OK, I admit I’m one of the oldest dudes in the valley collecting comic books. Put me in a room with 999 current comics and one, just one, Silver Age comic, and I’ll be all over that one SA gem like flies on you know what! It isn’t just one comic book that turned me into a life-long junkie, but a box of ’em. I was approximately four years old (circa 1957…yikes!), visiting my uncle and aunt, bored out of my brains, when they took me to my cousin Melvin’s room to keep me occupied with a large crate of his comics. The box was filled entirely with Fawcett Capt. Marvels, Whiz Comics, Mary Marvel, etc. It was such a rush….I knew Captain M looked like Superman, but not quite. Fawcett was no longer in business at this point, visciously put out of business by DC (National Periodicals), but that’s a story for another time. (I must add though, that my childish mind thinking that Capt M was a version of Superman is THE very reason DC took Fawcett to court!) From that day on, I was addicted to the medium, particularly to DC’s, and Superman, of course! Which leads me to this. Share your story on how you became a comic book aficionado here on this AABC blog, and you’ll receive FIVE free comics from our store’s Discount Comic Room (with more than 10,000 to choose from), just for your participation! (And if you’re an out-of-town blogger, email the store with your address and we’ll mail ’em to ya’…for free!) Please respond with blog missives by January 20th. We are looking forward to reminiscing with you.
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My first and one of my fondest memories was when I was about 4-5 years old. My mom was dating a man named Denny. Denny, as it turns out, used to collect comics but for whatever reason had stopped. He had three daughters and only one of them showed any interest in the comics. So one day he took out the collection (I think it was rather small but at the time seemed HUGE) and let us take turns picking out issues. This was back in the late 70’s, so most of what was there was from the 60’s up to current day.
That’s pretty much what got me started, and I still collect to this day (at one time having nearly 500 long boxes)
My first comic experience came at a ripe old (or is that young) age of maybe 7 or 8.
We lived in the town of Kirksville (no realtation to Smallville–besides it’s in Kansas) in Missouri and my dad took me to Reinhardt’s Newsstand which was downtown and bought me my very first comic books. This newsstand was the same one he went to when he was collecting comics as a boy back in the 50’s so my very first time was memorable on two,count two mints in one (sorry couldn’t resist), counts. What my first comics were I really can’t remember but all I know is that I loved ’em and have been hooked ever since.
Thanks for the memories!!!
Comics is the reason I can read today not that I was not learned well, but I was bored. Superman was my hero and stared me back in the early 60s. by 69 I had to hitch hike to woodstock from chicago with Superman in my back pocket. I now have all the golden age Superman comics 1 thru 108 plus approx 50 thousand more in my collection.
Thanks Perry…
One day, some 28 years ago… I became ill (really) and had to leave school (5th grade) early.
While walking home about a mile or so (Kids back then actually walk to and from school), I approached a blocked sidewalk full of boxes and a really old dude (probably 30 years old) unloading a truck. As I walked around one of the boxes, I noticed a Fantastic Four image and stopped to look… I never seen a Comic Book, but recognized the FF from the old 60’s Cartoon re-runs. The old dude told me, “go ahead kid, you can have it” …my first Comic, FF #99.
The old dude (I don’t recall his name) was opening a Comic Book Shop and I ended up spending many afterschool hours there and as much as $2 a day. I’m not sure what ever happened to that FF #99, but the memory is as clear as ever. What a great day it was to be ill from school!
Michael O
For me my first real brush with comics was back in Delaware, (1979-ish) where I grew up. I found this one comic book store and loved it. It was even better when they “hired” me to help around the store,and my pay was in… wait for it…… COMICS!!!!!! for me at about 25cent a comics I would have at least 4-8 comics every weekend, Thus started my real love for comics.
Just wanted you to know.
Rick
Like that old guy, Alan – who’s all of a few months my senior – I first discovered comics before I was really able to read them. I was probably four or five, and my great-grandfather was down from Wisconsin, visiting my grandparents. “Pops” only ever read comic books, and his favorites were Lee Falk’s ‘Phantom’ (the Gold Key issues) and the Dell ‘Tarzan’s. When they left my folks’ house that day, Pops left the comics he’d been reading, for my sister and me. In addition to the Phantom and Tarzan, there was an early SA Green Lantern – I think the issue featured Doctor Sonar. I believe those were the first comics I ever owned.
Hello all, My first run in with comics was back in philadelphia pa in the late 70’s. my uncle owned a few comic books stores and would take me to the yearly conventions downtown. one year he gave me a silver surfer #4 for christmas and after that i was hooked on collecting. My 1st job was working in one of his stores where i learned to appreciate the art as well as the stories. to this day, neal adams and frank miller are my favorite.
Paul
Don’t know how I got it, but I had a couple issues of Armor drawn by Neal Adams? New friends in junior high loaned me The Death In The Family Trade, The Punisher limited series and much more. Good times.
My introduction to comics came from my deskmate in the 5th grade (classes were a little crammed even back then, so we sat two to a desk). He would doodle these pictures of some guy who could shoot laser beams out of his eyes, and when I asked him who that guy was, he introduced me to Cyclops and, subsequently, the X-men. Then he lent me the first comic I was to read, Uncanny X-men 171. It seemed there was this woman name Rogue who was a super-villain, but she wanted to join the X-men because only they could help her. I was amazed. This was more than just good guys beating up on bad guys, this comic has drama and character development, interaction and plot. I was hooked from that moment. Twice a month, I would forego buying milk to go with my lunch and hoard the precious $0.35 so that, when the new X-men hit the stands at the local 7-11, I could buy it and devour it. LOL. 25 years may have passed, and I don’t exactly have to save up my milk money to support my habit, but you know, if that’s what it came down to, that’s still what I’d do.
