BARRY PEARL, author of THE ESSENTIAL MARVEL AGE
REFERENCE PROJECT and blogger of BARRY'S PEARLS OF COMIC
BOOK WISDOM (here), recently asked me for my personal reminiscences
as to how I first discovered American comicbooks. (Just like STAN LEE,
I prefer to render it as one word.)
First of all 'though, let me relate
what I can recall of the earliest
comics I encountered when I
was only a few years old. It
would be impossible to list them
in the sequential order I first
experienced them, as my
memories of that particular
period of my life tend to run
into one another and it's difficult
to separate them at this late stage.
However, I remember being
aware of SUPERMAN from
However, I remember being
aware of SUPERMAN from
about three or four years of
age, and even reading one of
his comics, doubtless bought by
my older brother. Whether it was
my older brother. Whether it was
a U.S. original or U.K. reprint is beyond my ability to recollect - not that I'd
have known the difference at that young age anyway.
have known the difference at that young age anyway.
Back in the early and mid-'60s, which is the time I first became aware of
them, Britain still had a decent comics industry, with myriad publications
vying for the pocket-money of post-war 'baby-boomer' children. Titles such
as BEANO, DANDY, BEEZER, TOPPER, SPARKY, VICTOR, HOTSPUR,
VALIANT, LION, TIGER, EAGLE, BUSTER, TV COMIC, TV CENTURY
21, and a whole host more - the majority of which were aimed mainly at boys.
21, and a whole host more - the majority of which were aimed mainly at boys.
Girls had their own 'pictorial papers' to amuse and entertain them. Unlike
American comics, their British counterparts were published weekly, so U.K.
kids were spoilt for choice when it came to having something to read.
I probably first became aware
of American comicbooks (as
American comicbooks) around
1964 or '65, while visiting an
honorary 'Aunt' whose son bought
them. Sometimes he would even
let my brother and me take some
of them home - to keep. These
were usually from the stable of
NATIONAL PERIODICAL
PUBLICATIONS (DC COMICS
nowadays), and included such
titles as SUPERMAN, BATMAN,
THE FLASH, etc. As most readers
will know, U.S. comics came to
Britain as ballast in ships, and
were usually displayed on spinner-
racks along with other magazines in a shop corner, whereas U.K. comics were normally given space on the newsagent's counter. This perhaps
accounts for why I didn't discover 'yankee' superhero mags sooner.
racks along with other magazines in a shop corner, whereas U.K. comics were normally given space on the newsagent's counter. This perhaps
accounts for why I didn't discover 'yankee' superhero mags sooner.
I first became acquainted with the MARVEL COMICS heroes in 1966, in
the pages of a British title called SMASH!, published by ODHAMS PRESS.
First THE HULK and then THE FANTASTIC FOUR (the foursome's origin
being reprinted in two comics simultaneously), followed soon after by the
rest of the Marvel pantheon in sister-publications such as WHAM!, POW!,
FANTASTIC and TERRIFIC. Three of these weekly comic papers (Wham!
Smash!, and Pow!) included the Marvel reprints alongside home-grown
humour, adventure, war, and sports strips, typical of what British comics
had been producing since the '50s onwards. Of course, British comics go
back much further than that, and noted Glasgow comics historian JOHN
McSHANE has even unearthed evidence that appears to suggest
that comics first originated in Scotland - 'the home of the brave and
the land of the free'.
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As for comicbooks from before my
time, I first became aware of them
through the reprints in 80 page
GIANTS and, later, when DC
COMICS upped their price to 25
cents an issue in the early '70s
and included 'Golden Age' tales in
the extra pages. Classics such as
THE BOY COMMANDOS, THE
NEWSBOY LEGION, THE
SANDMAN, etc., re-presented
for a (then) modern audience,
for a (then) modern audience,
added to my knowledge of (and
appreciation for) what had gone
before. I learned about early
U.K. comics from books by
collector and historian, the late
DENIS GIFFORD, whose collection contained periodicals unknown to
even the British Museum.
appreciation for) what had gone
before. I learned about early
U.K. comics from books by
collector and historian, the late
DENIS GIFFORD, whose collection contained periodicals unknown to
even the British Museum.
So, that's how it all happened in my case, and I'm pretty sure it's not too
different for those U.K. readers of a similar age and background to myself.
I'd like to thank Barry for allowing me to indulge in my favourite pastimes -
comicbooks and reminiscing about the past. (Or 'talking about myself', as
some cynics might prefer to describe it.)
different for those U.K. readers of a similar age and background to myself.
I'd like to thank Barry for allowing me to indulge in my favourite pastimes -
comicbooks and reminiscing about the past. (Or 'talking about myself', as
some cynics might prefer to describe it.)
11 comments:
Good to see you back Kid!
I really cannot imagine a life growing up without that unique and endlessley fascinating genre of literature, which is of course the "comic".Simple as its name suggests yet totally sublime in its scope and ability to inspire,exhilarate and transcend the mundane,taking kids such as myself then, with poor education and limited aspirations on a journey way beyond that which other forms of media could only begin to grasp at.
Yes,long live the Comic!
And long live Moonmando. (And me.)
Pretty interesting to read it right now. At least they found their way to the UK at all.
And thank goodness they did, Chris. They brightened up many a childhood.
I only simply recall in the 80's noticing both Marvel and DC putting UK prices on their books and not being sure why they did that (I guess it made sense when they were pricing them to Canada as usual).
