themagicrobot

If 13 year olds could still easily get reasonably priced Marvel and DC comics from every corner shop and newsagent as things were for me in the UK from the 1960s to the 1990s there would have been three more generations into comics still. And as for music all I can say is

In the 1960s I collected anything that was free or very cheap. Matchboxes, coins, stamps, comics. I used to cut out the comic strips from newspapers. I got into a routine of visiting relatives and neighbours for the Daily Mirror (for Garth and Andy Cap and the Perishers), the Daily Sketch (for Peanuts) and Evening papers for Modesty Blaze and many others. These were pasted into scrapbooks. Pre 1971 you could still get Victorian coins in your small change and it was relatively easy to get a collection of pennies from 1890 to 1967. I collected stamps because that was completely free. People still wrote letters. My mother worked in an office and they got parcels delivered with exotic £2 stamps. I had one of these albums and didn't think anything odd about what it was called. Now you can buy one of these on eBay full of stamps for peanuts. That desire to acquire stuff has been lost in the more recent generations. Most of my friends that are a decade younger than me pride themselves on their perfect minimalist living and are aghast at my heaps of boxes of comics and my shelves of books. My garage is full of stuff. They have knocked a wall between house and garage to extend the kitchen and utility room. Different generations have different priorities. As soon as I was old enough I wanted a bike/car. I know people now in their thirties that have never bothered or needed to take a driving test. Today you don't need to own a mountain of LPs to listen to your favourite music whenever you want to. Different strokes etc etc.

how do you balance your own pursuits of nostalgic bliss and collecting goals vs. an appreciation for living and enjoying in the present moment?

Yesterday I purchased another motorbike when I already have too many. It is a 1978 Honda, the same model and colour I owned 45 years ago. My thoughts are that I need it in my life as I should never have parted with the first one. It is old but it can be used in the present. If I turned right at the bottom of the street and it was suddenly 1978 again I would keep on going and never return to 2023

Similarly with comics I buy a few old ones now and again (more like daily) cursing my younger self for having sold previous collections of the things

I am buying the new She Hulk comics but they aren’t a patch on the old ones

But most of the writers and artists of new comics are much younger than me with different outlooks on the world

Kids today have so much more disposable income than my generation

Comics and bubblegum cards were all I could afford

Kids today may like the Spider-man movies but will they want an AF15 for £thousands in years to come any more than I would want a Magnet comic from 1923 featuring Billy Bunter.

I'm sure I've said this before but the T V Boardman Annuals distributed exclusively by Woolworths in the UK in the 1950s are forgotten gems featuring Golden Age Quality strips mixed amongst the text stories.

The Annuals originally came with slip covers. This is the only one I own.

T V Boardman books and paperbacks often had covers by the skilled artist Denis McLoughlin. Sadly he committed suicide using the Colt 45 he had used for reference on his Buffalo Bill Annuals. You can read more here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_McLoughlin

When John Spencer decided to publish a range of comics he used many existing novels to precis the plots for the multiple strips within. And borrowed artwork already used on the paperbacks too.

Many of these "well read" paperbacks must have a story to tell, having passed through a number of hands. Most of this batch of "Authentic Science Fiction" series paperbacks have various second hand bookshop stamps within.

The numbered John Spencer/Badger Books contain those weird "Joan the Wad" adverts inside.  

Whilst Roswell the Alien was asleep I borrowed his Fantasy Uninhibited fanzine. This letter caught my eye:-

     A few years ago I had an experience I'm sure your readers would like to hear about. It was on a Saturday, when I make my usual trip to second-hand bookshops around London looking for old comics. It was in one of my favourite haunts, a Popular Book Centre, that this happened. I went into the shop and it was empty apart from a young girl who appeared to be browsing through the paperback section. She was, I'd say, in her early twenties, blonde and quite attractive. Anyway, I headed straight for the DC piles, and started carefully going through them. By this time the girl had come towards me, and walking past she accidentally knocked my duffel bag from my shoulder, for which she quietly apologised. I carried on looking through the DCs, and was just about to pull out an issue of The Brave and the Bold I needed to complete my run, when, imagine my surprise, the girl's hand touched mine.

     I looked up and she was smiling at me. Puzzled, and slightly embarrassed, I pulled away and walked over to the piles of Marvels. The girl followed me. I looked up and she said, in a soft silky voice, "Would you like to come upstairs?". Imagine my surprise! Well, falteringly, I said "Yes", (who could have refused such an offer) and followed her to the back of the shop, and up a short flight of stairs.

     We  entered what was obviously her bedroom, and she showed me to a chair. "I've got something to show you" she said. What could I say? I was struck dumb! She went into another room, and for a few minutes I sat there, not able to believe what was happening. A short while later she returned. Imagine my surprise when I saw her carrying a large suitcase, which she put on the floor in front of me. My surprise was even greater when she opened it - it was full of comics! DCs going back to the 1940s, hundreds of them!

     She explained that her father, the owner of the shop, had asked her to show me the comics while he was away, since he knew I was a keen collector. Needless to say, a price was negotiated, and I left the shop with some of the best comics I'd got in ages. And at a bargain price! I wonder if any of your readers have had similar experiences? 

I think that date of the fanzine might give us a clue.

The letter is a lovely pastiche of those letters in Penthouse only comics replace the sex element. The mention of a duffel bag is a nice touch. 

That book may have originated in the UK but the ink stamp says Swanston Street Melbourne Australia!?!

PS: I recently acquired this history of John Spencer/Badger Books. They produced hundreds of paperbacks (many in numbered series) in the UK from the late 1950s to the late 1960s.There were a handful of comics too. Many of the SF paperbacks were written by the prolific R.L.Fanthorpe using dozens of pseudonyms.