In the Beginning

The first comic book I can remember having was given to me when I was five. One rainy day it was sitting on the floor of my Grandfather's car waiting for me. I say Grandfather, but I mean my Pop-Pop. This man, this incredibly kind man gave me something that I never realized until much later on in life, when I was slightly over forty. It was not only a treasury sized edition of Star Wars that he gave me as a kid, it was the passion that I felt for this materialistic item of fancy artwork and words. 

I have purchased comic books many times before, but those were pulled from the three for a dollar rack. They mostly consisted of Richie Rich, Casper, and the occasional super hero comic book. This begs me to answer, what's the difference between the first comic books I ever owned and the first comic book of my collection? A collection consists of more than one, normally this needs a beginning, and this was my beginning.

My first comic books never had me going back for more month after month. They were purchased whenever I was close to a newsstand or comic book shop, including a shop that I frequented when I was ten. Then one day at my local 7-11, when I was twelve, a recent remodel moved the magazine rack to the front of the store. This marketing ploy stopped me from entering the candy aisle; it was also the first time I bought a comic book with my allowance. 

New Mutants #15 was in the front, its cover by Tom Mandrake drew me over. The inside, by Sal Buscema and Chris Claremont, is what made me want to pick up the next issue, I didn’t realize I had to wait a month and headed back to the store the next day where my understanding of the Marvel Universe expanded.  I left with five or six new titles. It was a long time later that I attributed issue #15 as the beginning of my dirty little secret and as I got older I hid them away, only confiding with my closest friends. 

My comics were with me as I started dating, when I moved out, and became a father. These bound papers traversed through my twenties, thirties and entered into my forties. I continued on with these four color books being part of my life's experiences. Comic books have been a part of me for as long as I can remember, especially that treasury sized edition of Star Wars that I hurried to pick up off the floor of the car while my feet dripped from the rain outside. I tossed it to the left, buckled my seatbelt, and picked it back up ready to begin an adventure. The comic book has long since been lost to the trials of life, but I transferred the love that I have always had for my Pop-Pop to the little stapled stories I buy every week, and every week I still go on an adventure. 

Thanks for Reading