On Blogging & Collecting

One of the reasons I started blogging about comics was simply because I wanted both share my hobby and write about something other than politics which is the main focus of Howie's Corner, my first and main blog. I had tried putting a couple of pieces up about comics before but unlike the odd "Musical Interlude" they just didn't seem to fit, especially if I started using a lot of illustrations.

So Howie's World of Comics was born and off I went. I make no claims to be an "expert", just a fan from childhood. I love the medium and hope to share some of that magic with other fans and perhaps encourage a few "civilians" to take up the hobby!

Running two blogs was always going to be a bit of a push especially since for a long time I aimed to publish on Howie's Corner daily. I couldn't possibly do both. There were times when that did happen but with lack of time and energy plus added disillusionment I cut back on the politics. I have also cut back here on comics but for different reasons.

The trouble with collecting is that what I buy falls into two distinct groups, new comics and back issues. I have published a few pieces on new comics,especially from smaller publishers where they provide material that can be used. For the most part however I blog about back issues. Herein lies the problem.

For a long time I have randomly collected both British and American comics, but from time to time I get a fad for one or two items and recently have concentrated on collecting black & white magazines from Marvel, Warren and Skywald along with Alan Class reprints and The Savage Sword of Conan.

 

 

Currently I have been collecting 2000AD, one of Britain's last weekly comics (the others being the Beano and the Phoenix for slightly younger readers) which I started getting in March and then just got the bug to buy up back issues.

 

Quite a few actually, with around a couple of dozen, a Special plus a couple of Annuals still to get through. Great stuff, well most of it.

There's also been some technical problems too with illustrations disappearing and having to fix posts. About 80 have been repaired and a few permanently deleted

I've been reading comics since the early sixties with WHAM! #1 being my earliest memory. There have been a couple of gaps in the mid seventies and the nineties but I've always made my way back to the hobby.

  

Sadly British comics are few and far between these days but the US market is still lucrative even if numbers have declined. So much has changed since I was a child growing up in a small market town in the country. Comics were an essential part of our youth when there was little TV, no computer games or internet let alone all these other modern distractions.

So I hope some posts help bring back those memories or encourage the occasional reader to join up to the fanboy legions.

So apologies to readers on the recent gaps in posting. There's a few new posts on the horizon and I hope you'll join me for the ride.

Nuff Said?