Comic books and memories10345
 Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
Even as a young child I always had an interest in statistics. Back in my early teens I would keep careful track of my current top 10 favorite comics. I didn’t have any long boxes back then (or short boxes for that matter), so I would line my entire collection of each title up on the floor of my room in order from 1-10 and slide them around the carpet as titles moved up and down the ladder. In hindsight it was pretty hard on the comics on the bottom of the stack which were subject to being slid on the carpet. The comics at the top of the list didn’t change positions very often. X-Men was #1 from 1980-1982 with no real competition. When the New Mutants came out around Christmas of 1982 it was the first comic to seriously challenge X-Men for #1. Defenders was always near the top of the list, at least until DeMatties quit writing it and the book tanked. Teen Titans and All-Star Squadron were both regulars in the top five in the early ‘80s as well. So was G.I. Joe. By 1984 and 85, indie comics like Grimjack, American Flagg! and Jon Sable were regulars in the top 10. The comics in the bottom half of the top 10 were much more subject to moving up and down as I would become interested in different titles from month to month depending on what was happening in each book. Just for kicks, here is an approximation of what the top 10 would have looked like in 1983 around the start of 9th grade. You will have to use your imagination to picture the stacks of comics underneath the current issue, representing my entire collection of each title up to that point. |
||
| Post 51 • IP flag post | ||
 -Our Odin-Rest in Peace |
Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user | |
| There was an accident that damaged an electrical transformer and I was without electricity for 7 hours today. The wi-fi worked for 5 of those 7 hours. But I read @michaelekrupp's post before I lost wi-fi and it got me thinking. I went to MCS and set the advanced search for August, 1983. These would have come out earlier, probably March or June, but I thought it would be fun to pick out the ones that I knew that I bought when they came out. It was a fun thing to do. So, here is what I KNOW that I bought off the rack brand new. These are all MCS pics. It surprised me how many DC titles I bought. I always considered myself a marvel true believer.                 |
||
| Post 52 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Jesse_O I bought at least 6 of those the month they came out and several others after the fact. Distribution was a little different back then. Newsstands were notoriously inconsistent and it was hard to catch every issue of a title, even with multiple sources. If you didn’t catch your favorites the week they came out in the comic shop it was entirely possible you could miss an issue. Although I followed both titles regularly at that time, I missed Avengers 234 and Firestorm 15 that month and didn’t get to read them until I bought them as back issues. I had a subscription to X-men and The Thing (a continuation of my Marvel 2-in-1 subscription) at that time, which was the best way to insure against missing an issue. | ||
| Post 53 • IP flag post | ||
 Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I've been trying to figure it out but best I can remember this is the first month that I walked into my LCS named "House of Fantasy" and became a collector: Marvel was printing a whopping 40 titles: http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/newsstand.php?publisher=marvel&type=calendar&month=3&year=1981&sort=alpha Looks like DC had only 29 titles: http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/newsstand.php?publisher=dc&type=calendar&month=3&year=1981&sort=alpha |
||
| Post 54 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
etapi65 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by EbaySeller DC should still only have 29 titles. the rest should be events and specials that run 7-12 months, 2 going at max any given time. |
||
| Post 55 • IP flag post | ||
 PEDIGREED... Again!
|
martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
Spring and Fall 1945 titles available. OO (From ALL STAR COMICS #24)  OO (From DETECTIVE COMICS #104) mm |
||
| Post 56 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Back in the days when I was a comic book loving teenager, the monthly letters pages were an important part of my comic book reading experience. Oftentimes I would scan the letters page before I even read the comic. I even remember corresponding with other fans through the letters pages, and also the free goodies, catalogues, etc. that people would send once your address had been printed in the letters page of a comic book. I had a few letters printed back in the day, although it took some effort before I saw my name in print. In the early ‘80s I was quite passionate about X-men. I remember writing them several letters regarding how I felt about nearly every aspect of the series. At the time I never understood why they didn’t print any of them. In retrospect, it’s not hard to see why the ten page handwritten letters from a 12 year old never made the cut. When I did eventually see letters printed it was in titles like Wonder Woman and Atari Force, slower sellers that probably had trouble getting enough letters together to assemble a page. Somewhere around the mid 1980s I gave up writing fan letters, pursuits such as work and girls filling those once idle hours. The final letter I had published was actually quite a surprise. It was just after Gladstone re-launched the Disney titles in the summer of ‘86. I immediately subscribed to these titles and, to my surprise, they printed a portion of the letter that I sent with the check in their first letters page for Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories. Did anyone else out there closely follow the letters pages or go through a “letter hack” phase? I would love to hear about it. |
||
| Post 57 • IP flag post | ||
 I’m Kinda Married To A Celebrity.
