Wow! How much do I love comics?

[Valeera]

She's one hell of a woman, that Valeera!!!!!!

I know I am! I have to be to put up with Col!

I was going to put on a lucid and intelligent post on now,

Lucid and intelligent? If you say so!

[colcool007]

Part 4....

Just having ripped through the last year of Warlord, I was not surprised to find that the early promise was never bettered. The standard stayed the same, but as social mores moved on, the comic became perceived as tamer and less threatening.

It's interesting to note that Battle, launched in a frenzy of activity to rival Warlord lasted another two years, but those last two years can only be described as a slow descent into comic senility. Battle's glory years had come and gone and now it was using its back library to try and maintain its place in the market.

Now, at long last, I move onto perception and it's interesting to note that it ties in well with the John Cooper interview in the Megazine. John Cooper was perceived as old school and as a result, much of the work that kept him going dried up as the UK comics market dwindled to a few titles that were not dependant on TV tie-ins to keep their sales buoyant. But the circle has moved and he is enjoying a revival of his career by being the artist of the moment on Armitage, the Inspector Morse of the Judge Dredd universe. For those that are John Cooper fans, I highly recommend the new Armitage series, The Mancunian Candidate. The first episode is fantastic and is one of the best opening issues that I have seen in a long time.

So, how has my perception of comics changed over some 3 and a bit decades? Quite a lot, to be honest. And any other answer would have most people reaching for the nice white jacket that does up at the back. Everything that we experience changes us and changes the way we look at everything in our life. And in me, that is most prevalent in my love for UK comics.

Do I understand the charge levelled at most collectors during their lives that comics are for kids? Yes, I do, but I fear that those that level the charge are the more closed-minded that those they accuse of being childish or child-like.

Let me explain. For most comic collectors or anyone that maintains a hobby from their childhood days, they still maintain a tenuous contact with their child-like self. From this, it normally follows that by being child-like [note, I did not say childish] one has a more open mindset and is usually more receptive to new experiences. And also has the potential to integrate them into their self more easily.

Also, the fact that we are in a self-imposed minority, we are usually more able to understand that different factors power different personalities in different ways. Whether we are able to express that understanding in a clear and lucid manner is neither here nor there, but we are aware that those differences exist even at a subliminal level of our core being.

Whoa! Hold on there, I was supposed to be writing about how my perceptions of comics have changed and I have ended up digressing down the road of why I think being a comic collector makes most of us better people. Not a bad road to take, but I had better get back on the maintrack.

Many stories that I was not a big fan of seemed to have risen to the top of my preferences. A good example is Smokey Joe from Warlord. To my younger self, it was OK, neither to be discarded nor to be eagerly awaited. A page filler, if you like. But as I have grown older, I have read that story again and begun to appreciate the complexity of the story, the dark humour and as always, the art of Denis McLoughlin.

More anon.

[Phoenix]

For most comic collectors or anyone that maintains a hobby from their childhood days, they still maintain a tenuous contact with their child-like self.

You are essentially quite correct, Col. I do believe implicitly, though, that you are undervaluing the 'contact' by describing it as merely 'tenuous'. In my opinion it is a strong connection. I have held this view for many years, and I have expounded it in discussions, in lectures and in print. I have just looked out issue 19 of The Comic Journal where it first appeared in print. It dates from 1990, shortly after Bryon Whitworth bought Alan Cadwallender's comics business, the flagship of which was The Comic Journal. A month or two earlier I was selling books and comics on a stall at the Leeds Book Fair, in Pudsey curiously enough. Bryon came up, introduced himself to me and we got chatting, as you do. Eventually he asked me if I would write an article on DC Thomson papers for his first issue. I didn't really know what he wanted and I don't think he did either. In the end I said I would put together some thoughts on how my obsession started, my reactions during the first ten years, and how I felt about it as an adult. He went away satisfied and I began to think things through, probably for the first time in my life in any sort of organised way. This sentence from my concluding paragraph sums up, I think, how my view differs in intensity from yours. I had started the paragraph off by speculating about just how old Baldy Hogan and Cannonball Kidd would have been by that time. This is what I said next. However, they are ageless to the little nine-year-old boy, full of wonder and curiosity, who still lives, reborn Phoenix-like, every day that the adult opens any one of those enchanting papers. I hope in future issues of The Comic Journal to share with you something of my dual response to that decade of highly inventive, joyous and satisfying output that, in my view, was THE GOLDEN AGE of boys' papers.

[philcom55]

Yes. There's a strange alchemy whereby even stories that were produced as mere hackwork are capable of being converted in the mind of a child into pure gold that will retain its lustre for as long as he lives. What's more it's a vital process that's being going on for hundreds of years: for example when they were growing up the Bronte sisters were voracious readers of second-rate gothic romances, but somehow this generic subject matter (which in its day was just as despised by serious critics as comics and story-papers were in the twentieth century) went on to form the basis of at least one of the greatest works in English Literature.

