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As mentioned in part one, The EXPLOITS Of SPIDER-MAN lasted for forty 100-page monthly issues. I've got the first twenty-nine, plus the last one, so should I ever decide to complete the set, I only need ten to do so. Don't think I'll ever bother to be honest, as I only bought it for the LEE/DITKO tales and the free posters of classic MARVEL #1s. Once they stopped, so did I, as strips like SPIDER-MAN 2099 didn't really ring my bell, and I'd previously bought a good number of the original U.S. editions of the other strips featured in the mag.
In fact, I didn't even need to buy it for the '60s stories, because I already had them all in issues of MARVEL TALES and volumes of MARVEL MASTERWORKS, so I guess I was merely buying them out of habit and as a throwback to my early teenage years when I used to faithfully purchase SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY in the early '70s. You see, even then I was trying to re-live my past, as I've done from about the age of 5 up to the present day. Now, you may think that's kind of sad, but actually everybody indulges in the same thing to a greater or lesser degree, and let me explain just what I mean.
Ever seen those guys old enough to know better (adults I'm talking about) who hang about underpasses in groups drinking their carry-outs? They're trying to re-create that moment when they had their first alcoholic drink in the company of their pals, many moons before. Even many of those who regularly frequent pubs are, without ever realizing it, trying to recapture the heady feeling they first had when they managed to pass themselves off as old enough to buy a pint in their local. Or someone else's local, in fact, where there was less chance of being spotted by someone who knew that they weren't of legal age to be served.
Many of our pursuits are attempts at re-experiencing earlier moments in our lives - usually in conjunction with other factors, admittedly, and perhaps even subconsciously. However, most of us are trying to re-live the past to some extent, the only real difference being that I'm aware of it and others might not be. If you like something, it's entirely natural to want to perpetuate it, not only for its own sake, but also because of the echo of a half-forgotten memory of pleasant times from so very long ago.
However, that's enough of my philosophical ramblings - I now unleash upon you some sensational Spidey shenanigans for your leisurely reading pleasure. 'Nuff said!
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I suppose the massive annual jamboree known as Christmas is just because we are trying to recapture those magical childhood Christmases - I mean isn't it rather childish of adults to expect presents ? I stopped getting presents from my parents around the age of 15 and it seemed perfectly natural to stop - in fact I think I said that I didn't want presents any more. And of course we all read this blog because we are being nostalgic - but I'd never thought of people knocking back alcohol as trying to recapture the past - I thought they just wanted to get p*ssed.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I said 'in conjunction with other factors'. People want to get p*ssed not only for its own sake, but because they're also trying to recapture the feeling of what it was like to get p*ssed for the very first time when they were younger. Neither is mutually exclusive - two sides of the same coin in fact. Perhaps it's different for alcoholics 'though.
ReplyDeleteI've never understood the allure of folk drinking out of a bottle at an underpass ( and drinking cheap crap as well) and like you I was always glad I preferred to spend my money on football, LPs and comics as a teenager a much more healthy and enjoyable "habit" but sadly considered worse by some than boozing on Buckfast (not that I don't drink but Id rather do it in a nice bar).
ReplyDeleteMost of my comic buying is also out of habit or nostalgia - a lot of the time when I visit Forbidden Planet on a Friday & Saturday (itself a habit and will head into Glasgow sometimes 2-3 hours early in order to do that before meeting friends to satisfy that habit etc) I will pick up a couple of titles just to buy a comic (some I rarely even open let alone read) but I used to buy about 6 on that basis so getting better.
Apart from nostalgia purchases (Essentials, collections, back issues etc) which I do read. I probably only buy about 2 titles that I enjoy Samnees Daredevil and BPRD Hell on Earth) and even them I could do without (I have 4 issues of DD still to read) still its better than a hangover
I only get Thor and FF these days, McScotty, as well as Alter-Ego and Kirby Collector, but to be honest, I struggle to read the first two and have several issues of each that I haven't even looked at. I also get Panini/Marvel's MWOM, and only read the Daredevil reprints, which I enjoy. I did pick up the first two issues of Forever People (with the 3rd waiting for me at FP), but I'm giving it up because it's not really the Kirby group I read as a teenager. Comics for me are a habit that I don't really want to give up, but they don't give me the same thrill as they used to - unless it's a reprint collection or an old back issue.
