THROWBACK THURSDAY: How Many 50-Year-Olds Have Superhero-Themed Birthday Parties? Not Enough

The 'Must-Eat League': from left - Richard, Erica, Paul, Jeni, Pete, Me, Nick, and Clare...

The month of celebrations for my half-century (in 2016) came to an end with a superhero-themed meal at the Oriental Buffet in Tonbridge, with a loose comic book-inspired dress code.

You can't really go wrong with an all-you-can-eat dining experience, accentuated by a selection of T-shirts and outfits that ran the gamut from Richard's Batman shirt (he wore the plastic Bat-mask for 90 per cent of the evening as well, which was true dedication to the theme) to Jeni's She-ra costume (complete with gauntlets and headgear) and Rachel's bespoke Marvel comic book dress.

As well as having decorated our table ahead of time with appropriate balloons (several of which also survived the journey home afterwards), my wonderful wife still had one gobsmacking surprise up her sleeve: the best birthday cake ever!

Based on Des Taylor's design from my main birthday present, it was the scumptious, double-decker cake you can see below (created by a local cake aficionado), complete with Acrobatic Flea, Flash, and Supergirl decorations:

BEST. CAKE. EVER!

BEST. WIFE. EVER!

Special mention has to be made of how Paul turned up at our door, before we went to the restaurant. The doorbell rang, and I opened the door to be greeted by The Black Power Ranger!

Apparently he'd changed into his superhero alter ego outside our house (although I still suspect he'd travelled down from London on the train like this, only he'd used super-ninja skills to blend in with the crowd).

Sadly, the costume was too uncomfortable - and totally impractical - for going to a restaurant in. But major kudos for borrowing this outfit and throwing himself into the spirit of the evening!

What Is Seen Cannot Be Unseen: Alice has no clue as to what is happening at this point!

THROWBACK THURSDAY: BEST. PRESENT. EVER!

Back in 2016, I turned 50.  It would be quite gauche to list all the amazing presents I got from friends and family for successfully reaching my half-century, but I have to share with you this incredible gift that Rachel gave me.

She commissioned a one-of-a-kind piece of art from DC Comics artist Des Taylor (also one of the co-hosts of Sky Television's DC Fancast), featuring not only a race between television's Flash and Supergirl, but also a cameo by my very own Acrobatic Flea!!!

Does this make the Flea part of the DCU? Probably not, but I can dream.

The picture now hangs in pride of place at the top of our main staircase.

In pride of place

At the time, Des presented Sky One's sadly short-lived "Arrowverse" companion show, DC Fancast, along with Bec Hill and Rick Edwards, recapping and discussing episodes of The Flash, Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl.

This was where I came to appreciate his art and mentioned this to Rachel, as my "special" birthday was approaching.

Currently Des is probably best known as the creator of Titan Comics' Scarlett Couture, as well as being a frequent contributor to one of the best online comic book resources, 13th Dimension.

With the picture, Des included some of his initial sketches as well, so I also have wonderful black and white illustrations of the Flea, Flash, and Supergirl, which I still need to get framed at some stage.