Invisible Dick

A silly post, every once in a while, is good for the soul.

With that in mind, 

the double entendre of "Invisible Dick",

especially to my old British pals, 

is irresistible. 

Back in the, now, distant past, I lived in Birmingham, England 

and one little known fact, comic book related, 

about Birmingham, is that it was the location of the first ever Comic Convention held in England.

That was 1968 and this was the cover, of one of the publications that they produced for the event.

Drawn by the talented Mik (Mike) Higgs, who, at the time was drawing The Cloak, for the British comic book POW!

Steve Moore and Phil Clarke 

rounded out editorial crew.

Steve was a writer and working at the offices of IPC, down in London, while Phil was a budding comic book dealer and Nostalgia & Comics was still a glint in his eye.

Aspect, was a great little fanzine and was also published by the talented Steve Moore.

Orpheus, which

was essentially Aspect number three, has the distinction of being one of the earliest fanzines that I ever bought.

 I admit, that I bought it because 

Barry (not yet Windsor) Smith, had contributed to it and I was in completely in the thrall of his Conan comics.

I also admired the work of a name with which I was unfamiliar, at the time, Steve Parkhouse.

Strangely, almost 50 years later, I am much happier to have this, early example, of Steve Parkhouse's artwork, than the Barry Smith artwork that is also there.

Steve Parkhouse and Peter Hogan, have, for the last few years, been collaborating on a great little comic book, 

Resident Alien,

over at Dark Horse Comics and it is one of the few titles, being published by anyone, that I will actually order from my local comic book shop.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and it would appear, that the next story arc and mini-series, due in 2019 or 2020, will be their last.

Such a shame and such a great run... if you haven't read it, I can thoroughly recommend it.