I subscribed to several DC (Aquaman, Catwoman, JLA, JLE) and Marvel (Avengers, Force Works, Iron Man, Excalibur) titles throughout the 90's, but never renewed any after the initial year. Even though they came "bagged & boarded", the boards were barely thicker than regular paper and nearly every issue arrived with a loose cover and smashed corners.

Luckily both companies offered free replacements, but I got tired of calling in every month and waiting the extra 4-6 weeks for them to arrive.

I still subscribe, direct from Marvel, whenever I buy new comics. Which admittedly isn't often. But I want to put my money where my mouth is. I often moan about how the Fantastic Four is/was rubbish, so whenever it moves in the right direction I pay for a year's subscription. I like to think of Stan and co in the bullpen, opening my check in the money order, and discussing it, "wow, this new writer is a hit, we better do more like this". I'm sure that's how it works, right?

I subscribed when Hickman started, but did not continue because after a year he still hadn't made much progress on the first story. Ain't nobody got time for that!

I also subscribed when Kesel was put on the book. But they took him off again in four issues - he was just there to finish off somebody else's plot. IMO Kesel is the best living FF writer (he wrote the Jewish Ben story and the Real Time FF story, in the 1998 annual). But clearly editorial don't see it that way.

The only other time I subscribed is back when I first started buying the American originals instead of British reprints. It was near the start of Byrne's run (my first issue was FF 251). I subscribed because I wanted to find out (1) what happened next, and (2) what artist they had found who was even better than Perez. I still remember the disappointment as I held that issue for the first time. Byrne had basically rebooted the story so I would never find out what happened next. And while he was a competent artist, he was no Perez.

Outside of Marvel, I subscribed to four British comics via the local newsagent:

Monster Fun, the first comic I ever bought. Loved that comic so much!

Krazy Comic, which was a breath of fresh air. I have never seen a comic before or since that made such use of its physical presence.* Physicality matters to me.

Cheeky Weekly, based on a character from Krazy. My favourite part was the one page a week where he would sneak in to the attic and read his Dad's old comics (i.e. an excuse for a classic reprint) - such an education!


DC Thomson's Buddy comic. That reflects what a miser I am. I was not especially interested in any of the stories (mostly war and sport, topics that bore me). But I subscribed because even then I could appreciate good writing, good art and good value. In my opinion, Buddy was DC Thomson at its best. Especially since we were talking the 1980s when other comics were in decline. Thomson is/was a frugal Scottish company that ran a tight ship: low prices, solid efficiently crafted stories, their production values just oozed quality and value. Those Buddy stories were a joy to read, each one was satisfying, lengthy enough, and polished. The highest craftsmanship. And having Ken Reid's Jonah reprinted on the back page was the icing on the cake. Buddy was an absolute classic. It was like a throw back to the standards of the 1950s when comics old in much higher numbers and so publishers could afford to put in more effort. They don't make comics like that any more. Any chance I get I praise Buddy, a forgotten beacon of quality in a sea of what was becoming dross.

This gives me an excuse to segue into one of my pet topics: I subscribed to these comics in large part becaue they were such great value. They more than earned my scarce money. Here is just one page from Buddy. One page! This is why I am so often disappointed in other comics. If I buy a 20 page comic, I want 20 pages that progress a story at this pace. I expect a multi part epic full of new ideas!

And another thing about Buddy comic: it was printed with large margins for some reason: Jonah, for example, had exactly the same printed area as an American comic, yet a single page averaged 20 frames (sometimes much more) and told a satisfying story. 

It's not that American comics cannot do efficient yet expansive story telling, As Steranko proved:

But very few people see the potential in comics. Or if they do, they ask "why break my back when I am only being paid for the minimum effort?"

So raise a glass to Buddy comic, and all the other forgotten heroes who showed what could be done.


*
Krazy often has page corner flick strip animations, and each back cover was a painted disguise: the idea was that you could read the comic at school or with enemies and nobody would know.
 

As for the inner content, my favourite was the page when they taught you the difference between your right and left hand. You had to run your finger down the page: one side was printed solid black, the other as left white. After running your fingers down, one finger would be covered in ink. I love how they made use of the physical product like that: try doing that on a digital comics, kids!

"Subscribe to three titles, get a fourth one FREE!"

That was too good an offer to pass in 1980, back when very few American comics would make their way to my hometown. The first year I went for X-Men, Conan, Micronauts and Man-Thing. The latter was cancelled after a while, and I replaced it with Fantastic Four the following year. Eventually Savage Sword of Conan would be added (it hadn't been from day one because that's one mag we regularly got at the newsstand, among the adult magazines).

I miss the brown wrapper, which always meant good news when I saw it in the mailbox... but yeah, sometimes the comics would be folded with a big crease down the middle, and one time there was a big tear across the bottom of an issue.

I replaced my yearly subscriptions by the mail order service from Heroes World a few years later. That went on for a few years as well, despite increasing shipping charges and a brutal exchange rate.

And then Jean Grey was resurrected and I dropped out of reading comics for a good long while.