What comics did you buy today?

[stevezodiac]

I won seven issues of Weekend Book of Jokes (cartoon monthlies) - they are at my mum's so haven't looked at them yet. Three issues from the 1960s and four from 1970s/80s. £4.60 plus £2.60 postage.

[Prodigal]

Hi everyone-I am brand new to the board and come equipped with what might rate as a daft enquiry.

Does anyone know how the Potters of Poole street ended? Did the young lad ever get his bike? Even better dopes anyone know which issue of Valiant the strip ended?

Thanks guys.

[TwoHeadedBoy]

This morning, I went to a second hand bookshop in Nambour (a 50 kilometre trip from where I live), and picked up the Monster Fun Annual, 1982

Worth the journey then

[philcom55]

Does anyone know how the Potters of Poole street ended? Did the young lad ever get his bike? Even better dopes anyone know which issue of Valiant the strip ended?

Hi Prodigal!

The Potters were a bit after my time as a Valiant reader so I can't say how it ended but according to Steve Holland's Valiant Index the strip ran from 29th Mar to 13th Dec 1975, as well as appearing in the 1975 Valiant Summer Special and the 1977 Valiant Annual.

- Phil Rushton

[wilsia]

Hi prodigal your old mate also wants to know to how it ended, super strip, can anyone advise on the artist on the potters? I would be pretty sure he drew other strips for ipc as I recognise the drawing style.

[blaing]

This morning, I went to a second hand bookshop in Nambour (a 50 kilometre trip from where I live), and picked up the Monster Fun Annual, 1982

Worth the journey then

It was.

I made a return visit to the same bookshop back on Friday, and picked up a handful of issues of Cor!!

[philcom55]

Hi prodigal your old mate also wants to know to how it ended, super strip, can anyone advise on the artist on the potters? I would be pretty sure he drew other strips for ipc as I recognise the drawing style.

According to the Valiant Index Jack Pamby was the original artist, followed by John Catchpole and then at least one unknown artist (though Geoff Campion drew the episode dated 13th Sep 1975).

As you can see, Alfie was still bikeless when the 1975 Valiant Summer Special came out:



- Phil Rushton

[Raven]

As you can see, Alfie was still bikeless when the 1975 Valiant Summer Special came out:
- Phil Rushton

Very nice, Phil. Who's the artist on that one - and how many pages is the strip?

(Shouldn't all this be in a highly desirable dedicated Potters of Poole Street thread rather than What Comics Did You Buy Today? Is there a Valiant fan moderator who can do it?)

[philcom55]

Yes, I wondered about the thread. Maybe Prodigal just acquired some 1975 Valiants?

That strip in the Summer Special is six pages long, at the end of which Alfie is £25 closer to his target. I'm afraid the artist looks suspiciously like our old friend A.N.Onymous - though some parts are clearly influenced by Jack Pamby's style.

It's interesting how popular stories involving extreme poverty were in those days. Of course, from my point of view the Potters had it easy: our family couldn't even afford to dream about things like Farley racing bikes - we had to make do with wild fantasies about bits of cheese and string!

- Phil Rushton

[Phoenix]

Shouldn't all this be in a highly desirable dedicated Potters of Poole Street thread rather than What Comics Did You Buy Today?

What's so special about this particular strip, Raven, that in your opinion makes it worthy of its own thread?

[Raven]

What's so special about this particular strip, Raven, that in your opinion makes it worthy of its own thread?

It was partly that the query has nothing to do with 'What Comics did you buy Today?' and, for future reference, would be better in an appropriate place - but, also, it would be nice if a thread got a few people discussing the strip, which I like (I think I'm the only one on the forum who'd ever mentioned it before, and it's nice to know it does have its admirers!).

It's an interesting one because, a bit of a violin-cueing, emotion-tugging weepie, it seems to have much more the feel of a girl's comic serial than the type of boys' fare we might expect to find in Valiant, and stands out for that amidst Captain Hurricane, Sergeant Strong, Kid Pharaoh, Adam Eterno and co.; some very nice artwork, too. Though I'd rather it had replaced The Test Match Terrors than the comic's highlight of the time, Danny Doom.

Thanks for the reply, Phil.

Welcome, Prodigal. Enquiries about Valiant are far from daft!

[stevezodiac]

I went to the ephemera fair which was a bit disappointing from my point of view but apart from two old film books I got this booklet for £15. All of the pictures are securely glued in place. The booklet is priced at sixpence so its not a free gift but I presume the pictures that were stuck in it came with the three girls' papers? Can anyone tell me the date and issues of the relevant comics? Phoenix?





Its a bit tatty and the covers are loose but luckily it is American comic sized so is now safe inside a polybag.

[Phoenix]

The booklet is priced at sixpence so its not a free gift but I presume the pictures that were stuck in it came with the three girls' papers? Can anyone tell me the date and issues of the relevant comics? Phoenix?

Even though it has a price on it, Steve, it can still be a free gift. I have two like that from The Red Arrow.

OK, I'm using information from Denis Gifford's ACE. He is not entirely helpful because he doesn't give the title of the album, he just puts a kind of umbrella title for that sort of free gift. So, for example, on November 23rd 1929 Schoolgirls' Own gave a Film Star Album, and 12 cards over 4 weeks, which presumably means that the album held 48 cards. On July 26th 1930 The Schoolgirl gave a Famous Film Stars album and 54 pictures over 12 weeks.

My best guess regarding yours is the Film Star Album given with Schoolgirls' Weekly on November 12th 1932 with 6 stamps over 16 weeks, which would mean a total of 96 stamps. Please note that he is a bit loose with his terms, as he has used cards, pictures and stamps for the photographs, or whatever they are, that are to be stuck in the albums. The reasons I think I'm correct are firstly that the year feels right for the stars on the page you have displayed, but crucially because the same week both The Schoolgirl and Schoolgirls' Own also gave 6 stamps over 16 weeks. I know only 6 stamps were given, and each page I presume had spaces for 8, but they are natural multiples. The number of stamps each paper gave was 96, and if there are 12 pages in the book, each with 8 spaces, that also gives 96. You will need to confirm the number of pages in the book as I'm working in the dark. A third reason is that the three titles only appear to have worked together twice. The second time was almost exactly a year later, but then each title issued a different booklet on the overall theme of Royalty, and then gave the pictures for their own booklet over 10 weeks.

There is absolutely no reason to assume that each paper gave the same 96 stamps over the 16 weeks. After all, Thomsons used to spread theirs over the Big Five, the Big Four in the post-war period. The one issue that would arise is the need for readers of Schoolgirls' Own and The Schoolgirl to acquire an album to put their stamps in. Presumably this is why the album has a price on it. Those girls who did not normally buy Schoolgirls' Weekly would need to beg, steal or borrow more pocket money.

[r3tr0_gam3r]

Today has been rather mad. This morning, I won 11 lots I had been watching on eBay, each containing 3 Beezer comics from 1984/85. Then, during the day, I won two more Beezers, from July 5th and 12th 1969.

So, 35 comics today. Only problem, I'm still waiting on the reply for the combined postage, so not sure what the exact total will be yet.

[Phoenix]

This evening, from Phil Shrimpton's auction, I won Girls's Own Guide, an index to all the fiction stories ever to appear in The Girl's Own Paper between 1880 and 1941, for £4.99 + p&p. It was a breeze. Nobody else wanted it. Unlike the equivalent guide to Valiant. I bid £30 but I didn't get anywhere near it. It went for £51, and there were two bidders at that price, so heaven knows what the winner was prepared to go up to!