back to the house with barely a murmur of farewell before his year at the Refuge. Well, his wife and son are waiting for him.

Leonard himself contemplates looking in on his younger self—and baby Sara--again, but...he’s said what he can say. Time to let it go.

And Lisa is on the Waverider.

Despite the photo of adult Lisa the Pilgrim had used when contacting them earlier, it’s not the older Lisa she’d picked up. It’s the 7-year-old girl he remembers, all skinny arms and knobby knees and pigtails, who’s curled up on the bed, eyes wide and wary. She’s in the room that’d once been his, not the one he now shares with Sara, and she shrinks away as he appears in the door. Leonard winces.

“Hey,” he says, gentling his voice and keeping his distance. “It’s OK. I know it’s been weird. But we’re taking you home.”

Problem is, home’s not a haven either, and Leonard knows it. But what else can they do? Time, he realizes now, isn’t so much a straight line as it is a cat’s cradle, and too many things might change.

Lisa’s picked up her head a little, eyeing him. “Who was that lady?” she asks in a voice that’s not much louder than a whisper. “She said...she said she wanted to hurt Lenny.”

And Lenny, to her, is the 17-year-old big brother who’s probably back in juvie right now, the gawky kid just starting to get his height, hair still dark and just barely long enough to curl, the kid who still thinks he might be able to be something other than a criminal. Not this stranger older than her father, hard eyes and short, silvered hair, gun at his hip and ice in his soul.

At least she still remembers him at all.

Leonard takes a deep breath and lets it out. “She didn’t,” he tells his baby sister gently. “We stopped her.”

Something in his voice makes an impression, he thinks, and Lisa relaxes just a tiny bit more. “You did?” she says hopefully. “Is he home now? Is he here? Can I see him?”

Leonard has no idea precisely when the Pilgrim had plucked her from. “You will...in time.” If they don’t put younger Leonard back quickly, how will that affect her? He thinks of the times he’d gotten between Lewis and Lisa. Will she even be...

He can’t chase that thought. He can’t, not now. Not and still keep moving.

“Can I get you anything?” he asks instead. “Coloring books? Would you like to watch TV?”

Lisa perks up. “Cartoons?” she asks hopefully. They’d been a rare treat at home, for when Lewis wasn’t around. Leonard browses briefly through the list Gideon presents him with and pulls up “Beauty and the Beast,” leaving his sister behind with one last, regretful glance. He’d love, he’ll admit, to give her the hug their adult selves tend to eschew, but she wouldn’t react well to that from an apparent stranger.

Then he goes to check on Sara.

Of course, she’s not in their room. But her father is, sitting on the bed and taking off his shoes, glancing up as Leonard halts abruptly in the doorway.

“Who the hell are you?” Quentin Lance asks, eyes narrowing. He looks...well, frankly, he looks younger than Leonard, at whatever point in time the Pilgrim had pulled him from. Maybe even Sara’s age.

Leonard blinks at him. “Ah,” he manages. “Sorry. Just...looking for Sara.”

He takes a step backward, watches Quentin’s eyes dart around the room. There are unmistakable signs that his adult daughter isn’t the only resident, including Leonard’s parka draped over a chair and a pair of his boots by the desk.

Sara’s father looks back at him. Then he shakes his head.

“Well, I just took what they tell me was an amnesia pill,” he says, sighing and stretching out, resting his hands behind his head. “So, whoever you are, and whatever you are to my little girl, just...treat her right. And just maybe, we’ll manage to get along one of these days.”

Leonard can’t help a faint chuckle. “If I didn’t, she’d have long since kicked me to the curb,” he says quietly. “Or gutted me. Or both. Probably both.”

Quentin Lance chuckles too.

“That’s my girl,” he murmurs as he closes his eyes.

Leonard leaves with alacrity.

Sara had actually been looking for Leonard, to warn him that her dad was in their room. But as she sees him beating a hasty retreat from that corridor, she stifles a laugh, pausing until he joins her and they both head for the bridge.

“How's your sister?" she asks as they fall into step. She’d rather like to meet Lisa Snart, but the young girl she’d seen had been confused enough without adding more to the mix.

“She's a tough kid,” he drawls, then flicks a glance at her. “Just met your dad.”

