Monday 8 July 2019

REVIEWS FROM THE FLOOR OF 64 - WHERE THE PAST IS PERFECT...

Copyright relevant owner

One of my chief faults (among many) is that it takes me forever to get around to doing things - decades even, in some instances.  It's not uncommon for me to have taken 30 years or more to acquire missing comics to plug gaps in my collection, not because of their scarcity, but simply because I was too lazy or distracted to actively seek them out.  (I've got model kits from 20 or more years ago still in their boxes, plus three [for someone else] I've not yet finished months after starting them.)

Such was the case with REVIEWS From The FLOOR Of 64, a fanzine initially devoted to FANTASTIC and TERRIFIC which I saw advertised quite a number of years back.  I meant to buy it, contacted the fella who produced it to say that I would - and then, before I knew it, the years had rolled by without me ever having done anything about it.  Until a couple or so months back when I finally purchased the first three issues via eBay.

Crivvies, this excellent fanzine is one of the very best (if not the best) of its kind that I've ever read.  Diligently-researched, intelligent, informative, amusing and well illustrated, it displays the writer's obvious love of the subject matter.  If you're around my age (ancient) and remember the ODHAMS POWER COMICS, then this mag is one you should seriously consider buying.  Back numbers of every issue are still available from the email address at the foot of the post.

It changed its name to PAST PERFECT when it widened its interests some time back (#42) to include American comics, and other British titles like TV21, MWOM, SMCW, TV TORNADO, and WHAM!, SMASH!, and POW! (as well as others I've doubtless forgotten).  Super-thick (the current issue has 76 pages, many of them in full-colour), each A5-sized ish is a comics nostalgist's dream and would make a wonderful addition to your regular reading material.

For further details, dash off an email to editor, writer, and compiler PAUL WARE at pd.ware@hotmail.co.uk - go on, give it a try - I'd be surprised if you weren't glad you did once you've seen what a labour of love it is.

4 comments:

Hackney Steve said...

Hullo Kid...I noticed that there are still no responses to this particular post, so I thought I'd let you know that I've been in touch with Paul and have ordered a bunch of his recent issues. Going only by your write-up, and sight unseen, this sounds right up my street. As much as I enjoy reading your articles and others on this computer-thingy at work, I really miss the days of finding the new physical copy of Fantasy Advertiser or suchlike on the shelves in the comic shops of the '80's. This sounds like it could be a good modern-day equivalent. I did buy some US mags for a while, Back Issue and Alter Ego are both excellent, but when Forbidden Planet suddenly hiked the price by £2 between issues (the $ price hadn't increased), I gave up on them. After getting zero explanations from 2 staff in the shop, I wrote to their head office and was told it was all because of Brexit. What a load of cobblers!

Kid said...

I'm told it was due to the pound being suddenly worth less against the dollar (because of Brexit), HS, but I'm sure a few places exploited the situation to their own ends. It's interesting that prices always go up under such circumstances, but they never go down when/if the pound recovers.

Paul mentioned that he'd had some feedback as a result of this post, so hopefully a few people responded. However, even if you were the only one, that's still a result worth having. Let me know what you think of Past Perfect once you've read it.

Paul Ware said...

Hi Kid. Just a quick note to say thanks for this post. Following on from Steve's comment, most of my readers are ardent paper fans; a while back Past Perfect had to go "virtual" for all manner of reasons that no longer apply and I lost a few readers as a result and didn't pick up any new ones! I still offer a virtual service to those who want it (overseas readers who can't afford the postage) but even there I get very little interest, despite selling to places as far afield as Japan, Italy, Greece, and Australia. Glad to know I'm not the only old fogey still living on the planet! Thanks again and, as we say at PP, Power to the People.

Kid said...

Pleasure to help, PW, even if it was only in a small way. Hopefully, this post may still generate interest in Past Perfect in the future.



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