The first comic that turned me into a junkie had to be a Marvel Triple Action that reprinted the Avengers battle with the Super-Adaptoid. I don’t know what was so special about that story, but it just grabbed my interest. After that I was hooked on the team books: Avengers, X-Men, Defenders, even JLA.
Then I got hooked onto Richie Rich, and would blow my allowance on Richie comics every week. Still collect the Harveys to this day.
My first comic that I can remember is an infamous one: Superman #75. I will never forget that night. I was watching Superman: The Movie on TV. As a commercial break aired, I went into my parents’ room. I opened a drawer randomly, I think my mom told me there was something there for me, and in it sat a comic. It was the Death of Superman. I was 8 years old. My grandfather died that year, I think it was after this though. I remember looking up at the screen, seeing Christopher Reeve and going “Superman’s fine!” (Before his terrible accident as well.) I flipped through the book. Splash page after Splash page. Each image hit me hard. BAM! Lois tells Supes he might die. WHAM! Supes kisses her goodbye. KABOOM! Supes and Doomsday knock each other out… and then he died.
My history with Superman goes back as long as my memory does. Putting a towel on while watching George Reeves fly on my tv screen… the Fleischer cartoons… Superman movie marathons… and now he was dead. Later that year, my parents seperated. My mom did everything she could to help me through the process. She would take me to this 99 cents store and there, I found comics packed in groups of 3 for a dollar. I found the Reign of the Superman there. SUPERMAN WAS BACK! I didn’t collect hardcore really then, I was only 8 or 9. I started in earnest by myself when I was 13. I will never forget the death of Superman though. Superman is my hero, he will always have a special place in my heart.
I’ve been collecting for 8 straight years now. I love this industry. I love comics. Nothing will ever change that.
My first comics arrived at my family’s camp in Eastbrook, Maine, when my father would drive up and meet us after he got done working his shift at the Woolco department store in Ellsworth. I couldn’t have been older than three or four, and he would arrive with an issue of Star Wars now and again. I still have those tattered pieces of Simonson art. Copies of Rocky and Bullwinkle or the occassional Detective Comics followed and I read them over and over again — yeah, I was tiny, but I was reading at 2 or some goddawfully minature age.
With the arrival of G.I. Joe in ’82 came the comic book and that marked my first true series. I had most of the issues — some even in coloring book form — and kept up with it right into middle school.
Then this kid in my seventh grade art class showed me some stuff he was drawing — his own takes on Spider-Man, X-Men, and Ralph Snart — and I got sucked right in. I hit the Bangor Mall a couple of nights later with my mom, grabbed every X-book off the spinner rack in B. Dalton — most sporting the Inferno storyline banner and Classic sporting the Dark Phoenix banner.
And except for those stacks of X-Force #1 and Youngblood #1 I’ve got shaming me daily from the recesses of my geek lair, I don’t regret a moment of those early years.
Now, I gotta go read Nextwave and DMZ before I have to get some much needed sleep.
I’m 38 and have had 2 periods of comic book reading/collecting. The current one started in 2002, and the other was as a kid. It’s hard for me to remember my first comics experience, but I do remember I was more into Marvel than DC and got subscriptions to Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Marvel Team-Up, among others. The 2 comics that stick out in my mind that I remember getting were the oversized Superman/Spider-Man crossover with the 2 of them above the Empire State Building and the oversized Star Wars comic. I’m one of the guys who had a nice collection as a kid in the ’70’s, mostly Bronze-Age Marvel but also some Silver and even Golden Age, and when I moved out of the house after college, I told my Mom to sell my collection at her garage sale because I wasn’t into comics anymore. I regret that. But I have a lot of enthusiasm for the hobby now. A lot of people might argue with me, but I think comics are better now in a lot of ways than when I was a kid. A lot of the writing is awesome, and for adults, not corny. And I love so many artists that have come out in the past 20 years: Michael Turner, David Finch, Alex Ross, Talent Caldwell, Marc Silvestri, Joe Benitez, Billy Tan, Simon Bisley, Cary Nord, to name more than a few.
Years and years ago, my father handed me a stack of Batman comics and told me to learn how to read. I just loved them. Colored pictures and words, it didn’t get any better. I learned how to read and grew up and away from comics, com’on, I was like 3-6 years old. Many years later I was attending 7th grade when I was handed Punisher War Journal #43. I was in shock and awe. He was larger then life, he was huge and he had guns! I learned later what JRJR stood for. I haven’t missed a Punisher issue since. In alot of ways, the Punisher help me when I decided to go into law enforcement, it was the closest I could get to becoming like him. I know, kind of weird!
I remember about 23 odd years ago having my father taking me on a long road trip and after stopping at a newsagent for him to pick up the local paper I found the comic section while he was looking at the powerboat magazines. After flicking through about 6 or 7 different ones I found it amazing that I had never came across them at the time.
My dad trying to get me away from them told me that I could have one of them and after some haggling I managed to get 2 out of him and I walked out with a GI Combat and a Transformers comic which started me onto the path of collecting.
As a side note I still have those issues in my collection and won’t be getting rid of them any time soon.
My first comic came to me in 1981, when I was six years old. My mother had my sister and myself in tow as she was shopping at a local market near my elementary school. Near the front of the store there was a massive display of magazines. In the bottom right hand corner, there were about 15 comic books, just stacked. I walked over and on top sat Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #60. The cover had Spider-Man standing over a city, lit from below, ready to leap into action. I recognized Spidey from the “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends” cartoon. The comic was a double-sized issue, and cost $.75, big money for a six year old at the time. I picked it up and asked my mother if I could get it. Not realizing that it would eventually lead to the massive addiction it has, she said yes. In the car on the ride home, I read the issue. I really lucked out. One of the stories was an expanded retelling of the origin of Spider-Man. From that moment, I was hooked, with a particular affection toward the Wall Crawler.