Sara’s lips twitch. “He should be sleeping off that amnesia pill from Rip."

“Think he is now.” Leonard shakes his head, but he declines to say more about the encounter. Sara lets it go.

Rip’s speaking to Jax as they join the others, and Sara hears the word “Mogadishu.” Leonard pauses, but Sara turns away, noticing Mick sitting in a jump seat, watching her. Taking a deep breath, she strolls over.

“I gave it to her,” she says, leaning on the table next to him. “The amnesia pill. You sure you don’t want to...”

Mick makes a noise that’s part sigh and part grunt. He won’t meet Sara’s eyes.

“What would I say?” he says, looking downward. “Make sure you have working smoke detectors? Get out while you still can? Hey, look at what a...a monster...your little boy turned out to be?” He shakes his head. “If I didn’t already want to take the Time Masters down, I would now. Didn’t need to revisit any of this shit.”

Sara dares enough to reach out and put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re not a monster, Mick.”

But Mick Rory looks up at her then, and the pain in his eyes negates anything he’s ever said to her about not doing feelings.

“I killed my parents, Sara,” he says simply. And what can she even say to that?

Even if she’d found something, though, time’s up. Rip’s standing at the holotable now, looking around, and Leonard joins them, leaning on the table next to Sara as the others gather too.

“Time, the history from which your younger selves were removed, is beginning to set... as is evidenced by the change in Clarissa's memory,” Rip says, motioning to Stein. “It’s only a matter of time before it spreads to the others as well.”

Jax takes a deep breath. “Okay,” he says. “So how long do we have till these changes stick?”

“No one knows,” Mick rumbles, getting to his feet and moving to Leonard’s other side.

The captain’s nodding. “Which is why—after we put our guests back where and when they belong and after we retrieve Dr. Palmer and Ms. Saunders--we need to move swiftly to locate Vandal Savage if any of your lives are to be restored to normal,” he concludes. "Fortunately, there is one place in time that we know Savage to be.”

“You said he conquered the world in 2166," Mick observes, and Stein frowns.

“You also said it was too dangerous to strike at Savage while he was at the height of his powers,” the physicist points out.

Rip gives him an unhappy smile. “That it is,” he says, then takes a deep breath. “But with your younger selves removed from history, we have quite literally...run out of time.”

[quasar1967]

Tales To Astonish #2

Nov 1st 1958

When Aliens Meet

I Fell To The Centre Of The Earth

I Was A Man In Hiding

I Spent Eternity In A Deep Freeze

My Job, Capture A Martian 

[every-marvel-comic-in-order]

The Marvel Timeline #4, Housekeeping, The Incredible Hulk, Journey into Mystery!

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a magnificent Christmas and New Year! Don’t have much to say about myself this time except thanks for waiting! I’ve had a fantastic break full of photography, food, family and catching up on My Hero Academia. Anyway, please enjoy my 4th blog post. Apologies as this one is a bit on the shorter side, will return to trying to do 5+ comics a post in #5.

Housekeeping:

Ok, so me being the idiot that I am, noticed that last week I missed the Incredible Hulk (1962) #2 and skipped straight to Amazing Adult Fantasy (1961) #14. I also accidentally missed talking about Tales to Astonish (1958) #32 but there is so little to say about that issue I’ve elected to skip it, I will however come back and talk about it later in the project when and if it becomes more relevant. I’m upset that something like this happened this early in this project, but anyway here’s a quick summary of the issue that I missed.

The Incredible Hulk (1961) #2 “The Terror of the Toad Man” 1.5/5

Author: Stan Lee

Penciler: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

This issue continues pretty much straight after The Incredible Hulk #1 and one of the first things we see is the Hulk coloured in the light green that we know and love today. However, while his colour is much more accurate to modern appearances the character itself is still quite drastically different. Bruce Banner still transforms to the hulk at night as opposed to when he becomes angry.

Writing wise I grow a little weary of the Hulk. Whilst the Fantastic Four are almost constantly engaging to me it is very much the opposite with this run, the characters are yet to be developed in any meaningful way and although lighter than in the previous issue there is still some amount of propaganda here, the military is presented in a very one note positive manner here despite their hatred for the hero of the run. Colours and art wise this series so far has been all over the shop as well, Kirby’s art just isn’t as dynamic here and I partly believe it has something to do with the amount of dialogue featured. The issue displays walls upon walls of text without much going on in the panels themselves.