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

when they were growing up the Bronte sisters were voracious readers of second-rate gothic romances, but somehow this generic subject matter (which in its day was just as despised by serious critics as comics and story-papers were in the twentieth century) went on to form the basis of at least one of the greatest works in English Literature.

I am assuming, Phil, that Jane Eyre is the one you are referring to. A more subtle novel, in my opinion, had emerged over thirty years earlier in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Both ladies used the gothic to produce fiction of the highest quality but whereas Bronte's atmospheric story develops within a gothic scenario, somewhat less frenetic admittedly than the part-works that informed it, Austen's is a parody that develops out of the premise that there are people whose reading of such part-works causes them to assume that such scenarios are likely to be found in ordinary daily life.

[colcool007]

For most comic collectors or anyone that maintains a hobby from their childhood days, they still maintain a tenuous contact with their child-like self.

You are essentially quite correct, Col. I do believe implicitly, though, that you are undervaluing the 'contact' by describing it as merely 'tenuous'. In my opinion it is a strong connection. .... This sentence from my concluding paragraph sums up, I think, how my view differs in intensity from yours. I had started the paragraph off by speculating about just how old Baldy Hogan and Cannonball Kidd would have been by that time. This is what I said next. However, they are ageless to the little nine-year-old boy, full of wonder and curiosity, who still lives, reborn Phoenix-like, every day that the adult opens any one of those enchanting papers. I hope in future issues of The Comic Journal to share with you something of my dual response to that decade of highly inventive, joyous and satisfying output that, in my view, was THE GOLDEN AGE of boys' papers.

Ah, now you are reading my comments incorrectly. I implicitly said most and excluded myself. I am still examining my contact with my child-like self and while it is by no means tenuous, I hold it so much at the core of my being that I am still trying to consciously examine the strong impact that comics has had on my life. So much of my life revolves around comics, it is hard to know where I stop and DCT takes over!

I think that most contributors on this board would have no difficulty agreeing with you that the contact is strong for them, but I am aware that many people change over the years. And for them, the hobby [whatever that hobby may be] that consumed their life as a child and young adult may be viewed differently from the perspective that age gives.

An example of such a hobby is the bubble-gum cards. I collected them like mad for about 2 years and was fanatical about getting complete sets, but then when the cards became album stickers, I lost interest in it. Now when I look back on it, I can still enjoy the pleasure the hobby gave me, but it doesn't fire me up to collect them all again 20 plus years on.

This thread is definitely getting the old neurons fired up.

Yes. There's a strange alchemy whereby even stories that were produced as mere hackwork are capable of being converted in the mind of a child into pure gold that will retain its lustre for as long as he lives. What's more it's a vital process that's being going on for hundreds of years...

And that alchemy will be going on for hundreds of years more as each generation goes through its own formative phase. For me, I just can't leave behind such great stories as Invasion! Death Game 1999, Braddock VC, Tough of The Track or any one of the hundreds of others that I have read over the years. Personally, I carry them in myself and have had hours of endless fun using them to enhance or expand my imagination. Plus they reinforce my personal values. Hard work doesn't hurt. You get nothing for free and Never give up, never give in. So for me to leave my comics behind would be, in essence, leaving myself behind.

[Phoenix]

Let me explain. For most comic collectors or anyone that maintains a hobby from their childhood days, they still maintain a tenuous contact with their child-like self. From this, it normally follows that by being child-like [note, I did not say childish] one has a more open mindset and is usually more receptive to new experiences. And also has the potential to integrate them into their self more easily.

Also, the fact that we are in a self-imposed minority,

Ah, now you are reading my comments incorrectly. I implicitly said most and excluded myself.

No I'm not, Colin, and no you didn't. I realise that The Cap will have my guts for garters over this, so I'm looking over my shoulder just in case he rushes back from his holidays for that very purpose, but I can't let you get away it, even if he is on his way. I did read the whole of your post carefully before responding. Indeed, I so agree with the thrust of your argument that it's a bit like Billy Graham preaching to the converted. I'm already there with you, we are what Anne Shirley (of Green Gables) called kindred spirits. Nevertheless, you did not exclude yourself, implicitly or explicitly. You may have thought you were doing so when you used words like 'they' or 'one', but the fact is that you very much included yourself into the 'most comic collectors/anyone that maintains a hobby from their childhood days/they still maintain a tenuous contact' box, when you said 'we'.

[philcom55]

I am assuming, Phil, that Jane Eyre is the one you are referring to. A more subtle novel, in my opinion, had emerged over thirty years earlier in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.

