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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Now just where do I start with this post? I’ll jump right in. The Tricorn Shopping Centre in Portsmouth was built in 1966 and demolished in 2004, and somewhere in between (the ’80s) was described as the third ugliest edifice in the UK. However, it had shoppers who were for it as well as those who were against it so there seems to have been mixed opinions as to its value as a trading site. Falling into a state of disrepair over the decades, it eventually became too far gone to save and was demolished, the site being turned into a ground floor city car park in 2024.
So what’s that got to do with comics? Well, I lived in Southsea for a few months back in 1981 and visited The Tricorn a few times. If I recall correctly, there was a comics and book shop within its labyrinthian confines (not far from a cafe on the other side of the open lane), and it was there I first saw the above book, which I recently purchased on eBay. I also associate it with the equally thin Doctor Strange ‘companion’ volume, which I intend to buy before too long, mainly because both publications remind me of the carefree days of my time down in Portsmouth.
When I revisited the place in 1985, again for a few months, it was in The Tricorn I saw The Morecambe & Wise Special, which I’d first seen in my home town in the ’70s. I never bought the hardback version at the time, though eventually bought the softcover release a wee while later, but I kind of pined for the hardback. You can imagine how pleased I was, then, to spot a batch of ‘remaindered’ copies of the book on one of the market traders’ stalls in The Tricorn, so I promptly purchased one, which I still own to this very day, 40 years later. (Still got the softcover too.)
And that’s all there is to this post – it’s a self-indulgent reminiscence of a time in the ’80s which I remember fondly and am loath to let go of. What’s odd, though, is that, back home, I was then living in a different house to the one I was in when I first saw the book in the ’70s, yet I don’t associate the hardback with my then-new house, but its predecessor, the one I inhabited (and now do again) when it was first published. A facsimile was issued in 2009, which I also bought, so now I have three copies in all. (Two hardbacks and one softcover, in case you’re keeping score.)
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Below is The Tricorn and car park, which now exist only in memory and photos, and perhaps a video or two. Do you recall the place, and if so, what were your feelings about it? Do tell.
