Comic books and memories10345
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michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Being a lifelong comic book reader, I find that many of my memories of the past involve comic books in some way. I’m not talking about just the reading of them, many times they are on the periphery of memories that actually have little to do with the comics themselves. Like mile markers along the highway of my life, they seem to be at the on-ramps and off-ramps of many of the key memories of the past. I thought it might make an interesting thread to share our memories of the past which, although not centered around comics necessarily, involve comics in some way. I will start off with this: In the summer of 1977 I took a trip to Florida with my grandparents. I would have been 7 going on 8 years old at the time. My grandparents would have been in their late 40s. We drove down to Florida in a motor home and probably stayed there for 3-4 weeks. This picture is of my seven year old self and my late grandmother standing in front of that motor home. I’m not sure if the picture was taken in Florida or somewhere along the way down.  Even at age 7 I already had an active interest in reading comic books. I know I took several with me for the trip. Here is one that I specifically remember purchasing on the way down, at a gas station in Tennessee. Distribution was a little more erratic back then. Judging by the cover date, this comic would have been on the stands for several months at the time I bought it. It is still one of my most fondly remembered comics to this day.  There are quite a few things I remember from that trip, many of which involve comics in some way. I remember we spent some time with an elderly couple while we were down there. When you’re 7, all adults seem elderly. These folks were older than my grandparents, maybe late 50’s, early 60s? I remember they had an old Tweety and Sylvester comic lying around their house. The comic had a 20 cent cover price, so it was several years old at that point. I asked them if I could have it, and they were happy to give it to me. My grandmother, of course, was appalled that I asked them for it. In my 7 year old mind I didn’t see the problem. They were old and had no use for it, after all. Another memory I have of that visit was that, when we sat down to eat, these folks asked me to say grace. Since we didn’t practice that particular ritual, I had no idea what to say. My grandmother seemed embarrassed and apologetic, which, again in my seven year old mind, I didn’t get; why should we be ashamed that we didn’t do things the way someone else did them? It definitely had an impact on my grandmother, though, because after that she began training me to say my prayers before bed every night. While we were in Florida we did all the tourist stuff. Disney World was largely forgettable, except that I got sick on the teacup ride. Sea World stuck with me a lot more. That was the year that they had the DC superheroes water ski show. They had actors in costume doing water ski tricks, and afterward they were handing out “autographed” comic books. These were Famous First Edition treasury collections. I wanted one of these pretty bad, and my grandparents bade me to go stand in line to get one, but I opted not to. Something just creeped me out about the whole thing. A stranger in a superhero costume is still a stranger. Another memorable incident on that trip was when we went to see a horror movie at the drive in. I don’t remember the name of the picture but it involved this evil little kid who seemed to cause bad things to happen to the people around her. It was heavily advertised on TV, and I begged and begged them to take me. Why they relented I will never know. By the time we got to the drive in I was already scared out of my wits! I remember reading this comic in the back seat of the car and trying not to focus on the movie. Unfortunately it quickly became to dark to read and I couldn’t avoid seeing it. I didn’t sleep for several days after that!  So that’s the story. I would love to hear some stories from the rest of you. |
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CatCovers private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Must be something about 1977. I was eight, and we took our first real vacation (meaning not driving somewhere to visit family). We flew from Texas to California and were out there for almost two weeks. On the day we left, we got to the airport ridiculously early. I was bored, upset the vacation was ending and overall not in a good mood, so my mom walked me down to the newsstand and bought me a couple of comics - Marvel Team-Up 62 and Amazing Spider-Man 172. They kept me busy for a little while. The problem was that ASM 172 was a to-be-continued story. After we got home, I wanted the next issue, but my dad thought comics were a waste of money so I never got it. Flash forward about nine years to when we moved to a new house. I only had a half-dozen or so comics, but I packed them and brought them with us. The new house was kind of in the sticks, far away from friends and the neighborhood I knew so well. Of course, by then I was driving, but still bored. Unpacking, I found and reread my comics. And decided that, damn it, I was going to see about getting that next issue of ASM. I approached someone I knew at school that collected comics and asked him about comic shops. We'd always been more acquaintances than friends, but we made plans to go to a shop together that weekend. I finally got my ASM 173, and that acquaintance and I quickly became close friends and he's still one of my closest friends today. I fell into collecting very quickly. When I went off to college, I befriended the owner of the LCS in my new town and eventually started working for him. Through that job, I made another set of friends through whom I met the girl I'd eventually marry. We're still together and we have a daughter I adore. Virtually everything in my life I truly value can be traced back to that 30-cent investment in ASM 172. Friends, family, a beautiful child ... that's one hell of a return on three dimes. |
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BrianGreensnips private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @CatCovers @michaelekrupp Those are some great stories there. I will post one soon when I have more time. | ||
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 I had no way of knowing that 9.8 graded copies signed by Adam Hughes weren't what you were looking for.
