Holding breath...

 

Someone suggested that I do a Q&A about UK Golden Age comics.

Okay.

If you have any questions on the subject just post them here (in comments or at the British Golden Age Comics Face Book page) and I'll respond asap.

Holding breath...

More comic Bits? More Golden Age Collections?

  I had someone ask when the next issue of Comic Bits would be out as they enjoyed issues 1 and 2.

I explained that there would not be an issue no. 3.  

Don't get me wrong as I have enough material to keep the mag going for at least 10 issues full of interviews, comic strip pages and much more. As I have almost a full run of Swan annuals I have found characters never before mentioned (not that Swan gets mentioned much anyway) and from other publishers I have also made some finds.

So why no third issue? Well, enough people have seen the ads, etc for issue 1 and 2 and both sold 2 copies each. Yes, two copies of each issue.  

That should not have surprised me since it appears that no one is really interested in this period of comics (actually I should write "periods" as the mag dealt with Platinum, Golden and start of the silver age).  The Black Tower Gold collections are six issues featuring some of the most sought after (we were led to believe) Golden Age British comic strips -one volume reproduced Back From the Dead and if you can find a copy of the original...you could not afford it!

All six volumes, appearing from 2012-2014, have each sold...zero copies. Zero copies. The bumper book which contains all six issues has sold 4 issues since 2013. 

Posts on the Face Book page rarely get a reaction and this blog...well, it's almost as though I am publishing for myself but all 273 posts have received 40,623 views.  So why is no one commenting? Asking questions or buying books?

The books are all priced low -I really do not get much from a sale due to this. Any books ordered are printed and mailed from the region ordered so no expensive international postage rates. It could not be easier.

So there are no more Comic Bits (issues 3 and 4 were almost completed when I cancelled them) so no discoveries ...or anything really. As for more volumes of the Gold Collection: no. it takes months of work to scan and clean and often resize or repair poor lettering and I am not getting any younger and my time is important.

sssssssss 

Vintage Comics - Pebble Mill At One 1985. Denis Gifford

Comic Collector | Vintage comics | Denis Gifford | TN-85-082-036

The Gruesome Affair of the Living Dead -a Lucky Larrigan Adventure

Denis Gifford (1927-2000) by Kimball Jenkins

Just to counter the bad-mouthing given to Gifford by people who never knew him, here are some tributes combined.

British comics media and history owe Gifford a lot

Denis Gifford
(1927-2000)

by Kimball Jenkins

It is with a profound sadness that I read of Denis Gifford's passing, for it was Denis who changed my life and began me on a quest to learn more about the elusive qualities of the horror film. For my tenth Christmas my parents treated me to a copy of Denis' "A Pictorial History of Horror Movies", mostly because I had asked for it, but more probably they had discovered that I was creeping about in the early hours, (although at that time the BBC used to sign off no later than 1am.), with my face pressed close to the black and white tv. and the volume turned as low as possible watching The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Frankenstein or some of the "forbidden" Hammer films. Despite only having three channels, there seemed to be a better selection from our favourite genre on television then, than there is now!
Denis' publication brought the whole fascinating subject into focus, but it didn't end there, the book is written in such a way that my hungry young mind had to find out more. It wasn't long before I could name the stars of the films and comment fairly intelligently on the movies I was yet to see.

I collected the magazines that would appear regularly at the corner newsagent including "Monster Mag", "The World of Horror", and "Hammer House of Horror". Again at that time horror was prevelant and there was actually a choice of periodicals available. Personally I believe that THE EXORCIST's success actually spelt the end of the horror genre as we knew it. Filmakers clambered over themselves to create a commercially viable horror film. Unfortunately, instead of coming up with unique and ingenious scripts, producers followed a formula and just threw money at it. This limited the distribution possibilities of smaller, low budget films and therefore noone wanted to make them unless they fell into strict marketing protocol. There have been the occasional exceptions such as HALLOWEEN (1978), but by and large the stories have been the same, only the budgets have changed.

Throughout all this Denis Gifford's book was becoming dog-eared from overuse and my dreams of owning a Super-8 projector and a few 8mm films of my heros increased, but alas the £4.95 I needed would forever elude me. However, in the late Eighties, after college where, not surprisingly, I studied Film and Television, I purchased a video recorder and have never looked back, my collection continues to grow, but it is becoming more and more difficult to obtain the films that used to grace the small monochrome television. Above all the tapes still stands "A Pictorial History of Horror Movies" and although I have found secondhand copies to limit the wear and tear on my original, the book still commands pride of place.

I only regret that I never met Denis Gifford to tell him the influence his book had on a generation. In all probability he would have thought I was rather obsessed as his talents ranged through many different subjects, publishing more than 50 reference and biographical works, most of them on topics other than horror movies.

