Comic Books, Super-Heroes and Me: **Phase 2 MARVELous Days 1973 -1978

About the same time I started college, I picked up a copy of Dracula Lives #2 at Toler Pharmacy. Dracula Lives was a Black and White anthology of sequential art stories based on Count Dracula. It also had some nonfiction Dracula related material presented also. It was published by Marvel Comics. I didn't know it, but Marvel had been presenting Dracula in comic book form since early 1972 in Tomb of Dracula. This second issue of Dracula Lives presented an origin story for Dracula written by Marv Wolfman and the art was supplied by Neal Adams.

The origin was an excellent plausible explanation for Vlad Tepes introduction to vampirism and the art by Adams was fantastic. I wanted more. I soon discovered Tomb of Dracula also written by Wolfman and illustrated by Gene Colan. The cast of characters in conflict with the count and the stories made for fun reading. There was something about this comic book line that kept you wanting to come back for more. Marvel interjected a soap opera element that would carry over from issue to issue.

My trips to Haag drugstore and Toler subjected me to many other four color treasures on display. My curiosity of what was offered in the super-hero books I'd loved when I was younger got the better of me. Besides, it was chic to read comics if you were a college kid. At least that was what people like Stan Lee were saying. I quickly came to understand the Marvel Comic line treated its readership more like adults. They had also found the way to hook the readership to come back each month. It was the soap opera element.

Chief among the comics I was most interested in was the Spider-Man line. I started with Amazing Spider-Man but I also found Marvel Tales which was a reprint comic of earlier Amazing Spider-Man issues. It took awhile to figure out how the continuity linked but I managed. Marvel soon introduced a new Spider-Man title, Peter Parker The Spectacular Spider-Man. I started picking up Amazing shortly after Gwen Stacy's death, probably around issue 128. I can't recall where I began Marvel Tales but it was in those comics I learned all the necessary history of Spider-man's life including his love for Gwen Stacy, his friendships with Mary Jane and Harry not to mention his battles with Norman Osborn the Green Goblin and the likes of the Kingpin. It was in these stories I was treated to the amazing run Stan Lee and John Romita produced. The ongoing storyline was engaging and the art by Romita is classic. His depiction of Gwen and Mary Jane made it hard for any real life girl to measure up to a Spiderman reader's desires. Marvel Tales helped make since of what was going on in the 2 ongoing titles.

I became reacquainted with most of the other Marvel Super-heroes via Spiderman's exploits in Marvel Team Up, an ongoing series of self contained stories usually involving Spiderman. Soon, I found myself buying Daredevil, Captain America as well as team books like The Avengers and The Fantastic Four.

I can't remember the first issue I bought of Conan The Barbarian by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. I had been interested in Conan since reading some of Robert E Howards works reprinted in paperback. I couldn't stop reading Conan after Roy Thomas introduced Belit into the storyline. I still consider this ongoing saga one of the best extended runs in comic book history.

It could be my first Conan wasn't the comic book but another of Marvel's Black & White Magazines The Savage Sword of Conan. Like Dracula Lives, I was attracted to these productions and bought other Marvel Black and Whites like The Rampaging Hulk and Vampire Tales.

In 1976 the first oversized comic book was introduced- Superman vs The Amazing Spider-Man. This "treasury sized" edition was the first cross-over put out between competing companies DC and Marvel. The cover claimed .

"THE GREATEST HERO TEAM-UP OF ALL TIME"

"THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY"

It was written by Gerry Conway and illustrated by Ross Andru. Both had worked on each character previously.

A fairly good plot summary can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman_vs._the_Amazing_Spider-Man

DC and Marvel would follow up with Batman vs The Incredible Hulk in the same format. The format would soon be used to reprint Golden Age Comics by DC but otherwise didn't catch on.

I found a copy of Jim Steranko's The Steranko History of the Comics vol 1 which detailed comic book origins from the newstrips to the pulp magazines and wonderfully discussed the Golden Age of Comics. The pages were filled with photos of covers from the 30s and 40s. Though I figured it would be impossible to buy golden age comics, the book inspired me to search out older back issues of comics.

(The front and back cover art for Steranko's Book)

It was also during this period comic book shops began to appear. I began frequenting a small shop on West Washington Street. It was there I found a copy of the magazine sized The Spectacular Spiderman which had come out in 1968. It had a wonderful painted cover with color interior pages and the story "The Goblin Lives" became a favorite of mine.

http://www.samruby.com/Series/Magazine/specmag02.htm

I went to my first comic book convention in 1977. It was held in Indianapolis and Stan Lee was the guest. I purchased a copy of Daredevil #2 at the convention. It cost me $10.00 and I had Stan Lee sign it. At another Comic show I splurged. I had become fascinated with Golden Age comics. I found a mint copy of Captain America #50. It cost me $50. I was becoming a proud collector.

