Found these Swedish Modesty Blaise pocket books (novels, not comics) at a second hand outlet a couple of weeks ago. Both were published by Berghs/Egmont as Agent X9 specials in 1998. There are 15 of these all in all. The one to the left here is 84 pages, the other 82.
(My shot of said books, cover art by Jim Holdaway)
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The Babymetal mothership touches down in Houston, Texas, today. And so begins the 2023 “Babyklok Tour” of the United States (that would be co-headliners Dethklok and Babymetal taking on the masses through 29 cities in 40 days). They will perform largely in mid-sized venues and at three major festivals, but they are certainly covering a good chunk of the country. It took the new video “Metali” six days to reach 1,000,000 views on YouTube (it is now at 1,400,000) and I hear that the director of the video is the same guy that did the “Megitsune” video back in the day. The fact that Babymetal is now an official trio again has sent a positive wave of energy through the fandom, it just feels complete again. It is a new start though and they are putting a lot of work into it. My guess is that we will have a new album out in 2024.
(Images from official platforms, the magazine is Japanese publication Hedoban Vol.40, out now – the tour ad is from weeks ago, most gigs would be sold out by now)
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The 1965 comedy “Run For Your Wife” had an official Soundtrack in 1966 and it was nice to be able to add this LP to the old collection on my last trip to Stockholm. Not sure who the cover artist is but I certainly recognise the style.
(My shot of said album)
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In the 1970s Swedish publisher Aldus/Bonniers published books about important moments and battles that took place in WWII that must have sold quite a lot. I still own eight of them, of which you see six here. They were quite good too. These particular titles were written by David Mason, Geoffrey Jukes, Alan Wykes, John Keegan, Earl F Ziemke and (again) Geoffrey Jukes. Not sure how many they made all in all but if I ever spot more of them I will surely add them to the old collection.
(My shot of said books)
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From the publisher of Fly Past magazine in the UK, we get this 100 page special edition about the WWII aircraft Beaufighter. First edition saw print in 2012. Airfix has an ad about a 1/72 model of the aircraft on the back, which is kind of cool.
(My shot of said magazine, cover art by Roy Cross)
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The Swedish comic book Kalle Anka & Co (that would be Donald Duck and other assorted Disney characters) goes back to 1948 so it has been 75 years. Egmont Comics celebrates this with a rather wonderful 332 page book that takes a deep dive into the history of the comic, with plenty of classic tales and information about the journey. There has been over 3,500 issues so far and if you find a good copy in the basement of the first issue, you are laughing all the way to the bank. Or you could be a collector and just hang on to it for dear life.
(My shot of said book, cover art by Daan Jippes, colours by Andrea Cagol)
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David Coverdale has come up with another exclusive rerelease in the shape of an updated edition of the 2015 “The Purple Album”. Some really exciting bonus stuff on this set, including the four track audition tape that landed him the job in Deep Purple back in 1973, and demos of his that were made for the “Stormbringer” album back in 1974. Needless to say, this is like candy to a lot of Purple fans. Release date is set for October 13.
(1976 Oklahoma City DC shot by Rich Galbraith, used in Retrofuture 3 back in 2010 – this is only part of the original photo)
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I like the latest issue of The Phantom (Swedish edition, 18/19 2023, or 1730 from the start). Nice cover art by Joan Boix and Andrea Cagol. There is a joke about manspreading here somewhere… To his credit, he is sitting on his throne in a man cave inside a private mountain. Probably not a lot of woke people around then…
(My shot of said issue)
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Sad to hear that former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden has passed away. I only ever met him once, at a press thing in Stockholm when Whitesnake was in town back in 1981, but he seemed to be a friendly fellow. They were certainly kicking some serious ass that night.
(My shot of Stockholm 1981 spread in Deep Purple Forever! 27, Marsden/Coverdale shots by Hasse Ivarsson)
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Here is the LP version of the new Velvet Insane album “High Heeled Monster” that I bought at the release party in Östersund (Jämtland County) yesterday. They are carving out their own thing although it borrows from the all time greats. The 2020s could use a bit of this and there is plenty of moments here that would work great on radio. Listened to the record for the first time yesterday on the way home and it is great car music. They certainly left the public wanting more yesterday, that is how a solid reputation is being built.
(My shot of said release)
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trinkelbonker 