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Quote:Originally Posted by CatCovers For me it was 1976. Even though it wasn't until Secret Wars drew me into collecting in 1984, comics in 1977 were 35 cents and young Dr Chaos had two bucks burning a hole in his pocket. This was during a week at the Jersey Shore that Summer. Here are stock images (so you can get an idea of what they looked like on the rack that day) of 5 of the six books I bought in that Summer. Also a couple got destroyed at some point and I can't remember the sixth book.      |
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 Beaten by boat oars
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I wish I had a fun story but it's pretty straightforward. It was 1989, I came home from first grade and there was a shoe box in the basement that had comics. I remember ASM 328 was the first time I read a comic. These were all read and re-read. Some of the ones that I still have that didn't fall apart.   I didn't start collecting until 1993 or so. It had been on and off until 2012 when I got back into collecting full time. |
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| Part of the reason I started collecting again was because the comics I had carried memories with them. Avengers 199 was the first comic I bought with my own money. I walked to the 7-11 from my grandmother's house, and saw all these comics of heroes that I'd never heard of. In my child-like mind, I saw the Avengers and I saw I was getting a lot of heroes for my fifty cents. After that, I was hooked. Hours spent looking at spinner racks, and in comic stores. Secret Wars #10- I got by going to MY local comic shop. I finally had one near me. I begged my mother to take me, she finally relented. I walked in there, and I'd never seen so many comics in one place. I was in heaven. Star Wars-13,14, 15- I got the three pack in the black plastic bag, at some department store. I LOVED Star Wars, and this really drew me into Comics. Who knew their adventures could continue? I read, and bought and collected for years. Then, it was girls, hanging with my friends. My extra cash went for smokes now instead of heroes. I went for a few years without collecting, then one day I stop in a Jamies convenience store, and they have a spinner rack. I grab some Avengers West Coast, and Silver Surfer (71, I think?) I started reading again, and I was back, for a bit. Money was tight, so books weren't an option. I met a girl, who had two kids. He was getting into Batman and stuff, so we started going to the comic store for him, and I started buying again. She was great! She encouraged it, and everything. Fast forward a few years. I have a child with this woman. She runs off with him to another state, I do a bunch of detective work to find him and get him back. At this point she's stolen and sold my entire collection for money for cocaine. So, the happy ending. Both my kids like comics, and I get to buy with them. My wife loves it, and is fine with my hobby. Every time I get back one of those pieces from past, I gain something back. I recapture part of my past, and my stories. It's been amazing. I hope that wasn't too sappy or cliché. |
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I remember very specifically picking up my first comic book. As a kid, I always loved dinosaurs, and I caught a glimpse of Conan the Barbarian #95 on a spinner rack at a local convenience store. Reading through this treasure, I spun the rack around and saw Godzilla #21, with not just one, but TWO dinosaurs on the cover. I remember practically begging mom to buy "both" and she did, but she wasn't happy because apparently in 1979 70 cents plus tax was a lot of money.   I read those two comics and took them with me EVERYWHERE. My parents just seemed to be pleased that I enjoyed reading so much, although they were a bit taken aback when I later asked them what a "bastard" was after reading another issue of Conan  At least I was building a vocabulary.A month later, mom visited an out of town museum with some of her friends from work on an overnight trip, and brought back the next issue of Godzilla for me. She knew I enjoyed the previous issue, and once again, with dinos on the cover, it was a win-win.  I was hooked, and would continue scanning the comic racks occasionally, even buying back issues of Godzilla from those ads that showed up in all of Marvel's different issues. While other kids who read comics were reading Star Wars and Superman, I was all about Conan, Godzilla, Warlord and comics like that. Whenever my parents would stop at the local corner store for cigarettes, little Wally made a rush straight to the spinner rack.  What got me into collecting permanently - and scanning shelves every visit to the store - was Ka-Zar the Savage #1 in 1980, found on a stop at a local pharmacy. Amid all the candy and other novelties, there was a small wooden shelf with comics. I remember only a handful of comics were on that shelf too, an issue of the magazine-sized Savage Sword, too I think, and it was dusty. When Ka-Zar went direct distribution only after issue #9, I managed to find a local comic book store for the first time and I've been going to them regularly ever since. |
