Spragg! Stared at me from his lofty position on the shelf behind the counter in my favourite sweet shop. Every day he caught my eye and every day I asked my mother if I could have him. Luckily there were no other takers and one day, having been worn down by my persistence, my mother relented. Two shillings and sixpence was a fair price for the onslaught of hideous, pre-comic code nightmares to come for this eight year old boy.
A couple of disturbed decades later and I'm working on a comic called 2000 AD, watching the mail pile up on Alan McKenzie's editorial desk and I see something poking out from under the deluge. Just a corner, but it was enough to recognize Spragg! My long-lost childhood treasure, but what on earth was it doing here? "Dunno", said Alan, "a reader sent it in, here's his letter". I read it, but there was absolutely no mention of Spragg!, or why he'd even sent him. There was however, a phone number. I called him and told him I'd love to buy this wonderful relic from him, but he wasn't interested in money. He just wanted a 2000 AD mug.
Anyway, I sent him far more than that and in return, my long lost... Spragg! ...He came back.