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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 132331
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 8:22am | IP Logged | 1
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When I started collecting comics... gather round, kiddies, ol' Uncle Eric is gonna tell his story. (Yes, Mr. Byrne, I know you're older than I am. SO... MUCH... older than I am. ;)••• I'll dance on yer grave, punk!
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Eric Sofer
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 31 January 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 4789
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 8:33am | IP Logged | 2
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Undoubtedly, sir. I hope to be able to get a jig in with you before they start shoveling dirt on my box. :) :) :)
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Doug Centers
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014
Location: United States
Posts: 5482
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 9:04am | IP Logged | 3
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"There were comic vending machines..."
...
I never seen one of those in my locale!
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Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11251
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 12:12pm | IP Logged | 4
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In the 70`s the UK distribution was very hit and miss,
and as Robbie M said, certain title were not
distributed at all as the weekly UK reprints were in
competition.Also, we didn`t get double sized Annuals
or anniversary issues, probably due to the pricing.In
all the local newsagents, the monthly delivery was
usually just plonked in a heap on the bottom shelf, so
you had to flick though the pile to get the titles you
wanted.I remember cycling miles to different
newsagents to find issues my nearest shop didn`t have!
The weekly reprint titles were good, and value for
money, but being in black and white, couldn`t compete
in my eyes to the full colour U.S. distributed ones!
Also, due to the 3 month delay we got Christmas themed
issues around March!
Edited to add...Treasury editions were a fab find!
Also, i remember WHSmith having 3 Marvel comics in a
sealed bag for a set price, you could see the cover of
the top comic, but the other two were a mystery!
Uncanny X-Men #113 was one title i remember getting in
a bag!
Edited by Bill Collins on 15 March 2018 at 12:20pm
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 12:27pm | IP Logged | 5
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I actually felt like the UK comics were more special. Sure, they were black and white, but we got a) multiple stories in each issue, and b) they were A4-sized.
That felt special.
True, I wanted colour, but I thought multiple stories and A4 size was a fair "trade". One copy I kept (SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY) had a Spider-Man story, Iron Man story and Thor story inside. Sure, they weren't complete tales - they serialised, if that's the word, for weekly titles - but it still felt special to me.
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Rebecca Jansen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018
Location: Canada
Posts: 4545
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 12:39pm | IP Logged | 6
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Gosh, never heard of comic book vending machines outside of Japan. I guess we were lucky though that we never had tax on comics where I was, our nickels and dimes stretched to the limit as it was.
I remember being upset one time that I'd somehow missed X-Men #134, but then how amazing to stop at an unfamiliar corner shop on the way to the grandparents and there it was! Whew, that was a close one.
We had a British style paper and sweets shop that had a lot of the Beano and Bunty and other titles. I mostly bought Star Wars Weekly and Dr. Who but also titles reprinting superhero stories back to the '60s. I'm thinking that three or more weeks of a title would come in all at once there. They did have stickers over the UK price usually and I would carefully remove them as soon as possible. Part of the fun was ads for familiar things with different names, like Frosted Flakes in England were Frosties. I never had much of a sweet tooth for wine gums or jelly babies though that i could have gotten, but I remember some Certs-like candies in a tin with flour on them which seemed rather exotic.
My Mom was a semi-avid comic book reader along with her older brother... she remembers a place in the late late '40s to the '50s that would sell comics for 5 cents, only the top part of the covers was ripped off them! She always went for Donald Duck, Little Lulu or Patsy Walker over anything else while my Uncle went for things like the Blackhawks, Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders or the Lone Ranger. She doesn't remember there being any spinner racks back then but does remember some being Canadian editions. My Dad says he only ever bought the very occasional Mad.
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 12:43pm | IP Logged | 7
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Taxes on comics???!
You Americans have too many taxes!
Says the guy who lives in a country that once had a window tax...
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7627
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 12:51pm | IP Logged | 8
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My comic collecting days in the UK went through a number of phases
1 - UK weeklies - the reprints where each issue would contain multiple stories split over several issues. Mighty World of Marvel, Spider-Man etc. American comics at this time seemed to be isolated to seaside resorts
2 - UK weeklies and monthlies and the occasional, random issue of American comics, distributed three months behind the American release. The thrill of the hunt - will I manage to find the next issue? And then there were times when a whole hoard of back issues would suddenly appear for no reason whatsoever. X-Men was at around issue 153 and yet suddenly, issue 141 appeared. I didn't get to the bottom of why this happened but I liked it when it did
3 - I turned around 15/16 and was able to take the train to Leeds and visit a comic shop each week. Regular influx of American issues, this was heaven for me. there were shops that sold comics as their main business.
Little did I know that these would be the death kneel of the medium. As I grew older, many of the ones I went in just were not customer friendly. Opinionated owners - why are you buying that? Why don't you like that? Let me play this really loud, sweary music.
Comics for kids? What are you on about?
A few years later? Where have all my customers gone?
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 12:55pm | IP Logged | 9
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James Woodcock wrote:
| UK weeklies and monthlies and the occasional, random issue of American comics, distributed three months behind the American release. |
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Makes me think how the world has changed.
Being three months behind was no problem them. Almost no spoilers, not unless you were reading something like COMICS SCENE or something.
Now, if you're three months behind, well even if you avoid spoilers, as I try to, some guy on social media will blurt out a spoiler.
Tweet: "Disappointed that Character A has died, and Character B has been revealed to be his dad."
Erm, yes, thank you for the spoiler!
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James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7627
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | 10
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COMICS SCENE. Wow. I still have issues of that, along with many of the other magazines from that time
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Robbie Parry
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12186
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 3:52pm | IP Logged | 11
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Can you remember the titles, James? I can't think of too many other than COMICS SCENE and COMIC WORLD. PREVIEWS was years away!
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Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11251
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| Posted: 15 March 2018 at 10:53pm | IP Logged | 12
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Oh the hell of part 2 of the X-Men/Alpha Flight showdown
and part 2 of Days of Future Past not being distributed
in my area!
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