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| Copyright DC COMICS |
Long-time readers with good memories will recall that I've shown these covers before, but there's a reason for their reappearance - a story behind them, if you will. Y'see, something I only just realised while looking through the SUPERMAN edition of the DC COMICS CLASSIC LIBRARY series (which reprints the covers and tales they represent), is that it took me around 14 or 15 years to acquire all nine issues - out of sequence and while living in three different houses. Let's call them houses A, B, and C.
I was living in house A when I acquired #s 233, 234, 240, 241 and 242, house B when I bought 237 and 238, and house C when I obtained 235 and 236. (I'd previously read the main strip from 236 in a b&w UK reprint mag in 1980 or '81, but as it contained no reference to the 'Sand Thing', I was unaware of its connection at the time.) Houses A and B comics I bought new off the spinner-racks in the early '70s (US comics didn't always appear in sequence in the shops back then and sometimes showed up again months or even a year or two later), whereas house C comics were purchased as mail order back issues around 1985 or '86. However, by this time, the other comics in the run were replacements (bought in my last two or three years in house B, I think), not my original copies.
Predating that though, in 1972 or '73 while living in house B, I bought new copies of 241 and 242 again, even though I still had my originals from house A. However, pristine issues of comics I already owned often called out to me to re-buy them and I usually found it hard to resist. It's because of this that I associate these two covers with both house A and B, and I had to double-check the back-up reprint stories to confirm that, yes, I had originally bought my first copies in house A. (In memory, I strongly associate these particular tales with house A. In fact, I clearly recall reading them while 'perched on the porcelain' in that house, sometime in 1971 or '72.)
You don't care a rat's @rse about all this trivial detail of course, but as my memory continues to fade with my advancing years, it's important to me to record this for my own future reference "ere the gate shuts to behind me" (to quote Kenneth Grahame). But the point I wanted to make is this: it never seemed to me all those years ago that it had taken 14 or 15 years and three houses to acquire a mere nine issues. Nowadays, when I'm not really thinking about it, it feels that I had all nine comics together at the one time and in the one place, not obtained piecemeal in different locations over so long a period.
In fact, I have actually now owned all nine comics at one time in one place for well-over 30-odd years, but that's not how I acquired them before the run was complete. (A task which took well over half my life at the time, from start to finish.) Funny how the mind can sometimes play tricks on us, eh? Anyway, seeing as you're here, enjoy looking at the covers again.
(Incidentally, issue #239 was a Giant-sized reprint number unconnected to the 'KRYPTONITE NEVERMORE' saga, so I've not included it here. Besides, without digging it out to look at and seeing what memories it may prompt, I'm not exactly sure of which year and which house I was living in when I got it.)
Predating that though, in 1972 or '73 while living in house B, I bought new copies of 241 and 242 again, even though I still had my originals from house A. However, pristine issues of comics I already owned often called out to me to re-buy them and I usually found it hard to resist. It's because of this that I associate these two covers with both house A and B, and I had to double-check the back-up reprint stories to confirm that, yes, I had originally bought my first copies in house A. (In memory, I strongly associate these particular tales with house A. In fact, I clearly recall reading them while 'perched on the porcelain' in that house, sometime in 1971 or '72.)
You don't care a rat's @rse about all this trivial detail of course, but as my memory continues to fade with my advancing years, it's important to me to record this for my own future reference "ere the gate shuts to behind me" (to quote Kenneth Grahame). But the point I wanted to make is this: it never seemed to me all those years ago that it had taken 14 or 15 years and three houses to acquire a mere nine issues. Nowadays, when I'm not really thinking about it, it feels that I had all nine comics together at the one time and in the one place, not obtained piecemeal in different locations over so long a period.
In fact, I have actually now owned all nine comics at one time in one place for well-over 30-odd years, but that's not how I acquired them before the run was complete. (A task which took well over half my life at the time, from start to finish.) Funny how the mind can sometimes play tricks on us, eh? Anyway, seeing as you're here, enjoy looking at the covers again.
(Incidentally, issue #239 was a Giant-sized reprint number unconnected to the 'KRYPTONITE NEVERMORE' saga, so I've not included it here. Besides, without digging it out to look at and seeing what memories it may prompt, I'm not exactly sure of which year and which house I was living in when I got it.)
I had all these comics at some point with the exception of issues 234 and 235 but I only bought 239, 241 and 242 around the time they came out the others I bought some 25 plus years later but in my mind I sometimes think I got them all around the same time in the 70s, so I know what you mean. Scary innit?. Issues 241 and 242 are amongst my favourite comics and 2 comics I recall vividly getting at the time. Superman was a great read around this time.
ReplyDeleteScary indeed, PM. I'd have been 12 or 13 when I bought the first of these comics, 26 or 27 when I bought the missing two to complete the set, yet the gap between the two points doesn't seem as long as that. Did it at the time? I don't think so, but perhaps I just no longer recall. Superman was, as you say, a great read around this time, and I don't think it's ever been bettered since. And the Swan and Anderson art was top-notch.
ReplyDeleteIssue 235 ! Had it. I realized at the time it was part of a larger storyline and of course I never got the follow up issues. Frustrating.
ReplyDeleteIt's still not too late, PS. DC Comics Classics Library has the full story.
ReplyDeleteNice to see those Thorpe & Porter rubber stamps on the covers. They bring back happy memories!
ReplyDeleteThese Adams covers are beauties! Who could resist that 'gates of Hell' cover? DC had a real knack back then for covers that made you want to check out the story within. As a kid I used to pore over those DC house ads that printed 8 or so covers for that month's comics, and wonder what the story might be that ends up at that cover 'teaser'...
ReplyDeleteI really miss that approach, since now many covers seem to be just pin-up pics with no reference to the actual story inside. If your memory's not what it was, it makes it harder to remember if you've already got that comic in the back-issue bin...
Thorpe & Porter and Gordon & Gotch - two names from the past, T47, that one only sees on old comics these days.
ReplyDelete******
As you say, covers are mainly boring pin-ups nowadays, HS, and don't tempt me to find out what's inside. Bring back cover blurbs and word balloons!