I think most of us will be aware of a moment reached in our adolescent lives when we felt the urge to 'put away childish things'. A moment, now so sadly regretted, when long cherished collections of toys, games and comics were either binned or passed on to some unworthy relative to do with as they will.
For me, at least as far as my juvenile comic collecting phase was concerned, this happened in the first six months of 1971 when my fourteen year old self could no longer see much sense in preferring 'The Rover', the last title I gave up, to the wonders supplied by a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar, playing in a band and the prospect that gave for attracting girls. Sadly by then 'Wilson the Wonder-Athlete', despite his training regime, came in a poor second to Nerys Hughes as Sandra in 'The Liver Birds'.
So come on folks what doomed your original comic collection to be cast adrift, when did it happen and which titles were involved?
Comics interrupted
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Peter Gray
- Posts: 4222
- Joined: 28 Feb 2006, 00:07
- Location: Surrey Guildford
- Contact:
Comics interrupted
born 1974.......
When Whoopee joined Whizzer and chips I stopped buying..was so annoyed at the time...also when Reg stopped drawing Buster..
Loved Big comic and Funny so bought that for a long time....in hindsight I should have carried on buying Buster and Whizzer and chips..
Bought Beano up to the 50th birthday then stopped...
later on giving away my Beanos not the old ones to a boy down the street my mum suggested............
i did keep some old comics...and was a small comic collector and never really fully left me..
erm now I've bought them and even more........due to comicsuk and toonhound.......so the internet fired me up again...
I love what Tom did in Buster so I wished I carried on buying...I didn't like at the time Buster being beaten up..
........my comic collection is bigger than ever...
When Whoopee joined Whizzer and chips I stopped buying..was so annoyed at the time...also when Reg stopped drawing Buster..
Loved Big comic and Funny so bought that for a long time....in hindsight I should have carried on buying Buster and Whizzer and chips..
Bought Beano up to the 50th birthday then stopped...
later on giving away my Beanos not the old ones to a boy down the street my mum suggested............
i did keep some old comics...and was a small comic collector and never really fully left me..
erm now I've bought them and even more........due to comicsuk and toonhound.......so the internet fired me up again...
I love what Tom did in Buster so I wished I carried on buying...I didn't like at the time Buster being beaten up..
........my comic collection is bigger than ever...
Last edited by Peter Gray on 05 Apr 2007, 23:22, edited 1 time in total.
Comics interrupted
Born: 1968
Early Years: Hey Diddle Diddle, Playhour 1972-1973
Mum threw them out apart from a couple which she let me keep. I cried, Still remember it. I still have the ones she let me keep.
Mid 70's. Rainy days at school remember reading TV Comic from the school cupboard and enjoying the Ducks stories but did not have any of my own in this era.
1978: Star Wars #8 got from Buxton in Derbyshire. Had every week until it ended. Also got a few Look In's around this time with 6 Million Dollar Man strips.
1980: Spider-Man adverts in Star Wars got me into Marvel Superheroes, by end of year was buying any comic I could find at jumble sales.
1981 to 1996 brought lots and lots of comics. In 1982 fell in love with American DC's.
1997 to 2002 - Ran out of space. Got fed up of comics. Kept getting JLA and Titans but dropped most other titles.
2003 to date - Fell back in love with comics and spent far too much money and ran out of room to store the ruddy things again.
Earl.
Early Years: Hey Diddle Diddle, Playhour 1972-1973
Mum threw them out apart from a couple which she let me keep. I cried, Still remember it. I still have the ones she let me keep.
Mid 70's. Rainy days at school remember reading TV Comic from the school cupboard and enjoying the Ducks stories but did not have any of my own in this era.
1978: Star Wars #8 got from Buxton in Derbyshire. Had every week until it ended. Also got a few Look In's around this time with 6 Million Dollar Man strips.
1980: Spider-Man adverts in Star Wars got me into Marvel Superheroes, by end of year was buying any comic I could find at jumble sales.
1981 to 1996 brought lots and lots of comics. In 1982 fell in love with American DC's.
1997 to 2002 - Ran out of space. Got fed up of comics. Kept getting JLA and Titans but dropped most other titles.
2003 to date - Fell back in love with comics and spent far too much money and ran out of room to store the ruddy things again.
Earl.
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Lew Stringer
- Posts: 7041
- Joined: 01 Mar 2006, 00:59
- Contact:
Comics interrupted
Born: 1959
1966, age 7: Decided I was too old for comics. Vividly remember ripping up all my Dandy, Beano, Smash, Wham, TV21's ready for a bonfire. Mam asking me if I'm sure I'll never want them again. Me adamant I'll never change my mind.
What a fool!