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KYoung_1974 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Ah...1977. I was 3 and already a Superman fan at that point. I remember watching superfriends on Saturday morning and one of the local stations played the old Superman TV show in the afternoon. I don't remember my first comic, I just remember having Superman comics and my mom reading them to be as bedtime stories. And then came Star Wars comics and movies and toys and nothing would be the same again.... |
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 Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I think it was late 70's or early 80's when prices were changing from 40 cents and I think they were jumping straight to 50 cents. I was 10ish and really loved to read Richie Rich comics at the time. It was at the grocery store and my first time buying my own comic books with my allowance of $2.50 per week. I just remember feeling so incredibly clever and self-satisfied at recognizing the different prices and finding a few 40 cent issues mixed in with the 50 cent issues. I only bought 40 cent issues that day! Update: A quick search shows the price increase from .40 to .50 probably happened around September 1980 so I must have just turned 10. |
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michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| All-Star Squadron #4 is a comic that comes with a very vivid memory for me. The story goes like this: Back in 1981 I was participating in a church youth group. Like many such groups we decided to sell candy to raise money for some group trip; I believe it was Cedar Point. So it was that I found myself spending a few cold, rainy autumn afternoons standing in front of a local supermarket selling candy. On one of these occasions a little old lady purchased a candy bar and then handed me another dollar and said “this is for you”. Confused, I looked at her and said “you mean this is for the church, right?”. The old lady grabbed my hand and pressed the dollar bill into it. She looked directly into my eyes and said “NO. This is for YOU.” So when I finished with my duties I went into the supermarket and I came out with All-Star Squadron #4. But that’s not where the story ends. After we raised a few hundred dollars with the candy sale, the leader of our youth group and all the money disappeared. I think the church got stuck paying for the candy. All most of the kids got for their efforts selling candy in the rain was a cold. Except for me. Thanks to the generosity and insistence of that little old lady I got All-Star Squadron #4, and I’ve always thought of that comic book as being from God.  |
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| Great stories...almost feel like I was there in some of them because it's the era I grew up in as well. Comics defined me..literally. I spent countless hours reading and rereading them in the attic after school. I learned integrity, honor , never giving up...all from comics. Things I've noticed aren't integrated into the psyche of kids these days. They spend all their time on iPhones and xbox..my son never has watched a movie or read a comic...the two places that subconsciously influence how you see life and treat people. I think it's a big reason why this generation has zero coping skills and are so self absorbed. Anyway..'77 was a good year for me and comics. I probably had about 8 or 900 by then - all beat to hell - but they were mine Some of you that know me know my story , but as a side note, around 1980, I took a centerfold to school that I found on the side of the road and the school called my parents. My dad took all my books outside (one of those giant military chests filled to the top) and lit it on fire because he was embarrassed that his name was tarnished. I get it...but it sucked. However, the silver lining was that I spent the next 15 years buying every comic I saw with a vengeance that I can't express in words. It is the reason that I became the collector I am today, because I probably would have simply outgrown them by '83 anyway. Great posts above..and enjoy the wknd! |
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 "Forum Overlord" bah ha ha ha...