When I was about 8 (1989-ish) I was at a market with my Mum and I happened to see a vendor, who sold books, had a small pile of comics on his table. On top of that pile was an Australian reprint of a Spider-man comic in which spidey faces 3 spider slayers. I convinced my mum to pay the 80 cents for this beaten up print and I was amazed, I read that thing dozens of times.
After that no matter how much I hated going to the market the mere thought that I might be able to find a few more issues of anything there was enough to get me there.
Over the next year I found a few more Australian reprints of Batman and Superman tales also.
I still have that first issue, it’s a lot more beat up now but I can’t get rid of it.
I guess I’m pretty much a newbie at this comic thing. I got really into the X-Men and Spider-man cartoons on Fox Kids in the 90’s. I started looking at fanwebsites for Spider-man. I had a big thing for Venom, he was the coolest villian in the 90’s show.
About the time the X-Men movie came out I starting reading uncannyxmen.net. At that point I went to my local comic book shop and looked at some X-men comics. When I got into college, I made friends with a guy that had a ton of old comics and caught up on some comics history.
Then, during a discussion of Batman Begins, someone refered me to the Comic Geek Speak podcast. I really got into pretty much everything then. They really exposed me to the whole world of comics. I LOVE Green Lantern now.
That’s what made me the geek I am today.
I started collecting comics at a young age after being introduced to them by my older brother Sidney. He only bought them for the interesting material they provided him with for his art class. I was hooked after reading an INVADERS book by Marvel. I went on to amass a HUGE collection over the next decade and a half but stopped collecting after someone stole my collection. I never lost interest, I just didn’t want to invest the same time and effort that I put into compiling my collection into rebuilding it. One day while watching a movie with my son they ran an advertisement for the upcoming X-MEN movie and I started telling my son about my favorite character WOLVERINE. Needless to say he became intrigued about these characters and asked if we could buy tjhe comics I once had so that he could read them. That was the only excuse I needed to get back in the saddle because two years later WE have amassed a huge collection of X-MEN books and several other titles as well. I will never get comics out of my system because I don’t want to. LONG LIVE COMICS!! Marvel RULES!!
I lived near a small place called St. Peter’s Village as a kid, and I discovered a shop called “Ye Old Village News”. Aside from being a newsstand and place to buy things like cigarrettes and candy, they also sold comic books. I remember I would buy one or two of every Marvel title that came out. One book that really stuck with me was the Uncanny X-Men. Something was kind of weird about these guys, but I liked it. The shop also sold back issues, so I started buying up X-Men back issues for what seemed like a lot of money to a kid. The shop eventually moved away, but years later, I found them again in another nearby town and started my love affair with comics again. Eventually I was hired to run the shop on the weekends, which was a dream job for a teenage kid. Lots of fun!
I remember reading my friend’s comics and loving them. I was a big fan of The Superfriends cartoon. But, the first comic book that I recall having my Mom purchase was a Richie Rich digest. We were in a local drug store and my big brother picked up one. Of course, big bro had it, and I wanted one too! We started going to a store called “Ye Olde Book Shoppe” that had many bins of comics. Mom would let me pick out about a $1 or 2 worth from the $.10 bin. I got a ton of Richie Rich (since it was my first), Archie and DC comics over the years. Eventually, I started collecting on a semi-regular basis, but never got into a weekly habit until my late teens/early 20’s.
I know, kind of lame. I wish that first comic was a Batman book, but alas, the richest kid in the world had me at $.10. 🙂
I was 12 years old and living in a little podunk town outside of Eugene Oregon. I was with my older sister and we had gone to the drugstore for something she had needed. I had a dollar in my pocket and I had planned to buy some candy with it. As I walked around the corner, I bumped into a newly placed comic book rack. You know, one of those round metal ones that spins. I glanced at a couple. Then I picked up a book called Uncanny X-men. It was issue 150. I was enthralled. The art… the story… people who were so different than everyone else, yet doing whatever they could to help humanity. Needless to say, no candy for me that day. From that point forward, I new that I was hooked. I have not missed an issue of X-men since.
My earliest memories of comics revolve around my Dad. Aside from going on roadtrips in the family’s ’65 Chevy station wagon with the occasional “Sad Sack,” “Archie and Jughead”, and “Casper, the Friendly Ghost” given to us, I remember my Dad taking me and my brother when we were about seven and eight, respectively, to the 7-11 at Thomas and 7th Avenue here in Phoenix (now a flower shop) and letting us pick out comics. While my brother’s tastes ran more towards the mutants and freaks of Marvel (Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, X-Men), I always had more interest in the colorful DC line of heroes (“Batman,” “The Flash,” “Green Lantern,” and especially, “Superman”). I’m not sure if that had to do with the “Superfriends” cartoons or not. But the comic that really turned me into a junkie, was actually the Marvel “Star Wars” series that took place after the movie adaptation. I mean, wow! New stories “From the adventures of Luke Skywalker”! I was hooked! That led me to feed my habit over at Adventure III next to the Hamburger Works on 15th Ave, and eventually to All About Books and Comics on Camelback & 7th Street.
When I was 10 years old I was hospitalized for three weeks and to soften the blow my Dad promised me a comic a day.
Up to that time I was a casual reader picking up the odd Batman from time to time.
One of the books I was given was the Fantastic Four Big Little Book “House of Horrors”, FF Annual #6 and FF #78.
That turned me into a big time FF fan and I set out to collect every single FF I could. That was the first title I went hard core “Collect” on.