Plot wise, this issue features the 4th alien invasion! The Toad Men seek to gain control of earth and threaten it with a large magnet which will pull the moon out of Earths orbit and destroy it. The only way to stop it is to surrender Earth to the Toad Men. The military obviously seek to stop it but are unable to figure out how and amongst their feud with the Hulk they begrudgingly decide to trust Banner who manages to reverse the magnet with a controlled burst of Gamma Radiation. I struggle to care much about this plot sadly, if a similar story were to happen to the Fantastic Four I might be a bit more open to its flaws.

Overall, it’s a boring issue with too much reading and inconsistent art. I’m very eager for the point in this project where the Hulk becomes a more interesting and dynamic character. 1.5/5

Journey Into Mystery (1951) #84 “The Mighty Thor vs. The Executioner” 2.5/5

Author: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber

Penciller: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

This issue continues the story from Journey into Mystery #83 and is actually the first appearance of Jane Foster who as we all know will later go on the be worthy of Thor’s powers herself. She is first introduced however as Doctor Donald Blakes nurse and yet another ‘damsel in distress’. This character is certainly growing on me, I’ve heard some quite negative things about early comic Thor but I find him quite charming. I am still excited for the moment when it is revealed that Donald Blake is Thor and not just a human worthy of his power.

This issue particularly has a similar issue albeit not quite as egregious to The Incredible Hulk #2, huge walls of text with not much going on the panels featuring them, however the art is much more fun and colourful in this issue.

The plot see’s Doctor Donald Blake and Jane Foster travel to a war-torn country in an effort to offer medical aid to the sick, on the way they get in multiple fights with the local communist forces. Despite it’s plot the propaganda is somehow kept to a minimum.

Overall, this comic is fun and dynamic with great art and a so-so plot and side characters, I upsettingly don’t have much to say about this issue. 2.5/5

The Incredible Hulk (1961) #3 “Banished to Outer Space” 3.5/5

Author: Stan Lee

Penciler: Jack Kirby

Inker: Dick Ayers

The Incredible Hulk #3 is to me a vast improvement over The Incredible Hulk #2, this issue sees a more contained Hulk story that seems to be a little more about the Hulk than the US Military and such. This issue also debuts the Ringmaster, a C list villain who will later give Peter Parker quite a bit of trouble in the early issues of The Amazing Spider-man, I am greatly looking forward to the point where the comics will have super casual crossover such as sharing villains etc.

The art here seems to be a huge improvement, the colours are much more consistent and vibrant than in the previous 2 issues in the run, and whilst the walls of text are still more prevalent in these Incredible Hulk comics than others it feels like, I believe Jack Kirby was given a bit more freedom in presenting these alongside his art. Writing wise it certainly is a Hulk story, the plot is all over the place and ridiculous and honestly it’s a shade I like on the character. His plots in the past have always had a sense of ‘stupidness’ to them but this particular story seems to embrace it fully.

The issue sees the Hulk get banished to space by the US Military to exile him from society. Rick Jones is tasked with tricking the Hulk into getting into the rocket but as he is exiled Rick Jones sets the rocket to return to Earth. Before the rocket returns however Banner is exposed to lethal cosmic radiation and his mind is tied to Rick Jones back on Earth, this allows Rick to control Banner when he is in Hulk form. At the same time this is happening the Ringmaster is going from village to village as a traveling circus, hypnotising the crowd and stealing all their valuables. Rick Jones is one of the victims and it is through him that the Hulk fights the Ringmaster. After defeating the traveling circus the Hulk and Rick Jones escape the US Military that has followed them there. There is no clear resolution to the hypnotism the Hulk faces in this comic.

Overall it’s a fun issue that seems to be moving past my personal issues with the Incredible Hulk run so far, its art is a drastic improvement and the writing is still quite flawed but is certainly more enjoyable than other plots in the run. 3.5/5

Thank you for reading! I know this one is a little on the shorter side both in terms of written reviews and comics covered but rest assured next post will be mostly back to formula. Trying my hardest to get these out whenever I can! As always you can contact me on discord at rina♡#2107 and follow me on twitter at @sabrinafgc or @lockedSabi. Thank you so much!

