A recent survey of favourite childhood memories noted that the most common responses included the endless stretch of lazy summer afternoons, playing with friends, spending time with your family and pets and riding your bicycle through the neighborhood after dark. To that list I have to add the day I purchased Silver Surfer issue 12. I have no idea why the purchase of this comic is so fixed in my mind but I have retained a mental picture of the day I first saw the above cover in a spinner rack in my then local towns newsagent. It was around March 1970 when my 10 year old self entered our local newsagent on my weekly trip to the shops with my family to spend my hard earned pocket money. At this time I was only vaguely aware of the Silver Surfer but I do vividly remember being surprised that he had his own comic so after a quick scan of the pages and seeing the story involved witches and took place just “down the road” in England meant I just had to buy this comic.
Silver Surfer issue 12 ,“Gather, ye Witches” by Stan Lee and John Buscema went on sale in the US in November 1969 and was cover dated January 1970. The story itself revolves around a coven of witches in England who are seeking to prove their power by summoning a creature that is capable of killing the Silver Surfer. They rescue the Abomination from exile, but he refuses to obey the coven's commands as he has his own agenda to wreak havoc on the world. The Silver Surfer attacks the Abomination in a fantastic 7 page battle scene that for me has rarely been bettered in comics, in the hope to stop him from creating anymore destruction. The Abomination initially repels the weakened Surfer, but the Surfer eventually perseveres, using his power cosmic to lull the beast to sleep. He returns the Abomination to the coven and demands that they send him back from where he came from.
I think it would be fair to say that for most comic readers from this time Silver Surfer issue 12 isn’t considered a classic but for myself it has remained one of my all-time favourite comics. Perhaps it was that great 7 page fight scene, the great villain (the Abomination is still my favourite comic book baddie) or the fact that I was taken aback by the melancholy of the Surfer (i.e. he was a bit of a moaning git) or maybe it just links me to those other childhood memories like riding my bicycle through the neighborhood after dark.
I was probably about seven years old when I walked into my local newsagents in Cambuslang (near Glasgow) with my pocket money firmly he...
Following on from my last post featuring some of my favourite Marvel comic book covers from 1973, I thought I would show some of DC's ...
Nearly a half-century on I still consider 1973 to be the year that cemented my destiny in becoming a lifetime comic book fan. It was a yea...
So what I want to know, McS, is what did you have to do to make your pocket-money so 'hard-earned'? I first read this tale (or part of it) in TV21 when it was reprinting Marvel stories (around 1970/'71), and acquired the original US ish in Blackpool in 1973 or '74. (Along with 3 other issues of SS and some Kirby FFs.) Excellent stuff.
ReplyDeleteFor my pocket money on a Saturday my brother and myself would make the beds, peel the potatoes for diner, set the table, do some dusting and hoover up. Then it was 8 hours down the mine 😊. I remember reading this story in the revamped TV 21 as well. If I recall correctly like most of the Marvel reprints in TV21 at this time it was really badly edited. Blackpool was always good for finding US comics at this time - I have great memories of picking up some of my favourite comics in Blackpool in the early to mid 1970s.
ReplyDeleteYup, badly edited - and reworded in some cases, losing some of Stan's charm. Only 8 hours down the mine? I did 12, ya loafer.
DeleteI had to smile at your comment about Silver Surfer being a "moaning git", which I think encapsulated my attitude to the character back in the Bronze Age. The only Silver Surfer's I collected were 5 copies of #10, which I picked up in the Strand Gift Shop in Southsea near the seafront, and which I quickly resold to Alan Austin for 75p each as they were rare (not sure why. Dock Strike perhaps?).
ReplyDeleteRe your's and Kid's comment about Blackpool, as we've discussed in the past, seaside places seemed to be magical for picking up great comics. One poster mentioned Margate on my blog a while back. I wonder if we remember buying the comics on family holidays because they enlivened the boredom, or just that the juxtaposition of the excitement of the holiday plus comics just got burned into our synapses?
For myself I think I recall buying comics in Blackpool in particular, due to the sheer volume of them and the variety of titles not just Marvel DC ,Charlton but Skywald, Warren,, Alan Class etc . They seemed to be in every newsagents shop in thick piles or crammed into spinner racks. And yeah that and the excitement against the sometimes boredom probably trigger those memories. I only have Silver Surfer issue 12 from the original run but I got most of the first series when they reprinted it in Fantasy Masterpieces and a few Alan Class reprints including issue 10.In every issue old Norrin was indeed a moaning git, but he was a cool moaning git.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I remember those comics in Blackpool is because they were years old, but in brand-new condition at the then standard price of a comic. So if it had 1/- printed or stamped on it, it was 5 or 6p. Kirby FFs and Buscema SSs in 1974 - amazing!
ReplyDeleteThat's right Kid, good memory. I had forgotten about the fact that in Blackpool in particular in the 1970's you could pick up old US and Alan Class books. I think I got a few Alan Class comics that were a few years old as well (ones reprinting Herb Trimpes SHIELD strips and Barry Smiths Daredevil). Pity you cant still ddo that.
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