Comics UK

Muffy wrote:...they don't seem to have the 'collecting' gene though and don't keep the issues - which is a shame if they want to relive their own childhood in 15 or more years time.

Hmm, I've been thinking recently that maybe the collecting gene is not such a good thing. Maybe it's just better to concentrate on the future, not keep dragging one's accumulated past (with its inherent storage problems) along behind.

I've started to become concerned about the possibility of my comic collection deteriorating - plus I've never documented exactly what I've got - so I've begun a project to scan the whole lot. Madness!

Niblet wrote:
I've started to become concerned about the possibility of my comic collection deteriorating - plus I've never documented exactly what I've got - so I've begun a project to scan the whole lot. Madness!

It depends on the paper stock but if looked after most comics should survive for at least 100 years. I bought a bunch of pre-war / wartime AP comics recently. They'd been kept in fantastic condition (I think most were ex-warehouse unsolds / returns) and they're on cheap newsprint. I also have a couple of Ally Slopers from the 1890's and they're ok too. No brittleness, no yellowing.

Store them away from the light, damp, etc and they should be fine. I'm sure my collection will outlive me.

Lew

I remember that Morris Heggie (I think) said that paper usually lasts for about 70 years. IIRC, he said this in the possession of an ageing 1930s copy of the Dandy.

Jonny Whizz wrote:I remember that Morris Heggie (I think) said that paper usually lasts for about 70 years. IIRC, he said this in the possession of an ageing 1930s copy of the Dandy.

Yes I read that too, but with respect to Morris that depends on the environment they've been kept in, how often they've been thumbed through and the paper stock. All I can go by are the comics in my possession, which are older than The Dandy and in great shape with no sign of deterioration yet. I'm just looking at a copy of Funny Wonder from 1934 right now and it's not even yellowed or musty.

I do have a few very brittle copies of Comic Life from the early 20th Century but they'd obviously been carelessly treated and stored in direct sunlight. However copies of Illustrated London News from 1848 that I have are in brilliant shape with only a hint of off-white to the pages.

It's all down to storage and handling. Either that or build a time machine.

Lew

Ha, ha, yeah, who wouldn't want to build a Tardis and head back to the second world war and grab a whole load of comics from a shop which would be blitzed that night. History wouldn't miss them!

I think that would have made a good Tim Traveller story. Personally, I doubt it would work as well for Fred's Bed, the current Beano time travel strip, although others might disagree.

Personally, if I had a time machine, I'd go back and bump off the unknown Hitler, then return to this time to escape conviction for his murder . [my plea that 'this geezer was going to wipe out millions' wouldn't wash before WW2].

Second visit would be back to the 60s for a load of comics, though; in retospect, time-traveling would be self-financing: all you would need initially would be the ability to travel forwards for one day for a set of winning numbers for a lottery rollover, then go back and cast the winning numbers....once your investors had been repaid, the sky's the limit. I have thought about these possibilities often, but declined to construct a working prototype, as science was not my best subject at skule, lyke spelling wozn't.......

We did this in one of the last 2 Beezer Annuals, where the banana Bunch go back to 1967 and buy loads of sweets. On the counter of the newsagents shop is an array of 1967 comics, which they ignore.
Hardly a new idea when we did it!

I was actually thinking of pitching an idea to the Beano to bring back Tim Traveller as an adventure story, riding the Doctor Who wave. I had a vaugely-written first story where he finds the bike on a dump (like in the original version i think) and see's a dial on it saying "1940", he mutters about that being the date it was last washed and goes off on a ride, ending up in the year 1940. He is then seperated from the bike temporarily by an unexploded bomb and ends up tagging along with a kid of the era. They go into a shop and tim is bemused by the huge range of comics on sale (actual DCT ones and parodies of AP ones - The Sapphire, Magnetic, Triumphant, Detective Fortnightly etc). He them asks which is the best one to which the 40's boy replies "This one!" and holds up an old Beano.

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote: Second visit would be back to the 60s for a load of comics, though

But what would you buy them with, as today's money wouldn't be of much use. Or are you planning a smash and grab raid?

"That's the funny thing, constable. He only took the comics."

I really like your idea felneymike. I think Tim did originally find the bike in the town dump, though I have not seen that strip myself. However, if he was to come back (which I don't think he will, with Fred's Bed in the comic), finding a new artist could be a problem, because his original artist, Vic Neill, is now dead.

Yes he did find the bike at a dump. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Traveller

Raven: I would probably do a trade with the 1960s shopkeeper......you probably remember the days when the newsagents were awash with comics on the front counter......I would hold up a 21st-Century ipod or digital camera, and say: 'this is yours, in exchange for all your new comics'.

[money would not really be a problem, once the intricacies of time-traveling were unraveled....pristine copies of certain 60s comics for sale on e-bay would easily cover the cost of the ipods, etc].

ISPYSHHHGUY wrote:Raven: I would probably do a trade with the 1960s shopkeeper......you probably remember the days when the newsagents were awash with comics on the front counter......I would hold up a 21st-Century ipod or digital camera, and say: 'this is yours, in exchange for all your new comics'.
.

They wouldn't be able to print their photos, or download or transfer music files onto the iPod though, so would these things be of much use to them?

ISPY it would change history if you did that.