Searching for comics in Portsmouth, 1970s style: Part One

This is Part One of an on-going series dedicated to those wonderful newsagent shops of our misspent youth 

Map derived from © Google

by Nigel Brown, Ian Baker, and…. we invite others to add to these recollections of hunting comics in Pompey!

“It’s been eleven years since we first posted an item on hunting for comics in Portsmouth in the 1970s (The Mad DC Comic Hunt July 2011). Enough new information has now come to light to enable us to revisit those golden days of the Bronze Age.

“Our cruel fate, as pupils of Portsmouth Grammar School in those less enlightened times, was to endure three compulsory hours of Saturday morning school, ending at 12 noon. On the upside, our limited rugby and cricket sporting skills exempted us from Saturday afternoon sport. This enabled us to undertake our own, out-of-school, enthusiastic cycling activity where the route was marked out by possible sources of comics, old and new.

“Our bicycles weren’t the mechanistic marvels of today, with their electronic shifting, lightweight carbon frames, disc brakes and high performance tyres. Clunky heavy frames resting on thick rubber tyres were the order of the day.

 [ Comment from Ian: “This was true for me until my 14th birthday in July 1973, when I became the proud owner of a green Carlton Corsa racing bike, which opened up the prospect of cycling further afield, beyond Portsea Island”.]

“We would empty our school haversacks of schoolbooks and other detritus (a weekly purge that perhaps other schoolboys did not benefit from), arm ourselves with the week’s pocket money – in my case 60p (about £ 8.50 in 2022 value) – and set off on our quest.

“Thinking about it now, we probably did more exercise biking around Portsmouth on Saturday afternoons than if we had been press-ganged onto the school’s rugby or cricket ground!

“Our route was determined from our starting-off point. From my parent’s house in Ashburton Road, on the western side of Southsea, we would head towards Castle Road, then northwards to take in Gibbs in New Road, with the farthest target being North End with the shop close to Angerstein Road. We would then sweep down southwards, in an easterly direction to check out the shops on the eastern flank of Portsea Island, ending up at Ian’s parent’s house in Nettlecombe Avenue on the eastern side of Southsea. If we set out from there, the route was in reverse, back to Ashburton Road.

“Our reward for this effort was ever-growing comic collections. In those days, just over a decade after the debut of the first Marvel Silver Age comics, to come across a ten-year-old comic (not impossible) meant finding early issues of Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and the like, on offer for one to three pence each (14p to 42p in 2022 value). Alas, we tended to stick to what we perceived as ‘the titles we collected’ and thus many an early issue now sold for hundreds of pounds was spurned in place of the odd mundane DC bought just to ‘fill-a-gap’.

“Nevertheless, that wasn’t the point. The point was that it was all great fun at the time.” – Nigel 

For clarity, we have divided up Portsea Island (a rough vertical oval shape) into different sectors, as shown on the map at the top of this page.

The southern area is below the A2030, and the vertical midline consists of that made up by Lawrence Road, Waverly Road and Fawcett Road.

We start our journey in the South East sector; [you'll need to click on the map below to see the locations of our key stops in this blog entry]

© Google for map image base. Embiggen to see detail of route

South-East

Stop #1: The Book Exchange, 26 Devonshire Avenue, Southsea

The shops’ attraction was that it had a high turnover of second-hand comics, and had a great selection of paperbacks. Considering the number of comics we got there I am now surprised that we did not bump into other local comic collectors.

© Google Streetview. Shop re-converted to residence.

© Google

“This was a second-hand bookshop that we frequented more than any other place in the 1975/76 period. It was run by an elderly couple. The husband seemed to suffer from emphysema, and passed away around 1975. According to commentary on 'Memories of Bygone Portsmouth', his name was Mr. Smart.

"I picked up my first Doc Savage paperback there, #7 The Monsters. It was the worst possible condition - creased, water-stained - but I was captivated by the iconic logo and superb cover by James Bama” – Ian 

© Conde Nast. Not my original copy - this one is far too good!

Stop #2 : Small Newsagents and grocery in Cromwell Road, opposite Eastney Royal Marine Barracks

© Columbia Tristar. Newsagents was 2 or 3 shops to the right of the gates of Eastney Royal Marine Barracks in this still from 'Cockleshell Heroes'

The Shop was on the far right of this photo

© Google

"I first became aware of this shop in the late 1960s as a place where a loaf and a pint of milk could be bought on a Sunday evening, in those days when Sunday shopping was tightly regulated. My Dad was a model steam locomotive enthusiast, and often we would return from his model engineering society in Southampton on a Sunday evening to pick up some provisions. The spinner rack was just inside the door on the right. The shop’s claim to fame is that you can almost see it in the film ‘Cockleshell Heroes’ in an early scene set inside the entrance of Eastney Royal Marine Barracks.

“I got Shazam #1 and early issues of Swamp Thing there, more notably issues #1 and #7, and early DC Shadows by Mike Kaluta.” – Ian

“That shop was a little out of our way, but was worth the effort. I recall it would have DCs for sale that we didn’t often see elsewhere. Perhaps it was because others were snapping up those comics in the other shops before we got to them, leaving us to find the more commonly distributed titles in Albert Road and the larger newsagents.” – Nigel 

Stop #3: Post Office/Newsagents, Highland Rd, somewhere on the block between Adair Rd and Kassassin Street

The block in the photo was a neat little row of shops back in the 1970s, one of which was a newsagents, and another was a second hand shop. We're unable to determine which shops exactly with the distance of 50 years. Portsmouth was so full of second-hand shops in those days; they could be a goldmine for a comic collector.