[architectdesignerwriter]

Design Inspiration: The 1958 Jaguar XK150 3.4 Litre Fixed-Head Coupé

DESIGN INSPIRATION #God #thankyou #blessed #love #life #live #Jaguar #England #UK #motorcar #red #saloon #coupe #artist #craft #work #design #automobile #perfection #grace #speed #style

THE 1958 JAGUAR XK150 3.4 LITRE FIXED-HEAD DROPHEAD COUPÉ I am inspired by many things, and especially beautiful motorcars. In my previous book “Tales of the Night Watchman” I wrote a (fictional) story about an astonishing Jaguar Series III XJ6, one of the last hand-built models ever made. I have never experienced anything more beautifully made. I love Jaguars, and a vintage example is quite…

[marvelinorder]

Tales to Astonish (1958) #32 [D Story] recap

"The Girl in the Black Hood" by Stan Lee & Don Heck

Our story this time around is called "The Girl in the Black Hood" and notably it features the character [REDACTED-- sorry, that's a spoiler]. See its title page below.

The story begins at a photographer named May Dusa's gallery, where patrons wonder about why she never shows her face. Not all of them are here to admire her photos, however...

The crook, whose name is Casper Jones, makes an appointment with Ms. Dusa with the intent to rob her. While she's setting up, he explores the premises a bit more than he should.

I'm gonna start calling money lettuce too from now on.

May calls Casper in to his appointment finally, but he no longer wants his picture taken. He informs her of his intent to rob her and tells her to show her face. She is, surprisingly, totally chill about him taking all her money but she draws the line at showing her face! That is, until he pulls this stunt:

May Dusa has had it! She decides to lift her veil at last! But this is much more than Casper had bargained for...

gasp! Okay, who didn't see that one coming? I know I sure didn't...

The End! See you next time for Incredible Hulk #2. :D

[katherineschileanlitblog]

10 Interesting Fiction Books

Curfew by Jose Donoso

“Donoso’s engrossing novel spans 24 hours in the stifling and oppressive political atmosphere of 1985 Santiago under General Augusto Pinochet’s military regime.

A leftwing singer returns after 13 years of exile in Paris. His fame now faded and his politics softened, Mañungo Vera is no longer the revolutionary he once was. His visit coincides with the death of Matilde Neruda, widow of the Nobel prize-winning poet and icon of the Chilean left, Pablo Neruda.

Vera is reacquainted with old friends and comrades as they prepare for the funeral. But, caught out by the curfew, he is forced to spend an eventful night on the streets with his former lover, during which they have a dangerous run-in with her suspected torturer.

Donoso paints a harrowing picture of life under the repressive regime, and shows how negotiating its daily horrors damages both individuals and society. He also shines a harsh light on the left, as factions squabble and jockey for advantage from the funeral.

This intense, introspective tale reflects the political and spiritual decay of the nation, after more than a decade of dictatorship.” (Khaneka, P. 2015, April 9. The best books on Chile: start your reading here. 2020, September 27.)

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

“Allende’s classic, hugely successful family saga is a masterwork of magic-realism. Fusing the personal with the political and fact with fantasy, it tells Chile’s recent history through several generations of the Trueba family, ending with a savage military coup that leads to the death of a president.

The principal protagonist, Esteban Trueba, is used to getting his own way – in his family (as an irascible patriarch), on his farm (as a wealthy landowner), and in the country (as a rightwing senator): “The day we can’t get our hands on the ballot boxes before the vote is counted, we’re done for.”

When a socialist candidate finally wins the presidential election, Trueba backs a coup. But in the ferocious denouement that follows, he finds himself sidelined as brutality and terror spiral under the newly installed military regime.

The novel celebrates the spirit and resilience of the Trueba women, which shine through the political tumult and family turbulence in this clever, witty and stunningly assured debut.

Allende’s father was a cousin of President Salvador Allende, who was overthrown and died during a military coup in 1973. In 1975, the author fled to Venezuela, and later moved to the US. She has said the book is an “attempt to recreate the country I had lost, the family I had lost”. (Khaneka, P. 2015, April 9. The best books on Chile: start your reading here. 2020, September 27.)

