Comics UK

For me it is Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man. Just thinking asbout the stories brings a smile to my face. Peter's love for Betty Brant, Flash Thompson's ribbing and J Jonah Jameson's hatred of the web slinger. Together with Aunt May's health problems all brought a touch of humanity to the strories. And when John Romita took over I have fond memories of the Vulture story set in falling snow - something you never saw in superhero comics before. For a British title I would choose Pow! I bought them when they were published and they had a dynamism lacking in the Beano etc.

JUDGE DREDD, FUTURE SHOCKS, STRONTIUM DOG and much of the 2000 AD archives...

I have been doing a lot of this recently, along with 1969 Sparky, which I find eminently readable all these years later.

The lead stories of these comics are my favorites sorry they are not UK

My mate Steve sent me the following e-mail in reply to my original post:

I concur.


The humour was a great part of it, the gang hanging out at the Coffee Bean. Gwen riding on the back of Peter’s bike in Spidey 50, where we first learn she cares about him. Under Ditko, I always loved seeing Foswell’s alter ego Patch.


I would say the same for the FF too, the fights between Johnny and Ben, the affection Sue had for the Sub-Mariner in the early issues, and the great supporting cast such as the Panther, Inhumans, Wyatt Wingfoot etc. Sheer magic up to the point where Kirby stopped caring (just after the birth of Franklin). FF51 “This man this monster” might just be my favourite Marvel comic of all.

The Fantastic Four with Stan Lee. Both Kirby (not the early issues but around mid-20s) and Buscema were terrific. The Thing was full of humour and pathos. A truly great character. Reed, as well, was so different to what had gone before. A masterpiece.

Also, the Steve Englehart run of the Avengers, with Jim Shooter also in there. The Marvel characters really were characters, with a genuine range of emotions and interactions.

I'd also add in Stan Lee's Silver Surfer and a short but brilliant Ghost Rider run towards the end of the first motorcycle series.

Yep, pretty American-based (although largely first read in Marvel UK). However, some Brit comics are as good, sometimes better. Just not able to be read over and over again. Maybe it's due to being for weekly consumption that characters didn't have the time to develop as much? With US monthlies, there's downtime for character development. Not so much in weeklies where the action has to be compelling at every short installment.

I am currently re-reading the first couple of years of 2000AD which I had bound years ago.

But basically all things 2000AD. I enjoy reading graphic novels - particular Marvel.

I'd have to go with the goofy 1960s Superman group of comics - Action Comics, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson, and Supergirl. Maybe some Legion of Super-heroes too. There were so many sparklingly daft ideas. Enjoyable for the fun of it when i was a kid, Enjoyable for all the subtext I can read into them now.

It was a period where nobody made much effort towards continuity, consequently non-Wonder Woman related Amazons appear in several mutually-incompatible variations and no one made a fuss. Lois Lane couldn't stand within five feet of a window without demurely tumbling out of it requiring superhuman rescue, and Jimmy Olson dressed in drag so often and so successfully that he became a mobsters girlfriend, and no one batted an eye. It's pure, distilled fun.

Excuse me. I have a Superman Family Showcase collection I think I need to get back to.

For me it is a mix. I have lost count of how many times I have read the Annuals in this house. Victor, Sparky, Bunty, Misty, Battle, I enjoy them all.

In fact thinking about it, it's easier for me to list the ones I would not read again and that is zero. Now excuse me while I dig out a few more Commandos that I have not read for a year or so!

Favourite UK comics will always be Wham, Pow, and the first series of both Smash and TV21. I've lost count of the number of times I've read some issues over the past 50 years.

American comics: most 1960s superhero Marvel comics. I also like the late fifties/early sixties Superman titles but I've only recently read those via the DC Archive Editions.

Late '50's - early '60's Detective, Batman and Worlds Finest. Probably as much nostalgia as anything else, but the stories are so amazingly daft and entertaining.
But the comics I have re-read most are Phantom comics.

Modesty Blaise.

Marionette wrote:I'd have to go with the goofy 1960s Superman group of comics - Action Comics, Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson, and Supergirl. Maybe some Legion of Super-heroes too. There were so many sparklingly daft ideas. Enjoyable for the fun of it when i was a kid, Enjoyable for all the subtext I can read into them now.

It was a period where nobody made much effort towards continuity, consequently non-Wonder Woman related Amazons appear in several mutually-incompatible variations and no one made a fuss. Lois Lane couldn't stand within five feet of a window without demurely tumbling out of it requiring superhuman rescue, and Jimmy Olson dressed in drag so often and so successfully that he became a mobsters girlfriend, and no one batted an eye. It's pure, distilled fun.

Excuse me. I have a Superman Family Showcase collection I think I need to get back to.

I must also add Batman 60s comics and the thriller and super detective pocket library's , when it's been a c**p day at work losing my self in one of my favourite stories puts me in a better mood for more of life's problems
Methinks it's time for a Metal Men comic ( need a bit of offbeat reading ) then some classic rick random ahh Heaven

At the moment I am reading late 60s/early 70s VALIANT and it is exceedingly bizarre, mesmerising stuff.

Some great replies and I must admit a fondness for the Lois Lane/Jimmy Olsen stuff too. I have the Showcase collections and after the realism of Ditko Spider-Man I like a nice kooky Superman Family tale - especially if the Bizarros are involved.

Strange Tales, especially issues 150 to 168. Thoroughly well plotted storyline which twists and turns -but holds together so well! Characters such as Umar the unmentionable, Baron Mordo, Zom, Yandroth scientist supreme! Nebulos lord of Planets Perilous and the Living Tribunal all combine in a truly superb read! BY THE HOARY HOARDS OF HOGGOTH!