SPRAGG! Stared at me from his lofty position on the shelf behind the counter of 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 six 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 the reader 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.
So, I sent him far more than that, and in return, my long lost... SPRAGG!Â
… He came back to me. Don’t you think that’s weird? I think it’s weird.
I originally posted this on February 28, 2022, but having recently been back in the UK and found myself looking once more at this rather tatty, but incredibly well-loved comic book, I decided to repost it with shots of some of the more memorable interiors… especially this severed head story, which freaked me out at the time, and to a certain extent, still does!
Incidentally, Alan McKenzie has a really interesting and informative blog on this link: Marvel Silver Age blogspot.
Love it! That iconic Kirby image suggests a gargantuan monster looming on the horizon. But no – Spragg was just a head! More precisely, a hill – Spragg the Living Hill. As Smilin' Stan once said, 'there are purists among our readers and they like to know these things.'
PS: he was a sassy knoll!
I'll shut up now...