 |
| Image copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Here's a nice cover that brings back some happy memories for me. There used to be a hospital shop in my home town from which could be obtained comics and magazines that were extremely difficult or impossible to find in other outlets. Black and white MARVEL and WARREN horror mags? This shop had 'em. ALAN CLASS comics? This shop had them, too. The above comic was obtained from the hospital shop some time between 1976 and '78, and I remember sitting on a bench next to a burn (a Scottish word for a watercourse, from a large stream to a small river) and reading it on my way home. (I should perhaps add that I only visited the shop as a customer and not as a patient, lest you become overwhelmed with sympathy for my seemingly poor constitution.)
It was my custom as a teenage youth to clear space in my ever-expanding collection from time to time, whenever I needed to make room for new comics or simply because certain issues had supplied as much enjoyment as I thought possible and were now no longer essential to requirements. Consequently, I regularly passed on comics to one of my friends, who was an eager and appreciative recipient of my cast-offs. Occasionally I'd regret parting with an issue or two and he seemed perfectly happy to relinquish them back into my fickle care. Amongst the many mags I bestowed upon him were all but one of my AC titles, and I presumed that was the last I'd ever see of them.
Cut to thirty-odd years later, and, as related in an earlier post, the aforementioned pal turns up at my front door one night clutching various carrier bags full of comics: "I thought you might like these back" he explained. I didn't want to appear greedy so didn't reclaim all of them, but amongst those I did were eleven surviving Alan Class mags I'd last seen more than three decades before. (Though no sign of the one containing Mr. GREGORY And The GHOST, which I also remember reading on that bench back in the '70s. It would've been nice to re-acquire that one too, but he never kept every comic I gave him, alas.) Added to the one I'd kept, I now had an even dozen.
So here, to start things off, is the first of a series of Alan Class covers (derived, of course, from various American titles by different publishers) for you to feast your eyes upon. Hopefully it may stir pleasant memories of happier, more innocent times in your life, too. A brand-new hospital with an interior shop now stands close to where the originals were once located, though somehow, whenever I look at those Alan Class covers, it's not too difficult to imagine that things are exactly the same as they were back in my teenage years.
7 comments:
I discovered the THUNDER Agents and Captain Atom through Alan Class comics. I looked on them as very poor substitutes for Marvel and DC, though. They tended to be more prevalent in bus and railway stations, I seem to recall. Did they survive beyond the early 70s?
That's also how I discovered the THUNDER Agents, Dougie. Alan Class published his comics up until 1989 before calling it quits. Let's hope he's enjoying a well-earned retirement.
Same here I remember so many great Wally Wood (Ditko etc) Thunder Agents strips in Sinister Tales etc- also those great Ditko. Kirby etc (Atlas comics) reprints. I especially love these titles for the obscure (at least they were to me then) characters like like Judo Master, Captain Atom, Fly-Man, the Jaguar, Sarge Steele,Thunderbolt, Phantom, Mandrake the Magician,Steel Sterling, The Webb, Black Hood and (my fav at the time ) the Crusaders (I enjoy rattling of a list) and a character that was basically a fat boy wit a strange hair style - basically I really liked Alan Class comics poor printing but mostly a good read - McScotty
The printing certainly got worse as the years passed, McScotty. The plates must have been worn thin, as the same issues were churned out ad infinitum. (Or so it seemed anyway.)
I'd forgotten that I read some of the Mighty Crusaders stories in Alan Class comics. I liked Fly Man, Fly Girl and the Hangman best.
Although I'm a Brooklyn boy, I'm fascinated by Alan Class comics, as I am by Pow, Smash and all the other British reprints, as well as the stories of youthful collecting that go with them. As far away as we were logisitically, they mirror my own thoughts and images that rush back when I look on the comics I purchased sd s lad.
For instance, that first Human Torch story was seen in Marvel Tales #4, bought by my older brother John (you know him - he's been seen slummimng around your blog lately) while on a trip to my grandmothers house. There was a large store on the corner that sold sodas and ice cream, but also had a large display of comics and magazines. It was always a thrill to go there and purchase a few comics, and I distinctly recall my brother buting the 25 cent Marvel Tales, Fantasy Masterpieces, Marvel Collectors Item Classics and magazines such as Monsters and Heroes, which also had comic book content.
Thanks for making those wonderful memories flood back.
Thanks for sharing those wonderful memories, Nick. I always enjoy reading your little 'slices of life' reminiscences whenever you visit my humble blog.
Post a Comment