The "hot" comic book during the summer of 77 was the first issue of Star Wars. it came out about the same time as the movie and like the movie was a big hit. I never bought a copy and I didn't see the movie until late in its run. All the talk was Star Wars and I felt a little left out.

There were some live action super-heroics displayed on our TV sets during this period. The pilot of "The Hulk" TV series was shown in 1977. Lou Feringo played the Hulk and Bill Bixby played his alter ego, Dr. David (instead of Bruce)Banner. The show was popular and it seemed alot like the old program The Fugitive but this time with the twist that the hunted could turn green and mean. Spider-man got his Live Action show starring Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker/ Spider-man. It would only last 13 episodes. Wonder Woman starring Linda Carter lasted 3 seasons, but I wasn't interested. How could I not have been interested? I don't know.

Judy and I had only been married a year and a half when the year 1978 rolled around. She had been supportive of, though not really interested in, my comic book collecting. I finished doing our taxes for the year and was shocked to find out we owed the government nearly a thousand dollars. We didn't have that much money. I looked at my comic book collection and resigned myself to the need to put them up for sale. I wasn't as devastated as I could have been. A year earlier I had become a Christian, and I was able to be thankful for a way to come up with the money we needed. I also had been spending more time reading doctrinal books and Bible study material reducing the amount of time I had for reading comics. I was disheartened, however.
Again, I swore off buying comics. The sale of my collection destroyed my desire to stay in touch on a monthly basis with the characters I enjoyed so much. I did see the Superman movie that summer, but beyond that it would be nearly be a decade before my interest in Super-heroes would be reignited.

Comic Books, Super-Heroes and Me: **Phase 1: The Early Years

Sometimes after making my Wednesday purchase of new comic books, I wonder what I'm doing.

Most comics now cost $2.99 -$3.99 each. It doesn't take long to run up quite a bill. And what do I do with these illustrated marvels? After reading them, they get bagged up, placed in an acid free box and stored away in a temperature controlled dry room. Any particular comic may never be looked at again. Ah, the joys of collecting.

I will pause on this and think back to what comic books have meant to me over my life and then realize they have been an integral part providing many memories and much enjoyment.

My earliest comic book memories date back to the the early 60s. I was a young boy of 7 or 8 years old when our family would visit my grandparents every Sunday in Plainfield, Indiana. My Grandmother would fix up a big fried chicken dinner for everyone and she would give my sister and I a quarter each along with a box of Cracker Jack or a small bag of potato chips. I would promptly run down to the corner Rexall Drug Store and buy a couple of comic books or if I wanted to splurge and had a few more cents available, I'd pick up the latest Famous Monsters of Filmland Magazine.

I can't remember the first comic book I purchased but I do remember buying

Amazing Fantasy 15 off the newstand. I debated whether to buy it because the price was 12 cents rather than the 10 cents I was used to spending. But that cover introducing Spider-Man sold me.

I can conjure up memories of reading Amazing Spider-Man 4 with Sandman while I was sitting on the stairway leading up to my grandmother's apartment. Elektro became a favorite villain when I read through the 9th issue of Amazing Spiderman. It would take awhile before he was replaced by The Green Goblin.

Spider-Man was definitely a favorite. A teen-age hero who wasn't a side kick but the main guy was exciting. He struggled with all the problems other kids had and he was easy to relate to. To this day, my since of responsibility continues to be the virtue that drives me most. I learned it in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. "With great power, there must also come great responsibility"-- Uncle Ben Parker Amazing Fantasy 15

As much as I enjoyed Spider-Man and the other early Marvel Comics with the dose of realism they provided, my favorite comics were put out by DC. These were the icons. I had been buying Superman, Batman and The Justice League before I bought Marvel and they are still my favorites. When Superman and Batman teamed up in World's Finest Comics, I thought I was getting something special. It was like getting double the value for my 12 cents. World's Finest 139 "The Ghost of Batman" and Worlds Finest 142 featuring the first Composite Superman story stand out vividly. The Composite Superman was especially cool as he was a caretaker of the Superman Museum when a Lightning Bolt struck the statuettes of the Legion of Super-heroes releasing their energy into his body. He uses the power of Chamelion Boy to alter his appearance into the Composite Superman and forces Superman, Batman & Robin into a partnership and then seeks to end their careers as heroes.

