KID KLASSICS: MOONLIGHT, MEMORIES & MADNESS...

Image copyright DC COMICS

Above is the cover to a comic which reminds me of three

other comics at the same time.  "How is such a feat of mighty

memory-mastery possible?" you may be asking.  So, let us now,

by the power of our imaginations, return to October 7th, 1972, and

the Old Village quarter of my home town, where I, resplendent in my

brother's cast-off cord jacket - slightly too big for me and worn for

the first time that Saturday morning - was attending a jumble sale

held in aid of the 8th Scout Troop in the 'old hall' in the
grounds of the Old Parish Church.

This and subsequent images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I'd previously purchased THE MIGHTY WORLD OF
MARVEL #2 earlier that morning, and, later, SUPERMAN
#251 en route to the village.  Now, in the kind of hall that spoke

of a long-vanished age - anything from the '20s to the '50s - I was to

add MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #1 and TERRIFIC #1 to my awe-

some acquisitions.  The previous owner seemed to have used the issue

of MSH as a dartboard at some point, but it was still readable, and it
was probably the first time I'd owned a complete copy of that par-
ticular Terrific, a weekly which had been launched five years
earlier and graced the shelves for a mere 43 issues.

Looking for a place to pore over my comics as I left
the jumble sale, I wandered around to the back of an adjacent,
nigh-derelict building which adjoined the local, centuries old public
house next to the church (and overlooked the graveyard).  It was an
inquisitive boy's delight, and a week or so later, under the dark velvet
canvas of the star-kissed heavens, myself and a friend were crawling
across the roof of the pub, and even using the exterior, cast-iron fire-
escape staircase to gain access to the back 'courtyard' below.  This
location became the source of surreptitious exploration every so
often over a period of two or three years and holds many
happy memories for me.

So, I can't look at any one cover without also thinking

of the other three - or of that jumble sale, my cord jacket, and an
old pub next to the final resting place of long-gone local 'worthies',
who had doubtless quaffed many a flagon of ale centuries before in

the very building over whose slates two teenage boys daringly

    defied death in the airy Autumn moonlight.

******

Interestingly, I occasionally visit the upstairs lounge bar for a
soft drink and a bag of crisps, and have done for many a year now.
It's an odd sensation to think, while sitting there, that I'm under the
very roof I once crawled over as a 14 year old lad so very long ago.
I sometimes wonder if any modern-day counterparts of me and my
pals have ever retraced our footsteps (and handprints) in the years
since we first braved the slates, but it's unlikely.  The building at
the back of the pub is now residential and access to the roof
   can no longer be obtained through its grounds.

******

 For an earlier mention of my rooftop adventures, click here.

Posted in: Cartoons