Comics UK

babington wrote: Marvel Feature 1, feat. the Defenders
..

You'd have had to fly to America for that one I'm afraid. It wasn't distributed in the UK. I remember searching the newsagents for it to no avail back in 1971.

1974 December

so Whoopee and Shiver and shake, Whizze and chips, Buster, Beano, Dandy, Sparky, Beezer and Topper..
Look-in
some nice annuals to collect as well..
http://www.tonystrading.co.uk/galleries ... s/1974.htm
I would also have a look at the junior comics

9 January 1973: Cor, Whizzer and Chips, Knockout, Buster, Beano, Dandy, Topper, Sparky, Beezer, and later Buzz and Shiver and Shake.

As somebody who came into this world way back in April 1955 I always watch out for comics and magazines that were published in the month I was born. As Lew says, however, the odd thing is that many of them - particularly the American titles - are probably much easier to get hold of today than they would have been then.

The fact is that I'd hate to be stranded in 1955. In many ways life was much harder and circumscribed than it is now, and many social attitudes would seem impossibly regressive from a modern perspective. On the other hand I'd love to visit those days - assuming I could take sufficient funds with me and duly return to 2014 with whatever swag I managed to accumulate.

Above all the thing I'd really like to do (apart from generally taking in the historic sights) is to visit every single paper shop and market stall I could find. People who were born after the 1960s don't have any idea what incredible treasure houses these used to be with virtually every shop stocking a different selection of obscure comics and toys culled from warehouses and travelling salesmen, as well as a huge range of weekly titles from the major publishers, often going back for months if not years. And best of all were those fantastic spinner racks you found in most paper shops (though I'm not sure if these had arrived yet in '55).

- Phil Rushton

Phil, I don't know if spinner racks were in shops in 1955 but there wouldn't have been any American comics on them if there were as they were't imported into the UK until a few years later. (I know you know that but just mentioning it for younger members.) There would have been numerous British comics reprinting US titles though (in black and white) by L.Miller etc. British versions of EC Comics, Marvel, DC etc.

Yes, newsagents back then (as I remember in the sixties) were great places to visit. Comics from various publishers, joke books, paperback books, toys, model kits, bubble gum cards, etc. And the annuals in September of course.

Plus, quite often the shop would have a pet cat (in case mice got into the stock room) and it was a common and acceptable sight to see the cat asleep on the counter, appreciating the warmth of the newspapers/comics displayed there.

Just because I do not recall spinner racks in the mid '50's, doesn't mean they weren't around. But those old style newsagent shops were wonderful things. The cat on the counter really takes me back. There was an old, small shop near the Pavilion Cinema in Airdrie, run by 2 old ladies (well, they seemed old to a 6or 7 year old) where Australian comics could be found. The shop smelled of old paper and something else I could never quite figure out.
American comics. While I seem to always be writing about how they were not disfributed here till 1959, you could find them prior to that. If you lived close to a major docks, or American base, they were around. Also, men in pubs , usually nr. those places and in bigger towns, sometimes came round with a small pile of comics.

Paisley even had one of (possibly, the) earliest comic shops (not in the way we understand them today) called Yankee Mags. My mother bought her Captain Marvels there in the 40s. I bought my Marvels there in the 80s.

Oh yes, starscape. Yankee Mags was famous throughout the country it seems and my pal, Wee John, still speaks with fondness about it. I have never been sure how they got their American comics pre distribution but they were close(ish) to the docks, so there might have been an arrangement to buy bundled comics that came over as ballast.

Interesting little scanario:

Mine would be 1970, so I'd buy:

Humour: Beano, Beezer, Topper, Sparky, Whizzer & Chips

Tv Related: TV Comic, TV21

Boys': Tiger, Scorcher

Girls': Sally, June & Schoolfriend, Princess Tina

Nursery; Playhour, Teddy Bear, Jack & Jill

There'd be some things I'd miss if stuck in 1970, like the Internet (even though I don't own & never can afford a computer (esp due to gas/electric bills), and the ability to catch up on tv/radio shows, mobile phones, and were less pop music things on radio back then (needletime radio 1 & 2 sharing) and central heating.

But I'd also enjoy the likes of looking round quaint old shops & high street shops now gone, going to pubs when they had multi rooms & smokey atmosheres plus try some of the beers long gone & see if others were as bad as people said (Watney's Red Barrell, Swales' "swill" beer), and try the different foods (Wimpey Bars, Golden Egg) and long gone snacks (so many different crisp brands and chocolate).

There's be plenty of good music to listen to and good clubs to attend esp. if they played Northern Soul, terraces in football grounds (but be carefuil out there) and just 3 tv channels but a better chance of finding things to watch unlike today's "57 channels and nothing on".

It's funny but I'd completely forgotten about those paper shop cats - no doubt they were closely related to Bagpuss and Postman Pat's black and white friend: a special breed that is now all-but extinct.

One other thing I'd love to do if I could hitch a ride back to the 1950s is to make a pilgrimage to all the comic publishers of the day (preferably with a good, modern camera). While I might not be able to compete with the likes of Campion, Bradbury and Bunn (let alone Hampson, Bellamy and Embleton) I reckon I could cobble together a portfolio that'd be just about good enough to get me through the doors of AP, Odhams, Hulton, Pearson, DC Thomson, etc. - as well as the smaller outfits like Gerald Swan, Len Miller, Alan Class and Mick Anglo's Marvelman studio. If possible I'd also try to meet as many of the artists as possible, at a time when most were accustomed to slaving away at their drawing boards without any public feedback or recognition.

And as soon as I made enough money from betting on the Grand National I'd catch a BOAC Comet to America and repeat the process there...!

- Phil Rushton

1984 for me. There were still many of the well known titles then. Beano, Dandy, Beezer, Topper and Nutty from DC Thomson, along with Buster and Whizzer and Chips from IPC.

July 97 So Beano, Dandy and Buster

Hmmm. Things I would miss if I got stuck in 1964.

Apart from my comics (predominantly 2000AD), there would be the internet, computers, big plasma TVs, programmes like Doctor Who (though would like William Hartnell), microwave and modern films (though James Bond started coming out).

Oh yes, the missus and the dog but I'm sure I could get suitable replacements.

Well, since the scenario is the Doctor dropping you off in the wrong era, Doctor Who as a TV show doesn't exist!