From there it grew and I’ve never recoved.
While Alan has a few years on me, I too am likely one of the oldest fanboys around. My first experience with comics was with those illegally sold stripped issues from the discount dollar store. In later years after I realized the damage that had been done to these early Marvels and early 1960’s Dells, DCs, and others, to say nothing of these being sold illegally, well, it’s all rather sad. But there are many precious memories of my quest for comics in smalltown Indiana where distribution wasn’t always so great. How well I recall pestering the heck out of the cute little high school girls who worked at drugstore, to get them to put out the week’s shipment of new books. And then there were those endless summer afternoons just hanging out in the backyard, lost in the adventures of the Legion of Super-Heroes, the Avengers, and the Justice League. My comics have been such a large part of my life for so long and I certainly see no reason to stop as I enter my fifth decade of life.
Wow! What great stories. Mine starts with illness, as in the viral kind. As a kid, I always seemed to be getting sick with the measles, mumps, chicken pox, or the flu. Everytime I got sick my parents wanted me to stay in bed, so they would go out and buy me comics that I could read during my infirmity. Typically they bought only DC titles and Disney because the Marvel stuff was too mature for me back in the late 60’s. My favorites turned out to be SUPERMAN, Batman (because my favorite show featured Adam West), and the Flash. They would also buy me Cracked and Mad magazines, as well as a few Archies. My dad was also in the Army (Vietnam, but stateside) at that time, so I remember all of the GI’s reading Casper, Hotshot, Sad Sack, and all the War titles like GI Combat and Star Spangled War Stories. You could always see comics on the base at the PX or laying around in the offices we visited.
Then my parents divorced when I was 10 and my grandfather died a short time later. I couldn’t sleep at night, so I read comics as an escape and because they made me feel better. I remembered how comforting it was to have a stack of comics next to my bed so I could shut out the pain of the world and fantasize about simpler things than dying or my mortality. So I started collecting at age 12 (100-page Super Spectaculars would good because they took a long time to read).
But we measured our collections by how many (paper) grocery bags we could fill. I had about 4 grocery bags at that time and I started trading with the neighborhood kids. One girl had Amazing Fantasy #15 that was sort of beat up that I bought for 10 cents. I thought it was so cool in the 7th grade that I had the very first appearance and origin of Spiderman! We all knew it was a key issue at that time (around 1971-72). When the girl I bought it from found out it what it was, she wanted to give me the 10 cents back. I said, “No way, a deal’s, a deal!” Everyone wanted that book and I stirred up quite a commotion during class changes when I showed it off. One older classmate, Rick Fox, wanted it so bad that he offered me two full grocery bags of comics. After much pestering, he sold me on the fact that there were some neat Kirby’s and older Supey’s in the bags that I could not turn down! When I saw the two full bags at school the next day, I reluctantly accepted the deal! Later that day, my friends told me what a fool I was and when I tried to reverse the deal the next day, Rick refused and shortly thereafter he moved. I had been put in the exact same situation that I had put the girl in (God’s justice)!
So I kept the Kirby’s and started copying that style of drawing. By 15, I was intent on becoming a comic book artist as a profession! I took professional cartooning classes that year from a local cartoonist who invited all of the local “retired” talent in for lectures. I was in heaven!
Anyway, we spent all of our time creating new superheroes and drawing out full comic pages and stories. Then reality set in. With no one to buy our artwork and/or ideas, we had to relegate it to being just a hobby. With my dad being an academic scholar, he made me chose a “real” profession which ultimately lead me to graduate school. To make a long story shorter, I later became broke and destitute so I sold everything I owned at the time including most of my comics (and records). I only kept one book through it all and that was Gold Key Star Trek #1 (in Fine Condition) which I bought in 1976 for $7.00.
Nowadays, I have a good paying job that exhausts me with 50 -60 hour work weeks. In an effort to combat the burn-out factor I turned back to comics a few years ago. It is my way of turning off the world and escaping into alternate realities (without drugs or booze). It helps me rejuvenate of sorts because I associate healing and feeling better with comics still to this day. Plus the artwork is as good as it always was. So far, I have managed to laregly buy back all of the old issues from my original collection, plus some (minus the original Spideys). Today I would estimate my collection at about 20 full grocery bags…. anyone want to trade????
The first ever comic i read and was totaly hooked on was Uncanny X-men 269(i think) which featured a team up between Wolverine, Captain America and Black Widow. The comic was drawn by Jim Lee (didnt have a clue who he was back then) and i loved every minute of it!! What i really liked about it was the fact that this Wolverine fellow had claws that came out of his hands and was damn near industructable! (i had never heard of him befor this comic). What i really loved about this comic was the fact that there was a team up between these 2 cool charcters (Cap and Wolverine) and ever since then i have always enjoed team up comics.
The Reason i read this comic was becasue my brother had recently started picking up comics and he was buying them in order to sell them at a later date. I thought reading comics was silly(i was 10) and was not intrested but when i saw this comic, i just had to read it!! And ive never looked back, i eventually brough my brothers comics off him and added them to my collection.
I remember the first comic book that I ever really read, cover to cover, because I was down in West Virginia visiting my sister who was older and getting married. I was in this little dinky trailer park and there was absolutely nothing to do. These two stoners that lived next to my sister, TJ + Stoney (believe it or not) became my “babysitters” (I was about 8 or 9 at the time). They were in thier own little world, but boy did they have some cool comic books. They basically hung out all day doing thier “thing” and reading comics. Any way I don’t remember what company made the book but it was called “Tales of the Creeps” , “creepy tales” or “tales of suspense” something like that, It had like 3 short stories in it. The picture on the cover was of this zombie looking guy covered in seaweed. The story line was about some guy coming back for revenge on his wife after her and her lover left him to drown. This was in the 70’s. I kinda saw the same storyline in a horror flick years later. Thanx for making me think back a little, I probally would have never thought about those guys again. They let me keep that book and I’m going to check in my collection, because I just might still have it, now I have to know the name of it. I have to admit I’ve gotten a little too wrapped up in life lately and my books have been in storage. I actually got on line today because I brought my work home with me, but now I’m going to go get my comic books out and maybe learn to start enjoying life again for a change !!!!!!! Thanx !
