What year did you start reading comics?

[SID]

Now before you think that this question has been asked before, just bear with me as I have two questions.

Question 1: What year did you start reading comics and what were they?

Question 2: If you were given the opportunity to rethink your choice as an adult, what would you have chosen?

[SID]

Now for me, the year was 1969 and I first bought Bobo Bunny which quickly made way for The Dandy and The Beano.

Now if I had that choice again as an adult, I would have chosen the following:

The Dandy - Good choice first time around.
The Hotspur - I always thought that in some ways this comic was an older version of The Dandy with some of the stories it featured.
Buster - I always wanted to read the earlier issues.
Eagle - My dad got this as a kid so would get it even though 1969 was its last year.
Lion - Discovered this comic too late in the real timeline.
Smash! - I liked the IPC revamp so would get this.
TV21 - I know that it was now in decline but certainly would have read it.
Valiant - Same as Lion.

[blaing]

For me, I was reading my brothers' hand-me-down comics at the age of three in 1968. They were mainly U. S. Harvey and Gold Key titles (and possibly Australian Disney reprints by WG publications)

My first proper British comic was Whoopee, when it premiered in Australia in May 1974.

[Lew Stringer]

January 1964: The Dandy No.1155 when I was four years old. Had it every week after that, and The Beano too, shortly after. Then in 1965, added TV21 and Sparky.

Dropped TV21 in 1966 for Smash!, but have since acquired a complete run of TV21 so no regrets.

I had about half a dozen regular comics a week. Throughout the sixties and seventies I tried at least one issue of every comic (except for girls comics, and even then I had Lady Penelope No.1). I'd often "go off" a comic and start having another for a while instead, then go off that one and move onto another. Yeah, fickle eh? (Cost was a factor too of course. Couldn't afford everything.)

I wouldn't change a thing. I enjoyed the choices I made, and have filled any gaps I wanted to over the years.

[SID]

Thanks, guys.

Over the weekend, I decided to reconstruct my list of comics I read regularly on a year by year basis starting from 1969 to present day. Good memories.

But it also made me think of the comics I missed out on.

For the early part of the 70s, I was content in just getting The Dandy and The Beano (though I did read my younger brother's The Topper and The Beezer). So I missed out on gems like Cor!! and the early Buster. Though I must have read them from time to time since I remember (& liked) the Chameleon Kid and Fish Boy.

It also took me a while to get into the older comics. In fact my brother started before me and got Valiant though I am not sure if he really liked it. Of course the kids were excited when Warlord and Battle Picture Weekly burst on the scene but I wasn't into war comics. It was only when 2000AD came out and later on, Starlord, that I became interested. But I do wonder if the younger me would have liked Thunder and Lion.

I am not sure if I can say not getting those comics was a regret since I was happy with my decisions as a kid. Besides, as an adult, I can simply buy from eBay (which I have).

[philcom55]

Though I always had a couple of comics on regular order it still amazes me how I managed to 'sample' everything else (including most American titles) during the 1960s. In a way it was the same with sweets where knowing what every new bar of chocolate tasted like was seen as a vital part of every child's education, as a result of which I regretted the disappearance of Spangles and Aztec bars almost as much as the cancellation of TV21 and Valiant!

[Hawkeye]

Used to get TV Century 21 delivered, I would run home from junior school I think it used to arrive on a Tuesday but I could be wrong. Anyway, I'd run home for my dinner as the school wasn't too far away if you sneaked through a couple of peoples gardens. I always had corned beef pie and chips waiting for me, and my comic lying on the table beside it. Happy days. Wouldn't change a thing.

[Lew Stringer]

Used to get TV Century 21 delivered, I would run home from junior school I think it used to arrive on a Tuesday but I could be wrong.

TV21 was an "Every Wednesday" comic, but if it was like all the other comics it would have come out the day before the day printed on the cover so you're probably right.

[paw broon]

I started reading comics just after starting primary school which would have been 1954/5, but haven't a clue what the first comics I read were. I do remember the revelation of seeing, in the playground, someone with a copy of Superthriller - still Foldes Press at the time. I cadged a look and was hooked. Well, Ace Hart. Who wouldn't be hooked? And if you weren't hooked - That experience coupled with The Batman serial at the Odeon Club and my first sighting of a Frew Phantom in a Crail newsagents led me to a life as a superhero nut. Then of course, there was Marvelman. Some of us went about shouting KIMOTA, but nothing ever happened except a skelp on the lug for making a noise. Wouldn't change a thing, apart from wishing I had those early Superthriller comics, although I have managed to buy a few over the years.
When my dad took me to the barbers, there was a box of old comics and I could read Beano, Dandy and others while waiting.
Sid poses an interesting question and knowing what I know now, I'd have chosen Eagle. However, as American comics became available in Scotland in '59 and Australian comics turned up in a couple of small newsagent shops in and around my home town, I'd also choose the DCs and Aus. Phantom comics.
It occurs to me that I'm missing out a very important part of my young life and that was discovering pocket libraries. I didn't have enough pocket money to buy them and go to the Odeon Club/buy jubblies, as we called them, and I'd dearly love to have access to those amazing series SDL, TPL and Cowboy Library - at the price they were then
Fortunately from time to time, I was able to swap or borrow, or was given an issue. So good.

[Lew Stringer]

When my dad took me to the barbers, there was a box of old comics and I could read Beano, Dandy and others while waiting.

I'd forgotten about comics at the barbers!

(Heck, I'd even forgotten about barbers! )

[big bad bri]

my barber only had porno mags

[Humorist]

I started with Eagle in 1958 as an eight year old. Occasionally, as I was footy-mad, I added Victor and Tiger to my reading material.

My enjoyment of Eagle tailed off in 1962 after most of my favourite characters (Jack O'Lantern, Riders of the Range, Luck of the Legion etc) disappeared from its pages. Dan Dare wasn't enough to keep me reading it. From what I learned later, I wasn't the only one...

As an adult, I wouldn't change my choices.

[starscape]

my barber only had porno mags

Your barber?!?!?

[SID]

Comics at the barbers = good memory. . Admittedly, he never had any porn mags (not at the shop anyway. )

Also just discovered that I used to get The Topper (along with The Dandy and The Beano) and only gave it up to my brother when Cracker came out.

[big bad bri]

yea a big fat greek guy in tottenham only had porno mags and newspapers and he would leave your hair half way to go and put on a bet.my dad made us go to him lol