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Welcome to the wonderful world of Alan Class's "Class Classics"!

BUNDLES OF WONDER!

In the 1960s,when it was "hit or miss" as to what title your local newsagents [in my case,Mina Road had Jarman's -a shop with a glass fronted cabinet displaying toy soldiers and a rotating rack with comics!] might carry,there was was one publisher who offered us a mix of Atlas,Charlton,Marvel and other publishers' strips....

....ALAN CLASS!

Yes,you could find the Silver Surfer,Avengers or even Daredevil intermixed with Captain Atom,Mercury Man,the Mysterious Traveller,Charlton war and horror as well as science fiction.  I don't think it occurred to us at the time that these characters came from different companies!

For a 1/- [5p] I had a good read on the long bus trip to Weston-Super-Mare in Summer-time.  My gran and grand-dad weren't stupid -they knew comics would keep a restless kid in check!  One that always stuck in my mind was Paul Reinman drawn "THE LAST PATROL!" [Sinister Tales no.208];as I studied history and,for my own comics work,uniforms,I was amazed at Reinman's uniform accuracy!

Bristol Bus Station was the best place to pick up  copies,but that was on day trips.  Normally,Jarman's or a dark little newsagents in Sussex Place,where I got my Plastacine,would have copies.

Americans say to me:"But it's all in black and white!!"  I say "so what?" Most weekly comics,or titles such as The Purple Hood,Miracleman,etc.,     were in black and white in the UK!   My brother,Peter,may have argued with me as to which was best -Marvel [my choice] or DC [his]- but we both read Class!

From the 1960s to the 1980s,Class published his titles,some strips reprinted in other titles later on,but it wasn't until the late 1970s when Marvel realised it's weekly comics were being out-done that they stopped Class from reprinting their strips!  After all:weekly comic =a US comic broken into one part each week over,say,two months,but Class =full story in one issue....for less money!!

When I corresponded with Alan in the 1980s,after Denis Gifford put me in touch with him,he noted the distribution problem.  He was delivering 1000 or so copies to W.H.Smith to distribute but after complaints that the titles were not appearing in shops,he discovered the copies had been sent away for shredding/pulping!   Even placing an order with W.H.Smith was no guarantee that you'd get a copy -just your deposit back!

Of course,in the 1970s,Alan co-published the ALLY SLOPER "Nostalgicomic" and even a "Penny Comics of the Thirties" collector's set with comic historian Denis Gifford.

I think that it was a sad day when Alan Class stopped publishing his titles. But the question remains -does his re-printing agreements with companies still hold?

Unless you were a kid in the 1960s/1970s,you'll never understand the nostalgia of seeing these titles.

Hopefully,I'll be able to add the contents of other issues to this site once acquired.

YES! I WILL BE CLASS COMICS!!

I am,obviously,open to buying Class Comics.  I'll buy slightly damaged copies at 50p each. Other ranges of quality I'll pay the accepted dealer price of £1.50 or £2.00 for the rarer issues.

Of course,if comics are to be sent via the postal system I will pay the postage.

Let me know what you have and if interested I will send,by mail,a letter quoting price agreed,etc.. A cheque covering postage and the agreed amount will be sent immediately upon receipt -having been ripped off by sending money in advance and getting nothing I have had to adopt this procedure.

You can contact me at the usual e-mail address.

hoopercomicsuk@yahoo.com

You might get a bit bored with this but...as usual,I have tried to identify the artist[s]  and company.  I may get things wrong so if you have any of the issues mentioned and care to correct me please do!

If you have issues not mentioned here and can provide details -get in touch!

Terry

NO.8

VISITORS FROM AFAR ["FANFARE SERIES"]

BURIED BY THE CENTURIES [  DITTO   ]

DESTINY KNOWS MANY ROADS  [MYSTERIES OF THE UNKNOWN]   HARRY LAZARUS       ABOVE ALL ACG?

VERDICT:NOT GUILTY        JOHN FORTE

MYSTERIOUS LEADER         JOHN FORTE

THEY WONT LISTEN  [TEXT]

NEW STATUE                PETE CONSTANZA     ACG

YOU'LL MAKE A MILLION BUCKS UP THERE!  CHIC STONE  ACG?

