In 1980 This Is What The Future Of The RAF Looked Like

  Something old British Comics absolutely loved doing was putting pinups of Cool Stuff on the back page.  Sports comics would have racing cars or footballers.  Adventure/War comics would have tanks or military aircraft. Basically, the sort of thing a boy who hasn't disocvered girls yet would think "Awesome"

 Every now and again one of their hosue artists would get the chance to let his imagination run free and show off some fantasy vehicle from the far-off 21st century. It stil irks me that now we're here absolutely none of them ever made an appearance.

This particular aircraft is from the back page of Warlord from October 1980. It;s Titled "40 Years On" so would be zipping around Britain's skies in this current year 2020.

 Even with the fact that the Stealth capability is non-existent and it looks a right night mare to fly, I still find myself wishing that the RAF really did have something this Sc-Fi in their arsenal.  It's got a freaking LASER for heaven's sake. 

That's All Folks.

Film Review: Caroushell (2016)

 Tired of being used and abused by obnoxious children, a carousel unicorn escapes and goes on a killing spree. 

  Well, you have to admit that this is a unique premise and  certainly makes a change from the 800th (Insert thing) Shark movie. 

 

 "So you have a badly-CGIed unicorn killing people, then?"  I hear you ask. 

Ha ha ha. 

No. 

You have a literal wooden unicorn with no animation whatsoever  that's being physically shifted by somebody offscreen, which does make the sex scene a bit weird.

Sex scene.  This movie has a sex scene involving a wooden unicorn.  Oh dear god. 

 It's almost certainly a shot at some of the weirder bronies out there. 

There's also  graphic murders with some surprisingly good practical effects so you can't say this movie didn't go all-in. 

In short: this is a very low budget slasher movie that just happens to star a wooden horse and doesn't take itself too seriously.  The fact that our homicidal horse provides a running commentary on his actions makes it even ...better?

 You might love this. You might hate it. You might even get a stiffy during the aforementioned sex scene in which case, what the fuck is wrong with you? 

That's all folks. 

Been reading: The Stringbags (2020) by Garth Ennis& PJ Holden

 "Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and Fascist Italy began World War II with aircraft that could devastate enemy warships and merchantmen at will. Britain's Royal Navy squadrons went to war equipped with the Fairey Swordfish.  A biplane torpedo bomber in an age of monoplanes, the Swordfish was underpowered and undergunned - an obsolete museum piece, an embarrassment. Its crews fully expected to be shot from the skies. Instead they flew the ancient  "Stringbag" into legend. "

  "The Stringbags" is the story of a likeable but not particularly lucky Sworfish crew who find themselves involved in some of the operations that made the Swordfish an everlsting aprt of Naval Aviation history.

  I am, as I've stated before, a big fan of WW2 stories from Garth Ennis and a lot of his trademarks are here: dry humour, bewildered junior officers, war-hardened superiors, understated heroism, bloody action and the occasional punch right to the feels.

    Heroes Archie, Pops and Ollie are easy to identify with; they aren't crack "aces" and they know it but still trying to do their bit, all the while  hoping it won't get them killed.   If you liked the old "Commando" books but want characters that are a bit more "real" I think this particular crew are for you.

 The artwork is more than decent, being equally good at quiet dialogue and battle scenes.

  The book itself is not cheap: I paid £17.99 but for that I gt a handsomely bound hardback on nice paper and a story that stuck with me afterwards. Well worth it.

That's All Folks

Been Reading: El Bandito - The Autobiography of Orig Wiliams

 "In Pakistan he was stoned by the crowd at a packed Lahore Cticket Stadium and had to flee for his life. In Turkey the crowd burnt down the stadium where he'd been performing. Wherever Orig Williams, or El Bandito (as he was known in the ring) took his wrestling shows abroad there were always complications and tribulations"

    This is a book I picked up on a whim and I'm glad I did.  Orig Williams was definitely one of  wrestling's characters. Born in a small, fiercely Welsh town full of hardcases, Williams was conscripted into the RAF, spent a lively career as a pro footballer, culminating in  becoming chieftain of a football team that terrorised Welsh football , then moved into Pro Wrestling as a performer and promoter. All the while being an ardent champion of Wales and Welsh culture. 

 So there's plenty of interest here: Orig Williams comes across as a smart man with no time for fools, especially fools in suits, as well as a man who made a career in wrestling the hard way.: wrestling and promoting where 

other men feared to tread. If that meant touring Ireland at the height of The Troubles, recruiting lady wrestlers and  wrestling in a ring overrun with giant insects, so be it. 

 My one criticism is that this is quite a slim book and there must have been hundreds of stories left out.

If you fancy a look at the old days of British Wrestling - the days of tent shows, village halls and old-school hard-nuts - you might want to give this a go.