Episode 952


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Dan and Mike sit down to talk comics, specifically their experiences getting into the medium, falling out of it, then back in, their first storylines and collected editions, books they could never get into, and so much more. [ 2:15:50 || 68.1 MB ]

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This episode (which is great, but I'm not listening at work, I promise) has me thinking about early comic purchases and though I was well into comics by a few years at this point, this one stands out:

superman422.jpg

It clearly has shaped my tastes in many ways.

 

Regarding comic shops: after buying almost exclusively from grocery store spinner racks, a friend of mine who was also into comics mentioned a place called Chris' Collectibles. It was a couple towns away, but my dad was willing to drive us there (at 10 years old) every other Saturday or so. The place was fucking Mecca. I swear, it was a warehouse. I remember it being the size of a Wal-Mart, but I'm sure it was mostly the size of a regular, stand-alone retail store with the most epic back issue selection (which is mostly what I was buying at the time considering I still went to the grocery store week after week.

Unfortunately, Chris' Collectibles moved. While it was closer to where I lived, it was smaller than my bedroom is right now. Too bad. I'm sure the lawn-mowing/babysitting cash I dropped at the old store kept them paying the rent for a month or two...

Then, I went to Madhouse Comics, which was farther away. I ended up doing a work experience placement there right when I was 12 years old and it was awesome. Arthur was a cool guy and bought Little Caesars for lunch and basically had me put the Superman family comics in order of their continuity numbering (remember that?) as opposed to title and issue. I left that day with a belly full of pizza and an armful of comics as payment. Solid.

After that, a placed called Foot's Hobbies opened near a doctor my mom went to, or took me to. I bought my first issue of Savage Dragon at Foot's from a guy named Adam. He ended up buying the store and moving it to White Rock which was minutes away from my house. I still go there when I visit home and Adam was a guest at my wedding. It's called Greyhaven Hobbies and it's amazing.

Also, crazy religious neighbors, for my 12th birthday, saw that i liked comics and needed Jesus (apparently) so they bought me The Picture Bible. I came to know later that it was drawn by Andre Leblanc from Phantom and Flash Gordon. By that time, I'd already read the Bible (not the picture one) and been to church a couple times and decided it was all bunk, but there's some pretty epic shit in the Old Testament part.

Also, I had a similar "stumble across" moment in an antique store in Sonoma County California on a trip with my aunt and uncle when I was about thirteen. EVERYTHING was overpriced in the comic book sitting on the floor. We're talking US 1 #1 (you know, Marvel's space trucker series. I'm sure you know it because it's so influential) for $10. But they also had a good copy of Batman #110 featuring an early appearance of the Joker from 1957 for $12. So, I bought that one instead of the space trucker comic.

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Arthur was a cool guy and bought Little Caesars for lunch and basically had me put the Superman family comics in order of their continuity numbering (remember that?) as opposed to title and issue.

Triangle numbers!

I KNEW you would know! Hahaha!

Superman was basically a weekly book back then, with Superman, Adventures, Man of Steel and Action coming out one per week (with Man of Tomorrow for any month with five Wednesdays in it), and without those triangle numbers following the story was fucking chaos.

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Arthur was a cool guy and bought Little Caesars for lunch and basically had me put the Superman family comics in order of their continuity numbering (remember that?) as opposed to title and issue.

Triangle numbers!

I KNEW you would know! Hahaha!

Superman was basically a weekly book back then, with Superman, Adventures, Man of Steel and Action coming out one per week (with Man of Tomorrow for any month with five Wednesdays in it), and without those triangle numbers following the story was fucking chaos.

Yeah, I had to organize three months of new releases into that order and then I was like "phew! That's done!" Then Arthur was like "ok, now work on the back issues." Hahaha! I think I numbered only about a year and half at that point (as it was 1992) but man, it felt like a Herculean Labor.

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Arthur was a cool guy and bought Little Caesars for lunch and basically had me put the Superman family comics in order of their continuity numbering (remember that?) as opposed to title and issue.

Triangle numbers!

I KNEW you would know! Hahaha!

Superman was basically a weekly book back then, with Superman, Adventures, Man of Steel and Action coming out one per week (with Man of Tomorrow for any month with five Wednesdays in it), and without those triangle numbers following the story was fucking chaos.

Yeah, I had to organize three months of new releases into that order and then I was like "phew! That's done!" Then Arthur was like "ok, now work on the back issues." Hahaha! I think I numbered only about a year and half at that point (as it was 1992) but man, it felt like a Herculean Labor.

To be fair, X number of copies of a year and a half's worth of comics (75 issues, give or take?) would have been a fair amount of work for a 12 year old kid being paid in crappy pizza.

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Arthur was a cool guy and bought Little Caesars for lunch and basically had me put the Superman family comics in order of their continuity numbering (remember that?) as opposed to title and issue.

Triangle numbers!

I KNEW you would know! Hahaha!

Superman was basically a weekly book back then, with Superman, Adventures, Man of Steel and Action coming out one per week (with Man of Tomorrow for any month with five Wednesdays in it), and without those triangle numbers following the story was fucking chaos.

Yeah, I had to organize three months of new releases into that order and then I was like "phew! That's done!" Then Arthur was like "ok, now work on the back issues." Hahaha! I think I numbered only about a year and half at that point (as it was 1992) but man, it felt like a Herculean Labor.

To be fair, X number of copies of a year and a half's worth of comics (75 issues, give or take?) would have been a fair amount of work for a 12 year old kid being paid in crappy pizza.

Well, there WAS Crazy Bread.

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Arthur was a cool guy and bought Little Caesars for lunch and basically had me put the Superman family comics in order of their continuity numbering (remember that?) as opposed to title and issue.

Triangle numbers!

I KNEW you would know! Hahaha!

Superman was basically a weekly book back then, with Superman, Adventures, Man of Steel and Action coming out one per week (with Man of Tomorrow for any month with five Wednesdays in it), and without those triangle numbers following the story was fucking chaos.

Yeah, I had to organize three months of new releases into that order and then I was like "phew! That's done!" Then Arthur was like "ok, now work on the back issues." Hahaha! I think I numbered only about a year and half at that point (as it was 1992) but man, it felt like a Herculean Labor.

To be fair, X number of copies of a year and a half's worth of comics (75 issues, give or take?) would have been a fair amount of work for a 12 year old kid being paid in crappy pizza.

Well, there WAS Crazy Bread.

Post of the Day! :bowdown:

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Ah yes... pull up a chair, grandpa is going to tell a story.

I often feel like the really old man of the forums, so the reminder that @The Master is pushing 40 and @Dan is past it makes it not quite so bad.

:-)

Anyway, the oldest comics I had that I know of know of were 1979. It blows my mind to think I have been reading comics for 40 years. I switched entirely to trades around 2010. Usually got my at the drug store, and these days it is either Amazon.com or the local comic shop.

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Thinking back, the first classic series I ever became obsessed with was World's Finest Comics. The idea of getting Superman and Batman (and sometimes Robin) all in one book seemed like a dream come true. Whenever my mom would take me to antique shops or flea markets, those are the comics I would search high and low for. Even tattered copies were usually out of my price range, but every so often I'd be able to afford an issue. Usually the books were only so-so, but those crazy covers always got me. I mean, who wouldn't be grabbed by frightened-out-of-their-wits Superman and Batman being chased by hounds, or Superman setting fire to Batman while proclaiming him a demon?

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