I recently noticed the twitter trend on my #comicsdna and thought I would expand on my choices. I have taken this challenge to mean what comics fundamentally influenced me on my journey and for this I have looked at the most memorable issues from my formative years

Marvel UK Secret Wars – Issue 17

As a child I was heavily reliant on what the newsagent GT News has in the comics line. The nearest comic shop was in Sheffield and that was not even a possibility. My childhood was spent reading Marvel UK editions whether that was transformers, Star Wars but more memorable was the Secret Wars series. I had always been a spiderman fan, I loved the cartoon Spider-Man and his amazing friends and loved the live action series. I have a spiderman bed spread and a hulk one for when that was in the wash. When Secret Wars exploded, I of course lapped it up comics, stickers, and toys (the toys are in my display cabinet, if only I could fit in the complete doom tower and captain America cycle). Out of all the moments from secret wars, Spider-man’s change into his black suit has always stuck with me and to this day I still prefer the symbiote suit to all others. There is something dark and simplistic about it. By the way if you have not read the new symbiote spider-man comics by Peter David, please do. For those not in familiar, after an epic battle the heroes retreat to their hideout and spider-man’s suit is torn to shreds. He finds a machine that creates a new suit albeit black that acts like skin. Little does he know it is a symbiote that is feeding and changing him (but that is later)

Marvel UK Dragons Claw #5

The Dragons’ claws comic was a bit of a random find for me (again relying on the limited selection GT News offered until later in the early nineties when I had Aliens magazine on order which I cover in a previous blog post). What caught my eye was Geoff Seniors art that jagged harsh look that made the images a rawness. In Issue #5 we finally met a fully formed Deaths Head, who’s appearance quickly pushed the Claws to the background and took over my attention. (Scavenger is still my favourite Claw) I love Deaths Head, hes the antidote for all the machismo in comics and movies that the late eighties had become. The cod accent, the ultra-violence wrapped up in the tongue in cheek nods. His early death to whatever Deaths Head 2 was supposed to be still perplexes me. I will not lie; I still do not get it. Who does not like original Deaths Head yes?

Starblazer #242 & Commando #2351

My mum never really understood comics, but she understood that was all I would read. So, when our annual summer holiday would come around, she would go to the newsagents near her work and pick up Commando or Starblazer. She would horde about six random issues which I would receive on the way down to wherever we were going. The issues of Starblazer #242 & Commando #2351 are all about the covers, Commando looks less like one of the Ian Kennedy front covers we have all grown to love and has an almost graphic design aesthetic. The Starblazer looks like one of those typical 70/80s sci-fi front covers where possibly none of the front cover relays to the story. I mean the guy with the phantom of the opera mask and a shotgun is backing up a grey scaled astronaut, why wouldn’t you read this issue? For me it is the nostalgia of DC Thompsons comics that sticks in my mind. I still joke with my dad about the “Aieeeeeee” death noise to the point I put it in my war story on purpose.

Triumph and the torment & Batman Death in the Family

As I alluded to before I went through an alien’s comic phase, but actual comic buying was slim as I moved into my mid-teens, and it was only when I started earning money could I afford a graphic novel. They seemed very extensive for the few issues you got. My first graphic novel was Triumph and the Torment, and I bought it at the Last Picture Show in Meadowhall. The story cover Doctor Doom enlisting the help of Doctor Strange to bargain with Mephisto for the soul of his mother. Written by Roger Stern and art by Mike Mignola it is a curious little tale and printed in that odd size marvel liked for novels in the eighties. I was darker than the marvel stuff I had experienced to but appealing to a point I still have the issue to this day. It is re-printed in the Book of Doom omnibus if you want to look it up. I followed this purchase with the Death in the Family collected addition (again from The Last Picture show). I was not into Batman at the time but did watch the Animated adventures. My main motivation for buying it was Robins death. Man did I not like Robin and still do not. (Well maybe Damian Wayne gets a pass) What left an impression is not the death of robin but the follow up afterwards, the imminent revenge on the Joker, the topical Iranian angle, and the intervention of Superman. That and the check for a body final scene.

Watchmen

I know it’s corny but my final entry is Watchmen, I bought it in WH Smiths in Meadowhall opposite where I worked. I had seen the blood dripped smiley face and every so often flicked through the 448 pages when killing time on a lunch break. I decided to invest, and I was not disappointed especially as it joined up the parts I’d looked at many times. I am not going to into the impact of the story art, people have covered this already and I agree with many of them. All I will say is that my daughter like Beano currently but when she old enough, this is the comic I am going to give her along with The Magus by John Fowles