How I Got into Comics (Reading)
A journey begins . . .
How I Got into Comics (Reading)
It’s a story I’ve told in some ways before, but I think it’s occasionally important to analyze your own journeys. This much I know for sure: I was born in 1973, and I started finding super-heroes on TV. Where I lived in Indiana at the time, both Batman (the 1960s TV series) and Adventures of Superman (the 1950s TV series) were both available in syndication; in fact, they were frequently back-to-back on one channel. You also had versions of Batman on Saturday mornings with the CBS series and, of course, Super Friends. Before too long, I was also seeing Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk in live-action. (I’d also be seeing Star Trek, Space:1999, and others, but they would influence me getting Power Records more than comics, and Power Records should get its own installment here someday).
And then there was May, 1977. Star Wars. Somewhere around there, I got the first issue of the Marvel adaptation, which was released on April 12, 1977 (cover dated July). That may have been the first actual comic book that I ever got. Here’s what I know were among my earliest issues: the first six issues of Star Wars; Fantastic Four #179 (1977); Super Friends #10 (released January 1978); Defenders #56 (released November 1977); The Invaders #19 (May 1977); Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #14 (released October 1977); Teen Titans #53 (1978); Justice League of America #162 (released November 1978); and a handful of Batman, Detective Comics, Action Comics, and Adventures of Superman from those glorious Whitman 3-for-a-dollar bags. There were others, but those a) stick out in my mind, and b) I still have, for the most part.
You can kind of tell how those purchases were influenced by the TV and animation. The Hulk is prominent on that Defenders cover. JLA is obviously the starting point for Super Friends, Fantastic Four had a cartoon, and so on. The Invaders probably stemmed from the fact that I had a Captain America sweatshirt. What happened next is interesting. In the next year after (1979), I started to spread out. I know for a fact that this was primarily because of the influences of ads for other comics within the comics.
I remember a few of the ads particularly well, notably one ad that featured five of the team books (including Avengers) and another ad the combined the original and new X-Men, telling you that if you liked the old team, you’ll love the new team. I also remember a full page ad for the X-Men featuring Dave Cockrum art with an image grabbed from the “Phoenix Saga.” During 1979, I picked up my first issues of three books that would profoundly affect my fandom: The Avengers; The Legion of Super-Heroes; and (the soon to be officially retitled) The Uncanny X-Men. I also got a few of the pocket-sized DC Blue Ribbon Digests (although Shawn Delaney had more of those that I did), those wonderful tiny pre-cursors to the trade paperback.
While I have frequently read and collected solo hero books, I have always been more of a team book guy. I love the character dynamics and interactions that happen during the adventures and in their time off. My first issue of The Avengers was #187 (released June, 1979), the conclusion of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver’s quest to find their origins. My first X-Men was #125 (also June 1979!), which was the beginning of “The Proteus Saga.” I came by the Legion after getting DC Comics Presents #13, which would have been released in July of 1979; that issue of what was basically “Superman Team-Up” featured Lightning Lad, Saturn Girl, Sun Boy, and Dawnstar of the Legion. Around that time, the Legion was transitioning from being titled Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes to just The Legion of Super-Heroes with issue #260 being the first with the new title; my first issue was #261.
Here is where we address an important element. At that time, we just jumped in as readers. There was no internet. There were no reference books. There were no Marvel Comics for Dummies or X-Men for Dummies (I know, because I wrote those). You just dove in and started reading. And if you wanted to fill in the gaps, you had to find back issues. And how did one do that?
That was something else that I started to notice in the comics. In addition to ads for other books, there were ads for comic shops. I was eight when I realized that I could look in the phone book to see if Terre Haute, Indiana had comic shops. Holy shit, they did. Before long, I was officially patronizing New Concept Book Store (at that point, located on Wabash Avenue past the K-Mart; they would later relocate to the 600 block of Wabash) and Williams Book Palace in Twelve Points (which later relocated to 3rd Street). One of the first back issues I remember getting was Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #253, which featured the first appearance of the League of Super-Assassins; I was drawn to it because the then-current storyline in the books featured Blok, who debuted in #253 and was in the middle of a face-turn that would see him join the Legion.
From there, my collecting expanded in a somewhat conical fashion. I’d eventually subscribe to both Uncanny X-Men and G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero; my first subscriber issues were #181 and #23, respectively. While I was mainly on Marvel and DC books in terms of buying, I was reading other things at the grocery and the comic shop. Elementals. Dreadstar. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Occasionally Grimjack and Grendel. By the mid ‘80s, I was devouring stuff from Marvel and DC, including the dystopian stuff like Squadron Supreme, The Dark Knight Returns, and Watchmen. When Image hit, I was an early adopter, but I was also into Dark Horse stuff, especially when they dropped Star Wars: Dark Empire. And then Valiant, and, well, yeah.
But here’s something that’s extra important. Comics introduced me to whole new worlds in other ways. I was well-read from a young age, and I got a wide variety of Classics Illustrated, Moby Books, and others before diving into the actual novels. The comics gave me a reading foundation and introduced me to aspects of science (I learned that “laser” was an acronym from a Hawkman story), history, and world cultures that I didn’t know. They referenced other literature and borrowed characters like Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and more that I would go and read about. And, of course, I learned about social issues from the X-Men and many others before they were broached in classes.
So here we are, decades down the path, and I still read comics. Some people, narrow of vision as they are, give comics people shit. But I daresay I’ve still probably read more regular books than most of them. Hell, I have two degrees in English. The larger point is my journey is not necessarily unique; every fan found a way and every fan found something that connects for them and makes them happy. And that’s really what I want to leave you with. Whatever you have that makes you happy, as long as it doesn’t hurt someone else, that’s a good thing. And it’s even better shared.
Praise be.