|
00slim private msg quote post Address this user | |
When I was just getting into comics, it was probably around 1990, I would have been 7 or 8 years old. My best friend growing up had inherited a few of his Dad’s book. Some well read Amazing Spider-Man books and some other odds and ends, including this one.  This was the first time we realized the issue number was plainly stated on the cover. We always looked at the indincia before this. Anyway, this book will always remind me of my childhood best friend. He passed away suddenly in 2012, only months before he was supposed to move back to California & we were going to reconnect. I picked up a 9.8 of this book from @poka a few years ago. It’s one of my prized books. Not because it’s worth a lot, but because of the memories it brings back. |
||
| Post 58 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Not only do I fondly remember most of the comics I read as a kid, but in most cases, I also remember exactly where I got them. Back in the early ‘80s, comics were available virtually everywhere! Not only were comic book specialty stores beginning to pop up everywhere, but you could still find comics at every drug store, convenience store, even the occasional supermarket! It was always interesting to find comics somewhere outside of the usual circuit. In the days of newsstand distribution some comics would be on the stands for months past the sale date, while others would not appear at all. I remember how thrilled I was to find All-Star Squadron #20 at a drug store that was off my regular route. I had already picked up #21 at the comic store, but 20 had never appeared at the 7-11 where I bought 18 and 19. Since this was smack in the middle of a multi-issue epic I was severely bummed to have missed it and thrilled when I found a copy. I remember the first back issue comics I discovered, 25 cents each at the local flea market. Talk about being in heaven! I remember the trip to Florida that I took in 1984. My aunt discovered a comic shop down there and made a point to take me. I bought a slew of comics that day, including Starslayer 18, the Starslayer/ Grimjack team-up issue! Perhaps the most memorable place where I found comics off the beaten track was when I accompanied my grandfather on a trip to the dump. He encouraged me to do some scrounging and I found a large stack of coverless comics. These were stripped books from a local dealer who had returned the covers for credit. This was probably around 1980, so most of the comics were from that period. I remember Legion of Superheroes 254 and the DC dollar comic Time Warp special among others. I remember how proud my grandfather was of that find! My grandmother, on the other hand, not so much. Since they came from the dump, these things stunk to high heaven! She ordered them out of the house immediately! We put them on the deck with weights on them to keep them from blowing away to air them out. I am sure that my grandmother got rid of them the second my attention turned elsewhere. Those comics weren’t around very long, but the memory remains to this day! |
||
| Post 59 • IP flag post | ||
|
PEDIGREED... Again!
|
martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
| One memory about finding comic books is my discovering a copy of FUNNYMAN #1 hanging by a clothespin on a string in the window of a corner store. I had never bought a comic from this store as I was unaware they even sold them. I guess this might have been their first attempt at displaying them. I stood there reading the cover then realized I had no money. Running home, hoping they wouldn't sell that copy before I could get back...I made it!  OO mm |
||
| Post 60 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
Before the age of the internet and instant gratification, connecting with other comic book fans was a much different process. In addition to meeting other collectors at cons and through publications like the Comics Buyer’s Guide, there was also the world of fanzines. In the 1990s I joined an amateur press association or APA. This was a worldwide group of comics enthusiasts who each published their own comics related fanzine and then sent them on to a central mailer or CM. The CM would then collect all the ‘zines each month, bind them into a single book and mail them out to the entire membership. I made a lot of friends through that group, some of whom I am still in touch with. Discussions of comics, rather than being instantaneous over the internet, took place in the pages of the monthly mailings. Over the last week or two I have posted a couple of pieces from my fanzine days on relevant threads and I thought it might be fun to continue that here. Lately I have been re-reading the early issues of X-men, so it seems appropriate to begin with this piece, entitled “My Favorite X-men”. Have favorites of your own? Feel free to share!   |
||
| Post 61 • IP flag post | ||
|
PEDIGREED... Again!
|
martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @michaelekrupp ...Thank you for sharing! Marty |
||
| Post 62 • IP flag post | ||
|
PEDIGREED... Again!