1967: Yep, I carried on buying them after all, (how could anyone resist those Odhams comics?) but not bothered about keeping them. Then, whilst wearing my Spider-Man T-shirt transfer (free with POW! No.2) I have a chance meeting with a neighbourhood kid who tells me he has the original AMERICAN Marvel comics. Spider-Man and the Hulk, - reprints? I never knew! He gives me 70 Marvel comics and becomes a new pal. I start taking comics more seriously and start collecting them, American and British. (It's also around this time I start drawing my own, on scrap paper my Grandad gives me.)
1975, age 16: Leave school, start a job. Decide I'm too old for British comics! (But I still buy Marvel & DC 'cos they have sophisticated themes like, er, werewolves and women with big boobs.) Stop buying most UK titles except for ACTION and the UK Marvels, but this time don't throw any old ones away!
1977/78: Decide I've been a fool for giving up British comics and start buying them again, selectively. Buy 2000AD from issue 1, and get back into other comics too.
1980's to early 1990's: Manage to re-acquire all my favourite sixties comics at ridiculously cheap prices, all in perfect nick (Dandy from 1964, TV21, all Odhams comics etc.). Hooray!
Today: House bursting with comics from all eras from 19th Century to 21st. (Must have a clearout soon!) Good job I don't have any kids or they'd have to sleep in the shed.
Lew
1966, age 7: Decided I was too old for comics. Vividly remember ripping up all my Dandy, Beano, Smash, Wham, TV21's ready for a bonfire. Mam asking me if I'm sure I'll never want them again. Me adamant I'll never change my mind.
What a fool!
1967: Yep, I carried on buying them after all, (how could anyone resist those Odhams comics?) but not bothered about keeping them. Then, whilst wearing my Spider-Man T-shirt transfer (free with POW! No.2) I have a chance meeting with a neighbourhood kid who tells me he has the original AMERICAN Marvel comics. Spider-Man and the Hulk, - reprints? I never knew! He gives me 70 Marvel comics and becomes a new pal. I start taking comics more seriously and start collecting them, American and British. (It's also around this time I start drawing my own, on scrap paper my Grandad gives me.)
1975, age 16: Leave school, start a job. Decide I'm too old for British comics! (But I still buy Marvel & DC 'cos they have sophisticated themes like, er, werewolves and women with big boobs.) Stop buying most UK titles except for ACTION and the UK Marvels, but this time don't throw any old ones away!
1977/78: Decide I've been a fool for giving up British comics and start buying them again, selectively. Buy 2000AD from issue 1, and get back into other comics too.
1980's to early 1990's: Manage to re-acquire all my favourite sixties comics at ridiculously cheap prices, all in perfect nick (Dandy from 1964, TV21, all Odhams comics etc.). Hooray!
Today: House bursting with comics from all eras from 19th Century to 21st. (Must have a clearout soon!) Good job I don't have any kids or they'd have to sleep in the shed.
Lew
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/
Comics interrupted
It happened over a period of time-the 100 Page DC reprints lured me away.
I had read most British Comics as a lad-progressed up from Jack and Jill to Beano etc to the Big Boy comics-Victor etc-but never overlapped.It was like you left one behind-obviously limited pocket money was a factor.
Only series I ever collected was Battle.It was the last one I read until Storm force happened.
Stopped reading them when my loyalties switched to DC Comics-seduced by the colour.
I did collect 2000AD gave up around the time of Slaine starting-never grabbed me.
And then came eBay and here I am again.
Strangely almost given up on US comics now.They just ain't fun anymore.
Brian
I had read most British Comics as a lad-progressed up from Jack and Jill to Beano etc to the Big Boy comics-Victor etc-but never overlapped.It was like you left one behind-obviously limited pocket money was a factor.
Only series I ever collected was Battle.It was the last one I read until Storm force happened.
Stopped reading them when my loyalties switched to DC Comics-seduced by the colour.
I did collect 2000AD gave up around the time of Slaine starting-never grabbed me.
And then came eBay and here I am again.
Strangely almost given up on US comics now.They just ain't fun anymore.
Brian
Comics interrupted
never gave up...i've been this sad since about 1974. shiver and shake, buster, etc as a youth, then action, battle action, 2000AD and onwards to DC comics, vertigo and blah blah blah.
relentless comic buying for over 30 years and never even htought about stopping.
relentless comic buying for over 30 years and never even htought about stopping.
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big bad bri
- Posts: 1761
- Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 15:50
Comics interrupted
1971: Born
late 70's used to buy beano and dandy ocassionaly but then discovered a pile of cheeky comics at a local jumble sale.
Also every christmas my mum would always throw out most of my comics,It was to make room for my presents she would say,but i only ever wanted annuals not toys,but it always fell on death ears.
Early 80's: went to a second hand book shop and got a load of old busters ,whizzer & chips etc.
