Beginnings

[Phoenix]

Few of us ever recapture the intensity of experience we once enjoyed while idly perusing some recently-acquired comic on a hot Summer afternoon at the age of seven or eight

NP is right, Phil, although he is relating your comment just to his own personal experiences. The point I'd like to make is more fundamental, and relates specifically to your sentence, and that is that the two parts don't match. If you are only idly perusing some recently-acquired comic, you simply cannot be having an intensity of experience, and vice versa. In my case, there are only a few specific items that I bought in my childhood where I can remember the whole experience of buying them. There is one in particular that I keep returning to. I'm nine years old, I'm leaving my aunts' house in Chorley one Thursday morning, walking to the newsagents in St. Thomas's Road, near the junction with Park Road and Market Street, buying my copies of The Rover and The Hotspur there, and starting to read them as I walk back. What I don't seem to be able to do, though, is recall my feelings at any point in that short journey, my excitement, my anticipation, my satisfaction on discovering they are on his counter, the tactile pleasure of feeling the newness of the story papers, and the pleasure on turning the pages to the serial I want to read first almost as soon as I step out of the shop into the warmth of that August day. Often I feel that I get very close, but those feelings that day are like chimeras. I never succeed in accessing them, but I will never stop trying.

[stevezodiac]

This morning I found a flyer for the LTS shop which may be of interest:

[Phoenix]

Whatever LTS may mean, Steve, it is worthy of note that although, according to the map on their flyer, Denmark Place is somewhere within the triangle formed by Denmark Street, St. Giles High Street and Charing Cross Road, there is simply no way into it. Unless we are expected to use one or other of the two modes of transport illustrated!!!!.

[stevezodiac]

I previously mentioned it was down a back alley with large bins at the back of restaurants. I'm going to Shaftsbury Avenue on Friday night to see that new Scarlett Johansson film Under The Skin (rave reviews) so I might just see if I can find it for old time's sake (although I suspect it may be full of pimps and hookers nowadays).

[philcom55]

In the old days I doubt if any self-respecting pimps or hookers would have been caught dead there: going by the smell I'd guess that it used to be frequented by incontinent tramps and alcoholics instead! Whenever I visited the shop I had to hold my breath until I was safely inside.

Last time I looked Denmark Street seemed to be full of dealers in musicians' instruments and paraphernalia.

- Phil Rushton

[paw broon]

I used to go to LTS and it was up a smelly alley. The first time was the worst as it didn't seem possible a comic shop could be there - or that it was safe to venture into the alley. The selection in the beginning was excellent.
Phil is right when he says Denmark Street is full of dealers in musicians' instruments and paraphernalia.

[big bad bri]

When i was a kid i would bunk off school as there was a load of comic shops in the west end even though Eternal comics was on my door step & krypton komix was in wood green then edmonton.I'm sure the shop was called paradise alley when i went though & it seem to be situated in between forbidden planet & forbidden planet 2,also had comic showcase & virgin comics & a few others & there was heroes in islington full of uk comics i think.Ahh! the good old days,some one make the Delorean or Tardis a reality please

[stevezodiac]

Denmark Street has long been famous for musical instrument shops - i've heard Pete Townshend say how in the mid sixties he would smash up his guitar and the next morning would run into a shop in Denmark Street, grab a guitar off the wall and run out shouting "I'll pay you later" or something like that.

[dandy mad]

I have a hazy recollection of coming home from the laundrette on a rainy cold Saturday afternoon I was 5 and as a little kid I ran about a lot climbed up on walls and jumping off and I think my mum was pretty p***ed off with me and to put a halt to my fun mum said do you want a comic or something to that effect as there was a grotty little newsagents near the VG (remember the shop?) and we went in I didn't see the comics at first and was pointed to them by the old bloke behind the counter and there they was and my first ever glimpse of a cat that had speech bubbles coming from its mouth that cat was the then cover star was Korky The Cat and the comic was the Dandy and 31 years later I'm still hooked...

[Earl]

It's been a year or maybe two since I last posted here but it's a fun thread so...

My comics collecting goes back to 1972/1973 and the nursery titles Hey Diddle Diddle and also Playhour. Most of those were thrown out but mum did allow me to keep a few and I still have some examples in my collection with my childhood address scribbled by the newsagents in the top right corner. After that it was the beautifully produced Disneyland. After that there was a break of a couple of years with only the annuals of my favourite TV shows of the era (Planet of the Apes, Six Million Dollar Man, Space 1999) joining my early years collection.

In 1978 I started collecting Marvel UK Star Wars comics which lead me onto all the Marvel UK titles and then the US versions.

My 1981 I was collecting all the Thomson and IPC issues I could afford. In 1982 I discovered American DC comics which I adored and continued getting for almost 30 years before I fell out of love with them.

I buy very few comics these days. With 41,000 comics in the house plus 800+ annuals I just don't have the space for any more and there are still some comics I picked up three or four years back have not read yet so I don't see the need to keep getting any more.

The era from about 1978 (me aged 10) until 1988 (me aged 20) remains my favourite era.

Earl.

[babington]

I have two collections - the comics I collected as a boy, from between about 1977 and 1984, and another, much bigger collection that I started collecting in 2008 after rediscovering comics via my dear fiancée who took me to a comic shop and reminded me of days visiting Forbidden Planet to scout out back issues of 2000AD in the mid-eighties. As a child I deeply coveted old issues of the Beano and later 2000AD but could never find any, so when, as an adult, I discovered how easy it was to buy them on eBay I got completely hooked. I think I've spent most of the past five years on eBay! The availability of comics on eBay, not to mention trips to the London comic mart, led me to buy a wide range of British, American, and European comics and explore their history. But now my home is getting full and I may have to switch from 'collecting' to 'having a collection' soon (or I'll buy a bigger house)!