A pleasant stroll on my 'New Cross and Deptford Radical History' walk a couple of weeks ago, from the Hobgoblin to the Birds Nest and back again. Around 40 people came along, which made the sun come out especially. I don't count a walk or talk like this a success though unless somebody chips in with some new information. So I was pleased when somebody pointed out that a shop in Lewisham Way played a key role in British comics.
Quality Comics was right next door to the Marquis of Granby at 3 Lewisham Way, and seems to have originally been opened in 1975 as Weird Fantasy by Frank Dobson. The rooms upstairs were sublet to Dez Skinn as the base for his emerging comics publishing empire. As Dez recalls, from 1979 he also acquired the shop, renaming it Quality Comics (photos above are from Dez's site).
It was in this period that his Quality Communications launched Warrior magazine as a kind of home grown UK version of a Marvel comic. The 26 issues published between 1982 and 1985 were very influential, featuring among other things the first episodes of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta
Quality Communications also published the Halls of Horror series from its New Cross office. Not sure how long the New Cross shop/office continued - last Lewisham Way address I have found online for Quality Communications Ltd is from 1984.
Anybody know any more or remember the shop?
Update January 2013 - I came across this advert for Quality Comics 'home of Warrior' today in a 1988 issue of the comics magaazine Speakeasy, so clearly the shop was still going then.
Quality Comics was right next door to the Marquis of Granby at 3 Lewisham Way, and seems to have originally been opened in 1975 as Weird Fantasy by Frank Dobson. The rooms upstairs were sublet to Dez Skinn as the base for his emerging comics publishing empire. As Dez recalls, from 1979 he also acquired the shop, renaming it Quality Comics (photos above are from Dez's site).
It was in this period that his Quality Communications launched Warrior magazine as a kind of home grown UK version of a Marvel comic. The 26 issues published between 1982 and 1985 were very influential, featuring among other things the first episodes of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's V for Vendetta
Quality Communications also published the Halls of Horror series from its New Cross office. Not sure how long the New Cross shop/office continued - last Lewisham Way address I have found online for Quality Communications Ltd is from 1984.
Anybody know any more or remember the shop?
Update January 2013 - I came across this advert for Quality Comics 'home of Warrior' today in a 1988 issue of the comics magaazine Speakeasy, so clearly the shop was still going then.
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IIRC the shop was run by an American guy, can't remember his name. There used to be a 6m high hoarding of Axel Pressbutton & Laser Eraser above the door.
The American who ran it was Bruce Paley. I used to go there and buy comics. Later on it moved to Loampit Vale (by Mothercare) and I worked there for a few years
In the late 80's/early 90's my brother used to spend all his pocket money in there as a kid. He then got a saturday job with Bruce - and spent all his wages on comics as well. He used to spend practically all day in there on Saturdays - once having to be dragged out by my irate mother in pre mobile phone days, when he hadn't come home at the agreed time... an event so terrifying to other comic nerds that I met someone a few years later, who'd been there at the time and still quaked at the thought of my mother in full ire*
*my brother won't thank me for mentioning that - sorry!
I remember driving past that shop in the mid 80's as a 7 year old and it was shut down. I remember the the psychotic cyborg above the shop. Never got to go in. I went in the comic shop that was opposite Ladywell swimming baths. Anyone remember that?
I remember driving past that shop in the mid 80's as a 7 year old and it was shut down. I remember the the psychotic cyborg above the shop. Never got to go in. I went in the comic shop that was opposite Ladywell swimming baths and bought a killer Hulk comic! there was way to much to choose from being a young kid with only enough money for 1 comic sucked! Does anyone remember that comic shop?
Hey, is there anyone who remembers a comic shop that was up by Lewisham market in the 80's. Remember it weirdly had an adult magazine section at the back of it but can't recall the name of the shop.
The comic shop in Lewisham was called Popular Book Centre (I think it was part of a chain of small independent shops).
I remember buying Batman Son of the Demon in there.
Cheers Andrew, knew I wasn't misremembering there being a comic shop by the market...I goggled the name and found a Facebook page dedicated to them.
The Lewisham shop must have been open around the late 80's, Son of the Demon came out in'87...now I think, that was about the time I went there.
Dean.
I remember Weird Fantasy in the mid-70s, and also the Popular Book Centre on Lewisham High St. Weird Fantasy was the only place in the area where you could get US imports and had some really rare stuff too.
The very helpful guy who ran the Popular Book Centre in Lewisham was Bruce Hawkins, who later opened his own comic shop - Avalon Comics in Lavender Hill, near Clapham Junction. I used to drive up from Croydon in the mid-1980’s, when you could still park in the side roads. I was also a regular customer at Quality Comics when it was run by Steve 'Win' Wiacek (the guy on the right in the photo outside the shop). Bruce Paley ran it after 'Win' and later opened his own comic shop at 66 Loampit Vale, Lewisham, called Skinny Melink's.