1982 : started secondary school and always spent dinner money on new eagle every week + buster ,whoopee,whizzer & chips,occassionaly beano ,nutty,dandy but always had to have the fleetway stuff.
dec 1983:my friend at school was always bringing in american marvels and he decided to tease me /show me his collection after school one day and he had 1000's.that was the day i fell in love with american comics so went and got amazing spider man after leaving his house.I was hooked.
1984:was so upset to find a lot of titles were being continued i secret wars which was not in news agents because believe me i must have tried every one in north london ,but while on a bus one day i looked out the window and there they were on display in the window,in what was then still had a travel agents sign up but was eternal comics,i just jumped off while the bus was moving nearly getting hit by a car,but i didn't care, i had found a shop which only sold american comics.
Buy this time i had got a lot of my friends into american comics now as the shop was local to us.
mid 80's: whilst i was into marvel all my younger brothers were just getting into the weekly funnies so i let them buy them while i stuck to eagle and now 2000ad.
now i had 2 part time jobs and was buying all the marvels i could this even continued when i left school when i got a full time job.
Mid 90's: after eagle had finished in 91 i stopped getting 2000ad as well and my brothers had stopped the uk weeklys and even went through their own phase of american comics i decided to sell my collection about 93-94(big big mistake )
and stopped buying any comics for about 10 or 11 years.
Late 2004:was browsing the net and came across all these sites about buster and uk weekly comics and was feeling all nostalgic then came across bookpalce .com site so rang them to visit there warehouse.i was surprised the said yes but am glad they did because i was in heaven they had piles of every weekly you can imagine,so after a few visits i got near complete runs of whizzer & chips,whoopee,wow,jackpot,cheeky and am now on buster but i aint been since last year because i got bitten again by the bug big time and am now collecting american comics again,but i may go down there tuesday.But money is so tight,I am not working at the mo, and am waiting for a date for a gastric bypass op(which is so stressful knowing there is a risk of death involved with that op ),so i am just buying my new imports every month i have started on beano,dandy and 2000ad again every week.
I rue those wasted 10 -11 years of not collecting and i really regret selling my collection cos i had some good (expensive now) stuff in there.
Big bad bri
late 70's used to buy beano and dandy ocassionaly but then discovered a pile of cheeky comics at a local jumble sale.
Also every christmas my mum would always throw out most of my comics,It was to make room for my presents she would say,but i only ever wanted annuals not toys,but it always fell on death ears.
Early 80's: went to a second hand book shop and got a load of old busters ,whizzer & chips etc.
1982 : started secondary school and always spent dinner money on new eagle every week + buster ,whoopee,whizzer & chips,occassionaly beano ,nutty,dandy but always had to have the fleetway stuff.
dec 1983:my friend at school was always bringing in american marvels and he decided to tease me /show me his collection after school one day and he had 1000's.that was the day i fell in love with american comics so went and got amazing spider man after leaving his house.I was hooked.
1984:was so upset to find a lot of titles were being continued i secret wars which was not in news agents because believe me i must have tried every one in north london ,but while on a bus one day i looked out the window and there they were on display in the window,in what was then still had a travel agents sign up but was eternal comics,i just jumped off while the bus was moving nearly getting hit by a car,but i didn't care, i had found a shop which only sold american comics.
Buy this time i had got a lot of my friends into american comics now as the shop was local to us.
mid 80's: whilst i was into marvel all my younger brothers were just getting into the weekly funnies so i let them buy them while i stuck to eagle and now 2000ad.
now i had 2 part time jobs and was buying all the marvels i could this even continued when i left school when i got a full time job.
Mid 90's: after eagle had finished in 91 i stopped getting 2000ad as well and my brothers had stopped the uk weeklys and even went through their own phase of american comics i decided to sell my collection about 93-94(big big mistake )
and stopped buying any comics for about 10 or 11 years.
Late 2004:was browsing the net and came across all these sites about buster and uk weekly comics and was feeling all nostalgic then came across bookpalce .com site so rang them to visit there warehouse.i was surprised the said yes but am glad they did because i was in heaven they had piles of every weekly you can imagine,so after a few visits i got near complete runs of whizzer & chips,whoopee,wow,jackpot,cheeky and am now on buster but i aint been since last year because i got bitten again by the bug big time and am now collecting american comics again,but i may go down there tuesday.But money is so tight,I am not working at the mo, and am waiting for a date for a gastric bypass op(which is so stressful knowing there is a risk of death involved with that op ),so i am just buying my new imports every month i have started on beano,dandy and 2000ad again every week.
I rue those wasted 10 -11 years of not collecting and i really regret selling my collection cos i had some good (expensive now) stuff in there.
Big bad bri
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colcool007
- Mr Valeera
- Posts: 3872
- Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 18:06
- Location: Lost in time, lost in space
- Contact:
Comics interrupted
Born 1968.
