I have been collecting comics since I was 10. In Tales from The Comicdenn I am going to share some of the interesting adventures I have had in this great hobby and hopefully a few nuggets of wisdom as it pertains to collecting, along the way. Welcome to my first post and please feel free to contact me. Hopefully we can have an interesting interaction!
In 1967 I was 10 years old. I had a grade 5 teacher who read Tarzan of the Apes to the class, a chapter a day, every afternoon. I was captivated by the world of Edgar Rice Burroughs, which led to Jules Verne and on one Saturday morning while flicking the channels I discovered The Fantastic Four, Jonny Quest and The Amazing Spider-Man! That was it for me. I started asking anyone who would listen to me if they had any comic books, and lo and behold I discovered continuity and …..back issues!!
I didn’t know it at the time ,but I was smack dab in the middle of the Silver Age of Comics. The first Spider-man I bought off the stands was issue #62″The Name of the Dame is …Medusa” and Fantastic Four #76 ,”Stranded in Sub Atomica”. By this time I had garnered ASM#56 and FF# 56 as well as a couple of Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish, if I remember correctly. This was the time when the explosion in titles happened at Marvel. New titles for Iron-Man, Sub-Mariner, Nick Fury, The Hulk, Dr.Strange and The Silver Surfer were right around the corner.
I was mesmerized by the different styles these artists named Kirby, Romita, Buscema and Colan had. I also did my best to learn how to draw these amazing characters. And thus began my love of sequential art storytelling! My comics to me were an entryway into a world where my imagination could run wild. Where I learned about alliteration, and 10 dollar words that Stan Lee threw around as if it was the way you were supposed to talk.
All this because a Grade 5 teacher loved to share the gift of reading with her class. Thanks Mrs. Nethercott!
It wasn’t long before I sent away for a back issue list from Robert Bell, in New York as well as a couple other early dealers. That will be a story for next time!
Dennis it is funny how you can remember that 1st book. Mine was an Amazing Spider-man #45, although I had been previously introduced to Marvel comics via and old used booked store (another story altogether).I am looking foward to hearing your stories from this era, and will throw in a few of my own where appropriate. Have fun with this!
Thanks Mike,It is funny looking back at the impact these 4 colour books had on our lives as well as some of the things we did to aquire them.Lots more about that to come!I look forward to your adventures as well and hope a lot more people add their two cents worth!
Hello everybody. My 1st book that I remember is Amazing Spider-man 316. It had such a cool cover and I begged my parents for it. I was 6 years old. I still have it today in the best “well-loved” condition. I had a few more stints of comic buying, but it wasn’t until 18 years later that I came back to the comic book market.
I think a lot of us may have stories of taking a hiatus away from this great hobby.For me it was between and 2003.The details will definitely be discussed here moving forward.I would love to hear about more “first issues” into the world of comics!
That was supposed to read between 1993 and 2003.