|
martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Somehow over the past 76 years of moving around this copy of ALL-STAR #21 has lost it's cover...but the splash page is a reworking of the cover. This was the first ALL-STAR I remember seeing and of course had to buy it. As so many I bought, this was also hanging in the window of a tiny cigarette and coffee shop located in a factory/mill complex in Williamsport, PA. Cutting through this area was a regular routine for me but this was the first time I had noticed they had comic books...after that it was a regular stop.  mm |
||
| Post 63 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
My first published comic book work was in Kalamazoo Comics #5. Kalamazoo Comics was a small press comic published by a comic shop in (you guessed it) Kalamazoo, MI and featured all MI talent. I came across these guys when I was searching for an artist for the project that eventually became Dire Wolf. It was through them that I met Ricardo Chavez, an artist from Grand Rapids, MI. The comic shop, called Discount Hobby, put on a party for all the comic’s contributors and, after corresponding with Ricardo for a few weeks, we agreed to meet up face to face at this event. It was quite the road trip for me, since Kalamazoo is on the other side of the state from where I live. I met a lot of interesting people at that event, some of them extremely talented. It was really quite a crowd, so Ricardo and I decided to split and ended up down the road at McDonalds, talking comic book projects over coffee. He had some characters he had developed and was looking for a writer to help him with, and I had a project in need of an artist. We became pretty good friends, with Ricardo even trekking across the state to attend a few concerts with me. We completed a two page story for Kalamazoo Comics entitled “Departure”, reproduced below. All the other projects were eventually shelved as Ricardo was working hard to become a full time fireman and had less and less time to devote to drawing. We eventually drifted out of touch as the years passed, but I still have fond memories of those days and the comics, finished and unfinished. I am sure Ricardo eventually achieved his dream and is probably still working as a fireman to this day.  |
||
| Post 64 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Donnied private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I had a great little gig going in the mid-70's. I worked at a small convenience store in So-Cal, stocking shelves. One day the owner offered another job. All the unsold newspapers could be returned for credit, all the owner had to do was cut off the banner with the date, and send it back to the distributor, then throw away the rest of the newspaper. So that became the first part of my new job. The second job was to go through the coupon section of the papers and look for anything that the store sold. I cut out those coupons and the store owner turned those in as if he had sold those items. Totally fraudulent of course, but my 12 year old self had no idea. I was paid 25% of the value of the coupons, which added up pretty quick actually, a buy-one-get-one for a can of green beans meant with four of those coupons cut out, I'd get 25 cents, the going rate for a comic around then I think. All my comic purchases came that way for a couple years. I also got to read all the comics on the stand during my breaks, so I only bought the ones I really liked. | ||
| Post 65 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Donnied @Donnied Sweet! So few of us can put on our resume that we participated in a Fraud conspiracy at 12 years old! Great story. |
||
| Post 66 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
Many of my favorite comic book memories involve discussing my favorite comics with other like minded folks. In fact, that is the main reason I joined this forum. Naturally I touched on this back in my fanzine days as well. What follows is a fanzine piece discussing some of my favorite multi-issue epics, a mainstay in comics since the onset of the “Marvel age”. I would love to hear of any such stories that you guys have fond memories of.   |
||
| Post 67 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Puckster private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I've always had comics. Since before my living memory. One of the first was Spiderman and that has always remained my favorite. Around 1985 when I was about 9-10, someone turned me on to the fact that they were collectible and there were all these really cool ones out there. I remember in 1996 my family took this cross country trip from Texas to Las Vegas and everywhere in between. In New Mexico at some truck stop, I picked up Uncanny X-Men 211. It was the Marvel 25th Anniversary issue with a really cool Wolverine cover. It was part of the Mutant Massacre story line. I read that book several times on that trip. I was so enthralled by everything about it that I've never forgotten the story of where and when I got it. Several years ago, I met Chris Claremont at a convention and I had him sign it. I told him that story and he just said that was literally the best thing anything had told him all weekend. |
||
| Post 68 • IP flag post | ||
|
Masculinity takes a holiday.
