What year did you start reading comics?

[CharleyBourne]

I seem to remember the first comics I read where in the late 70's or early 80's and I think it was a big pile of Tiger comics that I picked up from a school jumble sale. I don't remember to much about them other then I used to stay in bed Saturday mornings reading/ looking at the pictures I must have been about 5 at the time.

I didn't collect or order comic religiously till much later but do remember getting a mix of summers specials and the odd Beano and Dandy etc etc.

I moved to Melton Mowbray in the mid 1980's and picked up the odd stack of Battle, Warlord and Eagle at school Jumble sales and Charity shop trips. The first comics I had on order from the newsagent was M.A.S.K and then this carried on to Eagle once they then merged. The Newsagent had a good selection of DC comics and started to pick these up with pocket money remember them being 40p and issue which was cheap at the time.

The first comics that I remember reading over and over again was a chance find from my uncle he found 3 bin bags full of Marvel comics Rampage, Complete Fantastic Four, The Hulk, Star Wars and Spider-Man weekly from the late 70's In a skip. I think between me and my cousins had the full run of them. Which all ended up coming my way in the end

If I had My time over I would have started with Battle ( love Charleys War) and the Eagle even the 80's re-launch I would have loved and 2000AD which I came to the party very very late in the day.

[paw broon]

Re. Rupert, I'm not really surprised that some folk found it scary as youngsters. But I think you saw the Tourtel version. Had you been first exposed to the brilliance of Alfred Bestall I think there would have been a different reaction.

[dishes]

I have strangely never really thought of the Rupert stories as comics. I always found it was inpossible to follow the stories by looking at the pictures, or even reading the rhymes. You had to read the blocks of texts. So I think of it as more profusely illustrated children's literature. I agree with Paw that Mary Tourtel's original stories (still often reprinted, so not hard to come by) are darker than Bestall and his successors' work.

The first comics I remember reading were Tintin and a little later, Asterix. And I suppose some of Raymond Briggs's stuff like the Father Christmas books. My first weekly comic was the Dandy in 1986. I had previously had a used copy of the 1977 annual. We also had Peanuts, Garfield and Hagar pocket collections in our house.

[paw broon]

Just to be pedantic for a bit, Rupert isn't really a comic in the sense of pics and word balloons - known to me and others as a balloon strip. It falls into the category of a text strip, a very common form in many British comics. You find the same format and variations of it in comics and newspaper strips from other countries. Particularly The Netherlands with classic, very high quality strips which include Eric de Noorman; Piloot Storm; Kapitein Rob.
but someone might be interested

[abacus]

Not really comics but as child loved the early Thomas the Tank engine books and flicking through the pages of the recent Thomas comics at a car boot sale and at 20p each I couldn't resist buying a couple , talk about never growing up.
There have been many fine illustrators of children's books like the Lawson Wood's comic apes whose pics sometimes featured in annuals and Heath Robinson's inventive cartoons.
Whether in comics or books, illustration is one of the main criterias I have for parting with my not so hard earned cash,(retired you know) :)but I still think in yesteryears's prices

[SID]

Is there anything you would change, Abacus? Illustrations that you would like as an adult but you may not have done as a child?

For me, for instance, there were comics which I wish I did get.

I even remember reading some of them but the simple fact was that I was either too young at that time or that I was never really interested in them. Instead I was happy with my humour titles.

Though I do remember being interested in Look-In as I liked Space 1999, the Six Million Dollar Man and even the Bionic Woman. But there were too many other things in the comic which I didn't like.

It was only when 2000AD came out followed by Starlord did my tastes start to change. Unfortunately by then, the many of the older generation had gone.

Do I regret it? Not really since that was my choice at the time and the internet has given us the ability to be able to get them retrospectively. However, if those comics had been around at the end of the 70s, then I think I would have liked them.

[philcom55]

Just to be pedantic for a bit, Rupert isn't really a comic in the sense of pics and word balloons - known to me and others as a balloon strip. It falls into the category of a text strip, a very common form in many British comics.

Strictly speaking Paw you couldn't even call Rupert a 'strip' during those periods when it appeared in single panel installments. Nevertheless I'm a huge fan of what Alfred Bestall did with Mary Tourtel's creation and continue to think of him as Britain's answer to Carl Barks! (...or is it the other way round?)

[abacus]

Is there anything you would change, Abacus? Illustrations that you would like as an adult but you may not have done as a child?

I don't know about that.I have always been interested in Illustration from an early age and when given reference books at school I used to flick through the pages to check out the pics.

As an adult with the internet and a printing machine at hand I have created dozens of folders full of my favourite illustration art just as in victorian times when they kept large scrapbooks.

This was cheap to do at the time as I was able to buy inks from the pound shops and inject ink in to the print cartridges and use them over and over again.

Sadly this loophole was closed on my new print machine and inks are a lot more expensive to buy and therefore any pics I now like are just stored on the computer.

I buy any book where I like the illustrations even when it meant buying a 1930's reprint nursery rhymes book more recently.
The 21 folders I created contain fantasy art, children's book art, comic art, advertising and postcard art , maritime art , motor racing art and so the list goes on the only snag is I didn't go to the trouble of assigning the artists name to each picture.
Generally I like the more realistic art than the clever art but like impressionist art like Van Gogh, Monet etc.

Images from 7 created folders when I could print cheaply , one folder devoted to U.K.comics prints

[paw broon]

Re. Rupert. You're correct Phil. I had overlooked/forgotten the single panel instalments. Is that a unique example of a single panel, newspaper strip serial? If so, I've found another variation
As far as the annuals are concerned, they fit perfectly within the description, text strip.
I've said it before, I enjoy and admire the diferent comics formats we have. So much to enjoy.

[dishes]

Just to be pedantic for a bit, Rupert isn't really a comic in the sense of pics and word balloons - known to me and others as a balloon strip. It falls into the category of a text strip, a very common form in many British comics. You find the same format and variations of it in comics and newspaper strips from other countries. Particularly The Netherlands with classic, very high quality strips which include Eric de Noorman; Piloot Storm; Kapitein Rob.
but someone might be interested

Just to clarify, I'm in no way saying that Rupert isn't or wasn't a comic strip. Just that I never thought of it in those terms personally (until I saw it feature in the Penguin Book of Comics or another such reference book) because in my childhood it was so different in format to what I was used to.

[abacus]

Re. Rupert
Found this book I thought was lost,it was behind other books in the small bookcase, no we're not posh and since the forum traffic seems light and no one has turned off the lights, thought I would post this which might be of interest .

[dishes]

One more thing about Rupert-
When I was on my summer hols this year I noticed that the tourist information centre (!) at Minehead had loads of old Rupert Annuals, all priced the same low price (£2 I think it was) regardless of era. Wonder if they've sold them yet.