What year did you start reading comics?

Talk here about just about anything associated with British comics or story papers and the industry that does not fit in any other forum.
There are separate fora open to registered members for discussing specific comics, artists, websites etc.

Moderators: Al, AndyB

big bad bri
Posts: 1761
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 15:50

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by big bad bri »

I started in the late 70s reading Beano dandy. Look in and used to find Sparky in jumble sales,then in 80s i was buying eagle ,buster ,wow ,school fun,2000ad,secret wars .transformers & smash hits mag then i moved onto american comics starting with amazing spiderman 247 after going to a friends house and seeing he had a wardrobe full of marvel and Dc.so i slowly stopped buying uk comics only buying Eagle until the end and 2000ad and Viz as eternal comics used to get those in.I never bought any war comics at all or anything like tv21,countdown, valiant etc and have still not seen a copy to this day :lol:

User avatar
abacus
Posts: 728
Joined: 27 Jun 2014, 07:10
Location: leicester uk

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by abacus »

The first book I remember was Rupert Bear by Mary Tourtel which at that young age I found kind of scary .Can't remember first comics but I can remember Woolworths selling some comics around the late 40's early 50's time
Last edited by abacus on 06 Sep 2017, 18:00, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
colcool007
Mr Valeera
Posts: 3872
Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 18:06
Location: Lost in time, lost in space
Contact:

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by colcool007 »

I have been having a root around Vic Whittle's site and looking at the Commando issues in printed order and I reckon that my first comics must have been from around November/December 1973. That makes sense when you consider that I started school in 1973 and quickly outgrew the reading material available from the school.
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

User avatar
SID
Posts: 1744
Joined: 02 Oct 2008, 22:53
Location: Mancave.
Contact:

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by SID »

big bad bri wrote:yea a big fat greek guy in tottenham only had porno mags and newspapers and he would leave your hair half way to go and put on a bet.my dad made us go to him lol
:lol:
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).

comixminx
Posts: 505
Joined: 09 Jul 2015, 16:41
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by comixminx »

I think I might have read my sister's copies of Jinty before any other comic but I'm not quite sure: I suspect I might have been bought copies of Twinkle as the earliest comic of my own. If it was Jinty that was my first comic, then no, I wouldn't change a thing!

We also lived in Mexico when I was a kid and I read lots of US comics in the bookshop that my mum ran: X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, DC Superfriends... but I also sneaked a look at stuff I was totally not meant to read, like horror comics based around the fad for sharks (due to Jaws having come out), and even some Heavy Metal comics. Yikes!
jintycomic.wordpress.com/ Excellent and weird stories from the past - with amazing art to boot.

Hawkeye
Posts: 314
Joined: 29 Jun 2015, 10:35

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by Hawkeye »

A mention of The Topper reminded me that it was the first comic I used to get, and not the TV21. My auntie used to take me to a toy/newspaper shop and buy me the Topper, which I think back in the 50s must have been as big as I was. She also used to buy me a packet of 'Cherry Lips' to chew on whilst we walked back home. Don't know if you can still get them. Don't suppose I read much of the comic myself, I'd only have been about 5 years old.

Hawkeye
Posts: 314
Joined: 29 Jun 2015, 10:35

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by Hawkeye »

abacus wrote:The first book I remember was Rupert Bear by Mary Tourtel which at that young age I found kind of scary .Can't remember first comics but I can remember Woolworths selling some comics around the late 40's early 50's time
You're the only person I have heard say that they thought Rupert was kind of scary, apart from myself. Don't know exactly why, but I've always disliked him. Never collected any of the books, never really read much of them as I instantly took a dislike. Can't see what the attraction is really.

Lew Stringer
Posts: 7041
Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
Contact:

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by Lew Stringer »

Hawkeye wrote:
abacus wrote:The first book I remember was Rupert Bear by Mary Tourtel which at that young age I found kind of scary .Can't remember first comics but I can remember Woolworths selling some comics around the late 40's early 50's time
You're the only person I have heard say that they thought Rupert was kind of scary, apart from myself. Don't know exactly why, but I've always disliked him. Never collected any of the books, never really read much of them as I instantly took a dislike. Can't see what the attraction is really.
I've never read Rupert either. The Express was far too posh / Tory for my family and I never got into it. The Mirror was the paper I read when I was a kid.
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

User avatar
starscape
Posts: 989
Joined: 17 Jul 2011, 14:51
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by starscape »

Can't remember not reading comics but 1975/6 seems to be important. I remember being excited by the likes of Vulcan, Monster Fun, Captain Britain and the rest. From the US, I had the odd issue of Shazam! and Plastic Man (bizarrley enough, one that was about strip clubs - it completely passed me over though). Still favourites to this day. My mother read Captain Marvel as a kid so she understood the joy, plus they are good for developing reading skills.

I had a load on order. Let's see, 2000AD, Tornado/Starlord, Buster, Krazy, Whizzer & Chips, Warlord, Bullet, Plug and oh so many more.

What did I wish I had read? Probably more Marvel, although I did get MWoM, Planet of the Apes etc. when I could and the odd US comic when it came out, as well as (Spider-Man &) Captain Britain. I later got all the ones that were coming out, Team-Up, Marvel Action, Rampage etc.. Our Post Office was one of the few that got 70s DC Comics. Nowhere near as good as Marvel in those days though.