Dave.
I was once served by Dez Skinn when purchasing some back issues of Warrior from Quality Comics in the mid-1980’s.
Another guy who worked at Quality Comics in the mid-1980’s also opened his own comic shop close by. I can’t remember the guy’s name but the shop was called Bizzarro’s and was located at 258 New Cross Road, opposite New Cross Gate station. It opened early 1986 but I think the shop only lasted a year, ending up in an indoor market off Rye Lane, Peckham.
My 1987 diary says I went to Catford Comic Mart at Crofton Leisure Centre, Ewhurst Road on Saturday, 30th May.
Dave.
I used to visit both Quality Comics and the Popular Book Centre in Lewisham High Street in the early to mid 80s. Happy memories. Bought a lot of great stuff. Still a collector!
I was obsessed with the comic shop Weird Fantasy when I was a kid. We'd pass it twice a year in our car on our way to and from our family holiday. It was the most exciting thing I'd ever seen after just seeing the odd american comics in random newsagents. I'd obsess about it all holiday and whether we'd be able to stop on the way back. Occasionally my poor parents would be browbeaten until they agreed to leave early enough to stop on the way back for me to spend a quid or so in there. I'd have 5 or 10 minutes to choose 4 or 5 comics from the hundreds of potential candidates and then we'd have to leave - although my parents would probably say it was much much longer. That feeling of not enough money and not enough time when you wanted to spend hours in there still stays with me. This must have been about 40 years ago.
I used too send for back issues,From my Hammer House of Horror magazines .... It was very good service they did at the shop,Very quick and reliable.....
Yes I also used to order my House of Hammer/Halls of Horror from QC.
I've seen one guy above mention the comic Warrior (actually published by Quality Comics themselves). Did anyone else here read that? It was the mag that first published Alan Moore's Marvelman (later Miracleman) reboot and also his V for Vendetta.
There was another chain of second-hand bookshops to rival Popular Book Centre called Plus Books. I used to visit their branch at 224 Norwood Road, Tulse Hill S.E.27 and they, too, had a good selection of comics. It was their window display of comics that caught my attention whilst driving past in the 1980's.
You can see several images of bookshop stamps, including Popular Book Centre, the Tulse Hill branch of Plus Books as well as Bonus Books at 45 Woolwich New Road SE18, at this link:
http://colinville.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/this-book-is-exchangeable-at-half-price.html
@ Anonymous... That link is pretty interesting - those stamps bring back some memories. I was (still am) a keen collector of stuff by and about Robert E Howard and my collection still holds several books bearing the stamp of 'Popular Book Centre 284 Lewisham High St'.
Do you all remember the other comic book store that was in New Cross during the mid 80's called Bizzarros...it was opposite what is now the large Sainsburys store on the main road, number 258 is the store number and it now a cake store called La boulangerie...The place was beautiful...I went in there when it first opened it's doors in 1985 and bought a giant sized Marvel comics/DC comics special which teamed up Superman and Spider-Man i remember it costing me £2, they also had Batman vs The Hulk which i wanted but could only afford one of them...Wonderful memories of some wonderful comic book stores being shared here :...i got to know Bruce and Mark quite well in Quality Comics during the mid to late 80's and became friends with both of them, my friend and myself used to be there almost daily, even skipping school to hang out there...loved the place :)
Weirdly I have no memory at all of Bizzarros although I can't think how I would have missed it. I was in the New Cross area a lot during the early - mid 80s. I still have my giant sized Superman/Spider-Man special :)
When Quality Comics moved to Loampit Vale in Lewisham, Bruce Paley sold it to Anne Schlachter. I worked weekends there for Anne for a couple of years. I lived in the flat on the third floor, so I could go down and read comics any time I wanted. The building was in really poor repair and the shop lost money almost every month. The customers adored the place and there was often a really fun atmosphere on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Anne kept the place going by using her own money from her salaried job.
One time, I was looking for something in the back of the shop's filing cabinet and I found a typed letter from Alan Moore to ... I forget. A British comics artist. It was concerning a comic they were working on. It was a really detailed description of how Alan wanted a cover or a page or art to look. I couldn't believe it! The shop also had several boxes of Warrior back issues stored in the back. The whole building was an Aladin's cave of treasures.
Wow! Great memories guys. I remember being driven past 'Weird Fantasy' as a kid in the mid-70s when I was around 6 yrs old - fantasizing about going in one day when bigger and having money, and always amazed/impressed by the giant colour Spiderman figure/mural on the building fascia above the shop, between the first floor windows. We'd never seen anything like that before and even our parents had to notice it despite them treating these types of comics as being just for kids.