In the '60s, DC and Marvel comics also sometimes had U.K. prices on them - 10d and 1/-. What they did was remove the plates after the U.S. print run, change the price to British currency, and then print a fresh batch for U.K. distribution. In the case of Marvel, they removed the date from the small cover box which also contained the issue number, and added 'Distributed by Thorpe & Porter' to the indicia. However, issues also made their way over here simply rubber-stamped with the U.K. price on the cover.
As for the '80s, with the advent of comic speciality shops and an established U.K. readership, it made sense to include the price on the cover. Previously, U.S. comics were mainly used as ballast on ships - in the late '70s and early/mid-'80s, they were now a genuine American export in their own right.
American comics really seemed to take off in the UK in 1966. It’s surely not just coincidental that ABC’s TV series ‘Batman’ — first broadcast in Britain (on ITV) during May 1966 — and the growth in US comic consumption occurred at the same time? The TV series certainly raised the profile of American comics in the UK (I’ve heard that the TV show also revived sales of the ‘Batman’ comic title at home in the US).
I’m sure that Kid will be familiar with the details, but in case anyone else isn’t: ‘Smash!’ was published from February 1966 and by May included its first imported superhero feature (‘The Incredible Hulk’). By June (only one month after ‘Batman’ was first broadcast on TV) the comic also featured ‘Batman’, reprinted (in near-full-colour on the front cover) from reconfigured black and white American daily newspaper strips. At about the same time (I can’t find precise dates), the same ‘Batman’ reprints were also featured as a strip in ‘The Sun’, a daily newspaper in the UK (this predates ‘page three’ and Murdoch’s ownership). It’s not unreasonable to suppose that it was contemporaneous with the run in ‘Smash!’: ‘Smash!’ was published by Odhams, who became part of Fleetway in 1960 and then part of IPC (the publishers of ‘The Sun’) in 1963. IPC’s license to use ‘Batman’ dailies probably covered both publications.
This certainly affected my own comic buying habits. I had favoured comics that included science- and SF-orientated content. Though I might occasionally have bought more ‘traditional’ British comics, it was infrequent as I had absolutely no interest in sporting features, delayed interest in war-orientated features and no patience with juvenile heroes: a scenario I always found too annoyingly improbable for words (I may have been the exception but I couldn’t understand why publishers of comics or television producers thought that kids would want to see other kids as heroes. I never did). ‘Smash!’ was traditional in that it had a typical miscellany of features but then it added US superheroes to its content, as did its ‘Power Comics’ stable mates in later months. Ironically, it was this content that eventually proved to be my way into more traditional British action comics (though I didn’t buy ‘Smash!’ regularly until it featured ‘Batman’ — by then in black and white on an inside spread — and Marvel’s ‘Daredevil’. ‘Fantastic!’, a UK ‘Power Comic’ launched in February 1967 but printed on better paper, was nearly all reprinted Marvel content (mostly in black and white).
(Not sure whether this posted correctly previously. sorry if it's a duplicate!)
***
Online checking of covers for the earliest imported US comics I bought (or that I saw passed around at school) also ties up to about the same date. The first I purchased (from a rotary rack in a fish and chip shop while on a spring seaside holiday) was ‘Action Comics’ #333 (dated February 1966, so it had been kicking around a couple of months). The first one I saw at school was ‘Doom Patrol’ #103 (dated May 1966), which was given to me by a schoolmate. While it probably pre-dates my regular purchase of ‘Smash!’, my belated first purchase of a Marvel title was again at the seaside, though this time from the corner newsagent’s rotary rack: ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ #46 (dated March 1967).
From my first contact with Marvel comics I felt that they were, by far, a superior article compared to the DC titles I had seen. Possibly the reason I continued to like ‘Batman’ in ‘Smash!’ was that it was a reprinted newspaper strip and therefore written to an older readership(?) but ‘Batman’, both in various DC comics titles and on television, I quickly found slightly embarrassing and childish. To a large extent I stopped buying DC titles, though I remember making an exception for two issues of ‘The Spectre’ (ironically the only two from the run — I think — not drawn by Neal Adams, whose artwork later impressed me so much in Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ title). I still continued to read DC titles: an aunt kindly gave us, bit by bit, most of a cousin’s large and varied comic collection (kindly to us, unkindly to him — I’m not sure he approved or even knew of this gesture). He had all sorts of stuff and this is where I came across titles by Tower Comics (‘THUNDER Agents’, ‘Undersea Agents’, ‘Dynamo’ etc) and also the UK reprints of American material in Alan Class comics.
The last US comic I bought was ‘The Avengers’ #90 (dated July 1971). Alas, that collection is now all gone.
Although funnily enough, arguably the most successful superhero of all time - Spider-Man - was himself a kid.
When one thinks about it nowadays, it appears that the editors of U.K. boys comics were slightly out of touch, what with all the 2nd World War stories they foisted on their readers. I suppose that, to adults of a certain age, even in the '60s the war didn't seem all that long ago. In fact, to them it was actually closer than my teenage years are to me - and they sometimes seem like only last week.
Interesting comments, Ric.
Spider-man: yeah, that's true! I guess as young chap, either about to enter secondary school or having not been there very long, a mid- to late-teenager appeared to me as an older and more believable individual. The kids in many British adventure features were still in short kecks!
I think I could relate to kids in comics the same age as me when they were just ordinary kids who got into exciting adventures; it was when they were an adult superhero's teenage sidekick that I couldn't stand them.
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