The All-Star All-Purpose Comic Query Thread

[Happy-Hangman]

We occasionally get threads cropping up asking for a particular bit of information - they blip on the forum-radar for a day or so, and are forgotten.

I'd suggest, following the example of a thread on the TV forum I Stickied a while back, that we start a general-enquiry thread here.

[Lee Grice]

Ooh ya bugger ya! I was planning to start a thread along these lines but you beat me to it! I was gonna call it "Ask The Answer Man" in tribute to the old Q&A column that used to appear in DC Comics in my youth... but if you wanna call it "The All-Star All-Purpose Comic Query Thread" well that's your perogative I suppose {snooty sniff}...

Anyroadup, here's what I wanna know:

One of the very first comics I ever laid eyes upon had a cover featuring a monster that lived in the white dot that appeared on the TV screen when you turned the telly off. (So you must never fall asleep in front of the telly!) The story was called "The Ghost In The Dot" or something... creeped the hell outa me... anyway, I *think* it was a British girls' weekly - I was in infants school or junior school at the time so we're talking circa mid-70s. I was assuming it was an issue of Misty but it doesn't appear on THIS SITE so can anyone tell me the title/issue of said comic and/or lead me to a scan of said cover or the story. Anyone...? Anyone...?

[Happy-Hangman]

I vaguely recall that 'Buster' occasionally ran rather darker tales than was the norm elsewhere in that comic. A couple of these had a rather creepy vibe (one semi-regular feature involved a thuggish Victorian heavy, the name of whom escapes me).

It does sound more like the kind of fare which appeared in the (underrated) 'Misty' - which a wee lass of my primary school aquaintaince named Heather, used to swap for my 'Topper' during Thursday morning playtimes back in those dim and distant days of yore.

God, but I feel old.

[fenris]

Originally Posted by Lee Grice

One of the very first comics I ever laid eyes upon had a cover featuring a monster that lived in the white dot that appeared on the TV screen when you turned the telly off. (So you must never fall asleep in front of the telly!) The story was called "The Ghost In The Dot" or something... creeped the hell outa me... anyway, I *think* it was a British girls' weekly - I was in infants school or junior school at the time so we're talking circa mid-70s. I was assuming it was an issue of Misty but it doesn't appear on THIS SITE so can anyone tell me the title/issue of said comic and/or lead me to a scan of said cover or the story. Anyone...? Anyone...?

Mmm. Don't know the answer to this, but if it wasn't Misty then it's possible that it was in an issue of Spellbound, the girl's weekly published by D C Thompson. It was dedicated to horror and sci-fi stories, and IPC responded by creating Misty, the first issue of which ironically appeared in newsagents a couple of weeks after Spellbound had been cancelled. While there's plenty of info on the internet about Misty and IPC's later effort Scream, there's hardly anything about Spellbound I'm afraid.

[Pope Gordy]

Does anyone know what happened to Garth Ennis' City Lights series? I remember seeing a Vertigo sampler almost TWO YEARS AGO publicising it.

[umopapisdn]

Originally Posted by fenris

Don't know the answer to this, but if it wasn't Misty then it's possible that it was in an issue of Spellbound, the girl's weekly published by D C Thompson. It was dedicated to horror and sci-fi stories, and IPC responded by creating Misty, the first issue of which ironically appeared in newsagents a couple of weeks after Spellbound had been cancelled. While there's plenty of info on the internet about Misty and IPC's later effort Scream, there's hardly anything about Spellbound I'm afraid.

FWIW I don't remember it and I read every issue of Misty and all but the earliest of Spellbound....

[Lee Grice]

Thanks guys & girls, all comments gratefully recieved. The search continues...

[Fleet Captain Roak]

Just how many types of Kryptonite are there ? I can count at least 10 !

Isn't Metropolis meant to be on the west coast of the USA ? In Superman Returns it's on the east ! :?

[Midnighter]

According to Wikipedia there are fourteen varieties of Kryptonite that's not including synthetic and hoax varieties!

[fenris]

New question: I'm sure I've read somewhere that in 2000AD during either the late Eighties or early Nineties, there was some kind of time travel/dimension-jumping story in which several classic characters from 2000AD's early years - such as Bill Savage (from 'Invasion' and 'Disaster 1990') and Shako the polar bear - made appearances. Can anyone tell me what this story was, and a brief summary of what happened?