© Google

“I believe that the shop was actually a joint Post Office/Newsagents, opposite the old Police Station in Highland Road." - Geoff

"I picked up a Bantam Doc Savage paperback #20 ('Secret In The Sky') in a second-hand shop along that row on Tuesday April 20th, 1976. It was the Easter holidays and I was enjoying a run of finding "Doc's" in various second-hand shops that week, locating numbers 14, 21 and 22 elsewhere in the city." - Ian 

© Conde Nast. A photo I took in 1976 of the actual book mentioned above - baggsey

Stop #4. I.D. Williams, Newsagents 109 Highland Rd, between the Gravediggers Arms and the corner of Winter Road

© Google. Site of shop (reconverted back to residential) hidden by white van

© Google

"I think I went to this shop because schoolfriend Paul Thompson (who lived in Essex Rd) made me aware of it. It was one of two local shops for him, the other being Southsea Newsagents at 161 Winter Rd.  Like most of our comic haunts, this was a DC shop. I have no special memories of it." - Ian

Stop #5: T.E. King – Newsagent – 6 Highland Road, Southsea

T.E. King - the shop with the green shutter today

© Google.

“This was the location of my first exposure to American Comics in the 1964/65 timeframe. I used to go there every week with my Dad where he used to pay his paper bill, and buy me a copy of ‘Treasure’ when I was aged 3-5, and then ‘Ranger’, ages 6 plus, which later amalgamated with ‘Look & Learn’. All the American Comics at 10d each were hanging on clothes-pegs from wires strung across the ceiling. They were colourful and out of reach. I distinctly remember seeing a Jimmy Olsen comic with a large T&P 10d stamp printed on the cover. 

© DC Comics. One of the first comic covers I can remember

.

“This must have been around the time when Batman trading cards came out, and my Dad would buy me a packet from The Cabin tobacconist and sweetshop just further along Highland Road. 

“I suppose the Batman TV craze got me interested in Batman comics, and I think I collected comics in the range of Batman #186-200 starting around then (Nov 1966 – March 1968), before losing interest and collecting Captain Scarlet and Joe 90 cards, and getting Fantastic and Terrific each week. It wasn’t until after I met Paul Thompson at PGS when we were in the 3rd Form that I started getting interested in comics again, as he was a great Superman fan. I got back into comics around Batman # 233 (July 1971).” – Ian 

“I remember this being a major stop on our route, as there was always such a large and reliable stock of DCs for sale, and it was fairly close to your house on Nettlecombe Avenue. I think they had two spinner racks of comics. I distinctly recall being outraged when, at these racks, I first saw that DC comics were now priced at the princely sum of seven and a half-pence each!

“On the plus side, I did buy the classic Batman # 251 Neal Adams/Denny O’Neil ‘The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge’ at this newsagent in the summer of 1973.” – Nigel

© DC Comics

Stop #6: W.T. Churchill, 3 Festing Buildings, Highland Rd, same side as Fine Fare, opposite The Festing pub [The shop was originally 5 Highland Rd]

© John Kirby - "Memories of Bygone Portsmouth". Churchills is the shop on the left, with the St Bruno sign.

© Google. Now the Crescent Community Centre

© Google

“A DC shop, this is now a ‘One Stop’, I think. I remember getting knocked over by a woman on a push-bike as I ran across Highland Road to see the latest comics. The tale is recounted in this blog at http://superstuff73.blogspot.com/2020/12/key-comic-book-memories-justice-league.html . On that occasion I ended up with JLA #99, but I previously remember getting JLA # 94 (Jan 1972) there, where most of the art was by Dick Dillin and Joe Giella, but Neal Adams drew each page with Deadman on it.” – Ian

Stop #7: Gardener’s Newsagents at 164 Albert Road opposite Tesco

© Mark Herlock. Gardener's just to the right, out of camera range

© Google. A mini-market today

© Google

“A DC shop, always the first shop to get comics on the last Thursday of the month. The first comic I bought there was Batman #233 (Batman Giant), immediately to be followed by those Batmans in the range # 234 onwards, which of course were the best Neal Adams/Denny O’Neil issues. Funny how you could always guarantee getting Batmans and Supermans and World’s Finests there, whereas some of the more obscure newsagents hidden away in Eastney seemed to have the more obscure DC titles. I have strong memories of seeing World's Finest #207 and Action #406 on the spinner rack.

"This newsagent was owned by Mrs King. I had a paper round there in the 1975/76 timeframe.” – Ian 

© DC Comics

Well, that wraps up Part 1 of this journey around the newsagents of Portsmouth & Southsea in the 1970s.

We'll post Part 2 in a while. In the meantime, if any readers have memories of comic collecting in Portsmouth, please add to the comments section below.

Thanks! Nigel & Ian

© Nigel Brown and Ian Baker