Posted: 09 July 2018 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | 2
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I've kind of oscillated at different periods.
First phase was when I was very little and I basically didn't have any input into which comics I got: basically these were second-hand comics bought a jumble sales. The majority of these were Marvel titles, like UK magazine versions of The Incredible Hulk, but also some little Reader's Digest-sized things of Amazing Spider-Man and Fantastic Four, but we also had a few Superman comics and at least one Batman annual. In this phase, I didn't discriminate. I liked 'em all with equal gusto.
The first time I started choosing what comics I wanted to buy was when I was around 7 years old, and the comics I collected were British titles without super-heroes. Things like Eagle and Battle Action Force.
Next phase kicked off when I was about 10 years old and Marvel UK began reprints of Secret Wars. This re-ignited my love for super-heroes and it was ALL Marvel at this point. I liked the sleakness that Marvel costumes tended to have, sans capes. Yes, there was the occasional Thor in there, but I loved the costumes of Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Cyclops, Daredevil and so forth. When I discovered that there were actually specialist comics shops, selling US imports, it became a huge passion in my life... and it was Marvel alone that I was crazy for (I did like the Superman films though).
Things changed when London Editions Magazines started putting out UK reprints of JB's Superman work. The first issue appeared in my local newsagent in 1988, just on the cusp of me turning into a teenager. I was a big JB fan by then, easily enough to try out the other company. Of course, those Man of Steel stories were a perfect re-introduction to Superman, and as the issues progressed into stories from Action Comics and Superman and started including stories from other titles like Justice League, LEM did a good job of trying to softly introduce knowledge to the reader regarding the wider world of DC.
I was no longer so resistant to DC. In early 1989, a copy of The Dark Knight Returns fell into my hands and I was gripped. A trade paperback of Year One cemented Batman as my new favourite hero and, of course, the film came along in the summer of that year and everyone joined me in going doolally for the Caped Crusader.
In the early 1990s I still mainly collected Marvel, but it was supplemented with a smattering of DC titles. I bought Detective Comics and Batman every month, along with some Vertigo titles, like Shade, the Changing Man. And JB did OMAC!
I went to University in 1993 and that's really when I stopped being a full-on regular comic collector. I actually found it increasingly hard to get back into comics on those occasional times when I visited a comics shop. Strangely, DC offered me the titles that I felt offered the most accessibility back then: JB's run on Wonder Woman was one of the last times I collected a title month after month, and Detective Comics just always felt like you could jump in and not feel like you had to do any catching up.
And that's really it. The last time I bought new comics from either of the Big Two, I tried a smattering of Avengers and Captain America, but found the stories left me cold, and I bought a few issues of Detective Comics, which just like days of yore, still gave that feeling of not having to do any catching up.
Long post, sorry for taking so long and thanks for staying with it if you've managed to make it all the way down!
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