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JustThatGuy private msg quote post Address this user | |
| my first experience in comics was the stuff i read in playboy. yep they were awesome. the pictures weren't half bad. and of course i also read non-english comics when i was younger as well. | ||
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 In 1978, when I was 10 years old, Joe Sinnott sketched the Human Torch for me in a library parking lot. A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to show him that drawing. Here’s the story: http://collectorsyndicate.com/then-and-now-with-joe-sinnott/ |
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Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Late Summer 1982 on a family road trip from Oregon to California (where our grandmothers lived and would give us about $20 each when we visited). My older brothers friend went with us and introduced me to The Cars by letting me listen to his Walkman even though I had just seen him spend a ridiculous sum on batteries for it. Anyway before we headed home the two older brothers, friend and myself pooled our money to buy the Overstreet Price guide with Alfred E. Nueman on the cover. Between the 4 of us we read the hell out of that thing in the back of the old van. One of us was constantly looking through it the next 3 days, I don't think it would have seen more reading action if it were a nudie magazine. We also used the directory to look for comic book stores near the towns we were stopping in. Think we found only one. | ||
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Stantheman private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Great stories!! It's funny how we all had separate lives but very similar experiences which caused us to be the collectors we are!  |
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michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
Back in May of 1984 I was in the ninth grade. One of my subjects was first year French. It was at that time that our French class took a field trip to the campus of Central Michigan University for a foreign language festival. The group that made the trip consisted of myself, my good friend Chris Ward, and about six girls. The teacher and any chaperones were also female. On the drive to the CMU campus, I noticed a comic shop in town. I kept careful track of the route back to the shop until we arrived at CMU. Upon arrival we separated into smaller groups, my friend and I being our own group, and went our separate ways to enjoy all the festival had to offer. After everyone split up, I promptly told Chris about my spotting the comic shop and suggested we leave campus to check it out. After a couple of Barney Rubble-esque “Gee... I dunno”s, we were on our way. It was probably a 10-15 minute walk from the college. When we got there, the shop was closed. It was just after 11AM, and according to the hours posted on the door, the shop was supposed to open at 11. So we hung around. We must have waited over an hour, staring at the comics through the window and hoping for someone to show up. Time was starting to run out for us, and it was getting hot hanging out on the sidewalk in the noon sun. Dejectedly, we started to head back to the college. After about 5 minutes of walking back I persuaded Chris that we had just enough time to go back and check one more time to see if the store had opened. This paid off. The store was open!!! The gentleman inside was very nice and apologized for his tardiness. Apparently his brother owned the store and was unable to make it so he was pitching in. I used the $2 I had in my pocket to buy Grimjack #1 and American Flagg! #11. Chris bought Flagg! 11 and Jon Sable 14. We hustled back to the college just in time to meet up with our class and depart. The only time we spent at the foreign language festival was the time it took us to beat feet out of there! While I am sure that the staff was not thrilled that we came back with comic books, we were never questioned or confronted about it. Punishing us for leaving the campus during the field trip would probably have put their own asses on the line, so I think they chose to ignore the whole incident. While it may not have been one of the better choices I ever made, it is a day I will never forget! Plus, both of the comics I bought that day rank very high on my list of all time favorites!  |
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michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Without question, the biggest development in the hobby of comic book collecting in the 1980s was the explosion of comic book specialty stores. The first such store that I ever encountered was Front Page Books in Pontiac, Michigan, a source of many comic book memories for me. I first discovered Front Page in the summer of 1980. They had a location on Baldwin Road in Pontiac that was les than a mile from my aunt’s house. I still remember the first time I walked into Front Page. Their huge selection of comics completely blew my 10 year old mind! I’d never seen anything like this on any spinner rack! They had every single Marvel and DC title on display, with recent back issues placed behind the current issue. They also had comics from publishers I had never seen or heard of before; of course I had to try some of these! The first direct sales only comic I ever purchased, probably on my very first trip to Front Page, was Hembeck #4, titled “Bah, Hembeck!” and published by FantaCo. In this comic fan/artist Fred Hembeck discusses his childhood and how he discovered the early Marvels on the stands in the ‘60s. It’s a comic that I read many times as a kid and still remember fondly to this day.  