Next up from our Starburst raid are these classic adverts for London’s first comic book shop – Dark They Were And Golden Eyed. Another great London store that I wish I could have paid a visit to, but sadly according to the Wiki page it actually closed down in 1981.
Dark They Were And Golden Eyed – 9-12 St. Anne’s Court, London, W1
Starburst Issue 1 – 1978
Starburst Issue 3 – 1978
Starburst Issue 5 – 1978
I love YouTube, you just never know what you’re going to find out there, case in point being that I stumbled upon this amazing 1987 episode of the ITV show South Of Watford which looks at the late 1980s comic boom. This is such a fun watch and looks so incredibly 80s, highlights include actual footage from inside the original Forbidden Planet on Denmark Street, footage from one of the Westminster Comic Marts, Watchmen, Wendy James from Transvision Vamp talking about Halo Jones, a young looking Neil Gaiman plus plenty of West End streets!
PLUS that lead on to find the South Of Watford episode from 1984 looking at fantasy role playing games with lots of Dungeons & Dragons action plus a look at very early LARPing and it’s presented by Ben Elton of all people, this is equally amazing, you have to check out the fantastically grumpy man in the games shop!
And as a bonus here the Blue Peter report on LARPing at the same location…
The Duke Mitchell Film Club 