I was in fourth grade when I started reading comics. A friend of mine had a box of the Fantastic Four (during Byrne’s run in the mid eighties) and i couln’t get enought. I when through that box like a wirlwind and never looked back. Marvel is my company of choice, but I will read any and all.
Guess what !!! First box I grabbed, fourth book in. Marvel Comics Group, “Crypt of Shadows”, Volume 1, number 13, October 1974. Thanx again !!!!!!!!!!!!
I actually got into comics really recently, when I walked into my local comic shop to get a pack of Magic: The Gathering cards and noticed Civil War issue 1 on the comics rack near the cards. I knew the Marvel superheroes from the movies, so I picked it up just for fun. I loved it, and from then on, I’ve been hooked on anything Marvel!
my friend kevin daniels gets comics from you guys, and its his fault that i am now a junkie. if i dont get a comic fix at least once a week, i go crazy! ever since i saw his collection, i wanted to see what kind of comics you guys had, so me being the adventurous young lad that i am, i walked into your shop (it shares a wall with my own place of employment) and i was dazzled! immediatly i fell in love with the X-Men, i felt so drawn to their stories and history. i now collect uncanny x men, x men, and astonishing x men. i love comics, and i cant believe i have waited this long to get started!! you guys are awesome, shoutout to adriana and eddie, and phil and alan! see you tomorrow, at about 5:45…
Many moons ago when the dinosaurs still roamed,… we were on a road trip to somewhere or the other (being from So-Cal it was probably a rod trip to Tucson cause thats where the grand parents lived and we did that trip once or twice every year.). Myself and my brother were obnoxious as hell and I remember my mother about to strangle the both of us. At the next truckstop where we stopped to get something to drink, my mother in an attemp to shut us the hell up for five minutes bought us both a comic book. I got a Daredevil (back when he was wearing the oh so concealing yellow) and my brother picked up a Superman. I was hooked after only a few pages. The rest of the trip, at every stop, I convinced my mom to pick me up another comic. My collection continues to grow to this day. And I still have that issue of DD.
I don’t actually remember the first comic that I read, since I read quite a few as a kid – mostly in passing, just looking at the pictures and whatnot at friends and in my uncle’s old room when we stayed at my grandmother’s house on holidays growing up.
But the first book that made me a collector was on the racks in late 1986/early ’97. I was about 12, at the mall on a Friday night with a bunch of friends. One of our parents had dropped us off and between hanging at the arcade, sneaking into and getting kicked out of movies, and cruising the foodcourt to meet girls (Yeah, like that was going to happen!), we passed an old Waldenbooks. From out on the concourse I could see this really distinct book on a spinner rack near the magazines. We walked by pretty fast, but I couldn’t turn my eyes away. I told my friends I saw something and that I would catch up with them at Orange Julius’.
I broke off from the group and made a b-line for the book. It was The Dark Knight Returns Book IV — The Dark Knight Falls. That sick mostly black and sunset reds/oranges cover. Batman in silhouette with the big gun and spike-knuckled gun just about to go up against Superman! It was just so striking. I clearly remember thinking “Man! This is what comics are like now! I have to get this!” It was just an incredible cover and had such an immediate effect on me.
I started to reach for it, when suddenly a hand fell on my shoulder. It was one of my friends. He was trying to figure out what I was doing and I made up some excuse about seeing someone I knew. I don’t know why but for some reason, I thought comics were just for little kids, but looking at that cover I knew that they weren’t (plus I was still a kid!)
Anyway, I never did get the book that night, but I couldn’t stop looking at it. The very next week was Thanksgiving and we were off to NY again for a visit to the grandparents. The day after, I begged my dad to bring me and my younger brother to a drugstore to search out comics. I found a great place and bought a ton of Batman and Detective comics and even the old History of the DC Universe Portfolio. But I couldn’t find that Dark Knight book anywhere. That trip made me an addict, and except for some time in college when I was buying sporadically whenever/wherever I could find them, I haven’t missed a Wednesday since. I am now 35.
My dad died 13 years ago Sunday, when he was a fairly young man. He fed my habit quite a bit those first few years I was collecting, until I got my license. And when I was away in school, he sometimes sent me a book or two, and always put one in my stocking at Christmas. They were usually titles I wasn’t collecting, or issues I had, but I always liked those books more. To this day, I can’t go to a new comic shop without thinking about him and that first trip he took me and my brother on.
It was about a year later that I finally found a regular comic shop near my home and had educated myself enough from letter columns and ads from places like Mile High Comics that I was able to track down the whole Dark Knight mini. It was worth the wait.
And that cover — man — it is still my favorite cover of all time.
I grew up in Berkeley, California and went to a big church that was near Cal Berkeley. In the early 80’s the main drag that runs into the university had two huge comic book stores two blocks apart. I passed by the stores all the time and one day at the age of 12 or so, I stopped in out of curiosity. I was hooked. Without any history of comics (other than a Richie Rich or two) I randomly grabbed a few issues of Miller’s Daredevil. I was hooked. I was a Marvel Zombie for many years and then started to branch out and try some DC, and independant books. I’m 37 now and haven’t stopped. I have more comics than I know what to do with and a wife who accepts my addiction as a part of the package. The only books that I read and re-read on a regular basis, the books that have a hallowed spot on the bedside table (under it actually) are those origonal Daredevil books. I have considered having the first book I ever read framed, but I enjoy reading it to much. It would be a shame to not be able to touch ‘the book’ again.
