On Sunday afternoon courtesy of 30th Century Comics I had the pleasure of meeting Alan Class the now retired publisher of those black & white anthologies that I used to buy in the sixties and seventies and were published until 1989.
Being first to arrive (very unusual, usually late me) I got the opportunity for a chat with Alan who was a charming man full of stories about his life with comics. One story he related was his purchase of the rights to the Fantastic Four when it first came out. After being given the printing plates and a copy of the first issue he had to take the cover off so the printer knew what colours to use.
The true horror! But without this his comics would not have made the mark they did! The FF along with other Marvel heroes made their appearance in the various titles he published over the years. I also got my introduction to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, many Fly and other Archie Superhero tales from Alan's comics.
But most of all the horror!
I took along Tales of Suspense #24 to be signed which he did, but on the back as he didn't want to ruin the cover! This was an edition I have only recently (re)purchased from the shop and hadn't read since I was what 8 or 9 can't remember exactly, though the stories in this issue from the likes of Steve Ditko and others I did remember having read the comic several times as a child!
Great stuff!
Alan Class Comics included: Tales of Suspense, Secrets of the Unknown, Astounding Stories, Out of This World, Sinister Tales and Creepy Worlds.
You can get copies of these great titles from:
30th Century Comics
18 Lower Richmond Road, Putney, London SW15 1JP
020 8788 2052
sales@30thcenturycomics.co.uk
I am in the process of starting up a group/webpage devoted to the Alan Class series of reprint's...THE ALAN CLASS SERIES OF COMICS as it is called.
ReplyDeletel have at the moment only the 15 member's as l have only just started it last week,it is still very much in it's infancy and l have a lot of work to do on it before it become's the professional webpage l want it to be..l want to do Alan and his title's proud.
As you may know l have already spoken to you concerning this and you redirected me to sales@30th century comics.co.uk....l am still experiencing problems in accessing this?..could you steer me in the right direction please?
All the best.
Paul.