"Post No. 613"

That copy of the 1972 DC Comics' Weird Mystery tales #2 came in (see above and click onto for larger image), and it was really more interesting than I thought. Started off with a host called "Maas", who reminds me a bit of Charlton's "Dr. Graves" doing an intro to a tale of a barbarian chief who's bent on destroying an industrial complex. Whether this is set in the past before recorded time, or actually in the far future, Kirby leaves up to the reader to decide. Quite good, actually, with a lot of detail and of a sort not common to the work he was otherwise doing at DC at that time.

This was followed by a tale of The Titanic, pretty loosely based (although it is stated it's based on a true story) of a survivor of that tragedy whose father tells him to stay out of the water as it had claimed his father and his father before him, and would now claim the son as well. Well, the boy survives but stays clear of the water until he's a grown man whose plane goes down in the ocean, but he finds an old life preserver on a floating iceberg that he clings to and it saves his life. Ironically, the preserver was from (You guessed it) The Titanic. After this incident, the man never has a fear of the ocean taking his life, but years later, he still dies in a boating accident.

The cover to this issue was rather striking. It's one of those latter and scarce grey-toned ones DC became well-known for in the 1950-60's, with The Titanic sinking as passengers paddle away in life boats, and the spectre of death in the background against a royal blue sky (as shown above).

Another comic that arrived was the Millie the Model Queen-Size Special #7 (Marvel/1968), which was the first humorous-type Millie special since 1964 (those between years the character becoming one of romance, instead). Such a time-piece this is capturing what the artists and writers seemed to think, at least, the "hip" generation looked like, with Millie in a mini-skirt and go-go boots, and her boyfriend, "Clicker", in a nehru jacket, looking at pop-art posters in a store run by a hippie.

Thus, two more books in now from two sets I'm on the way to completing; the 70's DC Kirby run and the silver-age Marvel Giants.

In other news... on one of my days off this week I went down to my mom's house and cut out a good four foot stack of smaller trees growing amid her backyard bushes, bagged up trimmings left over from January's ice storm, removed the last metal post from her backyard (that my late father had sunk to hold riks of wood), and other general yard cleanup for her. I still have a little to finish on the bushes, and then attempt to at least cut down level to the ground two old posts which at one time were used for clothes lines so I can have a easier and smoother yard to mow come this Spring. The only way I know to do this is use the chain saw to cut these down to about eight inches, and then quarter them and knock them out. I certainly will not be digging them up as they're more than likely yet another two foot into the ground and set in cement. Also I still have at least one old stump I'd like to remove from there. (Always somethin'.)