Denis will be missed by many, but he will continue as my mentor while I strive to list, analyse and make complete a thorough history of the horror film that began in a small notebook, grew to a photocopied fanzine published by my brother and now has embraced the latest technology to hopefully be seen across the world. The Missing Link aims to educate and bring awareness to the genre, but also to put pressure on the television companies, theatre owners and DVD/video distributors to provide for people who don't necessarily rely on a body-count or loud explosions to enjoy the cinema.

Behind all this lies Denis Gifford's book, and while many of my family and friends may question the time I spend on my obssession, I would like to thank Mr. Gifford for inspiring me and the subsequent enjoyment I have had in studying this particular genre.


Comics UK tribute

Denis Gifford (1927-2000)
DENIS GIFFORD, who has died aged 72, was Britain's foremost collector and historian of comics.
Gifford wrote more than 50 books from The Best of Eagle (1989) to the comprehensive British Film Catalogue 1895-1985 (1986). He also created several popular programmes for radio and television including Looks Familiar. But it was his collection of more than 20,000 comics that dominated his life. The collection eventually took over his whole house until he could not even open the oven.
After a bad experience with a comic in which the chewing gum given free with it melted, he took to storing edible memorabilia such as Desperate Dan nougat in the refrigerator.

Gifford himself drew for comics in the 1940s and 1950s. One of his strips was Our Ernie, Mrs Entwistle's Lad, which always ended with Ernie saying "What's for tea, Ma?" and Ernie's Dad observing "Daft, I call it." He also drew Simon the Simple Sleuth.

He was a connoisseur of the visual conventions of comics: tramps with their toes sticking out of their boots, or plutocrats wearing spats and lighting cigars with pieces of paper marked "Fiver".
The British Film Catalogue took Gifford 20 years to compile, and listed every film made in Britain for public entertainment, along with the stars and directors. Some of the outline plots sound ludicrous enough: "Girl takes sister's place when she deserts blinded scientist."

In order to compile the entries, Gifford pored through back copies of trade newspapers, looking at every advertisement. He tracked down and interviewed directors who had retired years before, such as the long-forgotten Lewin Fitzhamon who made more than 600 films between 1904 and 1912. "He loved children and animals," recalled Gifford, "and usually had dogs or ponies rescuing babies from gypsies. He didn't like gypsies."

Denis Gifford was born in London on December 26 1927. As a boy, his parents restricted him to two comics a week, but he started saving his bus fares to buy his own, and would come home with them under his sweater.

They included the first issue of Dandy, from December 1937, with a free tin whistle, but this was later lost when he was evacuated to Tonbridge, Kent. On his return home, he was distraught to find his comic cupboard empty. His mother pleaded innocence but she remained his prime suspect.
As a 14-year-old at Dulwich College, Gifford began drawing for Dandy, after sending a comic strip to its publisher D C Thomson of Dundee. Each evening after prep he would draw such characters as "Pansy Potter the Strong Man's Daughter". His efforts caught the imagination of a boy in the year below named Bob Monkhouse, who started to try his own hand at cartoons, leaving them in Gifford's desk for his approval.

At first, Gifford greeted Monkhouse's approach coolly, but the two quickly became friends and collaborators and produced their own comic. During the final year of the war, Gifford served in the RAF, which at least allowed him go to the cinema every night. He and Monkhouse went on tour in the South East with the West Bees Concert Party, giving charity performances. He was the comedian, Monkhouse the straight man.

After the war, Gifford drew cartoons for the London Evening News, Empire State News and Sunday Despatch. He remained a freelance artist until the 1960s, when he began devising panel games for the wireless.

His greatest hit was Sounds Familiar, in which panelists had to guess the origins of songs and soundtracks. In 1972, the programme crossed to television as Looks Familiar, with clips now from video and film.

Gifford wrote the script for the comedian Derek Roy on the opening night of ITV in 1955, and co-wrote the first comedy show to be screened by BBC2 in 1964, featuring the musical comedy group the Alberts in a 30-minute show. He also devised stunts for the popular game show The Generation Game.

He collaborated with the film editor Dennis Drinkwater on several films for Associated British/Pathé, including Highlight, a compilation of clips from British musicals and Channel 99, set in a fictional television station.

Meanwhile his comic collection continued to grow. He was particularly fond of Christmas numbers. "I loved the way the snow used to hang over the title on the front page and the last page was always a Christmas party," he recalled. "And there were bunches of holly in the corners of the pictures."
In 1976, he organised the first British Comics Convention, attended by some 250 dealers and comic artists. There were gaps in his collection, however, such as the 12-issue comic that the shoe shop Lilley & Skinner gave away free to customers (he recalled his mother telling him as a boy how senseless it would be to buy a pair of shoes simply to get a free comic).

His books included such titles as Laughter in the Air (1979) Run, Adolf, Run (1975, a compilation of cartoons from the war), The Best of Girl Annual (1952-1959), Monsters of the Movies (1977), The Great Cartoon Stars (1979), The Complete Catalogue of British Comics (1985) and many more. He was an invaluable source of information for social historians.

