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They say that when you're dying, your life flashes before your eyes - but there's a far less drastic (and not so final) way to achieve the same effect. Simply flick through the pages of the comics you got as a kid (if they're still in your possession) and you'll find yourself transported back in time to when you first acquired them, with such clarity that you not only remember the past, but can see, feel, smell and taste it as well.
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Such is the case with The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #51. Look at the cover. See the stars twinkling in the night sky? One look, and I vividly recall the September evening when myself and one of my pals found ourselves crawling over the slated rooftops of a centuries-old public house in search of adventure. I can remember the sudden thrill when, underneath us, someone suddenly emerged from the backdoor of the bar to obtain a fresh keg, while we hugged the roof and hoped that they wouldn't glance upwards. Surely 'twas the exact same stars that shone down on us that night as sparkled from the cover of this comic from childhood, which I had bought the self-same morning in 1973?
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Looking again at an old comic is much like rereading a half-forgotten diary entry, in as much that it invigorates the memory and spans the bridge between past and present, allowing us - for however brief a period - to revisit times and places from so very long ago.
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| The slates at left belong to the pub. The photo is taken from where we gained access to the roof |
11 comments:
This was still over a year before I discovered Marvel comics in November '74 but I'm always fascinated by the first two years of Marvel UK that I missed.
You missed the best of Marvel UK, CJ, as far as MWOM goes anyway. After the first year, the mag was really past its best, though it picked up again for a while around the mid-'70s.
That Hulk page really brought back the memories. Hulk #102 was my second Hulk comic story and one of two comics I consider to be the beginning of my collecting ways. The other was the debut issue of Captain Marvel.
Hi Kid,
Nice story, was the pub in question The Monty?
You're so right about old comics being like time machines (similar to music) and you can remember the oddest relatively minor details related to events on the day you first read and/or purchased the original copy.
However sometimes when I've dug into these recollections, I unfortunately determine they appear to be false memories, as dates do not always align correctly.
Cheers,
Bid D
Who do you reckon did the artwork for that cover?
I've got the original Hulk #102, RJ, but I first read the tale (in the '60s) over a few issues of a comic called Fantastic, and again in this issue of MWOM in the '70s. I didn't get Hulk #102 until decades later.
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Indeed it was the Monty, D. I think what happens with memories is that some are very similar to others, and because of that, we sometimes confuse one for another. It occasionally happens to me as well.
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Where's Nick Caputo when you need him? At a guess, BS, it might be Ron Wilson, but that's just a stab in the dark. Incidentally, the Hulk looks as if he's still in a transitional stage from Bruce Banner, not fully changed into the Hulk.
I think I detect a wee touch of Larry Lieber as well. Anyone know for sure?
I always liked that UK MWOM cover. I actually saw the original US issue (103) in Edinburgh last month for £70, I decided to give it a miss though lol. My memories of old comics are a bit like what "Bid D" notes and are probably not really as I thought and mixed with actual memories and miss recalled ones. For this issue my only memory is finding it on my door mat after it was delivered with my dads morning paper. Artist wise I would agree with you on Larry Leiber and or Ron Wilson.
I assumed RJ was referring to the Space Parasite tale when he mentioned #102, McS, so I temporarily forgot that 102 was the first ish of Tales To Astonish to be renamed The Incredible Hulk. Luckily, I own both 102 AND 103, plus the '60s and '70s UK reprints in Fantastic and MWOM. My problem with some memories is that I occasionally bought the same issue months or years apart (due to spotty UK distribution) and I sometimes get confused between my memory of buying a comic for the first time and my memory of getting it for the second time. My main memory of the tale itself is probably the reprint in Fantastic, but that MWOM cover is equal with it.
I’m just getting vertigo looking at your photo of the drop from the roof to the ground!
No doubt the adrenaline rush locked the day into your key memory store. I also remember climbing adventures I did with a close pal as young teenagers when we had no concept of the consequences - of likely injury to life and limb - of such foolhardy stunts - but have no linked comic-related memories of those however.
A great memory, and worth republishing.
I doubt I'd be able to do anything like that now, B. These days, I get dizzy standing on a thick carpet and my balance is shot to hell at the best of times. Oh, to be young again.
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