Beginnings

[Lew Stringer]

Has anyone on here ever encountered an over-serious, humourless comics collector, who actually made you wear surgical gloves before handling their priceless booty, or even kept the goods locked out of sight?

I've definitely met at least one vinyl record collector like this, he was livid, agitated and furious when I had the audacity to remove his Motorhead picture discs from their protective sleeves.

I'm not sure whether I would qualify in the over-serious, humourless category or not to be quite honest Rab. I think it depends on the degree to which you refer.
I have no problem at all with sharing information and, although I don't do this myself, I see no problem with people sharing scans from their collection for the perusal of others but I think it becomes a little different when 'sharing' the comics themselves is involved.
I think most collectors would like to maintain items in their collection in a condition no worse then when they purchased them and this involves a degree of collection husbandry, certainly on older more fragile comics or annuals or alternatively on newer pristine items that may perhaps border on the humourless depending on your intrepretation of such things. I wouldn't go as far as the use of surgical gloves though but then, now you come to mention it ....!

I always stick to Bill Shakespeare's advice on the matter: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry".

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Nice one, kash and Lew: it's just a part of our interests, but evidently very important to some folks.

As long as my 1969-70 comics remain in decent state, that's all that matters.....

[philcom55]

I always stick to Bill Shakespeare's advice on the matter: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry".

Wise advice. Of course, the guy that says it ends up being stabbed to death soon after!

- Phil R,

[Lew Stringer]

I always stick to Bill Shakespeare's advice on the matter: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry".

Wise advice. Of course, the guy that says it ends up being stabbed to death soon after!

- Phil R,

As long as they don't crease his comics, that's the main thing.

[Phoenix]

Nice one, kash and Lew: it's just a part of our interests, but evidently very important to some folks.

I'm curious, Rab, about what you could possibly have seen either in Lew's post, or more pertinently in Kashgar's (a capital K by the way, please) that would give you the impression that they are not all that bothered about the condition of the comics in their respective collections. There is certainly a clear inference that they take care of the comics they have, as do I, and would never lend any out to anybody, and before you ask, nor would I. Your own collection, by the sound of things, may well be just a part of your interests, but for Kashgar, Lew and me, our collections are much more important than a mere interest.

[starscape]

I've never been too bothered about condition. The same with records, DVDs, books etc., it's a medium to get ideas across. Enjoying the medium is more important than pointing to it. That seems a little like a friend who's watch was so precious to him, he never wore it. Why have it then? Best have something cheaper that can be used regularly. If comics aren't for fun, what are they for?*

Letting a friend read/listen to ideas I appreciate is worth the odd fold, scratch or loss. Can't imagine talking with some friends, telling them how much I love, e.g. St Swithins Day or the Durutti Column, then refusing to let them read/listen to it.

(*I realise some might derive fun in different ways but this is my viewpoint I'm giving)

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Nice one, kash and Lew: it's just a part of our interests, but evidently very important to some folks.

I'm curious, Rab, about what you could possibly have seen either in Lew's post, or more pertinently in Kashgar's (a capital K by the way, please) that would give you the impression that they are not all that bothered about the condition of the comics in their respective collections. There is certainly a clear inference that they take care of the comics they have, as do I, and would never lend any out to anybody, and before you ask, nor would I. Your own collection, by the sound of things, may well be just a part of your interests, but for Kashgar, Lew and me, our collections are much more important than a mere interest.

Phoenix; my SPARKY COMICS 1969-70 especially are a major part of my childhood memories, and the collected items are a cherished representation of a link to my boyhood era, and extremely important as a result. It's probably the closest I can get to reliving the actual era of the times, even though the items I have are not the actual self same that I handled 45 years ago-----I hope to keep these items in the fairly good condition they stand in, at the time of writing,



thank you muchly for your interest, kind Sir [capital 'S' for you especially].

