My first exposure to comics was television, specifically “Batman.” I didn’t know what “camp” was at the time. All I know was that Batman was almost as heroic as my Dad, and I wanted to be Robin and hang out with him. I used to pin a yellow dish towel to my shirt and run around jumping on and off furniture.
Somewhere at Mom & Dad’s house, there’s a photo album with a picture of me with the “Batman” cake I wanted for my 4th Birthday party.
Then there Saturday morning cartoons. I was convinced I had the same power to speak to fish that Aquaman had. Too bad I lived on dry land and couldn’t check it out.
Then one day at my Aunt Donna’s house, I discovered a stack of old Flash, Justice League and Superboy comic. Most of them were 80-Page Giants, with tons of reprints. These tales established by comic book tastes, so it’s no wonder I’m more of a fan of Silver-Age D.C. than I am of Marvel’s “House of Ideas.”
The books belonged to her sons, my cousins, and she let me have them. I imagined they were furious at me for that.
For the years, Aunt Donna was my only supplier. Then in 1972, my family moved to our home on Maryland and Frye in the East Bluff, and I soon discovered that two nearby stores — the Convenient Food Mart and Green’s Drug Store — sold brand new comic books. Almost ever cent of my allowance went to comics. In fact, the need to get my comic-book fix drove my entrepreneurial spirit. I mowed lawns, took out garbage, delivered newspapers … most to raise money for the comics I needed.
And it hasn’t been easy. The price of the damn things keep going up. A lot of the best comics aren’t even comics, but stuff that goes directly to HARDBACK. So even though I have a real job, I’mstill not really able to buy all the comics I really want to buy. And there’s so much more super-hero related toys out there too.
Anyway, since I’m running the Blog Peoria Project, I thought I’d toss together a few reviews and essays on the state of comics books and culture, and maybe help all your young comic book fans out there decide where to invest your limited comic-book buying dollars. And maybe I’ll score some Google AdSense revenue to buy a few extra books a month.
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