The interesting and unique thing about Front Page Books was that they only sold one other type of magazines apart from comics: porno magazines. The back half of the store was a separate room filled with nothing but dirty books! I imagine the selection matched the variety of the comics. I wasn’t even aware of this at age 10. It wasn’t until I moved to the area full time in the fall of ‘82 and started going there regularly that I even knew what was back there. Not that I had any interest in porn. All I cared about was the comics, and Front Page was unmatched in its selection. Front Page Books actually had three stores in Pontiac: the one on Baldwin that I was well acquainted with, a flagship store on M59 in downtown Pontiac which I was never allowed to enter (even in the early 80s there were rumors of things like prostitution going on in there), and a third store on Joslyn Road, about three blocks from the Baldwin store. When I first walked into that store on Joslyn I saw something that I thought was impossible. The selection was even greater than the store on Baldwin! Man, the comics that I discovered there! Here are just a couple that I remember most fondly:   In the fall of ‘83 I moved back up north, but I still made it a point to stop in at Front Page whenever I was back in town. On one such trip, in August of ‘84, I found that the price of mainstream comics had increased from 75 cents to 95 cents at Front Page. When I saw that comics remained the same price everywhere else I went, I deduced that that somehow they were selling comics intended for Canadian distribution and the cover prices were intended to be Canadian money. It was the second to last time I ever went to Front Page Books. The story of Front Page Books has a somewhat sad ending. The store on Baldwin ended up closing after the neighboring GM plant closed. I don’t think they made it into 1984. The last visit I paid to the store on Joslyn was rather sad as well. It was in the spring of 1985. My great lifelong friends, Matt and Andy Parasick and I decided to make the trek to the Joslyn store on foot, no small walk from where we were. On the ensuing journey we were beset by a sudden severe thunderstorm. It was so bad that Matt decided to turn around and head home. Andy and I, our love of comics far outweighing our good sense, soldiered on. Just as we arrived it stopped pouring. After wringing out our clothes we headed inside, knowing it would all be worth it. Unfortunately, our bubble was burst as soon as we walked in the door. The entire store was nothing but porn, sex toys, etc. We asked about comics and the clerk pointed us to a few stacks on the floor against the back wall. “That’s all we got left” he said. Sadly we pored over the stacks of leftover comics. I did end up scoring East Coast Comix reprints of Haunt of Fear 23 and Vault of Horror 26 that day; my first ECs. This led me to seeking out the other EC reprints and, ultimately, the originals, providing many hours of enjoyment. At least I derived some lasting benefit from that Ill-fated trip. Front Page continued operating on Joslyn for many years after that, although I never went in there again. I guess I’ll always have a fondness for Front Page Books, in spite of the obvious problems they had. Or maybe it’s just the warm feeling I get remembering when the excitement of discovering some new comic was worth walking a mile in the pouring rain.   |
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michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| The first comic book I ever owned was in my stocking on Christmas morning of 1975. It was one one of the Archie titles. My younger sisters also got a comic book each; Tweety and Sylvester and an issue of Hot Stuff. Even back then, at the age of six, it seemed like comics were destined to be “my thing”. By the end of the day I had bartered with my siblings and was the owner of all three comics. The first comics I ever read were sometime shortly before that. Those were the Marvel Treasury Editions that were so popular in the mid 70s. These were, I think, loaned to my stepdad by a co-worker.I remember the Spider-Man issue had a particularly strong impact on me. At that point in time we were living in Michigan’s upper peninsula. In the summer of ‘76 we moved back down to the lower peninsula and it was that sequence of events that led me to become the lifelong collector that I am today. When we moved, all my possessions were left behind. When you’re a six year old who has already been through the divorce of his parents and the re-marriage of his mother, that kind of thing can have a profound impact on the psyche. I remember when we arrived at our new place, I had a Lone Ranger coloring book, some crayons and a blanket. I still remember being six and thinking this was all I had in the world. It was shortly after that that one of the girls in the neighborhood, a teenager, brought me a paper grocery bag of comic books that her brothers had outgrown. That bag of comic books became my entire world! It was a much needed escape from the angst that was my everyday life. That act of kindness is probably