I feel really weird and a little bummed because everyone is talking about Silver Age books. I didn’t have the luxury of that (being born in 80 and all). I remember my first comic book was TransFormers 42, in the summer of 88. I loved Transformers (what 80’s child didn’t?). And this introduced the Power Master Optimus Prime, so it was automatically cool. I put away, to be left in the obscurity of my closet. Then the following Christmas my mom (apparently noticing my “interest” in comics, though I only wanted the one) got me a clothes box full of recent issues. Well, you know I’d rather be outside playing sports, the only thing I wanted to read was an adaptation to Willow. But you know later on a rainy day, there was no cable, so I figured what the hell. I was the only kid on the block to read comics after that, so there were not as much being picked for neighborhood baseball games, but I think I won out. The book, or books I should say, that really got me was The Uncanny X-Men. I had never heard of them. This was during the time where they were operating in the Outback, Marc Silvestri was the artist. These were issues 233-234. I thought these are the weirdest people I’ve ever seen, a man with armored skin, a black chic who shoots lightning, a girl who can’t touch anyone, and man was Wolverine badass! After that I started to read more, then it was on to X-Men Classics, where they reprinted issue 150 Vs. Magneto, and my collection has grown ever since. Of course, minus Batman it took me a while to get into DC, but Green Lantern and especially New Teen Titans helped. Aren’t memories great?
I wish had an endearing first comic story like many of you. I wish I could say that in 1962, I happened to find this old thing called Amazing Fantasy 15 lying around. In all seriousness, my first comic experience was purchasing a Marvel 3 pack from a newstand in Seattle’s airport in the summer of 1985. I was 10 years old at the time. I remember it included West Coast Avengers #14 and Spectacular Spiderman with Black Cat. I liked comics but what turned me on to comics was when I arrived in Detroit to stay with some family friends. One of the “kids” in the housewas a few years older than me and had collected comics. I saw his collection and I fell in love with comics. He proudly displayed his Man of Steel #1 written by John Byrne and said how that comic would revolutionize the comic industry. It was after that moment that I had decided to become a collector and read everything Marvel and DC had put out. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma so we didn’t have a formal comic store in my town. I used to go to a mom and pop bookstore that also sold comics on the side. I used to love the smell of the ink as I entered that store. They used to keep a box full of the “valuable” comics behind the desk. You kids should consider yourselves lucky for having formal comic stores like All ABout Books and Comics. I wish I had lived around one of these growing up. 🙂 J/K
I was introduced into the wonderful world of comics by my Uncle Trini. To this day, he is a Science Fiction buff who loves movies, comics, and books just to name a few of his hobbies. Anyway, he would take me out at least once a month to Dave’s Comics in Tucson which is where I got my first issue of Conan the Barbarian. I was really into swords and sorcery type stuff at the time so I was naturally drawn to this character. Before too long, I was hooked…getting as many Conan books as I could with my allowance and bothering the 7-Eleven clerks constantly by calling to see if the new issue had come out. Now, like many I come across at AABC I read more books than I probably should, but I absolutely love the medium. The art combined with some of the fantastic stories will surely keep me hooked. Now that I have a son of my own, I am also looking forward to sharing this hobby with him. Hopefully, he enjoys it as much as I do!
I had been collecting the comic book trading cards that were popular among my generation growing up in the late 80’s/early 90’s. I came into comics thru this route because I didn’t get an allowance, and never really had more than $4 at any given time, which was just enough for a pack. I would read the backs of all the cards and learned about the entire Marvel universe this way (even the obscure characters). Sure, I’d come across comics here and there, and had about 5 from my childhood, but I didn’t actually start “reading comics” until mid-college. I re-visited my childhood shop, and on a whim, bought the latest issues of Ultimate Spiderman, Ultimate X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, and Amazing Spider-man. Instantly I was hooked, and still am today (and now can use my vast vat of useless Marvel knowledge to explain obscure characters and the importance of stuff happening in comics, to my comic-reading girlfriend!)
My first exposure to comics was in the early 80s. I had just moved to Chesapeake Virginia over the summer, and we were in a grocery store when I happened to spot some comics. My dad asked me if I wanted a couple of them to read since I’d been so good lately. He told me to pick out a couple of them, and I picked out Justice League of America #199 (which was part of a JLA/JSA crossover, I believe) and a Teen Titans comic. From there, I was hooked. I always used my allowance to buy comics and I would trade them with friends so I could get new things to read.
my first comic was spiderman 6. I had never picked up a comic to read before, but the way mcfarlane drew spiderman just made me drop the $1.75 like it was hot. In that same run he did wolverine (another one of my fovorites) in the brown and gold, and the blue and yellow, then spiderman back in black, the rest is history.
My first comic experience that sticks with me is when my grandmother came back with my brother from some shopping trip. I think I was probably moaning to myself for being left behind. But my day was quickly brightened when she showed me a comic she had picked out for me. It had Spider-Man and the Frog Men on the cover. I only recently recovered what I can only hope is the comic… the cover looked very similar, but the inside didn’t seem to read like anything I remembered so fondly.
It started a love affair with a character that had alot of books at the time, I am pretty sure my dad would have preferred some cult followed character. But comics is something my grandmother and I continue to talk about and share.
My first comic, outside of Archie or some kid’s comic like that, was an issue of G. I. Joe Special Missions. I can’t recall the issue number, but the cover was striking, with a Joe hanging from a tree by his parachute while the enemy walked the ground beneath him.
