The Dark Knight and Captain Scarlet Crossover…..
A tale of 2 worlds colliding!!
Another tale of discovery from a past blog, edited and updated. I’m still reading, more new reviews ready soon!!
So, what has the world of Frank Miller and Gerry Andersen have in common for me? I shall explain…..
I had always read comics as a kid. They were always an important part of me. The Beano, Warlord, Battle, and Action, to name a few, before the sci-fi boom kicked off and 2000 AD, Starlord, and Tornado hit the shelves. Every weekend, I picked up my next instalment from the newsagents with my own spending money that my parents gave me for jobs around the house.
Then, Marvel UK filled in the gap for the US comics that I could pick up randomly from the newsagents. The US-format ones were never in any order. I would pick up Spider-Man, Hulk, or whatever title — issue 100 — and then the week after, it would be issue 300. It never mattered, as these stories were self-contained.
The adverts for comic shops and related stuff in the US comics just seemed like a world I could never access. Order at your local comic shop? Comic conventions?
My brother took me to my first comic shop. He was older than me, so he had managed to visit Manchester and get some comics for me. However, the trip I will always remember was to Thunderbooks in a northern UK seaside town called Blackpool.
In the late 1980s, comic shops started opening up in the UK. Most were in major cities, places we never really visited. However, as the comics boom continued to gain momentum, smaller shops started opening. My brother had somehow discovered that a comic shop was opening in Blackpool, only a 15-minute train journey from Preston, where we lived. He managed to find an address via a friend (no internet!) and off we went to Blackpool. We followed our directions, excited at the prospect of this new shop, no doubt full of wonders.
After much wandering about, we found ourselves in the middle of a pleasant housing estate, with no shops in sight. The address my brother had was a house number, so, somewhat bemused, he knocked on the door. We could hear some kids playing, and a man’s head appeared over the front gate of the house. “Hello?” he said. We told him what we were doing. “We are looking for a comic shop, and this is the address we have?” We were quite obviously in the wrong place. “Ahh, you want Thunderbooks!” the chap happily offered and gave us directions. We were very grateful, but a bit bemused.
Anyway, we eventually found it, and what a place! Racks and racks of comics, models, and books. I was utterly beside myself and can still remember the feeling today. I had never seen so many comics in one room in my life. No Funko’s or toys as such at this early stage in the comic shop industry. Then, the chap whose house we had originally been directed to appeared. It happened to be David Nightingale, the owner!
My brother and I were big comic and movie fans, as well as really big fans of the Gerry Anderson Supermarionation TV shows. Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO, and Space: 1999 were staple TV viewing in our house (my parents were fans as well!). We were members of the Fanderson Fan Club (ah, fan clubs!), and David ran the magazine SIG and was also a big part of the Anderson fan scene. We had a good laugh about the fact we ended up at his house. He was always really helpful, as we visited a lot (until he opened Thunderbooks 2 in Preston. Both shops have now passed to new owners under different names). I only recently discovered he passed away in November last year.
It was on this day I came across a Batman book like I had never seen before: The Dark Knight Returns, Issue 2, by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson, in prestige format with a card cover. What was this? Now, I’m sure I bought other comics at the time, but this was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. It totally blew my mind! The art, the story, the Batman! I could never get the first issue (only in the trade paperback I purchased years later), but I ordered the next in the series while I was there! (The start of an early pull list!) The titles just seemed to keep coming! Brilliant miniseries like Deadman: Love and Death, Justice Inc., Elektra: Assassin, Stray Toasters, Havok and Wolverine, to name a few. Check them out — they are incredible feats of art and writing.
I still have that very copy, still in the original plastic bag I purchased it in. It was probably the start of a hobby that consistently emptied my youthful pockets and introduced me to some of my finest and best friends. The explosion of titles was just incredible, and it set my mind alight. The pushing of boundaries, ideas, and art — it all eventually imploded on itself, but what a time to be into comics! Image, Dark Horse, Epic, and even the awesome British attempt Warrior Magazine ! I honestly don’t think these companies would ever take risks like that again. IP is everything now, and marketing everything as an IP to make movies for people who never read a comic.
My brother and I still like comics. I still hold a candle but my brother has pretty much given up on them. We don’t go into shops that often and when we do we seem to be faced with merch and Funko toys, with comics stuffed away in the cellar of the store. I haven’t read a mainstream comic from the Big Two for years. Nothing grabs my attention. I have pretty much given up on the Marvel/DC universe. In fact, comics in general just don’t interest me as they used to. Plus the damn price is so high for a single title!! However, some of the Manga titles that are available now have some real spark to them, and my recent joining of Global Comix digital platform has introduced me to some excellent new titles. Plus they now have Dark Horse back catalogue so I can read all the Hellboy titles. DC recently joined, and seem to have put a lot of Vertigo titles , so I can also read all the Hellblazer without cracking open the ones in my collection! Podcasts like the Awesome Comics Podcast have certainly pointed me to some great underground stuff.
So, that’s the very important connection between Frank Miller and Gerry Anderson for me. I’m sorry I never got to thank David for opening the store and being so kind to two strange kids who literally turned up at his home. Gerry Anderson passed away in 2012. Frank Miller in his late 60’s now .I don’t even want to think about that. He should write a Captain Scarlet comic!
Thanks, David, Gerry, and Frank. I never thought your names would end up in the same sentence.
As a side note, I always saw the adverts for San Diego Comic-Con and thought I’d have as much chance of visiting as going to Narnia. I visited the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con with my brother. Now that’s a tale worthy of a ’90s comic miniseries!
Cheers,
Dan
