Friday 23 May 2008

Why another Blog. An introduction.

To answer that is to delve back to my childhood.
The family maintain i could read before i started school, and it was mainly on DC comics, especially Batman. Don't have any recollection of that - aside from one issue, which i'll come to in due course - but what i have plenty of recollections of are the comics i was reading in the late 60's right up to adulthood (?) in the late 70's.

British Boys Comics.

Yup, every one i could get me grubby mitts on i devoured (except, for some reason i can't fathom, Hotspur). The beauty of them was the diverse range of subjects on offer. If it wasn't a war comic like Battle and Warlord or action like, er, Action, each title would have drama (read and loved), comedy (ditto if it was Leo Baxendale or Ken Reid), mystery (ditto) and sport (avoided like the plague).

A large part of the appeal were the often outlandish set-ups and characters, but mainly it was the fantastic art on offer, with some of the moodiest and downright scary black and white work ever. The love of this style resonates now - to me, British comics should be b/w and never colour.

So, the point of this Blog. With the likes of the Albion mini series and many classic characters turning up in the excellent Jack Staff, i figured there'd be plenty of the sites on the Net springing up to showcase this brilliant back catalogue.
Aside from a couple of nifty sites (which i'll get to in due course), that hasn't really happened.
Feeling an urge to set down what i think of this alternative Britain, i've gone ahead an created this here Blog.

What you're gonna (always "gonna" from now on - we're in the 70's see?) get are my thoughts on my favourite characters and titles. Its a one sided fanboy view, a love letter to 1968 - 1978.

E

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