As a kid in the early 80s I absolutely loved G. I. Joe, and I can tell you from personal experience that the Joe comic has lured more people into the wonderful world of comics than probably any other media tie in. I don’t remember huge details about the comic (I haven’t read it in many many years) but I do remember the contrast between the comic and the show. They were shooting bullets, not lasers! Plus, in the comic, Cobra actually posed a threat, versus the series, in which nothing ever seemed to happen and Cobra’s attempts at power often included extremely goofy plots.
G. I. Joe was a gateway comic that will always have a special place in my heart for not only telling me good stories, but for opening the door to other books by Marvel and eventually DC, and now, 2 decades later, my passion hasn’t slowed at all. If anything, it’s only gotten stronger.
My first comic was Legends of the Dark Knight, where Bruce Wayne took back the mantle of the Bat from Az-Bats. It was all fight and all awesome. It got me hooked into Batman and comics. I started collecting comics more recently with Batman: Hush when I had an income of my own to spend on comics. I’ve been buying non-stop ever since.
Well, I guess I have two stories, one that happened when I read Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics, which led to me reading just about everything I could find in the library…it first opened my mind to the possibilities that comics have. I’ve always been interested in comics, but I’d never gotten into buying monthly, because I didn’t care too much, and never had a nearby LCS…the first book I bought myself was Brave New World #1…what I was really impressed by was the Trials of Shazam! story in there, which blew me away, and since then, I haven’t stopped, picking up mainly weird titles on the fringe of DC.
When I was in the 4th grade I got all the 3 inch die cast Shogun Warriors figures. I was at the local packette one day when I noticed in their spinner rack an issue of Marvel’s Shogun Warriors ongoing. After flipping through it I check the rack and got two other issues, three i all. I starting stopping by several times a week to try to get more and eventually graduated to X-men, my current passion.
I always liked all the cartoons when i was a kid but sadly comics were never introduced to me. I go to high school by aabc and one day decided to go in. it was after looking through a lot of comics and then going home to do some internet research that i decided to collect Spiderman and/or X-men. I then realized i could only handle one at a time so ive been collecting spiderman for a couple of years. My homie Frank started collecting x-men resently so he fills me in on what i am missing. I only wish i grew up in the silver age…….
At the age of 3 or 4 I remember going to my cousins house and hoping to get a peek at his very large stash of DC and Marvel Comics. He treated them like gold(boy wasn’t he smart) and wouldn’t let any of us touch them. This was enough to make me want to own books like him! I amassed a large collection of Marvel mostly Spiderman books. My favorite would have to be ASM # 18. It is one of the oldest I had in my first collection. When I went off to the service I had my mom and dad sell my books at yard sales, what a bummer. If only I could retrieve those books back. it wasn’t long until I was going to the comic book store on Broadway in San Deigo California and starting my spidey collection all over again. I have been collecting and reading ever since. Ebay has opened up alot of avenues with buying and selling of our wild and crazy additiction! Thanks for the blog and thanks for the free book offer!!
My first memory isn’t of any specific comic, it was not bought or given to me. My father would take my two brothers and I to the local barber shop (this was in the 60’s) in El Centro, California to get our hair basically butch off to the skin.(Wow is that style coming back now, I hated it back then) While waiting for my turn they always had comics on hand to read. There were an assortment of War Stories, Superhero comic mostly comprised of Marvel and DC. I aways loved to read the Superman Superboy comics I didn’t particularly like Spiderman back then. (I wish I did now though) This is what got me interested in comics, but I didn’t start collecting until the 70’s when I was 12. Exposure to comics is what got me interested. I would like to see more exposure like this today, it would bring in younger reader. Now I live in San Diego, CA. and have gone to the Comicon here for the past 15 years. My spouse and I have relatives in Phoenix so I try to schedule our trips with some of the Cons there. Thanks for the WEBSITE, BLOG, and AUCTIONS…….
Althought I had read other comics before, Green Lantern vol2 #169 being the first I remember reading as a kid, I think that the one comic that got me hooked into comic books was Web of Spider-man #40 — The Cult of Love.
The story had all of the major players, minus a super villain! Written by Peter David and illustrated by Alex Saviuk the storyline revolved around Betty who had been duped into joining a cult and how Flash and Peter/Spidey got her out.
I actually had a chance to sit down with Alex Saviuk this past summer at the San Diego ComiCon and we discussed the storyline and how Peter and he had worked together on the issue. To this day Spider-man is my favorite character…and I have to blame it all on that one issue. 🙂
Where to begin…well, growing up in a time of the “campy” Batman t.v. show and original Spiderman cartoon – this would eventually lead me down the road to comic book fanaticism. I would always frequent my local corner store and flip through the comic books on the rack. Mind you – I never had enough money to purchase any of the books (thanks Mom & Dad). When I finally got my hands on my first book – Tales to Astonish #1 (1979) – I was the happiest kid on the block. I read that comic book from cover to cover – even the ads. I was amazed – this “being” – Sub-Mariner was larger than life and I wanted to be just like him – minus the ears. The rest is history…it’s been 25 yrs and counting and I still have that exact same book in my collection…
I liked to read but most of the books for kids 6 to 7 I had around were Nancy Drew & the Hardy Boys type stuff (I hadn’t discovered Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume or Roald Dahl yet.) I would push myself through these books but they felt really dense and a chore to get through. We lived in a small town in MI and there was one small grocery store in town that had the wire spinning rack. I was drawn from the very beginning to the Marvel books (not exactly sure why that is.) My mom would buy me a lot of Incredible Hulk and Spider Man books. They had me from hello (or something equally cheesy.)