THE MIRROR THAT STOLE FACES!  PAUL REINMAN

ALTER EGO[MYSTERIES OF THE UNKNOWN]

JEWELLED SCEPTRE

NO.76

MIGHTY AVENGERS:BETRAYAL   BARRY SMITH & SYD SHORES                                MARVEL

MORTON THE MAGNIFICENT MAGICIAN

MIGHTY AVENGERS:WE STAND AT ARMAGEDDON  BARRY SMITH & GEORGE KLEIN                   MARVEL

MIGHTY AVENGERS:AND WE BATTLE FOR THE EARTH!  SAL BUSCEMA &  SAM GRAINGER                MARVEL

PAST HAUNTING           A-2228         CHARLTON

NO.76 IS BADLY DAMAGED AND SO IT MAY BE SOME PAGES ARE MISSING.

NO.81

DAREDEVIL;THE TORPEDO  GENE COLAN & SYD SHORE MARVEL

THE TRAIN THAT VANISHED!  JOHN BUSCEMA

THE LITTLE MAN WHO WASNT THERE!

THE PHANTOM CITY!    OGDEN WHITNEY

GHOST OF A GIRL      PAUL REINMAN

N0.93

GIANT-MAN:THE HUMAN TOP  KIRBY & DITKO   MARVEL

JINGLES AND WILD BILL HICKOK;THE RIGHT MEDICINE  S1129

STONE AGE MAN     PAUL REINMAN

TARGET AND THE TARGETEERS

LITTLE GREEN MAN      KEN LANDAU

OVER THE LINE [WAR STRIP]

NO.94

THE SHIELD VS THE BLACK HOOD               ARCHIE

THE SHIELD;BEWARE THE KNAVE! PAUL REINMAN  ARCHIE

CHEYENNE KID;THE AVENGER DION[?]DIMINGUEZ

SPIRIT OF FRANKENSTEIN

THE MAN WHO STOLE THE SUN!  L718              ACG?

THE MAN WITH YELLOW EYES   DICK AYERS      MARVEL?

THE FLY;THE JUSTICE OF CHEN FANG!           ARCHIE

NO.122

THE BLACK HOOD:THE NIGHTMARE WORLD OF THE SKULL  REINMAN?                                    ARCHIE

A LIVING DOLL       DITKO

MR JUSTICE AND THE COSMIC TERROR  REINMAN   ARCHIE

DROP 43298A  [TEXT]

THE PERFECT SERVANT      4743

THE FLY;SIR FLY!                            ARCHIE

COLD STORAGE

MESSAGE FROM THE BEYOND     PAUL REINMAN

NO.141

NOMAN:THE SYNTHETIC STAND-INS! SEKOWSKY     TOWER

THUNDER AGENTS;DOUBLE FOR DYNAMO  WOOD      TOWER

DYNAMO AND THE GOLEM       WOOD             TOWER

NOMAN IN THE CAVERNS OF DEMO   WOOD & CO    TOWER

WHAT THE MIRROR REVEALED    K511

NO.144

THE JAGUAR IS MISSING!                      ARCHIE

THE JAGUAR;THE DAY THE JAGUAR STOPPED FIGHTING                                    ARCHIE

THE JAGUAR;GREAT OUTER SPACE HUNT!          ARCHIE

THE FLY;THE MONSTER FLY!                    ARCHIE

MY STRANGE GODFATHER    OGDEN WHITNEY       ACG?

THE PHANTOM CITY!       OGDEN WHITNEY       ACG?

NO.171

MAGIC-MAN;THE CASE OF THE YOUNG OLD MEN! PETE CONSTANZA                                    ACG

THE MAN IN THE BEEHIVE!   KIRBY & AYERS    MARVEL

THE HIDDEN VALLEY!     LOU MORALES         MARVEL?

THE JOURNEY [TEXT]

SAZZIK THE SORCERER     KIRBY & AYERS       MARVEL

FING FANG FOOM![YAY!]   KIRBY              MARVEL