The longest affair I've ever conducted has been with a hobby I began when I was 10 years old. It was at a Kroger's on the north end of my town, near the pharmacy in the building. A spinner rack with super hero comics sat, beckoning eager and hungry imaginations to come and read. Thus began a long torrid love affair.
It wasn't that dramatic. Comics were there as an extension of programs that I watched every Friday night and Saturday morning. Back in the now canonized halcyon days of the early 80's, CBS carried the Incredible Hulk and then Dukes Of Hazzard. On Saturday morning, you could watch more adventures of the Hulk, albeit in animation as well as Spiderman & His Amazing Friends. To a young boy, this was pretty much nirvana that hit all the sweet spots. Besides Superman the Movie, these were the first long standing relationships with super heroes and science fiction.
My brother Jon and I would proverbially jump at the chance to go with one of our parents to Kroger or IGA or Key Drugs since newsstands regularly carried plenty of comics in those days before they were marginalized into specialty shops and book stores. With either sweet cajoling or bargaining we could manage to get 50 cents or 65 cents for a Marvel or DC comic.
One of the best things about comics storytelling was you didn't need to have purchased half a year worth of stories to solicit any enjoyment with what you were reading. Each issue read as a complete story in itself, sometimes telling a larger story. The artwork was splendid in it's workmanlike presentation. Action was conveyed clearly on the page, the vocabulary had me go to a dictionary in search of a word I had recently discovered. You had to put in work to read an issue of any given book, but it was worth it. Even the letters pages were entertaining with repeat writers like Uncle Elvis.(Though it took me a while to realize that 'nuff said was merely a statement and not an actual guy named 'nuff)
I was pretty much hooked. Over the course of a year or so, Jon and I would pick up random titles who's covers sold it well. Master of Kung Fu, Spiderman, X-Men, Daredevil, JLA, Flash, ElfQuest. The first title we both agreed needed to be read from start to finish was Secret Wars which we had a few toys from the crossover promotion. The novel concept of an omniscient presence selecting Marvel Comics greatest heroes and villains and placing them on Battleworld to fight for his enjoyment was so appealing, it was imperative to get all the issues we could find. Being that these were news stands, some months the next issue wouldn't ship, or other variables you connect with not subscribing. Add to that was the fact you had parents who were watching every penny to put food on the table, so you would crap out with your request. Jon and I did get about half of Secret Wars though. At least being witness to the biggest change of the event, Spiderman's new symbiotic suit.
Our father had suggested to us to get subscriptions to one book a piece since Marvel was all about offering deals for more than one subscription on it's back page. Jon selected The Thing, which continued the story of Ben Grimm on Battleworld after Secret Wars concluded. John Byrne wrote the tale, including a soliloquy Ben had internally to his love Alicia Masters which my brother used as a love letter to a girl in his class. I selected Incredible Hulk.
Six or eight weeks after sending the money off, a brown slipcover dropped through the house's mail slot. This was your clue that the comic you subscribed to had arrived, usually bent down the middle in order to get it through the mail slot. To me, getting that mail was like Christmas once a month. The Incredible Hulk was in the mid 290's when I began receiving them. Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema had been working on a tale that had the jade giant with Bruce Banner's mind, wearing trunks, and strangely walking with a leg brace and crutch. He was seeing Kate Waynesboro instead of Betty Ross and the immediate dilemma was Banner was losing his grip on the Hulk. The savage side of the Hulk was taking over slowly. The villain Nightmare posed problems for Bruce and the story culminated in issue 300 where the Savage Incredible Hulk was laying to waste New York City. Every Marvel hero at the time were trying to stop him to no avail. It took a spell by Doctor Strange to cast the rampaging out of control monster to another dimension all together, and begin the Cross Roads storyline in issue 301.
Good comics done well can have a lasting effect on a boy. I wanted to know more and expand my reading. A kid in my 5th Grade class had issues of the official Marvel Handbook which I read in my free time instead of socializing with my peers over the A-Team or Knight Rider. I was searching for a new book, one that felt more relatable than a one ton jade behemoth with anger issues.
to be continued...
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