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All 14 issues of SUPER DC (see here) were copyright dated 1969 in the indicia and priced at one old shilling, despite not going on sale until September or October of 1970. (Confirmed by the fact that the free calendar watch strap labels were for November and December of 1970, and January of 1971.) ROGER MOORE had given up playing The SAINT in 1969, yet there it is being reported in the first issue's centrespread as if it's just happened, even though the news was a year old by the time the comic went on sale.
This would seem to confirm my theory that all 14 issues were printed before the first one appeared in newsagents, and for some reason (maybe copyright fees or distribution problems) were held back until matters were resolved. Not that such a thing need concern us a whopping 46 years after the periodical's demise upon its fourteenth and final issue, as this post is actually about the articles that appeared in the comic's centre pages.
Most of them appear out of place in a mag about superheroes, but space has to be filled in some way, and this was the easiest way to do it, while at the same time giving the comic a British 'feel' to offset the overwhelming presence of American costumed crusaders. Readers had the best of both worlds with this approach, and I thought Super DC was a great little monthly mag back in its day.
Here, perhaps for the first time anywhere since their initial appearance in the early '70s, are all 14 centrespread articles to help whisk you straight back to your long-vanished youth. Ah, "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end" - but, alas, they did. So thank goodness we can always revisit them, eh? Even if it is only for a short while.
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| This issue appeared in shops at the start of 1971, so the article is well out-of-date, indicating publication far in advance of going on sale |
Great article Kid. I'd forgotten the articles but as soon as I saw that Doctor Who one I was transported back. I missed all but two or three Troughton stories so that spread really struck home
ReplyDeleteAnd if I may, i'd like to contradict you...."Not that such a thing need concern us". I have found as I get older a klot of ephemera and trivia are important to our cultural memories, if nothing else
Thanks
Thanks, Norman, glad you enjoyed it. You can contradict me anytime. Unlike some other bloggers I could name (but won't), I don't call people 'trolls' for doing so. Did you have all 14 issues of Super DC when you were a nipper?
ReplyDeleteYeah, great to see these. This publication was unknown to me and they certainly had a diverse selection of articles there. Good to see an often overlooked series like the Strange Report get a look in and those Troughton Doctor Who images really brought back memories! That era is about when I became hooked into the series and so really takes me back. The Cybermen especially used to creep me out back in the day, particularly the scenes of the rogue one wandering through the sewers in that story Invasion. Always interesting to see past events (to us) presented through (relatively) contemporary eyes then.
ReplyDeleteThat's the idea behind this blog, PC - to visit the past as often as possible, but not ignore the best bits of the present either. Glad you enjoyed the post, I thought it was something different, in that it wasn't just focussing on comic strips.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to follow Norman Boyd on this one. Perhaps not a source for 'concern', but it adds texture & flavour to the reading to know such things. In a way, much like the incidental advertising in the old magazines. I highly prefer the old inferior print technology versions to modern reprints because of that added immersion in the times. Knowing idiosyncratic background information such as you supplied here can add to the experience similarly.
ReplyDeleteCan't go far wrong following NB, 3, he usually knows what he's talking about. Talking of 'texture', I often prefer the old print technology for that very reason - it adds a 'texture' to the story that shiny paper and perfectly aligned colour doesn't quite have. Not quite the same context that you were talking about, but similar.
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