But Silver/Bronze Age Marvel is the pinnacle in adventure comics to me. I don't percieve that as nostalgia either. Have a read of Thor in the Black Galaxy, Mar-Vell against Thanos, Avengers: the Celestial Madonna. The writing is just so much better than anything before or since.
STARSCAPE Comic
http://facebook.com/Starscape-Comic-108831387707862/
comics, cartoons, music & movies

User avatar
SID
Posts: 1744
Joined: 02 Oct 2008, 22:53
Location: Mancave.
Contact:

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by SID »

I have only read Rupert's adventures in his own annual which I have been getting for donkey's years. I also get copies for my grandchildren. I must admit that as a child, I did find some of the guest characters a little spooky.

Starscape, I did get some Marvel UK publications in the 80s. I always thought that the Americans made their characters a little more three dimensional than ours (though sometimes a little soapish). My favourite comic being Rampage Magazine.
Reading comics since 1970. My Current Regulars are: 2000 AD (1977-), Judge Dredd Megazine (1990-), Spaceship Away (2003-), Commando (2013-), Monster Fun (2022-), Deadpool and Wolverine (2023-), Quantum (2023-).

User avatar
babington
Posts: 281
Joined: 01 Feb 2010, 22:24

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by babington »

Mighty World of Marvel from 1977, which I basically just coloured in because I don't think I could read much then, but every panel of every issue is burned into my memory so it made quite an impression; Beano from 1978, which I did actually read, and loved, and then 2000AD from 1983, which I discovered on my own and thought was the coolest thing I ever read! Along the way I also read Topper, Nutty, Hulk comic and the new Eagle, but was never that impressed with the latter. Nutty was great though - quite underrated these days I think! Stopped reading comics when I was 15, in 1986: ...and started again in 2006!

User avatar
abacus
Posts: 728
Joined: 27 Jun 2014, 07:10
Location: leicester uk

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by abacus »

"They are very early examples, written by a lady called Mary Tourtel. She basically wrote stories to scare children." Some of the early Rupert stories include him being tied up in a grotty shed, and even feature him stealing. "In the 1950s and 60s, the books got toned down a little. They moved more into the magical type story-line and away from the scary stuff. So these books really are a fascinating read."

Read more at: http://www.worksopguardian.co.uk/news/r ... r-1-627387

When I mentioned as a youngster finding the early Rupert the Bear books kinda scary that may have seemed odd to today's Rupert readers but the above is a quote from a bookseller.

Looks like this particular auction was some time ago.

User avatar
stevezodiac
Posts: 4957
Joined: 23 May 2006, 20:43
Location: space city

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by stevezodiac »

Probably 1960. I can still remember looking at a comic and going from panel to panel loooking at the pictures but not reading the word balloons as I couldn't read. Turning point was 1965 when Terry Smith knocked at my door and showed me TV Century 21 issue 21. I went out and bought it (and still have it) and that was the start of comic collecting. I persuaded my sister to get Lady Penelope 1 but that disappeared. If I could change anything it would be that I woul dhave also bought Solo and TV TOrnado every week.

User avatar
Robbie Moubert
Posts: 198
Joined: 18 Dec 2008, 14:12
Contact:

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by Robbie Moubert »

I don't remember reading any nursery comics but I might well have done. TV21 is the first one I remember getting - issue 90 (October 1966) which came with a free Thunderbirds cap. I was three and a half. We were living in Wales at the time and each week my Mum would give my copy to my cousin down the road once I'd read it. We moved to London the following year and I carried on getting it delivered each week. The odd DC comic from the spinner rack in our local newsagent provided an occasional treat.

In late '69 I started buying Valiant and persuaded my Mum to have it delivered which meant she paid for it instead of it coming out of my pocket money! I think it helped that my Dad enjoyed reading Captain Hurricane. Whizzer and Chips was soon dropping through the letterbox each week as well. My sister was getting the Beano around this time so I used to read that as well. For a while I used to get Countdown and Look-in every week but that used up all my pocket money so I eventually stopped getting them.

In '73 I discovered the British Marvels and soon had MWOM and Spider-Man delivered, while buying the Avengers and subsequent comics with my pocket money. Looking back I was very lucky that my parents were happy that I was reading and didn't mind paying for several comics every week. I don't think I'd change any of the choices I made back then.

User avatar
Adam Eterno
Posts: 1471
Joined: 05 Dec 2014, 01:05
Location: Southampton/London
Contact:

Re: What year did you start reading comics?

Post by Adam Eterno »

I don't remember reading nursery comics but I probably did. The first regular comics I remember reading were US comics such as Casper the friendly ghost, Richie Rich and the like. I lived in Saudi at the age of 8 in 1972 so didn't have any access to British comics (or TV), but some of the American kids had comics sent over from the US. Upon returning to the UK in '74 I rapidly progressed to buying Valiant and within a year, Marvel UK comics of which Titans and Superheroes were big favourites along with Roy of the Rovers. I still have some Marvel comics with the name "Shalimar" on the cover which was the name of our house at the time. I raided Jumble sales for old Marvel comics, swapped anything and everything with a cousin for any that I hadn't read and loved Captain Britain when it came out. Sadly, I was sent to boarding school in '77 and comics just weren't the 'done' thing there at the time so I didn't really read many for 20 odd years until my Mum gave me back my old childhood collection that were in her loft.

The rethink is easy as I split all my pocket money and any earned cash evenly between my comics (which I bought for fun) and my stamp collection (which I thought would make me a millionaire when I was older). Looking back, I wish I'd spent all of the cash on comics as there were so many that I would have loved to have bought but couldn't afford.

Post Reply