Is there a cover of a certain comic that when you see a picture of it, it brings back a special memory of a place, a time, or an event? A Pavlovian response?
For example, here are three items for me:
When I see this cover, I immediately remember a spinning comic book rack in a store in Sidney, B.C. This was the first JLA comic I had ever seen and one of the first comic books, too. It would have been a Sunday when I saw it because my Dad used to take us on car drives up Vancouver Island. I was 8 and I can even tell you which side of the rack I was standing. Beautifully brand new and all those colorful characters! I guess I was hooked by DC Comics at that very moment.
The Avengers #2
I remember reading this comic on a cafe counter in Victoria, B.C., bought a few minutes before at a newsstand next door to it. When I finished reading it, I said, "This comic needs something. Otherwise, it won't last." That "something" came two issues later with the re-introduction of Captain America.
Okay, this one is a genuine Pavlovian response and, LOL, very nutritional. I just have to see this cover and I instantly remember the taste Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. I don't know why or where I read it but, obviously, I was having chicken noodle soup at the time.
I'd love to know what memories you have by seeing certain covers.
Replies
Peter -- love this. Thanks for the trip down your memory lane. I think we often forget that our love of comics is deeply rooted in our lives. I did a similar reflection here. Please check it out!
For me the ones that come immediately to mind are from summer vacations with my family. Going camping all over the country. So these are comics I just read over and over again during those trips.
Max and Travis, thanks for your great stories! There is nothing like childhood memories, no matter which decade they took part in.
I think I have the ultimate road trip true story. I have to call it:
"I Killed My Dad's Car!"
One summer we were traveling across British Columbia in Canada. I was probably about 12 years old, so it would have been around 1967. We were driving through a small town and we passed one children's wear store that had a handmade sign on its window that read "Used Comics For Sale." I don't recall how much they were but my Dad always spoiled me and I picked out about a hundred. Into the car's trunk they went.
(One of them was a coverless, thick early comic Timely comic. I am positive the opening story contained the original Human Torch's origin story, and there was also a Ka-Zar story somewhere in the issue. To this day, I kinda feel it was Marvel Comics #1 but who knows? You'll soon find out why I will never know.)
We continued driving around the province. My Dad had these car trips for the beautiful sights of the province. My pleasure was finding used book shops in whatever town we went through. And then in one shop, I asked a woman if they had more comics than what was on the shelves. She said yes, and led me up some stairs to the upper landing where there were boxes and boxes and boxes of late 1950s and early 1960s comics. This was the mother lode. I sat up there, going through EVERY box, pulling out EVERY comic I disn't have. Superhero, war, romance, humor...everything. I must have gotten a great deal on them because we took away about four or five boxes of them. Into the car trunk they went. And off we went to continue the car trip.
A few towns later, something happened to the car and we had to go to a garage. A mechanic looked underneath the car and it turns out we had a busted rear axle or something from the weight of the boxes of comics. My Dad was definitely very angry with me.
I had killed the car.
Dad had to buy a used car to replace it. But it was about a town or two later that I discovered the comics were not in the trunk. He had thrown them out of the other car. I bet that garage had tons of reading from then on.
And to this day, I wonder if that coverless Timely comic was Marvel Comics #1?
Ah man those would certainly be some emotional highs and lows there. Do you remember what kind of price you were paying for that haul?
No. Probably, a few pennies each. Remember, this was when comics were still 12 cents on the newsstand. This was years before the first Overstreet Guide came out. And I am sure the book store woman was glad to clear out the space of those boxes.
Ah, well, water under the bridge now.
Trav, the books you post are right in my memory sweet-spot. The Legion book, for instance, I'm almost certain I bought from Gene's books, a shop in a strip mall I'd ride my bike to on weekends. (Rode my bike to buy comics yesterday, too -- I'm 12 again!) I probably read it in the Scotto's Pizza a couple doors down, with a slice or two and a root beer.
The JLA/All-Star Squadron crossover was probably purchased and read the same way, but All-Star Squadron always makes me think of the 7-Eleven near my middle school, where I bought a number of the early issues. But a year later, I was doing that less and less.
As for Squadron Supreme, I don't know where I started getting them. But I do remember lending issue 4 to a friend on the sidewalk in front of his house, and not seeing it again for years.
These are all great memories -- love that the comic broke the car. For many, many years I thought 7-Eleven was the only place that sold comics. Things have certainly changed. Thanks for the wonderful stories, all. Here's one of the first comics I ever bought:
I actually just read that story for the first time ever not too long ago, Max. Did it being part 5 confuse you?
I got in grade school, and yes, it was mid-run when I got it, so I was both confused and fascinated. Later I went back and got the full run, but this first issue was enough to start my love affair with comics. If you want to see the whole story, I actually blogged about it here. Did you like the Kraven mini-series?
I'm going to have to wait until I get home to relate the story of FF #57 to you. I know exactly where I was and what I was doing as I sat down to read that new comic right off the rack. It will be forever imprinted on my memory because of it. The return of Doctor Doom, whom I had last seen as an oversized giant on the symbolic cover of FF #39... No wonder he loomed so fearsome, so large in my minds' eye! He was being depicted as a giant every time I saw him!
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