And? And here I am again, picking away at my oozing rash of immoderation.
I used to be a big comics fan, see. Growing up, I started out on Whizzer & Chips, Topper, Buster, Cheeky and Krazy, occasionally picking up a Beano and Dandy - but I was really an IPC/Fleetway boy. I'd particularly treasured the summer specials, reading them on the beach, or in the car en route to yet another caravan park.
Obviously, I was aware of the big Marvel and DC heroes during the 70s. I remember seeing the oversized Superman Versus The Amazing Spider-Man one-shot in my local newsagent's, and having my mind blown. I'd picked up various Marvel issues here and there over the years, mostly the Marvel UK reprints of the US stuff (as well as Marvel UK's Amazing Spider-Man, which featured an original story that saw Peter Parker moving to London).
I think I bought every issue of Marvel's Star Wars comic, and my mum's mum - who I subsequently referred to as Nanny Comic (my other grandmother was known as Nanny Money, because she gave me £1 every time I saw her) - bought me the weekly Marvel UK reprint of Secret Wars, a crossover which featured more or less every Marvel hero. Apart from Daredevil, for some reason.
It was 2000AD which really inspired me, though. I think I started with issue 3 of that - having been round my mate Jon's house, and seeing his copy of issue 2 (which came with "Biotronic stickers"). I badgered my mum to get me the next issue, which had a free code-breaking "survival wallet" taped to the cover. Not quite as much fun as the stickers sadly, but I was sold.
I didn't miss another issue for nigh on 30 years. In the early-90s, I even got within a hair's breadth of actually drawing Judge Dredd. Such is the story of my life; I've had more close shaves than a male stripper.
#GoodMetaphor