I'd agree with that, but I was thinking specifically of Emily's Wuthering Heights which I'd rate far more highly than anything produced by Charlotte. Also, I doubt that the young Jane Austen was ever besotted with the Gothic genre in the way that the Bronte siblings were - to the extent that their juvenalia is dominated by wild romances of the imaginary kingdoms of Angria and Gondal. Either way, though, the principle is the same: lead into gold through the mind of a child!

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

I doubt that the young Jane Austen was ever besotted with the Gothic genre in the way that the Bronte siblings were

I doubt it too, Phil, given Jane's upbringing. She did read widely, though, not just Richardson and Sterne, and her brother Henry said that she had a 'tenacious memory'. I have just looked again at the section on her reading in Claire Tomalin's biography Jane Austen - A Life, and there is no mention of her reading gothic novels. She must have done so, of course, otherwise she could surely not have created Catherine Morland with the confidence and maturity that is evident throughout.

[Kashgar]

While comic collecting can be a life-long passion it can also be a fickle mistress. I've known a number of collectors over the years who started out full of enthusiasm with the hobby only to fall victim in the end to the the basic mechanics of collecting. They start out full of grand schemes and grand plans that they ultimately have neither the werewithal, patience or both to see through and as a result collecting just becomes a vehicle for envy and disappointment rather than joy. As an example in the 30 months I've been posting on this site I've seen once prolific posters come and go and can't help but wonder if some of them haven't fallen foul of their reach exceeding their grasp!

[colcool007]

Let me explain. For most comic collectors or anyone that maintains a hobby from their childhood days, they still maintain a tenuous contact with their child-like self. From this, it normally follows that by being child-like [note, I did not say childish] one has a more open mindset and is usually more receptive to new experiences. And also has the potential to integrate them into their self more easily.

Also, the fact that we are in a self-imposed minority,

Ah, now you are reading my comments incorrectly. I implicitly said most and excluded myself.

No I'm not, Colin, and no you didn't. .... I did read the whole of your post carefully before responding. .

Fair enough, just re-read the post and the verdict is guilty as charged m'lud! I should have made myself elaborate more clearly. And it's the kind of fuzzy logic that can lose me points when I do essays. So correct away.

Indeed, I so agree with the thrust of your argument that it's a bit like Billy Graham preaching to the converted. I'm already there with you, we are what Anne Shirley (of Green Gables) called kindred spirits.....

Indeed we are on this board. I understand that much of my monster posts are preaching to the choir, but it is rare that any one of us expands on what moves us to be such big fans of the comic genre, so I for once gave into the impulse and expounded on why I am such a big fan, fuzzy posts notwithstanding!

[Phoenix]

a fickle mistress. I've known a number

So have I, Kashgar, so have I. There was one in particular I can easily recall. She lived in........, but,........no, I mustn't go there, despite the wonderful temptation, it would only lead to a post from Colin along the lines of ''Don't encourage him, Kashgar!'' It is a pity, though. Perhaps I'll come back to it later.

[Phoenix]

And it's the kind of fuzzy logic that can lose me points when I do essays.

This may well be but why exactly are you doing essays anyway? And while we are asking, why is Mrs colcool doing this revision? I thought you told me you were working out there, not studying. Surely it's too hot out there for either. I couldn't be studying in those temperatures. I remember when I went to Spain for my six months formal study during my second year at University, I switched off just about the time I got there and switched back on again just after I got back. Mind you, despite not attending any obligatory classes in Madrid, I was speaking the language fluently at the end of my stay, which was really all that mattered to me. It's amazing what you can learn just by talking to people and making friends on trains and buses, in the street, in cafes, bars, clubs, parties, the bullfights and the Bernabeu. I never seemed to be stuck for conversation because if they didn't speak first, I spoke to them and when they replied I had myself a conversation. Not all learning is acquired in classrooms and proved in essays and exams. I've just read this through and I'm sure it's , so I'll apologise before the complaints start to flow. I would still like the answers to the questions, though.

[colcool007]

Sticking firmly off-topic for this one, Valeera has been revising as she has just done 2 GCSE's, English and Psychology. This is with a view to doing OU in the second subject.

As to me, the reasons that I have been doing essays is that I have been starting to do OU in Social Sciences, plus I am also going for promotion at work and clear expression and reasoning help in the promotion process.

I agree that much learning is done outside of the classical model of education. I know myself that reading some novels engages me sufficiently that I end up researching the subject to hand. And as a result become a self-educated expert on a subject that I didn't even know existed!

As to learning other languages, I can safely say that it is not my forte! I can muddle along in French, but other languages are a closed book to me. Meanwhile, normal as possible service will be resumed!

[Digifiend]

Je m'apelle Digifiend, et tu est colcool007. My French is patchy at best, but I think that means "My name is Digifiend, and you are colcool007". Trois, deux, une, zut alors!

It's almost surreal to be reading about classical literature on a forum about comics! Still, variety is the spice of life, right?