If having Superman and Batman teamed up in the same comic wasn't good enough, I could always turn to the Justice League of America. The combination of Super-heroes interacting with one another was always a book I looked forward to. One particular issue, number 30, introduced a team of Super Villains who were alternates of the heroes I was familiar with. These characters from Earth 3 provided an interesting twist to the ongoing teamups with super-heroes from the golden age with the current incarnations. Ultraman countered Superman, Owlman was Batman's doppleganger. Power Ring and Superwoman were Green Lantern and Wonder Woman's counterparts. These matchups have continued into the modern day most recently in an animated movie released on DVD entitled "Crisis On Two Earths".

During those days Superman remained my favorite character. I loved the imaginary stories like "The Sons of Superman" featured in Superman 166. This story took place in the future telling the tale of Superman's sons Jor-El II and Kal-El II. Superman's wife is never identified. She is only visualized in silhouette. Jor-El II had super powers like his father and Kal-El II did not. Superman tried various methods to enable him with powers also. Both boys were later taken to the bottle city of Kandor to receive a Kryptonian education. Of course, there neither boy had super-powers, and while there they learned of the exploits of Nightwing and Flamebird- crime fighters of Krypton. Superman and Jimmy Olsen had taken on these identities in earlier adventures. The boys have an adventure of their own disguised as the new Nightwing and Flamebird. The villain they battle frees himself from the bottled city and the boys must follow. Monsters are unleashed and Superman and young Jor-El use their powers to fight the threat and young Kal-El is unable to assist due to his lack of powers but later Kal has to find a way to save Superman and Jor-El who are dying in a kryptonite trap. Kal recues them and no longer feels inferior to them because of his lack of super powers.

The following issue #167 features one of my favorite Curt Swan Superman covers of all time. Lex Luther and Brainiac have Superman shrunk down, trapped in a canary cage.

Superman never seemed to disappoint me. In addition to the comics was The Adventures of Superman TV show. I remember rushing home after school to watch it, along with Sergeant Preston of the Yukon and The Lone Ranger. It was Superman I wanted to see the most. I would recite along with the introduction as the music played and a streak of light surged across a body of planets exploding into the Title:

"Faster than A Speeding Bullit

More Powerful Than Locomotive

Able to Leap Tall Buildings in a Single Bound

Look Up In The Sky!

It's a Bird!

It's a Plane!

It's Superman!"

Yes, It's Superman Strange visitor From Another Planet Who Came to Earth With Powers and Abilities Far Beyond Those of Mortal Man

Superman, Who Can Change the Course of Mighty Rivers

Bend Steel In His Bare Hands

And Who Disguised as Clark Kent, Mild Mannered Reporter For A Great Metropolitan Newspaper

Fights the Never Ending Battle For Truth, Justice And The American Way!

These adventures remain for me the best non animated depiction of the Man of Steel (with only Smallville rivaling but because Superman hasn't been introduced, only Clark Kent, I don't really count it) and George Reeve's portrayal of Clark Kent is much better than any of the movie versions.

Interest in girls didn't fully blossom until many years later, but I do remember some form of infatuation with the opposite sex beginning around kindergarten. I contribute this to the girls of the Legion of Super-Heroes. There was just something about these beautiful girls in costume displaying super powers. I'll let someone else try and analyse a first grader's interest in Triplicate Girl.

By fifth grade the campy Batman TV show was all the rage. I didn't want to miss an episode. My friends and I would dress up as super-heroes. Mark Kasting always wanted to be Batman. I didn't mind being Robin. I could relate to him better and I thought Robin was cooler. We had to watch Batman on my parents old Black & White TV and I was always jealous of those with color sets. One Wednesday evening, my folks were invited over to some friends of the family for dinner. I reluctantly had to go along fearful I would miss my favorite show. To my great joy we were able to watch Batman in color over at their house. Ah, the memories.

I sent away for autographed photos of Adam West and Burt Ward as the dynamic duo and other memorabila, but the coolest 1966 item I collected was a set of Topps Batman cards illustrated by Norm Saunders. When I had collected all but one of the cards in the set, I found another guy who had the card I needed. He told me I would have to walk to school on my knees in order for him to give me the card. I swallowed my pride and payed the price. He got his amusement, I completed the set

To my regret, I didn't consider collecting comics back in those days. I would read them a time or two, put them into a pile until it built up and then with a friend, Paul Stergar, we would lug them around the neighborhood selling them for a nickel apiece. What we collected was baseball cards and we used our nickels to buy packs of ball cards with a stick of gum. By the end of grade school, I had tired of comics and before I started high school I had also given my entire collection of baseball cards to Paul. (The collection of cards included multiple Mickey Mantle cards from nearly every year and many many more.) Paul probably got rich from the cards we collected.

My interest in Comic books would revive about the time I started college. More later.