March is Comic Book month here on Geekster!
Throughout the month there will be all kinds of comic related posts. Not only will we be sharing our comic book stories we want to hear YOUR story too! If you need a topic idea, read through this post and then click the submit a post button above to get started. There’s a great prize pack for the winning submission too.
To start off the month I thought I’d share how I got into comics when I was a kid.
Comics have been a part of my life since early childhood, 5-6 years old. I started out with Bugs Bunny comic books and other ‘kid’ friendly titles. It was a few years later when I discovered my true love of comics. Hanging out with my dad one Saturday afternoon we went over to his friend Harold’s house to drink a few beers. (I was relegated to Root Beer, I was 8 so it makes sense). While they were shooting the sh… uh, breeze I came across a few comics that were far removed from the Bugs Bunny stuff I’d been reading.
I still remember the cover of the first comic I read that day. It featured a skeleton with flames coming off his head, riding a motorcycle engulfed in fire, jumping over a truck! The comic was, of course, Ghost Rider. I was hooked by the cover and the story inside solidified my interest in comics. I didn’t even know they made comics like this! I thought they were all Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck.
From that point on I was interested in more ‘adult’ titles of comics. Ghost Rider, Batman, Capt America, Conan, anything that wasn’t ‘for kids.’ I grew up in a strict house (mom, not dad) and anything that resembled the Devil or evil wasn’t allowed. So, Ghost Rider was out, way out. And the other titles I wanted to read were suspect at best. Unfortunately going to the to the comic book store was out too. I don’t know why it was forbidden, but I wasn’t allowed to go. (Probably because they sold KISS and Ozzy Osbourne records too, but that’s just a guess)
I had a hard time in those early days getting the comics I wanted to read. I’d buy a Superman at the gas station, which was always a safe purchase since the movies were pretty benign. But the ones I really wanted either weren’t available at the gas station or confiscated when I got home. Confiscation was much worse, with it came a lecture and more importantly, my hard-earned money down the drain! The key was to read it before trying to smuggle it into the house.
I loved hanging out with my dad and Harold and the added benefit of reading Harold’s comics was icing on the cake. One day dad and Harold were finishing up an afternoon session and as we were leaving Harold handed me a brown paper bag, gave me a wink and said “enjoy ‘em.” Enjoy what? On the drive home I opened the bag and inside were comics! Not just any comics but Flash, Capt America, Hulk, Firestorm, She-Hulk, Conan and a bunch of Fightin’ Marines comics. (Harold was a former Marine and served in the Korean War). Ghost Rider wasn’t included in the bag…. he knew I’d never get it into the house.
Harold was a comic book reader, not a collector. He didn’t ‘bag and board’ his comics. He’d read them, then tossed them on the coffee table or in the magazine rack next to his chair. While none of them are worth much on the collector market, they are priceless to me. I still have the dozen or so comics he gave me that day. For reasons still unknown my mom never threw them out.
Those first comics fueled my comic book collecting. As I got older I was able to go to the comic book store. We only had one comic book store in my town, Oak Leaf Comics and it wasn’t an enjoyable experience. The owner was a grumpy old man who yelled at you for touching anything. Thumbing through a comic would cause him to explode into a rage about not being a library and either buy it or get out.
When his son was there it was a little better, but not much. He was a grumpy young man. It was the only thing available so I dealt with it. I’d stop by Oak Leaf every Friday after school to buy comics, bags and boards. After a few months the owners softened a bit.
During my junior year in high school a new comic book store opened, Now and Then Comics. The owners were brothers in their 20’s who loved comics. They introduced me to a great new concept, the pull list! A pull list is simple, tell the comic book store what titles you collect and they will set them aside for you. That’s exactly what I did. I gave Now and Then Comics a list of what I collected and every Friday I’d show up and they’d hand me a bag of comics with all my titles.
They’d also let me know about new titles coming out. I’d also browse the shelves each week to find new titles. It was a great experience compared to Oak Leaf.
At one point my pull list was over 40 titles! What did I collect? I loved Batman and Wolverine. Anything with either character was on my list. on-going series, limited series, one-shots, team-ups anything they were in, I bought. Punisher, Red Sonja, Deathstroke, X-Men, Aquaman, Hawkworld, the list goes on and on. I also bought all those great gimmick covers in the 90s and all the major crossovers like The Infinity War and Armageddon 2001.
When Image comics hit the scene in 1992 I bought every title they published. Spawn and Savage Dragon were my favorite titles, but all the Image titles were good in those early days.
My collecting days started to wane in the mid-90s, mostly due to a growing family and budget changes. Over the years I’ve sold or given away a lot of my comics. My current collection is around 900 comics. Unfortunately, all those gimmick covers and first editions won’t be financing my retirement.
Today I subscribe to ComiXology, DC or Marvel apps on and off, when I want to read comics. I don’t collect any physical comics anymore. All my comic book reading is digital. There are still great comics being published by Marvel, DC and indie publishers.
If you are new to comic book collecting or an old time veteran stay tuned this month for great comic book content both new and old.
If you want to share your comic book origin story or anything comic click here. All stories will be published and the hosts of WIZARDS The Podcast Guide To Comics have put together a great prize pack for the best submission.
Great story. I read more than my share of Bugs Bunny and Disney Comics in my early days as well.