That'll Throw The Facebook Mods Into Confusion
Don't worry, it doesn't have anything to do with a certain orange-hued South Canadian cult. It does have to do with certain publications that end in "-zine" in case you were wondering, and even if you weren't. First of all, we need to do a little definition, because to military history anoraks of seventeenth and early eighteenth warfare, a 'Magazine' was a large depot of stored military materials. Art!
That's 'HMS Barham' exploding in 1941 after being torpedoed in her -
Magazine.
Let us now consult the ever-faithful 'Collins Concise Dictionary', which tells us: "A periodical publication containing articles, fiction, photographs, etcetera" which is far less martial and violent than battleships blowing up. The term comes down to us via the French 'Magasin', itself derived from the Italian "Magazinno", which ultimately comes from the Arabic (Not Greek or Latin hurrah!) "Makhazin", meaning 'Storehouses'. Hmmm, so the martial and violent origins. Art!
This is the one we're interested in, from 1731. Originally composed of reprints, it later also featured original works. Art!
 |
| Enter the "Megazine" |
Ah yes, a play on the term 'Magazine'. This is a publication put out by Fleetway, when they still published "2000AD", and derives from Ol' Stony Face's primary location, Mega-City One, a.k.a. the Big Meg. Art!
This is the first 20 copies, which came out monthly. Allow me to break down the first edition, because if I went to the bother of taking pictures, you are most certainly going to see them, like them or no. Art!
This was a special gate-fold cover that gave any browser or purchaser a very brief intro to the world of JD. Next up was the credits page, all together rather than placed in the strips themselves. Art!
Being published only once a month rather than once a week meant that artists could work on longer stories thanks to a longer deadline, and they were all in colour. Art!
This is where they switched to a fortnightly schedule, and re-numbered issues from 'Number One', which made compiling them in order a bit of a nuisance. Having to crank issues out once every two weeks now meant that at least one story wasn't coloured. Not a problem when the artists were up to scratch, such as - Art!
"Maelstrom" with art by Colin McNeil. You have to pay attention to the artwork here as it fills in gaps the narrative doesn't make clear. Art!
Then, almost 30 years ago - a timeframe that makes me wince - they changed the format again, and re-set the numbering back to 'One' again.
What you may have guessed from Volume Two Issue One is that Your Humble Scribe never bothered to open up any of the freebies that came with the Megazine, so there are badges, tattoos and even a very small jigsaw still gracing their respective front covers. One presumes these were to tempt browsers into becoming buyers. Art!
Behold the "Red Dwarf Smegazine", which title was a double pun. Firstly, it came out about two years after the first "Megazine", so it can be seen as either ripping it off or paying homage. Secondly, the term "Smeg" was consistently used by characters, especially Lister, as a futuristic insult-cum-swear that the censors might squint disapprovingly at, but whom couldn't actually ban.
It only lasted 23 issues but Conrad is pretty sure he has all of them in a box somewhere in the Comic Mountain.
Another variety of 'Magazine' did occur to me after looking back at the beginning of this Intro, and if Art will put down his bowl of coal -
The band, that is, who were pretty good whilst they were around, and they had the good grace to break up in 1981 and not churn out the same stuff slightly re-arranged. They didn't do themselves any favours with that debut album cover, mind.
For Shizzles And Giggles
Conrad was pondering upon the subject of fire-engines, because he chews these sorts of things over whenever he walks Edna or strolls into Lesser Sodom, and seemed to recall that "Thunderbirds" featured several. Here's one that actually belongs to International Rescue. Art!
Scale engineering model
As the blurb has it, the 'Firecat' can shoot either water or foam from the rear-mounted cannon. They also mention 'nitro-glycerin' shells, and I think they may have confused the explosive used, because nitro is one thing you don't want to propel onwards with a sudden shock.
This vehicle would be just the thing to tackle a large flammable fuel fire, wouldn't it?
What a shame IR doesn't exist in real life, said a certain pygmy dictator. Art!
More Of Mister Wright-On
Our journey with Bernie Wrightson continues, with yet another standalone picture from the "Print" webpage that gives absolutely no details about it. Art!
I'm guessing that this is a winter landscape, judging by the bare trees and the footsteps in what one presumes is fallen snow. Note the body - alive? dead? Unconscious? - being hauled off by the central character, and the subtly defined mountains limned by a setting sun.
Hmmmm. A bit of reverse-Googling shows that this is a close-up of a larger picture. Art!
"Hunter"
This appears to have been a painting that Bernie did in 1976, not for commission, just out of sheer creative zest. It is apparently a vampire returning to his lair with the latest meatbag victim, which he thought one of his best works. It is currently in a private collection and te owner has 0% intention of selling. So now we know.
Proof That Italy Works Differently
What kind of fauna does the Italian peninsula play home to? The usual farm livestock, domestic pets such as cats and dogs, and birds that survive the Italian passion for shooting them out of the air. Perhaps - goats*?
A quick Google reveals that they also have bears, boars and badgers.
But - elephants? Art!
The Roman who filmed this had trouble driving, he was laughing so much. The pachyderm was headed for the supermarket seen in the background, "Eurospin". Calabrian police confirmed later that the animal had escaped from a zoo and had been returned there.
The BBC news-people reporting on this couldn't resist a joke.
The BBC contacted the police, but authorities avoided addressing the elephant in the room and were unable to confirm the story.
Let me guess, it was captured on a trunk road?
There was another story about a black bear cooling off in a South Canadian's backyard pool, but two feel-good animal stories in a single blog is too much.
Dog Buns!
The BBC News website had an article on employment legislation in Australia, which Conrad thought had potential, as it would link in to any number of Youtube Reddit stories about how abusive, invasive and slave-working South Canadian employers are. I even went so far as to look for suitable stories on YT.
Now, the item has dropped off the webpage and I can't find it under any search terms.
This is annoying and I'm not going to take an absence for an answer. Art!
I need to mocker the Ocker!
Finally -
On the 07:45 - 15:45 schedule this week, whoopee! This means a finish early enough that I can get up to productive mischief elsewhere.
* Chamois. Close enough.
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