My only interruption came during the period 97 to 01. Divorce was going through and there was only space to store one collection of comics. It was either the 2000AD's or the Commandos that had to go. I came close to crying when I decided that the 1800 Commandos were to go. Upon finding the internet in 2000 and Ebay in 2001, my collecting was revitalised as I realised that I could collect the old comics that I had never been able to get as a kid. However, up to 2001, I had been a closet collector, but with my interest rekindled and the fact that I was not censored at home for collecting comics, I was a lot more open about the fact that one of my major interests revolved around 32 pages delivered on a weekly basis!
So much so, that when I move to a new job, my usual leaving gift is normally a commissioned picture by one of the current freelancers.
My only interruption came during the period 97 to 01. Divorce was going through and there was only space to store one collection of comics. It was either the 2000AD's or the Commandos that had to go. I came close to crying when I decided that the 1800 Commandos were to go. Upon finding the internet in 2000 and Ebay in 2001, my collecting was revitalised as I realised that I could collect the old comics that I had never been able to get as a kid. However, up to 2001, I had been a closet collector, but with my interest rekindled and the fact that I was not censored at home for collecting comics, I was a lot more open about the fact that one of my major interests revolved around 32 pages delivered on a weekly basis!
So much so, that when I move to a new job, my usual leaving gift is normally a commissioned picture by one of the current freelancers.I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!
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Cap Haggis
- Posts: 376
- Joined: 06 Jun 2006, 16:11
- Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Comics interrupted
I left UK comics for good in 1971/2 when the first issue of Mighty World of Marvel hit the stands - up till then I was slowly weening myself of UK comics and think I was onyl picking up books like Lion and Buster - briefly picked up Vulcan when it came out (Scottish then UK editions but that was all) ignored 2000AD and Tornado (except first issues) and Battle (which in hindsight was a mistake good comic but not into War strips) felt UK comics were too tired looking with largly poorly drawn strips US books were exciting wel drawn and good characters in the early 70s (Conan, Spiderman, Shang chi, Swamp Thing - collected old Archies form 60s etc) Never went back to UK comics in the real sense of the word but started re collecting WHAM, SMASH and POW after picking up and issue at a comic mart in 1983 soince then track down only old books with Reid, Baxendale art in them - Finished with comics in the 80s (most US books for me were then rubbish - UK for kids only picked up about 3 titles most bi monthly) got back into US books in 2000 and more so with the ULTIMATES line - Getting a tad bored again to be honest with all comics so might be phasing out of the hobby all togerther - even Peter Pan had to grow up (not fair) but will probably collect at some level.
Cap Haggis to the rescue of all deep fried foods
Comics interrupted
Born 1977 in Australia, but spent the next ten years growing up in Scotland where I got the Dandy weekly (unless I was getting Transformers- I was only allowed one at a time, and I recall changing my mind a couple of times). When we returned to Australia I believe my comics went to a school friend...
However my Gran continued to send me the Dandy religiously every week along with the Fun Section from the Sunday Post and colour Garfield strips from the back of some newspaper. Highlight of my week receiving that mail all the way from Scotland... Unfortunately she died in 1993 and that was the end of that, and other than the occasional Dandy I could find in newsagents here, and a Dandy book here or there, that was it... I still have all those Dandys and probably have quite a good unbroken run from 1988 to 1993.
Then in 2005/2006 when my wife and I visited the UK for 7 weeks and my love for the Dandy was re-ignited. I bought the Dandy for 3 or 4 of those weeks, along with a post-Christmas 99p Dandy Book... Since then, I have collected quite a few Dandy-Beano specials and some old comics via ebay as well as new ones. I can't quite justify buying the Dandy every week, but pop in the nearest newsagent that has it when I can, and have a look to see if it's worth getting that week! I trawl second hand and Op Shops in the hope of finding some old comics or annuals when I get the chance.
And then I found these forums and discovered... I'm not the only one!
Ross
However my Gran continued to send me the Dandy religiously every week along with the Fun Section from the Sunday Post and colour Garfield strips from the back of some newspaper. Highlight of my week receiving that mail all the way from Scotland... Unfortunately she died in 1993 and that was the end of that, and other than the occasional Dandy I could find in newsagents here, and a Dandy book here or there, that was it... I still have all those Dandys and probably have quite a good unbroken run from 1988 to 1993.
Then in 2005/2006 when my wife and I visited the UK for 7 weeks and my love for the Dandy was re-ignited. I bought the Dandy for 3 or 4 of those weeks, along with a post-Christmas 99p Dandy Book... Since then, I have collected quite a few Dandy-Beano specials and some old comics via ebay as well as new ones. I can't quite justify buying the Dandy every week, but pop in the nearest newsagent that has it when I can, and have a look to see if it's worth getting that week! I trawl second hand and Op Shops in the hope of finding some old comics or annuals when I get the chance.
And then I found these forums and discovered... I'm not the only one!
Ross