HAPPY DOCTOR WHO DAY 2021

 

Collectible Time: Hallmark's Tom Baker Doctor & TARDIS Ornaments

Hallmark takes a grand, Whovian turn, with two Doctor Who Christmas ornaments for 2021. 

One is a remarkable 5" representation of the Fourth Doctor (excluding Peter Cushing's parallel edition, of course), portrayed by the one and only Tom Baker.

Baker's Time Lord sports amazing color, in particular his trademark scarf. His fedora-tipping pose adds to the pleasurable panache, as does that inimitable, Baker grin. 

Accompanying Mr. Baker is a quaint, 4.6" TARDIS, which not only lights up, but plays Ron Grainer's wondrous, Doctor Who theme!

The detail on this wee TARDIS is perfect-o, with just the right police-blue pigment and weather worn texture to make one want to jump aboard.

I wonder which Doctor incarnation might come next year: perhaps a sound-activated Dalek, Cyberman or K-9. Say, how 'bout a nifty sonic screwdriver, or a companion or two, like Elizabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane Smith and/or Louise Jameson's Leela? The possibilities are nothing short of, well, timeless!

GET READY! GET SET! MAIN ENTERPRISES' *PPFSZT! #44 BRINGS WINTER FUN!!!

The latest issue of Jim Main's *PPFSZT! is here!!!

Though Kevin Duncan's splendid cover for #44 conveys a seasonal chill, there's nothing but creative warmth brewing from this 36-page, Winter installment, which includes tributes to "Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman", "Werewolf of London", "The Thing from Another World (with Fantastic Four's Ben Grimm), "Doctor Who", "The Witchfinder General/Conqueror Worm"...and for all you Bogie fans, "The Treasure of Sierra Madre". There's also Mike Maloney's moody "One Night in Noir" and Part 2 of Roger C. Keel's haunting "Prisoners of the Ice Kings".

Along with Keel and Maloney, the contents' slew of accompanying artists is also impressive: Roland Austin, Jack Bertram, Lance Doc Boucher, Troy David Boyle, Jason Bullock, Tom Doyle, Kevin Dale Duncan, Don Fortier, Anthony C. Gray, Rusty Gilligan, Marc Haines, John Lambert, Scott McClung, Robert J. Sodaro, Carl Taylor...Rick Williams. Yeah, takes one's breath away.  

I love the way Main blends so many different ideas, imagery and themes into *PPFSZT!: all invigorating, all edifying. There's no source quite as offbeat or special as *PPFSZT! Try an issue. You're guaranteed to be hooked!

*PPFSZT! #44 can be purchased for $6.50 (check or money order), from Jim Main/Main Enterprises at PO Box 93, New Milford, CT 06776.