Announcing the publication of Alan Austin’s book ‘Comics Unlimited: My life as a Comic Collector and Dealer’

Alan Austin - "The Guv'nor"

 Alan Austin (1955-2017) was one of the most respected figures in UK comic book fandom (writes Nigel Brown). He published many fanzines about American comic books throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, including Fantasy Unlimited (later Comics Unlimited), the first Comic Book Price Guide for Great Britain, the Golden Age fanzine and the DC and Marvel Comics Indexes.

 

Key Publications by Alan Austin

 

He also wrote two books. One about his life in comics: ‘Comics Unlimited: My life as a Comic Collector and Dealer’, the other about his experiences as a bookdealer (in fiction form, as a series of short stories), ‘The Adventures of Bernie Burrows, Bookseller’. 

Both are now available worldwide on Amazon as ebooks and paperbacks, at affordable prices. The images below will link to the UK Amazon site:

 

Link to Amazon.co.uk

Link to Amazon.co.uk

Ian Baker and I first met Alan Austin on the early afternoon of Saturday, May 25^th 1974. I can be that precise because it was at the Emsworth Comic Mart in Hampshire.

 

  

A number of London comic book dealers had come down to the Portsmouth area; amongst their number was Alan. I knew of him as I was already familiar with his impressive comic fanzine Fantasy Unlimited, the first one I’d ever seen. (an encounter described in SuperStuff73 ‘The Mad DC Comic Hunt, or Tales of the Fabulous Bronze Age’). I was 14 years old, and Alan seemed quite senior to me at 19. I remember he had an Amazing Fantasy #15 (the first Spider-Man comic) for sale for £15. Still way beyond my pocket-money budget. The mart did not attract the number of comic fans as hoped for, being too far out of London to attract enough collectors to make it worth their while. But although I remember I didn’t say much to Alan that day, the connection was made. Soon both Ian and myself were writing into Fantasy Unlimited with questions for his popular item We Want Information. In time, I wrote a couple of articles myself for his fanzine.

I knew Alan for forty-three years and our common interests in comics, then books, then writing in general forged a growing bond of friendship. We even found common ground and were each other’s sounding-boards concerning our mutual problems with our businesses: him as a comic and book dealer; myself as the owner of an optician’s practice. It was surprising how often our common complaints matched, whether it was dealing with landlords, leases, or the Great British Public. Alan was always a ready and sympathetic ear at the end of the telephone – for others as well as myself – and is much missed.

It’s a comfort that he left a body of work, including this book about comics, for us to again hear his voice through his words and we can all enjoy another conversation with Alan, if one-sided, about our mutual enthusiasm: the American comic book.

 

Alan Austin’s life as a comic collector encompassed much more than just collecting American comics. He said that he was born with the "merchant gene", and trading in them was a significant factor in his enjoyment of comics. It enabled him to turn a hobby into an occupation. Indeed, Alan became the UK’s first full-time comic dealer.

His sales lists evolved into the fanzine Fantasy Unlimited (later renamed Comics Unlimited). This was decades before the internet, and so Alan’s efforts enabled comic book fans to link up all over the country, and beyond, giving a boost to the comic collecting community (in much the same way that Hugo Gernsback did when he began to publish the full addresses of letter writers in the first science fiction pulps, thus founding science fiction fandom).

Alan demanded the highest standards when it came to both the text and art for his publications, and so he gave a showcase to a number of future professionals in the comic book business, including, amongst others, Kevin O’Neill.

It was certainly a Golden Age for Ian Baker and myself when we both subscribed to Fantasy Unlimited for our regular fixes of fandom beyond the environs of Portsmouth, as well as that enticing, and affordable, sales list of comics at the back of each issue, so essential for filling in the ‘gaps’ in our comic collections.

 

Part of a Marvel Sales list from Fantasy Unlimited

 

And of course, Fantasy Unlimited inspired us, along with fellow fan Geoff Cousins, to produce our own fanzine… SuperStuff! Yes, ultimately Alan Austin was to blame for the blog you are reading now.

Our first issue of SuperStuff was produced around April 1974, and between us we ‘published’ 10 issues, although I confess that reproduction of each issue depended upon carbon paper threaded through a typewriter. This method only allowed three legible copies of each issue to be produced (enough to satisfy the three of us, bizarrely). 

It wasn’t until issue 11 of SuperStuff in August 1984 that I managed to print about thirty copies. And that was using Alan’s own Gestetner 160 in the basement of his Islington shop, Heroes, to which he was generous enough to allow access, along with his encouragement and advice. Things had come full circle!

 

When it came to the prices commanded for back issues of comic books, Alan was always on the side of the comic collector. He published the first UK Price Guide to American Comics in an attempt to stabilise the market and give ammunition to the unwary fan against the odd rogue profiteering comic dealer.

 

 

When Alan’s interests changed after many years of being involved with comics (although he still kept his love of comics throughout his life), he developed a new passion for crime fiction and, naturally, his "merchant gene" kicked in. He transformed his business from comic dealing into book dealing. Later, he took up fiction writing himself and had some success as a short story writer. I mention this to point out that Alan’s interests ranged far and wide (including his coin dealing). In the end, though, it’s as an American comic book enthusiast that Alan made his greatest mark.

Alan planned to write his book about his life in comics for a long while, but the ups and downs of living, and the constant demands of his business all too often got in the way. We’re all glad that he did, in the end, make time to finish this book before he was taken from us much too soon.

This account of his journey from trading comics at school to ploughing his own furrow through life is the story of someone who succeeded in living life on his own terms. But also Alan Austin enriched the lives of many others, as well as making an immense contribution to the UK’s comic collecting community.

 

 

© Nigel Brown