We've all done it as kids...
Thought we could trust one of our friends, perhaps a neighborhood kid, with the loan of a comic book or two.
It goes well at first, you let them one or two issues, they get them back to you.... or perhaps they offer a few of theirs, and you respond with a few of yours...
But then something goes wrong... somebody forgets... or moves away in the dead of night... and there go your precious comics.
We've all experienced something like this over the years. And sadly, we're wiser now.
What's your bittersweet memory of that classic book that left with your friendship? Share your tale here.
Replies
OK, I'll start.
I was pretty impressed with my 1966 issues of the Fantastic Four. In fact, I was so impressed that I wanted to turn on others to the Stan and Jack goodness that I was tracking down each month.
So, starting with FF #55, the first one I bought off the spinner rack, I lent them, one day at a time, to Phil Harman. He was a bright kid, who's father was a minister, and I felt sure that he'd take care of them.
I brought them to grade school in a flat black brieft case, one at a time, and loaned them to him. Each day when he returned one, I offered him the next one. This worked really well for about a week's time.
After he had caught up with all the silver age goodness, he asked if I had any more. Sure, I said, I've got older ones, but there's this new funny one that Marvel's just put out...called "Not Brand Echh"...a parody book.
OK, so I lent it to him, and he read it, bringing it back about a day or two later. So, I lent him the second issue, the black cover parody of Batman and Robin.
Phil didn't return it. In fact, when I mentioned it to him, he hedged. The next day, I asked him again to bring it back.
Phil told me that his father saw the comic book, snatched it up and seeing it was crap, ripped it up in front of his face, telling him he didn't want to see any more in his house. I asked if he told his father it wasn't his book, but borrowed from another friend. Phil said it didn't matter to his dad it was trash. Literally, now...
I was upset.
But even more so when I realized that it could have been my precious Fantastic Four issues.
I never lent any of my comics out again.
Once upon a time, I was a budding artist and nearly memorized How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. I have a best friend whose kid brother was a budding artist, and Ioaned him my original hardback copy of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. I never saw it again and ultimately wound up buying another copy.
While I'm at it, could I ask a little help from you guys? I KNOW there was a brief scene, drawn by Gene Colan in the early issues/appearances of The Black Widow in Amazing Adventures (a split book with the Inhumans) that features Natasha taking a shower. The scene is of her cleaning up after a workout over the city skyline, and most of the naughty bits were obscured by steam. What issue was that, #3? Does anyone have a scan of the page that I'm referring to ?
If we can find a scan, I'll explain in a little bit...
I'm leaning to #3, if only because it has Colan art, the "villian" is "The Don", and it has a light colored cover...which I recall.* But I'm afraid I don't have a copy in front of me to consult either. Perhaps someone can confirm it for us.
(*None of these can confirm which issue it is that contains the shower scene, but I feel it was early on, before the "widow's curse" nonsense rears it's head. And the artist could have been Romita... but I feel it was Colan. Though I though Roy Thomas may have written it. See why I need some help on this?)
Amazing Adventures #3 Split Book Cover
George Poague said:
Mine weren't Silver Age, because I didn't start reading comics until 1974, but after the first time I loaned one out and it never came back, I have yet to do that again.
What really hurt was years later finding the missing comic book at my neighbor's garage sale. Imagine having to pay just to get your own book back! Granted, we are only talking a quarter, but still...
The saddest loaning story I know first hand involves my local library.
Someone donated a bunch of Silver Age comic books. We're talking true mid-1960s Marvels when Stan, Jack, and company were really hitting their stride!
Long story short, as you might have guessed, people kept checking the books out but never returned them! Library never did anything about it because this was the late 1970s. Comics weren't "worth" anything back then in the non-comic reader's eyes and the library never pursued the matter because comic books weren't officially part of their inventory.
Nowadays it's a different story, at least as far as graphic novels and manga volumes are concerned, but still...
I think I might have been the only one who actually borrowed and returned any.
I remember some Fantastic Fours in the mid 50s to somewhere in the 60s issue number wise, AFTER the Galactus trilogy and "This Man, This Monster", although the latter was discussed in one of the letter columns; and Strange Tales with Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, but not with any Steranko art.
Heaven only knows what else the library had before they all disappeared, so I can't say whether or not there were any DCs or books from any other company involved.
Please provide the name and address of the public library that handled the loaning of silver age Marvels so sloppily...I need to set the Wayback Machine and go score some silver age goodness for myself immediately...
PS: Do you recall what specific issue you had to buy back from the yard sale?
I brought the Silver Age Superman Red/Superman Blue issue to work to be shot by the camera dept. for my column, back in the early '90s before home scanners became commonplace. The camera guy didn't get to it by the end of the night, so when I came to retrieve it, he said "just leave it here and I'll get to it tomorrow." I demurred, saying it would "disappear" overnight -- cleaning crews, morning staff, etc. He assured me he would put it in a safe place and there was nothing to worry about. Reluctantly, I agreed.
Of course, he called the next day to report that it had indeed disappeared overnight. *sigh*
I hope that you billed him for he cost of replacement.
Captain Comics said:
Kirk:
I remember it featured Batman, but I can't remember much else about that issue. I do remember that at that same garage sale, I got the very first Marvel Team Up Annual (Spiderman and the X-men) for cover price! (50 cents back then).
As for the name of the library, I will post it if you were serious about wanting to know, but that was over three decades ago and the staff has had MANY changeovers since then.
No, I'm kidding. My wayback machine is busted worse than my Tardis....
Lee Houston, Junior said:
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