"The day comics grew up" [1989]

This was a British documentary about comic books, the writers and artists, from 1988 or '89, that was shown on the Australian ABC network back in mid-1990.
It looks at British and American comics, along with Japanese Manga, and touches on the then relatively new subject of [now very and primitive dated] video games. it also looks at the convention scene.
It has nice interviews with some of the creators [some of whom have since passed away], such as Archie Goodwin, Alan Moore, Jim Baikie, John Byrne, Tom Veitch, Cam Kennedy, and others.

[@Khultan]

Thank you. I've never seen this before. I was 18 years old in 1987. Those kids were too young to ask questions to John Byrne.

[@tiroas]

I remember watching this when it originally aired in the UK, for the last 10 years I've been looking for the full version of this documentary

[@geekyolhog]

Yay! That's actually ME at 4:40 describing why he likes comics!!! 😉

[@mozi7987]

That is so cool 😂it was shocking to see the line for the comic con with people wearing regular clothes for the time. Compare that to a comic con now filled with cosplayers and colorful hair everywhere

[@geekyolhog]

@@mozi7987 tbh it was more of a Mart than a Convention. It was awesome, but just a hall full of dealers, no guests or signings etc.

[@mozi7987]

@@geekyolhogatleast you got to look at comics, last time i went to a COMIC con i saw less than a handful of comic stalls and mostly just funko pops and other crap like that

[@ademisluck1733]

The video editing alone is a blast from the past and im only 2 minutes in lol

[@karnakmonroe5740]

its crazy seeing people in line reading books instead of playing with their phones

[@erenyeager8306]

pretty sure they would be playing on their phones if they had it lol

[@mainmanmainlining7575]

This is amazing! Wow! Bolland’s Judge Death issues is some of the best comic books ever!

[@rafacomdeus2]

Thank you for making this documentary available. I'm still a new reader, even though I'm 31 years old. Every day I'm more love about the materials I read. And seeing what it was like in the 80s, 90s, it's like I made a visit in that period. Thanks!

[@djresource717]

80s and 90s were magical for Comics back in those days.. I,ll be reading Comics when I am 70.😅

[@landofthesilverpath5823]

80's-90's is the golden age of comics.

[@michaelblaine6494]

I’d say it’s become romanticized in retrospect but I do the same thing myself and I was there😅

[@friendsinmyheadtv3890]

I loved this. Thank you for posting. I found the whole section about comics fascinating. I must admit I was not keen on the computer game section, where I think the documentary went off topic. That subject could have been a programme of its own.

[@bryansteele832]

Yeah I do not why it went from comics to video games.......even though as a kid in 1989 those went hand in hand. Dammit man. I want to go back!

[@djresource717]

Early 1989-1995..!again was explosion of Graphic Novels..I love comics.

[@66mimik]

I remember this and have been searching to watch it again for years, brilliant

[@robertambrose6864]

What a time to be a teenager!!!

[@Winxamitosis]

Morwenna Banks!?! A great documentary, and a brilliant trip down memory lane! Thanks for putting this up!

[@cpuuk]

Wow, what a great time capsule of modern sub cultures.

[@georgelegg1231]

Thanks for that. An absolutely fantastic time to have been a comic reader. Also glad to see Peppa pigs mum presenting the show!

[@GR-jw7ns]

Ah yes, I thought that was Morwenna Banks.

[@shanezielinski7418]

I can't BELIEVE that this was found. Mum told me about this (I don't have a clue HOW she knew) and the VHS was set up to record this, including that old dude at the start introducing it..... Which is actually a bit more of a bigger deal since it was on AUSTRALIAN TV.

[@goboy45]

My childhood 🚀

[@dunantoolwork]

GOOD OLD DAYS MAKES ME WANT TO DIG OUT AND READ MY BOOKS WHICH ARE IN STORAGE

[@durbledurb3992]

This is Brilliant!

[@gregrryt]

Awesome video, being someone who collected 2000ad in 89 it's very resonant, & cool to see fleetway alumni like Moore, Morrison, Gibbons & Bolland to on to do some more awesome stuff in later years...

[@yinoveryang4246]

It's strange. I was a reader of 2000 A.D. in the 80's, thanks to my mother. Remember pretty well despising Gibbons work, in comparison with Bolland and McMahon. In comparison to them, he seemed like a hack, just going through the motions to get a pay-check. But he clearly went from strength to strength.

[@gregrryt]

Agree, I wasn't a fan of Gibbons' work on early ABC, nor Esquerra though he got better later on I was more partial to Smith, McCarthy, O Neill but Simon Bisley is by far my favourite

[@roryfunkedub]

Ooof ... the idealogogy what change comic books could bring, and we're left saturated with the Marvel Universe?

[@WhostheMAC1]

Chris Claremont, Johnathon Hickman and Alan Moore are the Best Writers in Comics.

[@audiogus2651]

Didn’t expect David Whittaker at 38:20. Hey homie!

[@Slayer_of_Bacon]

Good job mate.

[@ricky2286]

6.44 the segment about The Dark Knight Returns is awesome. Wish the whole documentary had been about Batman.

[@MutantsInDisguise]

Tgere are tons of other documentaries about that miniseries.

[@flutebasket4294]

You gotta love that Alan Moore and his ilk automatically assume they know what positive change is

[@mathuxley7264]

I think he's a bit of a bell end, but they probably thought about it and came to some conclusions they judged were correct. Like how people do

[@flutebasket4294]

@@mathuxley7264 Wow, thanks for adding that nothing statement

[@reginaldforthright805]

For them it always boils down to more homosexuality.