Rab S

[Phoenix]

the items I have are not the actual self same that I handled 45 years ago

Nor are mine, Rab. I took the decision to start buying in the replacements for my original collection in 1975 or thereabouts. Thanks to dealers like Norman Shaw, the process was pretty easy, and the prices were manageable. When I'd got them all, I just carried on, although in a more piecemeal manner until I finally had all issues of The Big Four between the beginning of 1946 to the end of the run in all four cases. Then I started looking for the pre-war and wartime issues. I now have all 544 issues of The Skipper, all 53 issues of The Red Arrow, and all 1197 issues of The Hotspur. I still need 106 issues of Adventure, 62 of The Rover, 17 of The Vanguard, and 114 of The Wizard, that is 299 issues altogether out of the round total, including The Skipper and The Hotspur, of 8206. By then I had the bit between my teeth, so after a bit of a nudge from Ray Moore I turned my attention to Thomsons' picture strip story papers. I can't quote total numbers of these because I've never counted them, I simply worked with a Wants List. Nevertheless, in some cases I now have all of them, and in the others I have nearly all. This group comprises The New Hotspur/The Hotspur, The Victor, The Hornet, The Wizard [mark 2], Warlord, Bullet, Scoop, The Crunch, Buddy, Spike and Champ. To be fair, I only have a couple of hundred issues of Warlord because I'm really not comfortable with war stories, although I realise that that doesn't explain why I have a significant run of Bullet! If memory serves, I think I got those as a job lot somewhere, and I don't recall having read any of them. Then, in an attempt to complete my coverage of all Thomsons' story papers, in the early nineties I started to collect their papers for girls. These are Bunty, Judy, Diana, Mandy, Debbie, Spellbound, Emma, Tracy, Nikki and M&J. I have substantial collections of all these ten titles, but it is still a work in progress. The nearest title to a complete run is Spellbound where I'm only lacking one issue. I took the decision not to collect those titles that were aimed at the older teenager, because the story content is only just hanging on to the coat tails of the pop, fashion and general magazine elements, so no Romeo, Cherie, Jackie, Suzy, Blue Jeans or Patches, although I do have a good few examples of all of them for comparison purposes. I don't have a great many issues from other publishers. As I never read very many at the time, there is no nostalgia element for me. The stand-out exception is the post-war School Friend, where I have the majority from the first decade of its run.

[AndyB]

Derek, I'll drop you a pm on the subject of your missing story papers. There's a comic shop in Belfast with a pile of Wizards, Adventure, Rover etc which may have some which can help you.

[TwoHeadedBoy]

I was doodling constantly as a nipper, mostly monsters and ghosts and the like, so often I'd be bought issues of 2000AD, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles or Marvel's Beetlejuice comic, just so I'd have more monsters to look at. The actual READING of comics didn't take place until I was bought the Summer Specials of first the Dandy, then the Beano, and then the Topper in 1992. It improved my reading skills a lot in school, so soon enough I was getting the Beano and Dandy every week, even drawing my own comics.

Got the Beano Annual in the Xmas of 1992, and my brother got the Dandy one, and then 1993-1995 saw a mass accumulation of comics, specials and annuals from the weekly car boot sale visits (still worth going to in the pre-eBay days!). Other comics were of course picked up amongst the stacks of boot sale stuff and the weekly newsagent visits - Sonic The Comic, Buster, Hoot, Whizzer and Chips, The Topper, The Beezer, Big Comic, Ren & Stimpy, Beavis & Butt-Head, Zig & Zag's Zogozine, Scouse Mouse, Bucky O'Hare, Thunderbirds, Stingray, Captain Scarlet, Acne, BVC, Cosmic... A local shop sometimes had old issues of American comics in, so several issues of Batman and Motormouth and the like were bought from there.

The majority of all of these I still have now, although a large amount of the Beanos and Dandys went missing during a house move. Most of these have since been reacquired thanks to eBay and Manchester's Empire Exchange.

Actively "collecting" seemed like a gradual process. After reading Dez Skinn's "Comix: The Underground Revolution" I made an active effort to get every issue of Zap plus numerous issues of the Freak Brothers, Wonder Warthog, Mr. Natural etc. Certain artists I seek out as well - after getting an issue of Frank back in 1997, I've since got everything Jim Woodring's ever done, and I'll pick up anything by Tony Millionaire or David Mostyn.

I usually go for stuff I'm unfamiliar with, like finding the odd issue of Crisis or Toxic (the older, violent one) in shops, liking them and seeking out more of them. My current favourite area for collecting is the massive amount of "alternative" comics from the 1980s and 1990s - either the ones created purely out of a desire to make fun reading, or the ones obviously designed to cash in on the successes of Viz. A lot of these are terrible, a lot of these are hidden gems, but all of them have been interesting in terms of "discovering" them, and I'll give anything a go.

My spreadsheet currently tells me I have 2958 comics, 167 specials, 225 annuals and 93 small press titles - an area I got really interested in around ten years ago, but it's getting harder and harder to find places that sell these! Orbital Comics in London is the best place for them in my experience, but of course that's bloody miles away!

