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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CONAN PROPERTIES, Int. Look at the slanted edge of the comic on your right |
If my memory hasn't deteriorated beyond reliability, it was on Monday, June 13th 1994 at The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall that I met BOB HOPE for the second time in my life (the first being at The Edinburgh Playhouse on Saturday, October 13th 1984). That second occasion was also the night I bought CONAN CLASSIC #1 from the basement comics 'cubicle' in The Virgin Megastore earlier in the day, along with a few other comics, which, ensconced in a bag, were carefully stuffed down the front of my trouser's waistband as I was photographed with the great man and his wife, DOLORES.
The thing about that issue of Conan (the last time MARVEL printed the Cimmerian's stories in colour before DARK HORSE acquired the copyright to them for a while) was that it wasn't cut 'square' (if such a thing can be said about an oblong comic). On the mag's 'open' side, the cut ran at an angle, resulting in it being less wide at the bottom than the top by three millimetres. I'd often wondered over the intervening years whether they'd all been cut like that, or if I'd just been unlucky enough to get one from a bad batch.
Well, now I know they weren't all similarly affected because, today, I acquired a duplicate issue and it's cut symmetrically, so I've now added it to my 11 issue collection of the title. I'll still keep my original copy of course, as I had it on me when I again met Bob Hope, but more than 25 years after the fact, I now have one that fulfills my demands for near perfection. What can I say? I'm so happy! Not that I really needed it as I have CTB #1 and about a dozen TRUE BELIEVER reprints of the tale (as well as other incarnations), but my original copy's imperfection always niggled me down through the years, so I'm finally able to lay that ghost to rest.
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| Copyright DC COMICS. Hard to spot ripples on cover, but see the portion of interior page below for damage right through the mag |
But as comedian (allegedly) JIMMY CRICKET used to say - there's more. Back in 1986, I bought The ROOTS Of The SWAMP THING #1 from AKA BOOKS & COMICS in The Virginia Galleries in Glasgow. Thing is, every copy they'd received from their supplier (I was told) was water damaged at the base of the comic, running all the way through the issue. Just like with Conan, I have the original issues, various previous reprints (and subsequent ones), but over the years, whenever I looked at the mag, the water damage bugged me. Anyway, to cut a boring story short (though no less boring), last week I obtained a stain-free copy (along with the other four issues) and now have two sets of this particular series. (Actually, I have three, because around a week before, I'd bought another set, but they weren't quite in the condition advertised.)
What can I say? The 'collecting compulsion' is an overwhelmingly powerful one and is beyond resistance when it comes to upgrading inferior issues for better condition copies - finances permitting, of course. Any of you ever found yourselves in a similar situation, Crivvies? Tell the rest of us all about it in the comments section.
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| All pages are rippled and water-marked |
Oh, go on then, seeing as how you insist. Here (for the umpteenth time) is the photo taken on the evening of my second meeting with Bob Hope. There's a bag of comics under that jacket, tucked into my waistband. If I recall correctly, it included a back issue of F.O.O.M. (#4 I think), as well as Conan Classic #1 and others. And here you thought I was just a fat b@st@rd, eh?
I think publishers are missing a trick here - this could be a new marketing gimmick to boost sales...water-soaked Swamp Things, copies of Conan chopped in half by an axe...if anyone wants a copy of Vampirella with the pages stuck together (it's plasma, honest!), please write in...
ReplyDeleteA few years back, I bought a 70's Look-In collection (as new) from Amazon. When it turned up, the pages were bound in upside down (I'd seen this defect once before when a primary school pal got a copy of the 1980 Monster Fun Annual cheap for the same reason). Rather than ask the person who ordered it for me to send it back I kept it for a couple of years, but it annoyed me so much that I chucked the book in the end. It just rankled every time I saw it's spine in the bookcase.
By odd coincidence, I'd been reading it on either Boxing Day morning or the 27th, and that afternoon I was waiting at the bar to be served in my local Wetherspoons when I realised I was stood next to Les McKeown out of the Rollers. Rather than chat about the weather I mentioned this Look-In book I'd just been reading and it's feature on Les guesting on Saturday Scene (or Supersonic, one of 'em) with Sally James. I asked him if he remembered anything about it, he thought for a momment, and replied sagely, "Nice tits." - I hope he was talking about Sal, but either way it made my day!
I've got that Look-In book, HS, plus its companion volume for the '80s. There was another version of each book, with plain pages inside the cover, as opposed to the illustrated ones in the first printing. Apparently, Les McKeown sometimes played for the other side, so he'd probably have said the same thing had you been talking about Chris Tarrant. I'll pass on the Vampirella.
ReplyDeleteAw not Les, I can't believe it! I've heard queer things (in the old 'strange' sense of the word) about Derek the drummer and their manager but Les...och noooo...I'll ask him if and when the Rollers' current resurgence dies down and he moves back to Hackney...then again, perhaps I'll just wait for the bar to clear...
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was in the papers when he admitted as much in his autobiography. You could've been in there, HS, if you'd played your cards right. (Why has he got a face like a hamster?)
ReplyDeleteIt's right there on my list of things to try Kid, just after DIY dentistry and eyeball piercing. He used to wear a black jumper and this really bright red scarf. One day he said 'goodbye' to me Mum, perfectly politely, and she totally blanked him. When I told her off and asked her why, she replied, "I don't like bloody Doctor Who!". She'd remembered he was someone from the 70's but the scarf had thrown her...
ReplyDeleteWhat amazes me is that The Bay City Rollers had a TV show in America and were immensely popular for a time. Surely that's one show that would've had subtitles. Shang-a-lang - they don't write lyrics like that anymore. (I hope.)
ReplyDeleteThe Bay City Rollers also had a No.1 hit in America - "Saturday Night" reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, dated January 3rd 1976.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of Conan - yesterday I bought No.9 of the new Savage Sword Of Conan.
Here's my Conan joke:
Why doesn't Conan eat biscuits in bed?
Because the Croms get everywhere.
I thought it was because he was too busy sh@gging buxom wenches, but well done, CJ, for giving us a laugh!
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