Unstable Molecules: My Life as a Comics Fan

I sit here typing away, just days removed from the 2018 Cape Girardeau Comicon, thinking about how I got started with comics.

Even before comics, I was a fan of super heroes.  Some of my earliest memories are of getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch Superfriends or Batman & Robin.  I'm sure my parents loved me for that.  I doubt I was even four when those shenanigans started.  I got a Spider-Man sleeping bag and ski-mask around that time.  Oh, and the Mego super heroes.  I had a well-loved trio of Spider-man, Batman, and Robin.  By the time I was in kindergarten, Batman and Spider-Man were no more and Robin was wearing Spider-Man's costume to preserve his modesty.

I don't know that this was the first comic I ever owned.  I remember some well-loved Spider-Man comics from around the same era but the first comic I owned that I can still identify was DC Comics Presents #31.  Robin teamed with Superman instead of Batman and there was a Robotman backup story.  Pretty good recollections considering I turned 4 that year.  My poor Mom, I never understood why she couldn't find more Superman and Robin comics after that.

Back in the day, there were no comic shops, at least none that I knew of, so all my comics were from the spinner rack at the drug store or Venture.  Remember Venture?  Juding by how many comics I had, even back then, my mom must have made tons of needless trips to the drug store in those years.

Aside from Batman and DC Comics Presents, my early years were mostly Marvel ones.  Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four were early favorites.  I was pretty fortunate to discover the Fantastic Four during the early days of John Byrne's administration.  After reading a What If issue where Wolverine killed the Hulk, I was suddenly an X-Men fan as well.

As I entered grade school, my loyalties shifted slightly.  I discovered the Legion of Super Heroes and, more importantly, the big Pevely Flea Market.  Without that flea market, I may have drifted away from comics entirely.  However, the lure of 25 cent comics or 5 for a buck was just the hook I needed to swallow.

I remember going to the Flea Market a couple times a summer for years after that, stocking up on 25 cent comics.  The team-up books were my favorites: Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-In-One, Brave and the Bold, and DC Comics Presents.  After that, I discovered Mile High Comics and there was no turning back.

As I got older, my tastes shifted.  I actually subscribed to comics instead of hoping to score consecutive issues on the spinner rack.  First DC, with The Justice League and Captain Atom, then Marvel with What If? and a subscription to the Fantastic Four that lasted about ten years.

When I got to high school, the comics industry eventually shit the bed and I drifted away after wasting untold money on variant covers and gimmicks.  Remember Warriors of Plasm?  I got one of the signed cards out of a pack and the store owner offered me a few hundred bucks for it.  In retrospect, I should have taken him up on it.

There were a few years when the only comics I read where my monthly Fantastic Four and Wizard.  There was a lot going on and comics didn't seem as important as they once did, especially with escalating prices.

I read more adult fare during college, like The Maxx, Preacher, and Sandman, but a lot of the magic was gone.  I dipped in and out after that, mostly buying back issues and trade paperbacks.  Eventually, I gave comics up all together.

The drought lasted a few years and a girlfriend, of all things, got me back into them.  She mentioned getting into comics with a friend and it was like a dam broke.  Before I knew it, I was buying up Y: The Last Man, 52, and various other comics, most noteably trade paperbacks of Starman.

I was a lot more choosey this go round, mostly because of price but also because of decompression.  Back in the day, you could dip in and out of almost any comic and not be lost.  Since around the turn of the century, this was no longer the case.  The monthly titles were largely written with an eye toward being collected so I mostly bought, and continue to buy, trade paperbacks.

My appetite is nothing like it once was but I still make the occasional trip to the local comic shop.  Marvel Unlimited makes reading back issues a snap and I still buy the occasional trade paperback if I can get it on the cheap.  It's crazy how many comic book movies come out these days.  Back in the dark ages, one came out every five years.  Now, we probably get one every other month.

I guess the appeal of comics for me is the same as watching wrestling: escapism with clear cut good guys and bad guys, an escape from reality for a few minutes.  I expect I'll continue dipping into comics for the rest of my days.