[philcom55]

It's interesting how few people have preserved any of the actual comics they owned as a child (in fact I started collecting replacements so long ago that when I sat down to think about it it took a real effort to remember which if any have been with me all along). In my own case the earliest remaining copy of a comic that I bought when it came out is probably Fantastic Four no.46 (Jan 1966) - and I only have that because I was subsequently able to reacquire the bulk of my Marvel collection from the guy I sold it to in 1970!

It makes one realize what a fascinating and contradictory period childhood is. 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 - though we may spend the rest of our adult lives trying. Yet, in spite of the exquisite joy it momentarily brought us, the odds are that it will have been disposed of quite casually just as soon as something else occupied our fickle imagination in its place.

It all reminds me of Wordsworth's famous description of the child who comes into this world 'trailing clouds of glory', scattering a largesse of spirit all around and investing everything he sees with a sense of magic and wonder that seems endless and inexhaustible. Then the 'prison bars' of adult life close in leaving nothing but a memory - and an aching desire to recapture what we've lost.

The older I get the more I'm inclined to agree with the poet that 'the Child is indeed father of the Man'...!

- Phil Rushton

[NP]

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...

'Idly' perusing, Phil? Never! Deeply focused concentration! Nowadays, I idly peruse, but never back then!

[Lew Stringer]

It's interesting how few people have preserved any of the actual comics they owned as a child
- Phil Rushton

I still have most of the American comics I had as a child, and the British comics from 1967 and beyond. (Well, the ones I wanted to keep anyway.) 1967 was the point where I started saving them. I still have comics that I'd had reserved at my newsagent, with my name penciled over the top.

I'd kept every issue of Fantastic and Terrific, but as I used to cut out the pin ups on the back page for my bedroom wall, they were minus back covers. Fortunately I managed to buy replacement copies over the years so I dumped the original ones I'd taken scissors to.

I also replaced issues of Dandy, TV21, Wham, Pow, and Smash I'd discarded, and filled in the gaps of issues I didn't have previously. The 1960s is my favourite period for UK comics, and I never bothered replacing any of the 1970s comics I'd thrown out. (I still have quite a few Lions from the seventies, most issues of Action, the first 200 issues of 2000AD, all Starlord, Countdown, TV Action, and selected issues of other comics, but I found most IPC comics to be very tame and repetitive compared to the Odhams comics - and Fleetway comics, - of the sixties.)

[paw broon]

None of the comics I had as a child or teenager remain but I have replaced many of them. What I do have are comics I bought from the early '70's onwards, both current at the time and back issues. It's only relatively recently, perhaps the last 10 -15 years, that my interest in British comics has re-awakened. Not having any great desire for collecting weeklies, I have stuck to my passion for pocket libraries, gathering up where and when I can, sometimes replacing much loved comics I remember from my younger days, runs of Super Detective; Thriller Picture; Lion; Buster; Schoolgirls' Picture; Schoolgirls Own; Schoolgirls' Adventure; T.V. Picture Stories; Private Eye; Secret Service; Tales of Terror; Nightmare Suspense (the latter 2 being seriously difficult to find, imo); Princess; some early Cowboy Picture issues; Radar and some foreign ones such as Kriminal; Sadik; Mister-X; the French reprints of Janus Stark, Cap. Hornet; Spider; Steel Claw; King cobra etc.
From time to time, and oddly more recently, Comics are dumped from my collection. Usually to friends or charity shops and, if there is a mart, sometimes there. Thes are mostly relatively recent American comics, which I enjoy less and less, particularly all this "new" 52 stuff and the moribund, huge crossovers from Marvel.
Being a fan of Dell comics, and having amassed a decent selection over the years, my interest turned to the WDL British reprints in the Movie Classic line and, fortunately for me, a friend has been selling me some spares. A few issues have turned up at recent marts.
As for ebay, we don't really have those street marts and wee shops with old comics and books to any great extent, so I'm stuck with ebay and visits to English and European cities.

[stevezodiac]

I probably have hundreds of comics from my childhood, mostly late 60s early 70s. They all have 20 Yeo written on them by the newsagent back then (20 Yeoman Street being my address then and my Mum still lives there). TV21, Joe 90, Smash, Valiant, Cor!!, Beano, Dandy, Beezer, Topper and Smash! & Pow! being the ones that spring to mind.