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

CRAZY #1...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

It could be anything from 30 years upwards - I honestly can't remember.  Was I living in this house or the previous one when I acquired a replacement for my original issue of Crazy #1 (bought in Blackpool in 1973) - who can tell?  However, it was a long time ago, that's for sure.  Thing is, the replacement's cover was pretty mangled, so I cut off the front cover and attached it (with Pritt) to a fold-over piece of paper to serve as a new cover, even though the insides and back were blank.  Fact is, I just preferred neatness over defacement.

Today I received a better condition copy of that first issue (an abridged reprint of Not Brand Echh #8, which I also own), but I won't be disposing of the other one - simply had it too long to so callously discard it.  Anyway, thought I'd display the contents and remind myself of that holiday in Blackpool 49 years ago, as well as show you what you missed if you didn't see this ish back then.  I thought it was all brand-new material at the time - it wasn't until years later I learned it was reprint.  Not that it mattered as it was all new to me, never having seen its original presentation.

We holidayed in Blackpool two years in a row - '73 & '74.  As well as Crazy #1, I also obtained several issues of Kirby Fantastic Fours, Buscema Silver Surfers, and also various other years-old mags (all 'brand-new', off the spinner-racks), but I can't recall whether I got them all during one holiday or if some of them were spread over the two - both times seem to meld into one in my mind.  However, one glance at any of them and I'm back in Blackpool in the early '70s, and my faraway youth seems closer for an instant, not lost in the mists of history.

Enjoy the piccie-wiccies.

BABE Of The DAY - EMER KENNY...

Let's not waste time with words - let's just

unite in awed adoration of the enchanting Emer

Kenny - simply 'cause she's gorgeous.  (And she

thinks the same about me, incidentally.)