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende 

“Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquín takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him.

As Eliza embarks on her perilous journey north in the hold of a ship and arrives in the rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco, she must navigate a society dominated by greedy men. But Eliza soon catches on with the help of her natural spirit and a good friend, the Chinese doctor Tao Chi’en. What began as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom.

A marvel of storytelling, Daughter of Fortune confirms once again Isabel Allende's extraordinary gift for fiction and her place as one of the world's leading writers” (Amazon)

The Savage Detective by Roberto Bolano

“In this dazzling novel, the book that established his international reputation, Roberto Bolaño tells the story of two modern-day Quixotes--the last survivors of an underground literary movement, perhaps of literature itself--on a tragicomic quest through a darkening, entropic universe: our own. The Savage Detectives is an exuberant, raunchy, wildly inventive, and ambitious novel from one of the greatest Latin American authors of our age.” (Amazon)

By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano 

“As through a crack in the wall, By Night in Chile's single night-long rant provides a terrifying, clandestine view of the strange bedfellows of Church and State in Chile. This wild, eerily compact novel―Roberto Bolano's first work available in English―recounts the tale of a poor boy who wanted to be a poet, but ends up a half-hearted Jesuit priest and a conservative literary critic, a sort of lap dog to the rich and powerful cultural elite, in whose villas he encounters Pablo Neruda and Ernst Junger. Father Urrutia is offered a tour of Europe by agents of Opus Dei (to study "the disintegration of the churches," a journey into realms of the surreal); and ensnared by this plum, he is next assigned―after the destruction of Allende―the secret, never-to-be-disclosed job of teaching Pinochet, at night, all about Marxism, so the junta generals can know their enemy. Soon, searingly, his memories go from bad to worse. Heart-stopping and hypnotic, By Night in Chile marks the American debut of an astonishing writer.” (Amazon)

Distant Star by Roberto Bolano 

“The narrator saw that man for the first time in 1971 or 1972, when Allende was still President of Chile. He wrote distant and cautious poems, seduced women, and aroused indefinable mistrust in men. He saw him again after the coup, but at the time he was unaware that this aviator, who wrote Bible verses with the smoke of a WWII plane, and the poet were one, and the same. And so we are told the story of an impostor, of a man of many names, with no other moral than aesthetics, dandy of horror, murderer and photographer of fear, a barbarian artist who took his creations to their last and lethal consequences.” (Amazon)

Ways of Going Home by Alejandro Zambra

“Alejandro Zambra's Ways of Going Home begins with an earthquake, seen through the eyes of an unnamed nine-year-old boy who lives in an undistinguished middle-class housing development in a suburb of Santiago, Chile. When the neighbors camp out overnight, the protagonist gets his first glimpse of Claudia, an older girl who asks him to spy on her uncle Raúl. In the second section, the protagonist is the writer of the story begun in the first section. His father is a man of few words who claims to be apolitical but who quietly sympathized―to what degree, the author isn't sure―with the Pinochet regime. His reflections on the progress of the novel and on his own life―which is strikingly similar to the life of his novel's protagonist―expose the raw suture of fiction and reality.” (Amazon)

The Shadow of What We Were by Luis Sepulveda

“Sepulveda packs more than three decades of Chilean history into this lean and darkly humorous novel. Three aging revolutionaries-Cacho Salinas, Lolo Garmendia, and Lucho Arancibia-reunite to pull off one final, spectacular heist, gathering in a hideout to await the arrival of the Shadow, a legendary Robin Hood-type anarchist. As the comrades with their graying beards, thinning hair, and chubby physiques wait, they revisit the past and ruminate on losses: after Pinochet's coup, Cacho and Lolo fled to Europe, while Lucho, whose brothers were murdered by the regime, stayed and endured torture that has left him brain damaged. Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to the trio, the Shadow lies dead on the sidewalk, struck down by a freak accident. Although the narrator frequently runs away with the story, trailing off into history lessons, Sepulveda maintains a high level of suspense as the police investigate the Shadow's death, and Cacho, Lolo, and Lucho decide whether to go through with their plan, turning their collective sorrows into a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved." (Amazon)

