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If my powers of recollection are still functioning properly after a period of forty-two years, I first bought the above GIANT SUPERMAN issue in 1970 while on holiday in the Scottish seaside resort of Rothesay. However, my main recollection of it is, I suppose, from some weeks later, when I was off ill from school one day, being sustained (as was usual in such circumstances) by tomato soup and American Cream Soda.
Let us now, in memory's mystic band, return to an earlier age - when your humble host was but an eleven year old lad with forever in front of him, and pleasure unparallelled could be had from a few comics scattered over a bedspread - as though they were treasures undreamt off that even the brightest bauble could never hope to match.
I remember the picture below having a strange, tingly, effect on my youthful mind (and other areas) as I lay in bed on that pleasant morning over forty years ago. I pretended it was SUSAN STORM in civvies, and entertained 'romantic' fantasies that would've doubtless brought a blush to the cheeks of many a spinsterly aunt had they been capable of seeing the workings of a seemingly innocent child's mind. Looking at it now, my first thought is "Wow, wotta bod!" Why haven't I ever met a real woman with curves like that? (Yeah, I know - I really do need to get out more.)
Anyway, hastening past my youthful yearnings as quickly as possible, let's take a look at the rest of the contents. First up is SUPERMAN'S LOST BROTHER, which I not only associate with that day off school, but also with the garden of our holiday home where I'd first read it some weeks earlier. Tell you what - I'm going to linger by the above picture for a little while longer, so just go on ahead by yourselves. I'll join you at the end of the post.
Ah, so there you are - hope you haven't been waiting long. With any luck, our whistle-stop tour through the above images has rekindled a few warm memories of your own associated with this comic from yesteryear. When I think of it, we really had it made back then, didn't we? Collectors' item classics for a mere florin - or 'two bob bit' in the parlance of the day. Nowadays, this would be a softcover book priced at between ten and fifteen quid. No wonder people call them 'the good old days' - they were!
Oh, they were good, Kid.
ReplyDeleteDo kids these days have their equivalence of good times in the making now, to be remembered 40 years later (in the 2050s! yow!). I'd like to think so, though I probably couldn't relate to whatever it is.
Good question, Thom. I think everyone looks back on their childhood as being some kind of 'golden age' (unless they're living in poverty in some war-torn country perhaps), but I find it hard to imagine that the kids of today have as good a 'golden age' as we did. How can they? Most comics are crap nowadays. Apart from that, kids seem to be less innocent these days, and innocence is a prerequisite to seeing things in a certain light.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of my favourite comics of all time. The Sons of Superman story is as resonant as a myth. A modern story ( or reasonably modern, like John Byrne's Generations) would see one of the sons become a twisted villain but this story actually has a more mature and wise outcome.
ReplyDeleteNow I'll have to read it again, Dougie, and refresh my memory.
ReplyDelete