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Being someone given to periods of self-indulgent introspection from time-to-time, I've realised that I'm a creature of habit - a reveller in repetition. I seem to derive some sense of satisfaction in re-creating moments from my past, though it's probably more accurate to say I feel compelled to rather than because I actually want to. In the last few years, what with all the many TRUE BELIEVERS and FACSIMILE EDITIONS that have been released, I've been able to repeat moods and moments that I first experienced decades ago.
Take True Believers comics like the reprint of OMEGA The UNKNOWN #1, or JOHN BYRNE's first issue as regular writer and artist of The FANTASTIC FOUR (#232) for example. I first bought the originals back in the '70s and '80s while living in the very house where I now reside. To receive and re-read their reprints in the very same room of the very same house I stayed in back then has some kind of immense significance to me, and the period between the old and the new is reduced in the process. A step back in time, as it were.
Same with MARVEL PRESENTS #3 (GUARDIANS Of The GALAXY). When the facsimile of that arrived, I was whisked back to the sizzlin' '70s (spoiler alert: Kid's favourite and oft-repeated catchphrase ahead) faster than a fart from The FLASH! (Hey, you gotta admit - it's a classic!) Am I the only one who reacts in such a way? One glance at a new edition of an old comic and I'm reminded of when I first saw the original (even if I've still got it) and, for a brief moment at least, it's like my life's reset button has been pressed and everything old is new again. (Or should that be everything new is old again? See? Philosophy - and for free, too.)
If you can relate to anything of what I'm trying to say (or even if you can understand it), feel free to expand and expound, and add your own thoughts, theories, and observations to the subject in our cataclysmic (hey, I gotta give it the hard-sell with you guys) comments section.
I've seen those True Believers issues in my local comics shop and yes, they remind me of when I first saw them but I have no desire to experience them again.
ReplyDeletePerhaps that's because you weren't particularly impressed by them at the time, CJ?
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right in saying that the reprints jog our memories of infinately simpler times.I do not remember where I bought every comic from the past but my favourites will always be associated with the shops I bought them in or the summer holiday I was enjoying!
ReplyDeleteI love it when I'm absolutely right, FFF - I should try it more often. Funny how some comicbook associations are indelible, eh?
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't have said "experience" because I'd happily read those True Believers issues if I got them for free but £4 each is a lot for something I'd read once then put in the recycling bin. The nostalgia for childhood/youth is much weaker for me than it is for you, Kid.
ReplyDeleteThe True Believers issues are only around £1 each, CJ - surely a bargain? I suppose if you have a hot nymph to share your bed, then comics don't seem so exciting, but I bet we're both in the same boat when it comes to hot nymphs. (Okay, so I'm lying - I have to fight them off with a stick.)
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