THE AMERICANS ARE COMING! (TOO LATE, THEY'RE HERE!)

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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 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 but 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 nigh-impossible to separate them at this late stage.  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 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.

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.  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 (with my mother and brother) a former nearby neighbour whose son bought them.  Sometimes he would even let us take some of them home - to keep.  More often than not, they were all from the same stable of NATIONAL PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS (DC COMICS nowadays), and included such full-colour 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 monthly 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 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 mighty Marvel powerhouse pantheon in sister-publications such as WHAM!, POW!, FANTASTIC and TERRIFIC.  Three of these weekly comic papers (Wham! Smash!, and Pow!) ran the Marvel reprints alongside home-grown humour, adventure, war, and sports strips, typical of what British comics had been producing from the '50s onwards.  Of course, British comics go back much further than that, and Glasgow comics historian JOHN McSHANE has unearthed evidence that appears to suggest that comics first originated in Scotland - the real 'home of the brave and the land of the free'.

As for comicbooks from before my time, I first became aware of them through 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' bonus tales in the extra pages.  Classics from the '40s, such as The BOY COMMANDOS, The NEWSBOY LEGION, The SANDMAN, etc., re-presented for a (then) modern audience, added to my growing 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.

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.)

Do you recall when you first became interested in comics, and at what point you became a dedicated collector?  Then don't be selfish - share your reflective recollections with your fellow Crivs and enjoy reliving your far-away youth.  The comments section awaits your esteemed presence.