Monday, 31 January 2022

COMICS - FROM BLACKPOOL WITH LOVE...


Images copyright relevant and respective owners

As has been mentioned a few times on this blog, during the 1970s the seaside resort of Blackpool was a great place to obtain, 'brand-new' and off the spinner-racks (at then current standard prices), '60s Marvel and DC comics.  I holidayed there with my parents in 1973 and '74 and picked up a nice bunch of mags to take home with me.  Unfortunately, I never kept them for very long and had to acquire replacements over the years when I decided I wanted to own them again.

In this post are the ones I remember having, though as I can't recall what year I bought which comics (with the exception of the UK ones, which are cover-dated), I haven't attempted to display them in the specific sequence or year they were purchased.  There are undoubtedly some I've forgotten, and there may even be one or two I associate with Blackpool though actually bought back home, but I'm going by the impressions that spring to mind when I look at them.

I'm certain I bought an issue of Buster during one holiday because I remember reading a Charlie Peace story, but that would take some dedicated research to discover precisely which issue it was and then search for it on eBay, so that's one for the future.  I haven't actually replaced my Spider-Man King-Size Special #6 yet, so the cover is borrowed from eBay.  (Update: I have now, and I've replaced the borrowed image with a scan of my own issue.)  I do have Prez #1, as well as World's Finest #158, but I can't remember where I've stashed them, so that's another two borrowed images; the rest, however, are from my own collection.

I'm surprised that no covers from Spider-Man Comics Weekly immediately spring to mind, as I was surely buying it at the time.  I'll check through my back issues to see if any jump out at me, and if so, I'll add them later.  Anyway, in the meantime, enjoy the images.  Perhaps I'm publishing this post too quickly on the heels of comments about comics and Blackpool in the previous post, but I thought it best to strike while the iron is hot.  I'm sure you Crivs will think of something pertinent to add to the comments section.













The main tale is reprinted from ASM Annual #1 - which I also have








I'd previously purchased this issue back home, but spied it while buying the one below.  I couldn't
swear with 100% certainty, but I'm reasonably sure I bought it again, impetuous youth that I was


If I did buy that week's issue of SMCW at the same time as the above MWOM, it would have been #19, below.  I know I had it back in 1973, so it's logical to assume I bought both issues together, as it's unlikely it would still have been on sale by the time I returned home.


This 1974 Special reprinted several episodes of the Adam Eterno strip from the first few issues
 of Thunder (which had been merged with Lion a few years earlier), edited together as one story

8 comments:

Colin Jones said...

I've mentioned this before but in August 1977 I was on holiday in Burryport in South Wales and I bought the 1974 Thor Treasury Edition (in which he fights Hercules) and the 1975 Conan TE which featured 'Red Nails' and 'Rogues In The House'.

Kid said...

And I've got them both, CJ, though they're replacements for my originals. (Having said that, I replaced the Thor one back in the late '70s, so I've almost had it forever.) I'm fairly sure my Conan Treasury is the one you mention, though I think there was a later issue as well.

Rip Jagger said...

I've always enjoyed the bejeezus out of those FF Thing issues where he gets kidnapped to the Skrull Gangster world. I was always a Hulk man until these issues began to introduce me to the engaging and salty personality of Ben Grimm.

Rip Off

Kid said...

Yeah, they're great issues, RJ - apparently inspired by a similar idea (as far as the gangsters go) in Star Trek.

McSCOTTY said...

I bought Silver Surfer 13 in Blackpool but I can only recall with clarity picking up a few other titles in Blackpool like Kull issue 9, Conan 26 etc. probably as I bought so many .Love that Adams Jimmy Olsen issue 135 cover .

Kid said...

There was also a '60s Hulk comic I got in a market in Blackpool, McS, and it had a letter in it that was also published in an issue of MWOM, but under a different name. That's how I know Marvel UK sometimes didn't always print original letters. They'd make small changes, like altering 'Greenskin' to 'Hulk', etc, but the letter probably contained some info they wanted the readers to know.

Unfortunately, I no longer recall what issue of Hulk it was or I'd replace it.

Colin Jones said...

I didn't know about old letters being altered and re-printed. What a revelation!!

Kid said...

The changes made were probably because it was thought UK readers wouldn't yet be familiar with 'Greenskin' as a nickname for the Hulk, CJ, and the letter likely contained a snippet of information about a character they wanted to impart, so it was a convenient way of doing it. The old Power Comics by Odhams did the same thing on a couple of occasions.



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