"A NAMELESS LAND, A TIMELESS TIME!"

Images copyright their respective owners

Isn't it strange how, when we look at the past through the muggy mists of memory, periods of time we experienced as children seem to have lasted far longer than they actually did?  For instance, when I was getting FANTASTIC back in the '60s, it felt like I was reading the ODHAMS PRESS weekly periodical for years before it eventually discontinued publication and was merged into SMASH!, one of its stablemates.  However, Fantastic lasted for only 89 issues - which is (if my calculations are correct) a period of exactly one year and nine months.  Surely such a thing is impossible?  To me, it feels like I was buying it for about three or four years at the very least.

It's the same with WHAM!, another of the five POWER COMICS, as they were collectively known.  I didn't become a regular reader until the comic started featuring The FANTASTIC FOUR, sometime around August of '66.  The title was merged into POW! an issue or two into January of '68, which means that I had only been buying it for less than a year and a half before its untimely demise.  Yet, when I think back, it seems (and seemed) that the weekly periodical was a feature of my life for a far longer time than was actually the case.

Regular readers may remember that, some time ago, I mentioned in a previous post a quotation I heard on the radio a good few years back which ran something like this: "The memories of childhood are without time and without end."  When I revisit my own memories of childhood, I'm convinced of the truth of that insightful piece of wisdom.  If anyone can tell me its source I'd be much obliged.