Tengo Miedo Torero by Pedro Lemebel

“This is a love story in Santiago de Chile in 86, the year of the Pinochet attack. A boy from the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front, who is going to participate in the action, lives a sentimental relationship with a gay man who supports him, without knowing-knowing it, in his political plans. But they fail and their relationship ends as well. I am afraid of a bullfighter is the verse of a song that Sara Montiel used to perform. His words suggest, beyond theatricality and melancholy, the recondite interiority of a country that, as defined by the author, sounds very little, it sounds like credit, it does not sound the impossible.” (Amazon) 

Frozen in Time: Murder at the Bottom of the World by Theodore Jerome Cohen 

“The trail from a major theft at the Banco Central de Chile in Talcahuano following the Great Chilean Earthquake of May 22, 1960 leads to Base Bernardo O'Higgins, a wind- and snow-swept Chilean Army outpost on the North Antarctic Peninsula. When Chilean Army 1SGT Leonardo Rodríguez fails to return from a seal hunt in the waters around the base, two Chilean Navy non-commissioned officers, CWO Raul Lucero and CPO Eduardo Osorio, become LCDR Cristian Barbudo's prime theft and murder suspects. Fearing he will die, Barbudo reveals the identity of his two suspects to visiting scientist Ted Stone, thereby placing Stone's life in jeopardy. But who can Stone trust with this information, if it comes to that, to see justice done? This story is a work of fiction based on real events that took place between 1958 and 1965. It is a tale of greed, betrayal, and murder-one in which the reader is given a window into the frozen world at the bottom of the Earth that few people ever will read about, much less experience. Among other things, it explores why, though seemingly unfair, bad things happen to good people; how the battle between good and evil can change forever even the most innocent person; and most of all, the role deception plays in Nature, Man, and Life.” (Amazon)

[allbestnet]

All-Time 1000 Books  (600-700)

601. A Handful of Dust (1934) by Evelyn Waugh

602. Revolutionary Road (1961) by Richard Yates

603. Franny and Zooey (1961) by J.D. Salinger

604. Sorrows of Young Werther (1787) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

605. The Reader (1995) by Benhardq Schlink

606. Wise Blood (1952) by Flannery O'Connor

607. Lord Jim (1900) by Joseph Conrad

608. Shutter Island (2003) by Dennis Lehane

609. The Power of Myth (1988) by Joseph Campbell

610. Noughts & Crosses (2001) by Malorie Blackman

611. Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson

612. Cutting for Stone (2009) by Abraham Verghese

613. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005) by Lisa See

614. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (2010) by Rebecca Skloot

615. Ella Enchanted (1997) by Gail Carson Levine

616. Chosen (1967) by Chaim Potok

617. Disgrace (1999) by J.M. Coetzee

618. The Man Without Qualities (1942) by Robert Musil

619. Master and Commander (1969) by Patrick O'Brian

620. Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960) by Scott O'Dell

621. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) by Muriel Spark

622. Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955) by Crockett Johnson

623. Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

624. American Pastoral (1997) by Philip Roth

625. The Zombie Survival Guide (2003) by Max Brooks

626. The Great Divorce (1945) by C.S. Lewis

627. Room (2010) by Emma Donoghue

628. Jacques the Fatalist (1796) by Denis Diderot

629. Main Street (1920) by Sinclair Lewis

630. Patriot Games (1987) by Tom Clancy

631. Maximum Ride by James Patterson

632. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (1978) by Judi Barrett

633. V (1963) by Thomas Pynchon

634. Solaris (1961) by Stanislaw Lem

635. Harriet the Spy (1964) by Louise Fitzhugh

636. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

637. The Second Sex (1949) by Simone de Beauvoir

638. Sex (1992) by

639. Dead Sea Scrolls by

640. Malazan Book of the Fallen (2011) by Steven Erikson

641. Deliverance (1970) by James Dickey

642. Nineteen Minutes (2007) by Jodi Picoult

643. Firm (1991) by John Grisham

644. John Adams (2001) by David G. McCullough

645. Narziss and Goldmund (1930) by Hermann Hesse

646. On Writing (2000) by Stephen King

647. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Arthur C. Clarke

648. The Westing Game (1978) by Ellen Raskin

649. Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960) by William L. Shirer