[@nocty7356]

I didn't know Moore was so based@@reginaldforthright805

[@aaronjohnson7812]

@@flutebasket4294 Who are you angry at exactly?

[@omiliag904]

That’s a sick fit god damn

[@marthinusellis6564]

i have my comics now for over 30years...did not buy any since 2010..not the same as 80sand 90s...i dont know values of my comics but wont sell... i have over 3000...sentimental value for me...

[@Ickie71]

Same here around 3000,dating from 1959 -1988

[@Christof_Classen]

*Nothing is better, than the Smell of a Comic ;)*

[@Ickie71]

@@Christof_Classen I Agree!

[@reginaldforthright805]

I’ll give you $200 for the collection

[@turtleanton6539]

I see

[@Khultan]

The year Dr. Osamu Tezuka passes away.

[@brianconnolly95]

2mins 12 seconds in, that shop is Forbidden Planet when it was on New Oxford Street!

[@flaggerify]

I remember Denmark street.

[@RighteousBrother]

@@flaggerify yep I used to go there when it was on Denmark St, with Forbidden Planet 2 just around the corner.

[@flaggerify]

@@RighteousBrother It was better then. Now there's too much merchandise and no back issues.

[@Khultan]

@ 37:46 WOW!!! NICE!!!!

[@SlobZombie]

Comics were originally for Men..........CaveMen. Thanks for posting this.i love the 80s comic vibes, would have been rad to have been there for that. The pulse of comics today is so strange. My opinion is that the art is mostly predictable rubbish and the writing is mainly mainstream propaganda and recycled vanilla poo poo

[@Luciana_McC_99]

I wish I could of been there too. I was born in 99 my husband was born in 85 . Everything he shows me from his youth has a certain feeling and charm that I don't see in anything really now . Everything kinda sucks now honestly.

[@Cinemabuff-wr4qk]

Anybody know what panel at 33:14 came from… just asking for a friend.

[@ClarkeAsimov]

Comics were originally for adults.

[@Christof_Classen]

*You mean adult Kids ;)*

[@MutantsInDisguise]

This postmodernist.

[@reginaldforthright805]

Originally they were for polecats

[@turtleanton6539]

Indeed😊

[@speedgriffon2504]

No they weren't.

[@reginaldforthright805]

All this comics are sophisticated now claptrap sure is embarrassing in retrospect.

[@fhills76]

Dave Gibbons ,,the best artist..nuff said

[@dante_0962]

No credit to the people that made comics more serious like Neal Adams and Denny O’Neil

[@MutantsInDisguise]

The ones who, 16 years before Frank Miller, saved Batman from campiness.

[@reginaldforthright805]

Comics are gay bro

[@_vixen_4504]

@@reginaldforthright805if that is your opinion then What are you doing here? If it is to spread hate then you can go somewhere else, the reason for the world being as bad A place as it is, is because of people like you going around spreading unnecessary hate because you do not like a thing or a subject. If you do not like comics then you should not look at videos about comics, it is that simple.

[@Jabberstax]

What's with the Seinfeld music?

[@gioravalico550]

Haha what the hell is this editing. You can tell they were so jazzed to try out their new software

[@Jay-ud5dy]

lol thats the 80s for you.

[@zeitok8]

? i find it really well edited

[@hanshotfirst1138]

When did this first air?

[@patmann9363]

87 I think,

[@702city3]

ink, ink and more ink.......

[@anthonycorcino6700]

I don't mind them talking about video games, but what does this have to do with comics

[@reginaldforthright805]

Both are 20th century forms of mass entertainment so basically they’re identical.

[@13strange67]

13:41. Dan Dare was in the closet : that's why ! (those eyebrows were a dead giveaway)

[@reginaldforthright805]

Comics = gay

[@flaggerify]

The last 10 minutes has nothing to do with comics.

[@pisswizard]

Such great expectations. All we have now is dumb “kawaii” manga and marvel films with accompanying pop vinyl toys. Originality in comics is dying.

[@Ickie71]

Thats why the old comics are in Huge demand nowadays!

[@reginaldforthright805]

Manga is better than comics ever were, madame, and always has been.

[@pisswizard]

@@reginaldforthright805 you know they are comics too right?

[@CAVEDATA]

How could anyone think, at any point, that comics would hold the same reverence as novels do in society? Crazy

[@reginaldforthright805]

Considering novels command absolutely no reverence, it’s not that much of a stretch.

[@CAVEDATA]

@@reginaldforthright805 so the paris review is nothing?

[@turtleanton6539]

​@@CAVEDATAwhat

[@bryansteele832]

Dark knight returns is not a 200 page epic. 90 maybe.

[@aaronjohnson7812]

There are four issues of the Dark Knight Returns. Each issue is 50 pages. It is 200 pages exactly.

[@NathanJayMusic]

2:25 "Judge Dredd operates in a crude world of good and bad, black and white, right and wrong" - this show was made three years after the Dredd story "Letter From A Democrat" - zero research! And the way they kiss the ass of the Batman comic which clearly took a lot of influence from the dark world and choices Dredd makes.... :/

[@reginaldforthright805]

Dredd is a conservative police officer. Of course they hate him.

[@richiehoyt8487]

God, Crisis! I mean Watchmen, even if way overrated, wasn't actually _bad,_ but Crisis was just The Worst! "Third World War" had plenty to say about the evils of the military~industrial complex - fair enough - but precious little to say about the 'shortcomings' of Socialism. Worse, it treated its readers like idiots. Conversely "The New Statesmen" was all but incomprehensible, and would have been hard work for a political science graduate. In addition, it bore enough similarities to Watchmen to cause one to detect the distinct smell of rat..!