|
EbayMafia private msg quote post Address this user | |
Quote:Originally Posted by Puckster @Puckster That's just something Claremont says to everyone who tells him their story. Nah, I'm just kidding...I would imagine that writers and artists love hearing about how their work affected somebody in a way that stayed with them their entire lives. Great story. One time on a road trip my 2 brothers and I split the cost of a recently released Overstreet Price Guide. By the end of the road trip that book was pretty beat up and I was pretty much an encyclopedia of comic book values. |
||
| Post 69 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Growing up my older brother and I bought and read a lot of DC comics and especially the value three packs they sold. Later when I got older I traded the entire box, perhaps large enough to hold a microwave, to a cousin for a super cool Aurora prehistoric scenes model. This would have been around 1974....years later, in the mid eighties when I got back into comics, I visited that cousin and asked if he still had the box. His father was a trash worker, for the city and had found comics for years he added to the box, as well as the comics for his younger brother and sister being tossed into it. It had become a box big enough to hold a smaller tv now...we discussed and came to a price of a hundred dollars. Worked out to a nickel a book....somewhere within was an x men run from maybe issue 125-150...iron fist 14, many silver/bronze justice league, etc. I even found a Walter Lantz Andy Panda, double cover. A lot of worn out war comics and Richie rich and archies in that box too...most comics I ever bought for a nickle each. I still have the cave model too...its almost as vintage and sought after as the comics . |
||
| Post 70 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
Darkseid_of_town private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My only real decent comic story is how my mom and day took a bus of girl scouts on a sight seeing trip to Washington DC when I was about 6....somewhere ina New York subway my mom bought me two comics to quiet me down....a New gods 7 and Kamandi 1...no wonder I grew uo thinking that guy Jack Kirby did all comic books. Fast forward to mid eighties and I had been buying both my younger brother and myself ongoing runs of the transformers comics books ….the local grocery mom and pops store I went to for cashing my paycheck at that time had a spin rack and I had spotted the transformers comics there....and begun around issue 19 buying two each every time a new issue came out, one for brother and one for me. One day I noticed a massive shop poked in behind the closest mall, in the slot where a disco had been previously. Prairie dog comics ! I wandered in one day and lost myself in the t shirts, models, comics and so forth....but realized I could buy the missing issues below 19 my brother and I were needing...as well as just buy new issues here as they came out. This store was located two blocks from my home and quite conveinant for me to use. Often I would get bored and wander around the store for hours just looking and learning...I would buy a puzzle, or model here and there to pass time. One day the owner looking to expand his sales asked what other comics I might have an interest in..I mentioned the two from when I was a tiny kid..let me see..flooded new York, statue of liberty..guy in a boat...Kamandi...easy enough. My other memory was a blue colored comic with guys dressed up in armor and fighting and inside future war type battles, exploding worlds, and monsters and stuff.....sounds like half the comics ever published right? He looked and looked...micronauts, eternals...on and on..then one day he showed me a new gods run and I saw issue 7...BINGO. So I bought it and looked through it..then bought his other copies..then the rest of the run..then mister miracle, and forever people....then the store owner showed me the Jimmy Olsen and Lois lane issues related....and by this time I had decided in a fit of young collector dreamstate I would just collect everything Kirby had done...I had so little concept of what I had stepped in or how deep the rabbit hole truly was...I have remained true to my roots and bought every copy that passes through my hands...including Mike Royers copy signed inside and out for me (thanks Siggy) and a slabbed 9.0.... I believe sometime recently I finished my third or fourth complete set of new gods fourth world books...all three main titles and all the related olsens and lois lanes as well I have also quietly been building a slabbed collection of the books as well. When I get older and retire and sell much of my collection those books will not be going...I plan on dying with them … |
||
| Post 71 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
Back in my fanzine publishing days top 10 lists were a recurring feature. I did top 10 lists covering everything from ‘80s wrestlers to Star Trek episodes to the EC artists. I always did the lists “Letterman style”, starting with number 10 and building up to number one. They were a favorite feature among the readership and a subject of much debate. I thought it might be fun to throw one out here and see if it can spark some entertaining conversation. The topic? The top 10 Spider-Villains, something I am sure everyone has an opinion on! Feel free to tell me where I went wrong or even submit your own list if you are so inclined.    |
||
| Post 72 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