the biggest reason why, even decades later, I still feel most comfortable surrounded by a quantity of comic books. Unfortunately, in the summer of 1977 we moved again, this time onto an Air Force base. I was sent off with my grandparents on the trip to Florida detailed in post one of this thread. When I returned, it was to a new place, and all of my possessions were again discarded. While I was always interested in scrounging whatever comic books I could get however I could get them, I was not given money for such things. I was unable to rebuild my hoard until the summer of 1980. I spent that summer with my dad, who was, I think, doing well at his job at that time and probably feeling a little guilty about some things, so he indulged me. I went on a comic book spree that summer, and ever since that point in time I have made it a point to surround myself with a large quantity of comics. Comic books have provided me with so much joy and gotten me through so much that I can honestly say I can’t even imagine my life with out those wonderful colored pamphlets. |
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 I hear their hourly rate is outrageous!
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| My introduction to comics is a strange (nor weird) one. I was 10 years old and in elementary and this bully was picking on me (I was average size but extremely shy and quiet) and challenged me to a fight in the restroom (as kids do) at lunch time. I didn’t want to back down even though I didn’t want to fight so I showed up and we fought. Luckily for me I landed a lucky punch that his nose started bleeding, for little kids that’s a big deal, so he gave up and we parted ways. Later on I met this kid and we started talking and we became fast friends. He told me he recognized me from the fight I won, so he thought I was cool. We would go to his house and we would have pretend fights and adventures, I thought he was very imaginative with the story lines and the character names. Then I learned about a year later that he collected comics and he introduced me to another friend who also collected. I didn’t want to feel like odd man out so I started collecting too. This was in 1975 and I was in the 7th grade (junior high in California). One of the first books I can remember was Hulk 195. I was from a very poor family so even though comics were only 25 cents at the time I could only buy about 4 a week. For that reason I missed out on X-Men 94 and a few other keys. I have a lot of comics from that time unfortunately once the comics got to 35 cents, I felt they were too expensive and stopped collecting, until I got a job, years later. Going back to the play acting/fighting we used to do, once I grew up and new more about older books I realized that we were acting out amazing spider-man adventures, with characters like the Crimson Dynamo (I got his first appearance) also acted out the death of Gwen Stacy (I got ASM 120 & 121) and others that I don’t remember. I also purchase X-men 94, since I missed it, probably for nostalgia more than any other reason. It was a great time. |
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Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by michaelekrupp My LCS that opened around 1980 had the ambiguously alluring name of "House of Fantasy". My older brother once explained to me why grown men were regularly walking in, searching to the back and then turning around and leaving disappointed.  |
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michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Like many of us here, I am not old enough to have experienced the golden age of comics firsthand. However, I was fortunate enough to experience the thrill vicariously through my late grandfather and the wonderful stories of those days he shared with me as a child. He was born in 1930, so he was 8 years old back when Action Comics #1 exploded on the scene. I can’t tell you how many times my younger self sat enthralled as he told me stories of how things were in the late 30s and early 40s. Back then, used bookstores were very common and most of them dealt in comics. The going rate for a used comic in the golden age was a nickel, or you could trade in your already read comics two for one for different comics. My grandfather would haunt these bookstores, reading every comic he could and then trading them back in for different ones. Without exaggeration, he may have read more comics in the early golden age than he didn’t read. Of course, he didn’t save any of them. To him they were something to be obtained, devoured and then traded in for the next one. I will never forget my grandfather’s reaction when I brought home my first “collector” comic. For my 11th birthday back in 1980, my dad bought me a copy of X-Men #5 at a local flea market. It was probably about a VG condition copy, and my dad paid $9 for it. I can still recall my grandfather’s exact words as he looked the comic over. “The Angel is trapped... you paid NINE DOLLARS for this crap?!?!” He just could not wrap his brain around the concept of a collectible comic. The thing is, in a way, he was right. I loved that comic book. I probably read it a hundred times. I literally read it to death. The last time I recall seeing it, it was coverless and under the seat of my grandfather’s truck. My grandfather probably shook his head when he eventually cleaned out his truck and threw that comic away. He did have a legitimate point: it’s pretty silly for an 11 year old kid to have a collectible comic book when it is going to be treated like an 11 year old kid treats comic books. On the other hand, had I actually taken care of it and kept it in VG condition, I don’t think I would have any trouble getting my nine dollars back today. |