My brother and I were already into art and Marvel, DC, (plus old copies of 'Uncanny Tales', 'Weird Fantasy' etc where confusingly at the time, we found some very old e.g., Ka-Zar, Hulk, Namor and Thor stories in some of those amongst the unrelated strange tales IIRC) etc: mostly through his pocket money and swaps. Eventually I was an old enough kid to catch the 36B/36 bus to get there myself and browse/buy UK as well as US coloured copies rather than standard UK B&W which we realised were re-prints and usually combined titles. That shop became Quality Comics and the landmark Spiderman figure eventually disappeared to the chagrin of all the youngsters familiar with the shop.
I certainly remember the 'Popular Book Centre' too opposite Lewisham Fire Station as a kid too: you could also swap comics there IIRC and there was definitely an adult mag section to the rear of the store.
A friend of mine lived in New Cross from the early '80s and out of curiosity we went to 'Bizarro' comic shop twice when it was new (did not remember the name though). When we got to our late teens (17+) we started going to Forbidden Planet off Charing Cross Rd (and another store - forgotten the name - near Cambridge Circus) to get the US titles we wanted sooner than the local stores. Quality Comics moved to Loampit Vale (beside what became a g bike store) but then I think went a bit quiet as we investigated the West End. Then we noticed it had a brilliantly weird new name and re-boot:'Skinny Melinks', and they were great. It was a female owner named Anne and I knew one of the guys who eventually worked there too named Andrew Ashe ("Ashay"). IIRC you could buy and swap there if your comics/graphic novels were in very good condition. They were also good for ordering items. Sad when they too closed.
Spent a lot of money and time in these great places and still have some very valuable and well-read series now stored (which my growing sons will inherit, further enjoy and hopefully enjoy and pass on) and fond memories. Now I occasionally take my own kids (and myself!) to 'A Place in Space' and Forbidden Planet (Croydon), Forbidden Planet (W/End) and 'Piranha' in Bromley.
MiKhy, the place you visited around Cambridge Circus may have been Comic Showcase - it was in Monmouth St, then Neal Street, then Charing Cross Road before it disappeared for good. That was always my favourite comic shop in the West End.
There's a great blog here about old London comic shops, in case anyone hasn't seen it - http://londonlovescomics.blogspot.com/2007/06/west-end-comic-shops-living-and-dead.html
I used to work at Quality Comics under Bruce Paley and later at Skinny Melinks when he moved.
I remember both stores in Lewisham
The store opposite the old swimming baths certainly did have a section in the back that you wasn't allowed to walk in unless you were a certain age!
I remember the two guys in there, one was an elderly gentleman who knew my mum and told her I spent a quid on a spider man comic which had tigra and Kraven the hunter in it! I got in big trouble.
It's now a hairdresser's
I also remember skinny Malinks.
Once he had scaffolding outside and a guy walked straight into a metal pole and he screamed out
"Walk around it you moran!" In hes thick American accent.
Wonder what he's doing now?
Those were the days
I remember seeing the Lewisham Way shop advertised in 'Warrior'. Sorry I never got the chance to visit it.
In the early 90s there was another South London comic shop in Dartmouth Road, Forest Hill. Does anyone else remember it?
I spent many Saturday afternoons in Weird Fantasy spending my pocket money on whatever Frank had for sale. I’ve still got some now really valuable comics that he either stocked or suggested. Pretty sure I met Dez too, just as Starburst started. It was a truly wonderful shop and a key part of my childhood.
I spent a lot of money with Bruce at the New Cross branch. I then moved my custom down to Lewisham Way. Love to know what happened to Bruce he was a lovely guy.
John Dakin 26th july 2023
I lived in Camberwell up the road and visited Frank's shop to buy menenomee falls gazettes. They printed large sized SEEKERS by John Burns + Modesty + Garth + Bond. I bought lots of comics at the popular book centre- my nearest one was close to camberwell green. another was (I think) near Peckham. The last remaining PBC disappeared many years ago -
I bought my menenomee falls gazette from Frank but the popular book centre at camberwell green was closer to home. I went to a few of them - I think there was another in Peckham. The flagship PBC was in central London and closed many years ago. It was on a mini square halfway up Shaftesbury Avenue midway between the current forbidden planet and the old Gosh. My mecca for comics though was east street market off the Walworth Road where one of the stalls had a couple of rows of pristine thorpe and porter stamped new marvels and dcs. You could buy them cheaper though from a small booth like shop almost on the corner of east street and the walworth road - they d vary in condition but you could find lots of old ones in their 4 troughs. If you persisted it was possible to persuade the lady to show you the ones on her secret top shelf. I was in awe that they had comics from the future perhaps a month or 2 before thorpe and porter brought them in. this was something wonderful to a kid who had no idea about air freighted imports. And as there was a vinyl record stall in front of the shop it was all to a soundtrack of APACHE, THE YOUNG ONES, JOHNNY REMEMBER ME, GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY, WONDERFUL LAND AND WALKING BACK TO HAPPINESS.
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