Here we are at the turn of the year again, and it is
time for me to look back and ponder over the results of 2014 in terms of my UK
comics hobby.
 |
This is the last X-mas number of
Sparky that I didn't have and acquired
in 2014 |
I’ve almost stopped buying things on eBay, mostly
because my collection of the titles I am interested in is nearly complete, also
because I visit eBay less frequently than I used to. Besides, I am not in the
UK and I’ve made a decision as a matter of principle not to buy from sellers
who don’t offer international shipping, whatever their reasons might be. I am
past the stage when I used to contact them asking would they please ship abroad.
If they don’t want my money, I’ll take my business elsewhere.
Looking at my current wants lists, I can see that I’m
now stuck at the diabolical figure of 6-6-6: I am missing 6 issues for each of
the three remaining titles I am trying to collect complete sets of – BUSTER, GIGGLE and
SPARKY. A year ago it was 9 issues of BUSTER, 16 of GIGGLE and as many as 35 of SPARKY. At this rate
of filling the gaps, there is a good chance I will complete the sets during 2015!
2014 has been a good year in terms of building my
collection of the first decade of PLAYHOUR young children’s comic. I try to
concentrate on the period 1958 – 1965 which was the time when the magazine
featured Gulliver the Guinea-Pig stories with superb artwork by Philip
Mendoza and Gordon Hutchings. A few months ago I bumped into the complete year
1961 going cheap online from an American dealer and bought it without
hesitation. It would have been interesting to learn how the PLAYHOURs found themselves
on that side of the Atlantic, but the seller wasn’t very talkative,
unfortunately. A few days before X-mas I was approached by another Gulliver
the Guinea-Pig enthusiast whose collection is in the form of scanned
images – not exactly my thing, but still OK until I get hold of hard copies. I
helped him fill one or two gaps in his list and he sent me a few of the
episodes that I didn’t have. Between the two of us, we are now only 50 or so instalments
away from the complete run of this magical series which continued for more than
7 years! Here a is a couple of dramatic Gulliver panels from the late 50s:
... and here's one in the holiday mood from 1960:
As regards this blog, you may have noticed that new posts
are becoming less frequent. Looking back, when I started Kazoop!!
in 2012, it took me less than a year to cover the entire run of COR!! – weeklies,
annuals and specials, the lot. 2013 was the year of Shiver and Shake on Kazoop!!, and although Sh&Sh
had a much shorter run than COR!!, it took me slightly more than a year to
cover the title. The whole of 2014 was not enough for me to close the chapter
of MONSTER FUN COMIC and it looks like I will spend the first two months of
2015 writing about the MFC Summer Special (there is only one left) and the rest
of MF annuals. Kazoop!! is loosing steam (fellow bloggers
know that researching and writing a blog takes a lot of time) and I’ll
probably take a break from the regular format of doing comprehensive series of articles
on a particular title. I am still considering the monumental quest of reviewing
the entire eleven year run of WHOOPEE! but it may take some time before I proceed with
it, and even if the WHOOPEE! series never materializes, I believe that one day
they will still give me a medal for covering three great UK comics titles and putting
together a decent reference resource for anyone who might be interested in them :). That said, I have no intention of neglecting this
blog so be sure to drop by in 2015 for lots of British comics goodness,
including news about two projects that I am currently involved in, which I will unveil as soon as I am in a position to do so. Here is a little something by
way of a “teaser”, albeit not a very straightforward one…
In the meantime, I wish you all a very Happy New Year
2015!
