Monday 28 June 2010

As I Grow Pale And Thin

Someone sent me an email about two years ago asking me what the first comic I ever read was. I don't think I ever replied.

Very rude.

It's a bit late, (and I don't even remember who asked), but I'm going to attempt a vague answer today!

I say vague, because the truth is, I can't actually remember what the first comic I read was. It was probably an old Whizzer and Chips annual. One of my mum's workmates used to give them to me after her son had finished reading them. I also read a lot of a comic called Jackpot, which was in the same sort of vein as W & C, and had a strip in it called Laser Eraser about a lad who could zap stuff onto a spaceship with a pointy thing which he'd nicked off some aliens. That's all I remember. Of course there was The Beano and Buster and The Dandy, Whoopee and WOW! I read all of those at some point.

Proper big boy comics wise, I suppose it would have been Look-In or 2000AD - I was certainly reading both of those before I discovered American comics. I think the guy emailing me meant American comics though and, again, the honest answer is I don't remember my first. I do recall the first comic that made a nasty impact on my innocent mind though...


Ah, House of Mystery #304. I would've been 10 when I picked this up from the newsagent. Great Mike Kaluta cover, eh? I know it made an impact on me, because I vividly remember being shit scared by one of the stories inside. It doesn't seem very frightening to my jaded 38-year-old self of course, but as a kid? Yeah it was poo-your-pants grim.

So, here you are imaginary chums, not the first comic I read, but the first comic which I remember reading (all scans can be clicked to ramp up the spookiness)...






8 comments:

Mr A. P. Salmond, esq. said...

I tell you what is frightening about it: the title. "As I Grow Pale And Thin"? Brilliant. Genuinely creepy.

Dom said...

Rereading it still gives me a chill. It is pretty creepy.

mr wheatley said...

i remember reading Dredger and Judge Cal. First colour American comic that sticks in my mind is creature commandos tale about a death camp.. fucking hell.

Dom said...

by the way, the story is written by lettering legend Todd Klein.

JJT said...

Lawks that's a nasty walk down memory lane, I remember getting this exact same issue as a kid and that same story scared me shitless, couldn't go near any of those I Vampire issues without it all going a bit Ludovico technique for many years after!

Dom said...

Excellent! It is a scary story.

That I Vampire era of House of Mystery is a massive favourite of mine. Worth a look for many reasons, but the covers alone are worth picking up the back issues for - Kaluta, Sutton, Kubert. Immense stuff.

eye-melt said...

I remember the barber shop down the road had a massive stack of 2000ADs when I was a nipper. First American stuff I remember was a coverless Marvel Two in One #76. Thing, Iceman and Goliath vs the Circus of crime! I'm pretty sure if the cover said 'senses-shattering' it would have been the truth.

Marcel said...

I was telling a colleague about this story recently and thought to look it up. The comic book itself is long gone, so it took some research since I couldn't remember the story title or issue number. It was worth it to find your post. We must be about the same age, because I had this when it came out, and my memories are very close to yours. I loved "I...Vampire" and those fantastic covers, even though I wasn't really a scary comics fan. This particular tale, "As I Grow Pale and Thin" is a masterwork of short fiction writing and execution. It scared me then; it impresses me now. Not a word, panel, or expression is wasted. I do have a question though: Did you omit a couple of pages? I seem to remember a flashback sequence where Owen, still alive and shivering in the attic, was depicted...