ReplyDeleteYeah Im the same with new material now (Forever People was a disappointment to mes well ) like a failing UK comic in the 90s I am going "all reprint" very soon (ie only buying back issues :)
ReplyDeleteShame, innit? Here we are, wanting to buy comics, but they're not producing them for the likes of us anymore.
ReplyDeleteKid, I feel I must jump to the defence of modern comics - I came back to Marvel comics in 2007 after a gap of 24 years and at first they did seem rather strange but I got used to them and I quite enjoy them. I haven't been to Forbidden Planet since Nov 2012 but I have downloaded a few comics in the meantime. I'm sure I'll keep buying them on and off as long as they (or I) last. I've been thinking about nostalgia and alcohol and it occurred to me that whenever I drink sherry I use one of two sherry glasses that have been around since the '70s - they are the only two left from a larger set. So whenever I drink sherry from them I am being nostalgic (sort of) as I'm reminded of when they were new. I'd be shattered if they got broken (shattered - ho, ho - no I really WOULD be shattered !!!!).
ReplyDeleteAh, but 'quite enjoying' them isn't the same thing as the voracious, pulse-pounding rapture that used to come from reading a Marvel comic. I just don't, in the main, find them as satisfying.
ReplyDeleteI'd also be devastated if some of the old things I have ever got broken or damaged. Having them is a connection with an earlier time.
I didn't come across that many copies of Exploits ( or Complete ). In Complete, besides Amazing, Spectacular and Web Of, they reprinted " Spider - Man ", but I can't remember the fourth strip in Exploits. Was it the same for a while, as I can't see 2099 stretching for 40 issues.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, - very sad, the last GREAT Marvel UK monthly - the end of an era!
Afterwards there was one final attempt at a weekly ( or fortnightly? ) entitled simply X - Men, - again hard to find on our town and then.... Marvel UK more!
It's true than the excitement of old is not there but I assumed that's because I'm 48 not 11. The Exploits of Spider Man is new to me but it looks like the beginning of a return to form for British Marvel comics after the dire '80s efforts (dire in my opinion of course). EOSM seems more like the high quality of the later Panini Marvel comics.
ReplyDeleteJP, my comics are all tucked away again, so I can't check directly, but I think 2099 replaced either the Lee & Ditko tales or Motormouth.
ReplyDelete******
Ah, but I'm not comparing them to when I was 11, CJ - I'm comparing them to when I was about 25 to 30-odds, perhaps even later. However, I'm really enjoying the Daredevil strip in the current version of MWOM at the moment, so I know good comics can still be done.
I don't thing winos are getting blasted in the street because they're harbouring a compulsion to relive their halcyon days with their mates; that seems a bit of a contrived notion to me. I think they're doing it because their emotional lives are impoverished and those brief moments of bliss after a drink, are the only times they get to feel good. People relate differently to the past too, the past wasn't a fantastic place for everyone and that's especially true of childhood. Still, there's always something about the past to like, there's so much more of it that the present. The interest in the comics of yesteryear is not really nostalgia, because the comics then, or at least the ones we chose to focus on, really were better than those we have now.
ReplyDeleteI think my first response to CJ's comment covers your remarks, DSE, so I'll repeat it here.
ReplyDelete"That's why I said 'in conjunction with other factors'. People want to get p*ssed not only for its own sake, but because they're also trying to recapture the feeling of what it was like to get p*ssed for the very first time when they were younger. Neither is mutually exclusive - two sides of the same coin in fact. Perhaps it's different for alcoholics 'though."
We're creatures of habit in the main and tend to repeat the things we once enjoyed - sometimes even past the point of enjoying them. (Note that I'm talking about things that we considered good in our lives.) We're not always aware of why we repeat things; some factors in our behaviour operate on a subconscious level.
Sadly, 'though, some people even repeat bad things in their lives, like repeatedly choosing the same type of partner, even when previous 'clones' were an obvious mistake.