My Love Affair with Comic Books - Part 2

Part 1 is here.

During my early childhood I didn’t pick up comic books with any sort of regularity. They were rare treats, that were kept and read and re-read over and over till the books literally fell apart over the years and had to be replaced.

I suppose that’s why I still remember them so clearly to this day.

Batman #269 – “The Daily Death of Terry Tremayne!”

I had a Spanish version of this issue that must have been bought on a family vacation trip we took to Mexico. I also had a Spanish World’s Finest issue that featured an imaginary tale of the Super Sons, sons of Batman and Superman.

Batman #s 284 and 285 were bought at a convenience store near our Spring Lakes Hills house in Orlando. This two-part story was the first time I’d ever bought two consecutive issues in a row, purchased a month apart.

Detective Comics #445 featured the second part of Len Wein’s great Bat-Murderer multi-parter. It would be years before I would get a chance to read the other chapters.

Detective Comics #471 is another classic Bat-tale, this one from the classic Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers/Terry Austin run. 

Again, it would be years before I would get to see how this cliffhanger was resolved.

 

My love of Batman of course extended to the rest of the Batman Family.

The first Wonder Woman books I ever read were Wonder Woman #s 227 and 230, which were bought together from that same local spinner rack where I’d picked up the Bat books.

Issue #227 takes place in the present, while #230 is set during the Second World War to match the setting of the first season of the Wonder Woman TV series. Confusing as this was for me as a kid, it was cool to have WW stories in my possession from both modern day and the past. 

Even cooler is that the artist on these issues was Jose Delbo—who, many years later, would be one of my teachers at the Kubert School. Jose was actually the best teacher I had at the school, and he was instrumental in my getting my first job in comics working at Valiant. Major gratitude! Funny how life works out.

Justice League of America #145 is a cool story from early in Englehart’s run that dramatically opens with the death of Superman at the hands of Count Crystal. The issue features guest appearances by the Phantom Stranger and Hawkgirl, and teases the mysterious return of the Red Tornado at tale’s end. It’s also memorable for its great characterization, including a gem of a scene where Carter and Ollie patch up their differences.

On the Marvel front, Fantastic Four #182 may have been my earliest Marvel comic book read. In my younger days I remember gravitating more towards the DC books because they were usually self-contained stories. The Marvel books seemed way more complicated.

FF #182 is a great Roy Thomas yarn with art by Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott. It’s a middle chapter in a story where a villain named the Brute has been impersonating FF leader Reed Richards. The issue ends with Sue confronting the Brute—who then tosses her out the window of the Baxter Building.

Once again, it would be years before I got to see how this storyline played out.

My first Spidey book was Amazing Spider-Man #174, which featured the Punisher.

And then there was Defenders #51—which my mom, knowing my love of all things Batman, picked up for me mistakenly thinking that Hellcat on the cover was Batgirl. The appeal of the Defenders’ unique brand of zaniness was lost on me at the time, but some years later I became a loyal reader all the way through to the book’s eventual cancellation.

I remember picking Invaders #24 up at a grocery store. Who could say no to that awesome Gil Kane cover? The interior was a cool reprint of the first ever team-up between Namor and the Human Torch with art by Bill Everett  . 

This issue of Brothers of the Spear may have come from that same grocery store visit where I picked up Invaders #24. The interiors featured some nice artwork by Dan Spiegle. I’ve always been curious to re-visit this series as an adult.

And that was pretty much my entire comic book collection when I was 10 years old.

Mind you—this was long before I knew comic book stores even existed. As far as I knew comic books were only available at convenience stores like 7-11, grocery stores, and book stores. And even then you were limited to what books they carried, which varied month to month. Nothing was available on any sort of consistent basis.

And then in the summer of 1977 Star Wars was released in movie theaters—and everything changed.

But that’s a tale for Part 3.