Comment Here for ThinkWORKS 91 Adventures in Comics 3 Comic Quest The Untold Adventures of UK Collectors in the 70s
Episode Lands Monday 22nd December.
Before comic shops. Before collectors. Before anyone thought this stuff mattered.
In this episode of ThinkWORKS we go to issue 3 of our Adventures in Comics mini-series, and head back to 1970s Britain — to newsagents, spinner racks, and the thrill of the hunt.
From The Mighty World of Marvel to DC’s The Shadow, we explore how UK kids discovered comics by chance, not design.
It’s a story of pocket money, persistence, and the moment comics stopped being disposable… and started becoming part of who we are.
Join in the discussion below!
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Ian Baker here...thanks for the shout-out in the podcast! I'd put off listening to it until I had a spare hour, so a walk by our local creek on Boxing Day (with the family still at home) seemed an ideal time. Really, really enjoyed the discussion between you both. It amazes me that so many of us had a similar exprience in our misspent youth - cycling for miles when the new DCs came in each month, frequently second-hand shops, averting our eyes from saucy magzines...
I grew up in Portsmouth, the UK's only island city, which comprised Southsea (the seaside resort), the naval dockyard, and many local areas with names like Fratton, Buckland, Eastney, Hilsea, etc. . Portsmouth had lots of close, narrow backstreets, and lots of corner newsagents back in the early 1970s. There were 96 newsagents within a radius of 6 miles in 1971, but I reckon only two carried US Marvels, but a large proportion of the rest carried DCs.
At the time I did not appreciate how lucky I was to live in a port, a major city with access to American comics.
All the memories you discussed chimed with me....my turning point for collecting DC's was Batman #234, "Half An Evil". Like Chris, I also had a scrapbook where I pasted favourite comic covers. Plus I had two local pals who were also avid collectors (and also had Carlton Corsa racing bikes and haversacks from the Army Surplus stores, ideal for carrying comics from newsagent to newsagent.
Anyway, a great podcast chaps.