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Another newspaper strip which has been on my wall for even longer than the SMALL WORLD one shown a couple of posts back is the above HAGAR The HORRIBLE two panel strip from The SUN. Like Small World, it accompanied me to our new house in 1983 and back again when we returned to our previous residence in 1987. The newsprint original (which you can see below) looked a bit decrepit next to the recently-restored pristine one by DON ROBERTS, so I decided to give DIK BROWNE's famous Viking warrior the same treatment. However, now I'm faced with a decision.
You see, great as it is to see these familiar strips from my past in their new form, I feel it would be a bit cruel just to discard the faded and browned old originals. It's a bit like getting a new pup of the same breed as your faithful old dog and getting the senior one put to sleep just because it's past it. Okay, it's not precisely the same thing, but it's similar - especially if you get attached to things to the same degree that I do.
So what would you do? Throw the old ones out and not think twice? Or carefully store them away and let them enjoy a well-deserved retirement after many years of faithful service? Or do just shake your head and say "That guy's utterly bonkers!"? Go on, leave a comment.
Burn them and sprinkle the ashes on the garden - in Hagar's case it would be like a kind of Viking funeral.
ReplyDeleteCJ, you'll never believe this - a couple of hours or so back I burned them in the sink, then washed the ashes down the plug 'ole. I thought it was like a Viking funeral, where they set fire to the deceased warrior and then launch him out to sea.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say put the originals in storage, but then decided that, if they really had any significant sentimental value, you would have already done that without asking for advice.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest a scrapbook for retired comic strips and other type memorabilia ,etc. Too late now,I guess!
ReplyDeleteWasn't so much 'advice' I was looking for, TC, so much as an insight into what others would do in such a situation. Just to see if I'm the only bonkers Criv-ite on the planet.
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I suppose that scrapbook is my computer, Moony, where scans of the strips in their original forms now reside. The actual 'hard copies' rose, phoenix-like, from the ashes, with brand-new, less corruptible bodies - BEFORE they were even burned. Now that's magic!
I'll give you fifty quid for 'em.
ReplyDeleteYou did the right thing - to be honest I wouldn't have burned it I would have had it in the bin years before as soon as it got faded (but as you say you have attachments to this sort of thing)- to be fair I still have about a dozen old comics I originally bought waaaay back that are tattered beyond repair and cant chuck them out (even although I have replaced most of them with newer versions). Sorry I've been busy at work and missed a few blogs did you colour this one, if so its pretty impressive it looks printed (ditto the Small World strip).
ReplyDeleteYou're on, DSE. 'Though you'll have to wait 'til I dig the ashes out of the u-bend and tape them all back together. Or will you settle for scans?
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Yup, I used acrylic inks to colour them, PM. The scans on the computer show some of the brush-work, but they don't show on the print-outs. In actual published comics in the 'old days', the printing process tended to hide any brush strokes, although in these days of computer colouring, brush atrokes aren't something to worry about anymore.
I'm going with "Bonkers"....
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know - I've met your missus. (Well, she married you, so she must be bonkers!)
ReplyDeleteOops, that should be 'strokes' in my 2nd-last reply above, not 'atrokes'.
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