What comics did you buy today?

[STARBOY]

Not often I manage to pick up any comics of worth this weather (especially on a Wednesday - but was off work today and in Glasgows West end looking at the charity shops for comics/books/CDs - picked up 3 US and 1 UK comics from the 60s/70s ; Journey Into Fear No 27 - very tatty (Morbius - with Frank Robbins art- love this guys work) - Sabrina the Teen age Witch no 26 (Dan Decarlo art in one story) and PLOP number 6 all for £1 each (not a great price for the condition, but it was a charity shop and good stuff in them that I like) also got SMASH number 17 for £1.50 (ripped but complete - great price for an ODHAMS comic)

[AndyB]

The Beano.

[colcool007]

Doesn't the Buster of that period have a Champion the Wonder Horse strip? What's that like?

And you must have a Maxwell Hawke instalment there, too. And a Toys of Doom!

Yes, all three are in there. The Champion strip features Ricky, Rebel and Champion trying to save a group of Kiowa Indians from being exploited by ruthless robber barons. Don't recognise the style but it seems very similiar to the anti-smoking full page ads that featured the guy on the scooter with his rather dishy girlfriend riding pillion.

The Maxwell Hawke story is in the middle of the Multi-Man run. Haven't had time to do much more than glance at it.

The Toys Of Doom features a group of locals that are under siege in a castle while under attack by the Footballs Of Fear. Will give a more in-depth update when I read them, but just received another 19 Victors varying from issue 40 up to issue 650 so a nice spread there. So I am mainly doing lots of reading.

[Raven]

The Champion strip features Ricky, Rebel and Champion trying to save a group of Kiowa Indians from being exploited by ruthless robber barons. Don't recognise the style but it seems very similiar to the anti-smoking full page ads that featured the guy on the scooter with his rather dishy girlfriend riding pillion.

I think the weekly Buster Champion the Wonder Horse strip must have run simultaneously with the weekly TV Toyland Champion the Wonder Horse strip; maybe not that surprising as, one year, I think there were three different UK Champion the Wonder Horse annuals, all from different publishers - although the series itself was 10 years old by 1966.

The TV Toyland one is quite disappointing - extremely simplistic, for tiny tots. I expect the Buster one is much better.

[steelclaw]

Today I got Doctor Who comic of course.

Also 13 Valiant & Vulcans and one Valiant from 1973. all for £8.50p

[philcom55]

To me the Buster Champion the Wonder Horse strip has always seemed a bit odd, especially as it came so long after the TV show's heyday. I can't help but wonder if it was reprinted from elsewhere - possibly a newspaper strip.

- Phil R.

[Raven]

To me the Buster Champion the Wonder Horse strip has always seemed a bit odd, especially as it came so long after the TV show's heyday.
- Phil R.

The BBC did run a repeat season of it in 1966, so maybe they reprinted an earlier strip to tie in with those broadcasts. The episodes had previously had about four screenings between 1956 and 1959; I'm not sure if they were on between then and the 1966 run.

Champion's black and white adventures were still turning up in the BBC children's schedules well into the 70s!

[colcool007]

...Champion's black and white adventures were still turning up in the BBC children's schedules well into the 70s!

My memories of Champion are certainly from that period. But I still preferred the English dubbed White Horses.

Meanwhile, back on-topic, I received another 5 Victors today all from the 760 to 820 range. I will plug all those gaps one of these days!

[Raven]

I received a July 1971 Valiant and Smash! today, a peak period of the comic for me as it contains my two all-time favourite Valiant strips:

Raven on the Wing in full horror mode as the bare-footed gipsy boy footballer has to face the "Hoblark", the very creepy looking scarecrow-like wise man of the Bascombe gipsy tribe. Great macabre Lopez artwork.

and

The Ghostly Guardian: Firebrand Frobisher using spook pirate power to make his little whaler zip across the sea: "we'll just have to make some wind ... with a little puff of me ghostly breath!" with the usual fantastic artwork (from Argentinian artist Julio Schiaffino?)

Plus: 3 pages of Janus Stark featuring a sinister grinning little monkey, a double page Leo Baxendale The Swots and the Blots, Return of The Claw, Kelly's Eye and more.

Apart from the racist rants of Captain Hurricane, it is fab!

[stevezodiac]

Yesterday I went to the local flea market and picked up 14 girls' annuals comprising School Friend 1973, Sandie Annuals 1973, 1975 and 1976, Diana 1969, Judy 1970 and 1979, Jackie annuals 1975 and 1980, Princess 1976, Diana 1976, Sindy Gift Book 1967, Daily Mirror Book for Girls 1980 and Tammy Annual 1976. Total cost £6.50 which also included Starblazer # 40. All the annuals were in very good condition although the Diana 1969 did not have a dust jacket (however i already have a copy with a dust jacket so will photocopy it and jury-rig a replacement). I left behind two of those Big Comic annuals that reprint IPC stuff as well as a Funny Fortnightly annual as they were less appealing to me. If any of you wants those last mentioned annuals I could look for them next Saturday, I know they're not valuable but they are good as a way of getting a small inventory of strips from IPC comics of the 70s and 80s.

Incidentally I recently looked at one of those free DVD pamphlets and notices Champion the Wonder Horse is now out on DVD. I'd prefer the Range Rider or WIld Bill Hickok (with Andy Devine) though.

As for Captain Hurricane's racist rants - if a nation is trying to enslave the world and is sending millions to death camps I think you are allowed to use some choice epithets against them.

[Lew Stringer]

As for Captain Hurricane's racist rants - if a nation is trying to enslave the world and is sending millions to death camps I think you are allowed to use some choice epithets against them.

What, in 1971 when the comic in question was published?

Lew

[stevezodiac]

But Captain Hurricane was set during the second world war so the language he used would have been contemporaneous. That shouldnt be too hard for even a Guardian reading lefty to grasp.

Must go my kids are outside playing Cowboys and Native Americans.

[Raven]

The Captain Hurricane rants referred to, are about the Japanese, or in his terms "buck-toothed baboons," "banana-coloured bilge rats", "rice-eating monkeys," "piano-toothed weevils," and "moon-faced scum."

Deeply unpleasant, and misguided to put in a children's paper of any era, I'd suggest.

[Lew Stringer]

But Captain Hurricane was set during the second world war so the language he used would have been contemporaneous. That shouldnt be too hard for even a Guardian reading lefty to grasp.

I wouldn't know. I don't read The Guardian that often.

However, I do know that Captain Hurricane was aimed at children of the 1960s/70s, so racist slang was wholly inappropriate. You may have gathered from the way he tied tank barrels in knots that it was hardly supposed to be an accurate portrayal of World War Two.

Personally I couldn't stand the strip as a child and would skip past those four pages.

Lew

[stevezodiac]

Well I happen to believe that Chinese and Japanese are among the most civilised people on the planet and their grace and good manners put our binge drinking, hooded, lads and ladettes to shame. But the writers of Captain Hurricane were only portraying the army as they thought they should be perceived. When you fight someone the first thing you do is allude to their physical characteristics eg You Fat B....d, you four eyed git, you bald headed @#$@! etc.

Getting back on topic:
Just came back from the London Comic Mart where I picked up Crikey no. 8 along with a nice mixed bag of US stuff. Including some 70s Mad Magazines for 50p each. And some nice Charlton Ghost comics with Ditko art.