 DC Blue Ribbon Digest #13 is a comic that influenced the course of my life for years to follow. As a comic book it was largely forgettable, a collection of reprints, with the lead story focusing on a game of baseball between superheroes and villains. What impacted me was the text page on the inside back cover, where writer Bob Rozakis explains how he actually staged a baseball game between heroes and villains using a deck of playing cards to determine the balls and strikes, Hits and outs, etc. This is what really captured my imagination! My cousins and I all picked teams consisting of characters from comic books, cartoons, popular TV shows of the time, anything we could think of! We spent the next couple of summers staging baseball games between imaginary characters. We were so into it that we kept track of batting averages, pitching stats, the works. I still smile when I think about it. For years I always thought we used Rozakis’ rules as outlined in the DC digest. When I acquired another copy of this book many years later I was surprised to see that this was not how we played at all! While there is no doubt that we got the idea from Rozakis and the text page in the back of that digest, the rules he gives are unnecessarily convoluted with much room for improvement. Evidently, we kept his idea but scrapped his rules entirely and designed our own way of playing. This is how we played: the first card flipped represents the pitch. 2-5 is a ball, 6-9 is a strike (with a 9 resulting in a foul ball). 10 or higher means the ball is hit and another card must be flipped to determine the outcome. The second flip results are as follows: 2-9 is an out, with a 2 resulting in a double play if a runner is on first and a 9 representing a sacrifice fly if there are any runners on base. 10 or J is a single, Q a double, K a triple and A a home run. Repeat the process through nine innings. I am showing the text page with Rozakis’ rules do you can compare. I doubt we ever even attempted to play it his way. We had a huge amount of fun with this game when we were eleven and twelve. Each season we would have a draft; any character you could imagine was eligible! Top pitchers in our league were Bugs Bunny, Cap’n Crunch and Diaperman of the Mighty Heroes. Top hitters were Luke Duke, Shaggy and Acroyear of the Micronauts. We spent countless hours playing, and probably stayed out of some trouble because of it as well. Anyone with kids or grandkids may want to pass it on to them. That is, if kids still play baseball these days...  |
||
| Post 73 • IP flag post | ||
|
-Our Odin- Rest in Peace |
Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @michaelekrupp ok, your story has my brain whirling and twirling. I may end up doing this. I also had one thought, a wild card could be a stolen base. And yeah, your way is a ton simpler!!! I like watching baseball live, but I find it boring on tv. Thanks for sharing!! | ||
| Post 74 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Jesse_O Great idea for an innovation! Jokers could be added to the deck to represent a stolen base (or simply a wild pitch if there is no man on base). I like the way you think! | ||
| Post 75 • IP flag post | ||
|
Collector
|
michaelekrupp private msg quote post Address this user | |
Is any comic book memory more pivotal than the first comic book memory? I recently acquired, courtesy of @esaravo, a copy of the first comic that I ever read. Even though it is my first, it is a comic that I have never actually owned a copy of. The copy I originally read was loaned to my stepfather, along with a Thor treasury, when I was barely six years old. In hindsight, it seems a little weird that a six year old had no problem reading this book on his own. Then again, I was always a weird kid. To see the far reaching impact this comic had on me, you only have to go back a few posts to the Top 10 Spider Villains list I posted. Nearly every villain on this cover made the cut! Needless to say, I am beyond pleased to have filled in this piece of my childhood for the PC. Thanks again, Ed. |
||
| Post 76 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
monjoody private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Here's the first one I ever got. My dad and I went down to the local party store to grab something, and the comics/magazines were right in front. I stopped and looked through everything while dad grabbed milk (I think?), and then let me pick one. I may have to get another copy of it; the OG is long gone and probably only would've been a 3.0 at best..!  |
||
| Post 77 • IP flag post | ||
|
PEDIGREED... Again!
|
martymann private msg quote post Address this user | |
| My first WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES, #40 from 1944. Given to me by a friend of my Father who came to see us at Christmas time. The black cover has held up over the past 76 years.  mm |
||
| Post 78 • IP flag post | ||
 Collector
|
starlord private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I can't remember what the first CB I read was, but I remember I was around 7 or 9 and continued to collect and read to a varying degree of interest that surged and waned over the years. That was until my accident, then I lost interest in everything as my world collapsed. It wasn't until my best friend went to his LCS and bought out a full run of Green Arrow(1988)comics. The doctors told us I would never do anything again with my hands, so the books remained unread. I tried to hold them, flip the pages to no avail. After awhile he brought me a clip board and placed it on my lap and grabbed issue 1 and turned the first page for me. I read it and at his insistence had me learn to drag my limp fingers to coax the pages to move. I was so happy to do something on my own. Thats how I passed my time in the 3 mo. hospital stay. When I was in a position where I couldn't read, he'd hold the book for me. That is my best and favorite CB memory. |
||
| Post 79 • IP flag post | ||
 I have a problem with fattening women up.
|
Bronte private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @starlord Sounds like it was also a great memory of a dear friend... |
||
| Post 80 • IP flag post | ||
This topic is archived. Start new topic?