Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

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Lew Stringer
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by Lew Stringer »

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote: Denis' fate at the end was a bit macabre, however, he [likely] chose to end his time on this world surrounded by his cherished artefacts, whereas many others are forced to leave this world in conditions and surroundings they do not choose......depends how you look at it, I suppose.
He didn't choose to end his time like that. He was only 72 when he died which isn't particularly old. As I understand it he hadn't been seriously ill or anything. I'm sure if he'd known his fate he would have bequeathed his collection to a museum or something. As it was, it was taken by a house clearing company and auctioned off in bits.

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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

He chose to live the way he did, Lew, the same as the rest of us, nobody is forced to live like that if they don't want to. if I ever end up in a hospital in my deathbed, one of my last requests [and I emphasize only one]may well be a final look through a late 60s comic......[!]



-----ghoulish, or what!

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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

I stopped buying 'funny' comics around 1976....ironically, one of the distractions for me at the time was an interest in fantasy film history, and Denis was instrumental in bringing to my attention a lot of detail/stills of vintage horror films [especially the 1930s ones from Universal and others] : in fact, I associated his name more with film history than with comic-history for a few years; his Hamlyn History of Horror Movies from the early 70s is still a great work that hardly anyone else was putting out at the time....

Gifford was definately ahead of his time in the fantasy/nostalgia stakes.

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Jonny Whizz
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by Jonny Whizz »

Some one said that the 1980s are now seen as the best period for British comics. I'm quite surprised by that. I'd have thought the 1950s or 1960s were seen as the golden age over here.
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Digifiend
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by Digifiend »

Yeah, correct me if I'm wrong, but the highest selling British comics were in the 1950s. 2 million readers for Dandy, and just under that for Beano (compared to less than 50,000 now!) Think how many new launches there was in that era too. And there must've been at least 30 different weekly titles to choose from, nowadays, disregarding TV/film licences and anything which doesn't carry comic strips, it's two - The Beano and 2000AD.

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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by Kashgar »

Denis was suffering from cancer when he died but I don't think he thought he was as near to death's door as he turned out to be. In fact I'm sure he'd just phoned in an obit for someone else only the day before he 'suddenly' passed away.
Denis' huge collection was sold off at the request of his daughter in six (I think it was six but I'm working from memory here) auctions held by Martin Hamer. Each auction had it's own glossy A4 catalogue. I've got them somewhere stored away.
I suppose I've got what would be considered a huge collection but I couldn't live in the same clutter that Denis did and this is not just because my better half wouldn't let me either. Far too tidy-minded for that.
As to what to do with this huge collection I could leave it to my children or perhaps take a papyrus leaf out Khufu's book and have a purpose built pyramid constructed up on the A1 next to the Angel of the North.

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stevezodiac
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by stevezodiac »

Yes I have the Hamer auction catalogues but i don't think i'll be scanning in every page here. They had full colour covers and just a typewritten list on most of the internal pages plus a few photos of the comic lots. I have some of his collection and on the backs of the bags they're in he had written something about the comic eg "last issue then joined with Comic Cuts". I often look at the vastness of my collection and despair about it. Its almost like an anchor - whenever you move it has to move with you. Luckily I am at present in my family home where i have lived since 1958 and with most of my collection in storage since my divorce. But i'm looking to getting a flat of my own for various reasons like getting my identity/independence back. And just sloping home from the pub without waking family members at 1am. (I don't drink much but probably gave it up because of the grief from rest of family about coming home in the early hours - lock ins were fairly regular back then - i'm a pretty good pool player). Also having some space to be able to finally draw my cartoon ideas and submit them to Weekly News. I'd like to think my friends (one a fellow collector) would advise my family on how to dispose of my collection.

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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

I often have a recurring dream that I inherit vast quantities of vintage comics and I'm always disappointed when I wake up and it's not a reality.
Last edited by ISPYSHHHGUY on 30 Aug 2009, 03:12, edited 1 time in total.

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stevezodiac
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by stevezodiac »

ISPYSHHHGUY have you looked at my Champ Fun Section post? I was hoping for a response from you re the I Spy portion. Were you aware he appeared in Champ?

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ISPYSHHHGUY
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by ISPYSHHHGUY »

yes, Steve, I did buy some of the CHAMP issues first time around: unlike PUSS n BOOTS, this I SPY strip was all-new material from BRIAN WALKER, and although it was a far cry from the ambitious serials of the early years, the CHAMP version was a fairly good 'novelty' mini-strip that obviously played with the conventions of the comic strip; sadly it was rendered in the compressed format that became widespread in comics during the '80s , which was never really my preference..........I will comment on this over on your CHAMP thread also.......

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klakadak-ploobadoof
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by klakadak-ploobadoof »

What books on UK comics has Denis Gifford compiled? I have The Complete Catalogue of British Comics. Any other good recommendations, please?
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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by Phoenix »

klakadak-ploobadoof wrote:What books on UK comics has Denis Gifford compiled? I have The Complete Catalogue of British Comics. Any other good recommendations, please?
I'll start the ball rolling, KP, by recommending his seminal work The British Comic Catalogue 1874-1974 (Mansell 1975), Encyclopedia Of Comic Characters (Longman 1987) and a little book, less than A5 size, called Discovering Comics (Shire Publications 1971 and 1991).

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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by Earl »

I was moving some comics last night (bad back this morning) and came across Denis' book 'Happy Days' a collection of reprints of UK comics. I was reading his editorial at the front of the book and one thing that surprised me was that Denis says he 'only' has 20,000 comics so I don't really understand why his house was as full as it was.

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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by Earl »

One of my favourite Gifford books is 'Victorian comics', packed full of reprints of Victoria comic work. The first book of his I read as a boy was a small book called 'Discovering Comics'.

Earl.

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Re: Dennis Gifford article from 1987.

Post by Phoenix »

I have unearthed another book compiled by Denis Gifford from my collection. Its title is Run Adolf Run - The World War Two Fun Book. It consists of jokes, poems, humorous strips, wartime comic covers and pages, panels from Spadger Isle and the Arkubs etc. in its 100 pages (including the cover). It was published as a paperback by Corgi in 1975. I don't think there was a hardback version, and to my knowledge it has not been reprinted. The cover is posted separately. as I am having trouble posting them together.

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