 |
| My copy of GL/GA 76 from 1975 - Wot! No T&P stamp??? |
You have to appreciate that growing up in Portsmouth in the 1960s and 1970s, it was still a town that bore the scars of German bombs from WW2. Memories of the last War were a frequent topic of conversation in our house, and particularly when my father got together with his sisters. Large areas of the poorer parts of the city - Landport or Somertown or Portsea or Buckland or Fratton had either undergone urban clearance by the Jerries or by well-meaning but charmless urban redevelopment programmes in the 1960s. Southsea bore fewer of the scars, but had not emerged unscathed, with new houses generally built into the gaps of bombed premises.
The view of Palmerston Rd below from the 1950s (credit A Tale of One City) is typical of much of Portsmouth well into the sixties and even seventies.
 |
| Palmerston Road 1950s © A Tale of One City |
Those of you familiar with the film Operation Crossbow will remember the scenes of V2 bombs destroying rows of terraced houses. In fact, the scenes of the actual destruction in the film were staged by using real explosives to demolish real terraced houses deemed either unfit for habitation and/or ready for the redevelopers’ wrecking ball.
 |
| Henrietta Street - frame grab from Operation Crossbow |
 |
| Houses awaiting being blown up for film "Operation Crossbow" © Peter Cuff posted on Memories of Bygone Portsmouth, admin JJ Marshallsay |
And so it was within these areas no longer subject to enemy fire that Nigel Brown and I cycled in the spring of 1972 through Somertown, over Somers Rd Bridge (all now gone) to a small, smelly second hand shop in Church Road, just off St John’s Rd in Landport.
 |
| Re-building Somers Town © Mark Henley, posted in Memories of Bygone Portsmouth, admin JJ Marshallsay |
On the wall was a scruffy copy of Green Lantern 76. As a Batman fan first and foremost, I deemed Green Lantern to be a second tier character and happily let Nigel buy the comic, while I searched for other buys. It was only a year in April 1973, after I had picked up copies of GL/GA 85 and 86 while on holiday in North Devon did I realize what an awful mistake I had made in passing up on what was to be one of the classic comics of the Bronze Age - in many people’s future view, the comic that sounded the firing pistol of the Bronze Age.
I seem to remember that after much haggling Nigel and I subsequently negotiated a package deal which involved swapping comics and cash, and the photo you see at the top of this post is the actual book, photographed by me in 1975. (I photographed a number of my comics onto slides at that time so that I could project it on a wall, and trace the image to make my own poster.)
I ended up selling the comic to Paul Hudson in Comic Showcase on August 20th 1984 as I sold the final tranche of my teenage comic collection - but I kept the slide transparency of the cover, because I had an inkling I might need it one day....
Great photos. To think I first visited Southsea/Portsmouth in 1978, a mere six years after your pal bought that comic. I was only down for a few days, attending a wedding, and didn't see whether any of the sites you describe were still around, but some of them could've been, I suppose. If I recall rightly, DC reprinted that particular GL/GA ish at least a couple of times as an individual comic - did you ever buy one of them for old times' sake?
ReplyDeleteThanks Kid. Yes, I do have at least the DC Silver Age Classics reprint of #76 (and a suspicion that another reprint lurks unseen in the corner of a box) plus the 1980's Baxter paper reprint, plus the GL/GA hardback from the early 2000's.......but not even a reading copy of the original. I have managed to re-accumulate issues 77-89 in reasonable condition, plus those Flash issues where the last GL/GA story drawn by Adams appeared as a back-up.
DeleteThe second reprint was the Millennium Edition around 2000-2001, B. Better paper, but the Silver Age one is probably more like the original.
DeleteGreat photos and post. I always wanted to pick up a copy of GL/GA issue 76 as it was heavily advertised in DC comics at the time as winning an award for the best individual story of the year. And I missed the silver age classic reprint so will need to search for that one. I was visiting friends in Brighton last week and we were planning to visit Portsmouth but time got in the way, maybe next time. Is your pal Nigel Edwards the same Nigel that was quite prolific in the letters pages of the early UK Marvel weeklies?
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked the post. I'm trying to get some regularity to the blogging thing. I've been enjoying your recent posts too.
DeleteAs you your question, McScotty, my pal is Nigel Brown , not to be confused with Nigel Edwards.
I don't think that I've met Nigel Edwards unless it was at a London mart - Nigel Brown may have, though, as he lives closer to London these days. Looking back at my Comics Unlimited records, it looks like Nigel Edwards lived in North Humberside in the late 1970s, with six letters written to FU/CU.
Regarding your trip to Brighton - are there any good comic shops still there? I'm sure that all the second-hand shops in The Lanes no longer have comic gems to be found.
If you do ever make it over to Portsmouth, there is a good Comic Shop in North End called "Ian's Books and Comics" at The Gallery Arcade, 143-147 London Rd, Portsmouth PO2 9AA. (Nothing to do with me at all, but I used to stop in there from time to time on trips back to my old stamping grounds).
If I ever make it back to Portsmouth, I'll be visiting that shop too.
DeleteHi sorry about the name mix up there I I thought I read it as Nigel Edwards at one point. Yes Brighton has a great comic shop in the Lanes called Dave's Comics I picked up a few back issues when I was there last week all at really reasonable prices.
ReplyDelete