Last year, Gifford and Bob Monkhouse collaborated on a two-part radio show A Hundred Laughs for a Ha'penny, a history of comic papers. Denis Gifford was briefly married during the 1970s, and had a daughter

A much better Wikipedia entry was added in July 2007 and notes the sad end of Denis’ collection.  It would have broken his heart.

A Life Remembered

(Added by David Robinson, British Writer-Illustrator, July 2007)

The above text, condensed from obituary material available elsewhere, understates Gifford’s contribution to popular culture during his lifetime and career.

Denis Gifford (1927-2000) was a British writer whose creative endeavours comprised writing and drawing for British comics; writing more than fifty books on various topics from popular culture; devising, compiling and contributing to popular programmes for radio and television; and other, related work, including film.

Though Gifford did not create Marvelman, as specified above, the “means to an end” method of replicating superhero and other “action” art, hinted at above, is not unlikely from one who was more comfortable with “comic” comics and described himself as a champion of “the idea over the execution”.

In addition to being a regular at comics conventions, Gifford more or less established the genre in Britain with Comics 101 in 1976, attended by dealers and comic artists. In 1978 he established the Association of Comics Enthusiasts (ACE), which ran for 14 years proper and, in reprint form in the British Comics Journal, until his death.

As a 14-year-old at Dulwich College, Gifford began drawing for Dandy, after sending a comic strip to its publisher D. C. Thomson of Dundee. His efforts caught the imagination of Bob Monkhouse, in the school year below, and they became friends and collaborators. They toured in the South East, giving charity performances with, incredibly, Monkhouse as the “straight man”.

After RAF service during WWII, Gifford drew cartoons for the London Evening News, Empire State News and Sunday Despatch. In the 1960s, he moved up a notch and began devising panel games like Sounds Familiar for radio, crossing to television as Looks Familiar.

Gifford wrote the script for comedian Derek Roy on the opening night of ITV in 1955; was asked to complete the first TV series by Morecambe and Wise (for which the initial scripts had been criticised); co-wrote the first comedy show to be screened by BBC2 in 1964; wrote for Junior Showtime; and devised stunts for The Generation Game when this launched..

The British Film Catalogue took Gifford 20 years to compile, and listed every film made in Britain for public entertainment, along with the stars and directors. In order to compile the entries, Gifford pored through back copies of trade newspapers, looking at every advertisement; and tracking down directors who had retired years before.

Denis Gifford was briefly married during the 1970s, and had a daughter, Pandy.

His collection of more than 20,000 comics and other paper ephemera (including books, popular magazines and sheet music) did, indeed, dominate his lifestyle and his habitat, once described in one of the colour supplements as the den of “a boy who had run away from home” and never returned. His walls were lined with bookshelves, with other bookshelves installed at right-angles to these. As well as being unable to use the oven, he could reach neither his radiators, nor a broken curtain rail. At least once he fell, due to boxes of ephemera narrowing his way upstairs to bed.

Despite hints that he might bequeath this vast collection “to the country”, via the Victoria and Albert Museum or similar, this was broken up and sold off after his death, having been rescued from the black bags of a non-specialist house clearance company.


Denis Gifford
(26/12/1927 - 2000, UK)

Denis Gifford was born in Forest Hill, London, on Boxing Day 1927. He made his first comic, 'The Ragtime', when he was still a kid. By the time he was fifteen he was spending his homework time drawing adventures of 'Pansy Potter' in The Beano magazine. After a brief spell as junior cartoonist on Reynold's News, he was called into the RAF, where he spent his duty weekends drawing a super-hero comic-book, 'Streamline', for a Manchester publisher. After demob he set up a studio with another cartoonist chum, Bob Monkhouse, producing complete comics for the many small publishers that proliferated in the late 1940s.

Then he joined Knockout magazine, the top comic of the day, taking over the popular favorites 'Our Ernie' (created by Charles Holt) and 'Stonehenge Kit and Ancient Brit'. He also did a long spell on 'Marvelman' comics, and the daily satire strip 'Telestrip' in the London Evening News. Other comics he worked on were 'Simon the Simple Sleuth', 'William Wagtail' and 'Dicky Diddle'. The only comic Denis Gifford created himself was 'Steadfast McStaunch', which ran from 1950 to 1952. For some reason, Denis Gifford was allowed to sign his work, when most of the other British and Scottish artist working for publisher DC Thompson remained anonymous to their readership.

Denis Gifford has written over 50 books, mostly on the subjects of comics and cinema, and can be regarded as one of British foremost comic experts. Ever since he was young, he collected comics, until his collection completely took over his house. He also created several programs for radio and television, the last one being the radio show 'A Hundred Laughs for a Ha'penny', about the history of comics, which he did in 1999 together with his old friend Bob Monkhouse. Denis Gifford died in May 2000.

This Comiclopedia owes a lot to the outstanding work of Denis Gifford.

Obituary



From COMICLOPEDIA