650. The Exorcist (1971) by William Peter Blatty

651. Sarah's Key (2006) by Tatiana de Rosnay

652. A Good Man Is Hard to Find (1955) by Flannery O'Connor

653. Fablehaven (2010) by Brandon Mull

654. Art of War by Sunzi

655. Cannery Row (1945) by John Steinbeck

656. Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1963) by John Le Carre

657. Summer by Jenny Han

658. Pilgrim's Progress (1678) by John Bunyan

659. The Winds of War (1971) by Herman Wouk

660. Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James

661. Eugene Onegin (1833) by Aleksandr Pushkin

662. Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

663. The Island of Dr Moreau (1896) by H.G. Wells

664. Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon

665. A Moveable Feast (1964) by Ernest Hemingway

666. Red Storm Rising (1986) by Tom Clancy

667. Villette (1853) by Charlotte Bronte

668. The Tipping Point (2000) by Malcolm Gladwell

669. Pedro Paramo (1955) by Juan Rulfo

670. I Know This Much Is True (1998) by Wally Lamb

671. Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz

672. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

673. Mill on the Floss (1860) by George Eliot

674. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

675. The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) by Thomas Pynchon

676. The Hero with a Thousand Faces (2008) by Joseph Campbell

677. George's Marvellous Medicine (1981) by Roald Dahl

678. Beowulf by

679. The Third Man by Graham Greene

680. Georgina Kincaid by Richelle Mead

681. Being and Nothingness by Jean Paul Sartre

682. Jimmy Corrigan, The Smarest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware

683. A Study in Scarlet (1887) by Arthur Conan Doyle

684. The Tale of Despereaux (2003) by Kate DiCamillo

685. A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997) by David Foster Wallace

686. Fantastic Mr. Fox (1970) by Roald Dahl

687. Politics by Aristotle

688. A Bend in the River (1979) by VS Naipaul

689. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

690. An Abundance of Katherines (2006) by John Green

691. It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

692. Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch

693. Fathers and Sons (1862) by Ivan Turgenev

694. Abhorsen (2003) by Garth Nix

695. Witch of Blackbird Pond (1958) by Elizabeth George Speare

696. The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) by Leo Tolstoy

697. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry (1976) by Mildred D. Taylor

698. It's a Magical World by Bill Watterson

699. Novels by Jane Austen

700. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

[inknerd]

January Wrap-Up 2021

I haven’t done a wrap-up in a while, mostly because I’ve been tired and haven’t read as much. But since the new year I’ve been reading more (also we read a lot of fiction for uni now, so that helps) so I felt like doing a wrap-up could be fun!

EVERONE'S AN ALIEBN WHEN UR AN ALIEBN TOO by JOMNY SUN ★★★☆☆ | 304 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2017

Comment: This was a Christmas present, and I’d been wanting to read it for quite some time. While somewhat thought-provoking and original, it didn’t blow me away as much as I’d hoped it would. All in all it was fine.

THE BURNING GOD by R. F. KUANG ★★★★☆ | 640 pages | 3 days to read | Published 2020

Comment: So the conclusion to this very bloody and gruesome series was as bloody and gruesome as the two books before it, lol. I actually liked this book more than the second one, mostly because the main character didn’t frustrate me as much anymore. Unlikable mains still aren’t my favourite, but this book series has my respect for what it is, and for what it did with the characters it choose to have.

SUMMER BIRD BLUE by AKEMI DAWN BOWMAN ★★☆☆☆ | 375 pages | 1 day to read | Published 2018

Comment: So mostly read this because I heard it had ace rep in it (which it has! and it’s good) but neither the plot nor the characters felt super engaging to me. It reminded me of The Astonishing Color of After, but it failed to invoke the same intense feelings as that book did.

MIDNIGHT SUN by STEPHANIE MEYER ★★★☆☆ | 914 pages | 6 days to read | Published 2020

Comment: Okay, most of the stars are nostalgia points. I couldn’t NOT read this, 13-year-old me would never forgive myself. I now have a newfound appreciation for Esme and Emmett, and a newfound dislike for Rosalie and Edward, lol.

