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I usually get there in the end, and so it was in this instance. 34 years and another house and neighbourhood away, I was buying the UK weekly SPIDER-MAN comic, but happened to miss a couple of issues. Not that I wanted to, but they were just nowhere to be found in any of the shops I looked for them at the time. Thank goodness for eBay! A year or two ago, I got the issue below, and today I received the issue above, thereby completing that run of comics I was buying back in 1984.
I gave both issues a cursory glance and placed each of them in the respective space that had long awaited their arrival, and maybe one day I'll give them a proper read-through. Suffice enough for the moment that they're there when I want them, and that 1984 seems as fresh and new as if it were only a year or two away, instead of the gulf that it actually is.
So I'm glad to have them, though can't help but being slightly sad at the thought that I may not have another 34 years ahead of me to locate any new comics that escape me today. Every rose has a thorn, eh?
Couple of lines in this post really resonated with me; "they're there if I want them", and not having another 34 years ahead of you. I have as part of my philosophy the idea that you have collected so many things over the years that even though you may not touch or look at them on a relatively regular basis - they are there if you want them! And knowing that gives me a feeling of comfort. I like spinning my chair around from the computer and running me eyes along the spines of the books and DVDs that line the shelves of the study, recalling in fleeting fashion the memories associated with any tile that my eyes might linger on for a few seconds more than others.
ReplyDeleteAnd on the matter of time left - none of us know how long that will be so in my case I try to make the most of each moment (human traits of lethargy and procrastination aside, to name but two), and part of that is taking down a book or DVD from the shelf or a comic from its bagged and boarded state to re-vist the time that you first acquired them or if its a movie or TV series to engage with whatever made you want to see it again (and again).
All of this may not be what your post was about but I just thought I'd share what it brought out in me on reading it, particularly as I know, or suspect,that some of these sentiments are shared by yourself in your outlook on the past and it's pop culture / entertainment over the last half century or more. (boy, when you see it expressed like that...)
Marvel UK always did really good Christmas covers on their comics- I remember a few Transformers Xmas covers that I loved, including Optimus Prime with a white beard!
ReplyDeleteThat first cover reminds me of a scene in, I think, Amazing Spider-Man 50, where Spidey is swinging down onto the top of the Empire State Building- what was his webline attached to since at that time there was no taller building in New York? Maybe in the pic above he's swinging from a passing space shuttle? Or maybe I should be way too old to worry about the logic of comic covers!
Around a year or so ago, I treated myself to one of those chairs, PS, so I can spin around on mine now too. And your sentiments are exactly what this post was about and you probably expressed the idea behind it better than I did. I've re-acquired quite a few things from the past recently, and it's almost like being back in the moment when I lay my hands and eyes on them after so long a spell. I do sometimes worry that I'm squandering the present in pursuit of the past to the detriment of my future, but there's not a lot I can do about it as I've been that way since around five years old.
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It's similar to the cobbled-together cover for the 1968 Fantastic Summer Special, DS, where Ditko's Spidey swings over Blackpool (with the tower in the background). When I showed the cover in a post, I said that his web must be attached to a helicopter, but most people would probably just explain it away by saying it's 'symbolic'. Handy word that, sometimes.