Growing up in the country i couldn’t just bop down to the corner store and buy some comics and didn’t get much exposure to them. But when a new neighbor kid moved in and had Uncanny X-men #156 and new all of the lore of the Uncanny X-men and could spin the retold tales all day long, i was hooked. Any chance i had to pass a 7-11 after that i did. And in Michigan, where i grew up, there was a $0.10 deposit on bottles, and comics were $0.60. That meant if you wandered around long enough, you would find 6 bottles or cans and you could return them to the store and turn them into 1 comic book!! What a great day to spend a summer, wandering around collecting bottles and turning them into a comic book collection!
I’d seen comics when I was a kid. It seemed that my cousins had everything that I couldn’t. So, because I wasn’t allowed to have them I never came them a second look. Then, when I was about 10 years old I saw the book that changed my mind all together, whether my parents liked it or not. I was wandering through the magazine section of the local drugstore (you know, when drugstores still carried a nice selection of comic books) when I saw it. The book was Wolverine #25, with a Jim lee cover, and a Wolvie “origin” story that was told by Patch, while in Madripoor, to some kid he was playing bodyguard to. The story was awesome. There was survival against all odds, a sincerity and deep honor in wolverine, and there was justified violence. What more could a kid ask for. Suffice it to say, its about 20 years later, and I still can turn down a good comic. Now, I even have a decent copy of Hulk #181, but it is Wolverine #25 that will forever be my first and favorite wolverine book. Even today, if a see a copy for a reasonable price I can’t pass it up. Yep, I have numerous copies. Wolverine haters be damned.
When I was about 5 years old I found my brother and sister’s “New Funnies” and “Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies” comics that my parents had subcribed for them the year I was born while they were in high school. My brother went to the Korean war and my sister got married and I learned how to read with those comics. Later when I was old enough to work on my father’s farm, my earning’s went to Superboy, Superman, and Action comics. Who would have known then that they would be worth something some day. Mine were read to death. It wasn’t until the year 2000 that my wife and I bought our first computer and I discovered e-Bay. I began with collecting all the Classic Illustrated originals, juniors, world around us, etc. At present I’ve moved on to collecting the old Dell western comics and the t.v. shows of the 50’s and 60’s. I guess you could say I’m hooked.
When I was growing up my mother would buy me kids comics (Donald, Woddy Woodpecker, etc) whenever we needed to go somewhere where she needed me to behave (like a family reunion, a doctor’s visit, etc). As long as I would sit down with the comic and read quietly, I had a constant supply 🙂
When I got a little older, I discovered that my older cousins had stacks of DC and Marvel comics stashed in their closets. Sometimes they would even staple or glue a run of 10 or so comics to build their own “trade”. I think the first one I read from them was Spiderman, the first or second issue after the death of Gwen Stacy. I also remember reading a lot of Adam Strange and Metamorpho. We swapped those old comics between my cousins and I until they literally fell apart!
I was in 5th grade and my friends were all gathered in a circle on the floor of the gym before school started. Kids were being dropped off by the bus or their parents, so we were all kind of hanging out.
My friend John was playing with some cards, except they didn’t look quite like the cards I knew. I looked closer and saw that they were oddly colored, and had weird looking people on them. It was a pack of X-Men playing cards.
We started playing Poker (sort of) and I got one of this gorgeous woman with red hair. It was Jean Grey, the sexy, long flowing haired Jean. Wow, it was like porn at the time.
As we played more, I saw all sorts of different people, Cyclops, Wolverine, etc etc. I asked him what these cards were exactly.
He said they were X-Men cards. X-Men? I thought they were so cool. And they had sexy chicks.
We talked about it more afterwords. He told me all about X-Men. He showed me the trading cards he had. He gave me a few comics and cards and told me about the Animated Series on TV at the time.
Then I got hooked on X-Men comics, cards and the show and it just went out from there. I started checking out other comics and so it began….
I’ve knew about comics but I never collected them until I received a gift box from my neighbor, he had sold off his collection but had a bunch of other comics left and he want to give them to me. It was 1984 and I was given a Fantastic Four, a Hero for Hire, and a lot of Ghost Riders. Believe it or not that was got me hooked. Johnny Blaze and a Demon on his tail. It both frightened me for some crazy reason but I loved it. My heart sank as I discovered the series had ended. Then came Bryne’s writing for “The Thing” from the spinner rack, running from 3 candy stores in the neighborhood hoping that my issue was in. The luck of the draw and the thrill of the chase as my trusty GT/Dyno took me from store to store wondering if my issue was coming, if it had it been canceled, finding out if I had missed last month’s issue. No Internet, no ebay, no comic stores, nothing… just a love for ink on newsprint from the squeaky spinner rack.
Most people would say they miss the old times, I not one of them! I love being able to find my new issues available for purchase in multiple stores, Previews to see when and what’s out. Internet access to hear from the creators and the artists.
Lastly, places like this blog to share my love for what is said to be a geeky pastime. A pastime that promises another exciting movie in the summer. A pastime that has some of most current television and movie writers go back and forth to the medium. In any bookstore, Manga and Trade Paperbacks of comics are sure to be found. That my friends is the success of a geeky pastime!
started getting GROO the wanderer back in the 80s once a month when we got groceries. comics all cost 50 cents to a dollar. they had weird stuff like GROO JERKFACE other 5 for one deals like elfquest ripoffs ‘ROM spaceknight; stuff you never see today. some of it even had swearwords and raunchy content. UNCLE SCROOGE also was enjoyable. i collected them but lazy summer days turned most of them into brittle colorful dust. now that supermarket only has the latest marvel dc spiderman crap and it costs SIX BUCKS a pop! the golden age is truly gone