WHEN THE TIGER CAME DOWN THE MOUNTAIN by NGHI VO ★★★★★ | 128 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2020

Comment: This is the second book in The Singing Hills Cycle, and I actually like this more than the first one! It could be because Vo’s way of writing takes some time to get used to, but once I understood the way she writes and constructs her narrative, I could really sit down and just enjoy the story. Now I really like Vo’s writing, and can’t wait to read more from her!

MR FOE by J. M. COETZEE ★☆☆☆☆ | 167 pages | 3 days to read | Published 1986

Comment: This was a book read for class, and it really wasn’t my cup of tea. It’s a rewriting and writing back of Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, but I didn’t think it was interesting or investing enough to make me care about what it was trying to say.

WIDE SARGASSO SEA by JEAN RHYS ★★★☆☆ | 171 pages | 1 day to read | Published 1966

Comment: This was a reread for me, also for class. I quite like this rewriting of Jane Eyre from “the mad woman in the attic’s” perspective. 

CROSSING THE MANGROVE by MARYSE CONDÉ ★★☆☆☆ | 251 pages | 1 day to read | Published 1989

Comment: Another book for class. This was interesting, but the kind of book I’d read voluntarily in my free time.

HUNGRY HEARTS: 13 TALES OF FOOD & LOVE by ELSIE CHAPMAN (Red.)  ★★★☆☆   | 358 pages | 1 week to read | Published 2019

Comment: As per course for short story collections, some of them I liked, some of them I didn’t like. In general this was a very entertaining, as well as inclusive, read.

THE KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD by ALEJO CARPENTIER ★★☆☆☆ | 165 pages | 1 day to read | Published 1949

Comment: Another book for class, and another book I probably wouldn’t have read outside of school.

THINGS FALL APART by CHINUA ACHEBE ★★★★☆ | 315 pages | 2 days to read | Published 1958

Comment: Also read for class and another reread for me! I really enjoy Achebe’s writing, and I find it odd that I haven’t checked out any of his other books yet. I really like this novel and it’s always so interesting to discuss in class.

VOICE OF AMERICA by E. C. OSONDU ★★☆☆☆ | 224 pages | 2 days to read | Published 2009

Comment: A short story collection I read for class. This I liked more after we’d discussed it in class, but it still was not my preferred kind of short stories.

[bookloversofbath]

Once the Mullah: Persian Folk Tales :: Alice Geer Kelsey soon to be presented for sale on the outstanding BookLovers of Bath web site!

New York, London & Toronto: Longmans, Green & Co., 1958, Hardback in dust wrapper.

2nd printing, first published 1954. Contains: Black & white drawings; Illustrated endpapers and blanks; Glossary;

From the cover: Unless you met him in Persia, you have never heard such tales as are told about the Mullah. The Mullah, who is teacher, judge and priest, has astonishing solutions for his neighbors problems. The disputed rich mans chicken was divided with delightful justice; the lost shoes are found with a judicious use of mint and a donkeys tail. But, his s…

Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded with heavier fading to the spine. A little age-toning to the edges of the text block. Text complete, clean and tight.

Red boards with Blue titling to the Spine. 137 pages. 7¾” x 5¼”.

Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I charm you with my array of books shown in my Fiction Author: K catalogue?

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j howard jacobson jonathan cape 9780224101974

more than a game the story of crickets early years john major harperpress 9780007183647

quayside bristol the city and its port in recent years frank shipsides robert wall redcliffe press 1872971962

flora britannica the definitive new guide to wild flowers plants and trees richard mabey sinclair stevenson 18561937721

irek mukhamedov the authorised biography jeffery taylor fourth estate 185702074x

the opium eater selections from the autobiography thomas de quincey the cresset press

frank richards the chap behind the chums mary cadogan viking 0 670 81946 8

a midnight clear william wharton jonathan cape 0224020501

meriwether nevin tom doherty associates 0 312 86307 1

Champions in Conflict The Bath Rugby Revolution Dick Tugwell Robson Books 1 86105 213 8

for fuhrer and fatherland ss murder and mayhem in wartime britain roderick de normann sutton publishing 0750912820

Once the Mullah: Persian Folk Tales :: Alice Geer Kelsey Once the Mullah: Persian Folk Tales :: Alice Geer Kelsey soon to be presented for sale on the…