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Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My comic book memory was jogged last year when artist Denys Cowan came to Long Beach for a convention. I suddenly had a memory that in 1982 he came to my LCS in Oregon and did a signing. I think he was fairly new at the time, so no charge, just buy the 50 cent Power Man and Iron Fist book and he would sign it for you. So my brother dragged me down to get an autograph and to my surprise, the artist was a black man. Now at 12 years old my life was more racially integrated than most, so this should not have caught me by surprise. Well it did, because up until then my pre-conception of a comic book artist came purely from the caricatures we would see in comic books and on the back covers. Middle age to older white men, presumably from New York. So anyway, 36 years later Denys is coming to town and I'm looking all over for my autographed copy of Power Man and Iron Fist. I can't find it but I go to the show and find his booth. I look all over his booth and can find no indication that he ever worked on Power Man and Iron Fist. In fact his displayed artwork looks significantly different from how I remember it. So I start to question my memory, I get cold feet and back away without speaking to him, afraid that I may embarrass myself talking about the past with the wrong artist, and wrong black artist at that! Well anyway, I hope I get another chance to talk to him because a couple months ago I pulled some boxes from the garage and found the book that he had signed for my brother:   |
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| Post 22 • IP flag post | ||
 -Our Odin-Rest in Peace |
Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbaySeller You couldn't find it because it was a 60 cent PowerMan and Iron Fist comic. LOL |
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| Post 23 • IP flag post | ||
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Masculinity takes a holiday.
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EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Jesse_O Yup, I was searching the wrong price category. |
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| Post 24 • IP flag post | ||
 PEDIGREED... Again!
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martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @michaelekrupp Very enjoyable thread...thanks for starting. Marty |
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| Post 25 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
Thanks, Marty! ...and you’re welcome. I would love to see some stories from you on here . |
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| Post 26 • IP flag post | ||
 Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock
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Tedsaid private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by michaelekrupp I was there! I went to that, the superhero water-ski show! I don't remember much about it, but I was about the same age, at about the same time. I remember Wonder Woman and Superman. Maybe Green Lantern? Aquaman, of course. The parents made me and my brother cut coupons out of a few comics so we could save on the entrance price to Sea World. The ad itself brings back memories of that long drive to Florida, and staying in the house my great grandad used to own, with the orange groves next door. I collected Superman, Superfriends, Shazam!, Richie Rich, and a few others at the time. My older brother liked Batman and Star Wars and Daredevil. Man, I didn't know they were giving away Treasuries! That would have made up a little for having to deface my comics by cutting out the coupons. Shamu was awesome, but my favorite was feeding the dolphins. They were so happy to get the fish we tossed in their giant, open mouths. We went to Disney World, too, and I loved that place so much.  |
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| Post 27 • IP flag post | ||
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PEDIGREED... Again!
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martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by michaelekrupp I'm afraid my stories put people to sleep. Marty |
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| Post 28 • IP flag post | ||
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Collector
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michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by martymann That’s a chance I am willing to take! |
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| Post 29 • IP flag post | ||
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PEDIGREED... Again!
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martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by michaelekrupp In 1942 I bought my first comic book off the newsstand, ALL WINNERS #4... Marty |
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| Post 30 • IP flag post | ||
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