You never forget your first time...

As I mentioned previously, I was a Marvel Zombie when I first got into comic books.  In thinking back, I don't recall a specific reason it took me almost 3 years before I picked up a DC book.  Was it exposure to the Super Friends cartoon and I assumed that the comics were too childish?  Was it a case of branding?  Make Mine Marvel?  I honestly can't recall a reason.

I do remember my first though.  One night I was out running errands with our neighbor, a gentleman who was confined to a wheelchair.  I would help him get his wheelchair in and out of his car and help him shop a couple times a week.  I also did his yard work.  We had stopped at the Big Y and while he shopped I headed over to the magazine aisle and the comic book racks.  I don't remember what prompted me to pick The Year's Best Comics Stories digest up.  Was it the bold "Year's Best" proclamation?  I had just started reading and enjoying Squadron Supreme. Did I realize that it was based on the JLA and that factored into my decision?  Was I just bored and had already read all the Marvel comics that were for sale?

Regardless the reason, I bought it and started reading it on the way home.  It had a variety of stories that I was fascinated by.  It started out with a heady story that was unlike anything I had read up to that point and was followed by a super hero story that posited that the hero didn't exist.  It had a WWII story and a story about Green Lantern-but not the guy from the cartoon.  Some stories were great (as advertised) and some lost on me:

• "The Anatomy Lesson" from Swamp Thing- As comic fans know this was the 2nd issue of the Alan Moore run on the character.  At the time, I'll admit this story was lost on me.  There were no superheroes; nothing that at that time interested me.  Having re-read some years back, I appreciated it much more.  
• "If Superman Didn't Exist" from Action Comics- At the time I enjoyed the story for the story.  Two kids 'invent' Superman and he saves the day.  Re-reading it today (for the first time since then) I see that it was DC Comic's (Well, Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane and Julius Schwartz at least) love letter to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.  
• "Killers Also Smile" from Sgt. Rock- This may have been my favorite story at the time.  I was a huge WWII buff growing up and here was a story that took place in the European theater.  Sarge Rock and Easy Company take on a SS unit that is moving from village to village massacring civilians.  A poignant story then and now.  Interestingly, Joe Kubert and his son Adam both worked on this story as editor and letterer respectively.
• "Guess What's Coming To Dinner?" from Legion of Super-Heroes- Another super-hero story with no super-heroics.  This one dealt with a controversial mixed marriage between two members of the Legion.  Oddly, also lettered by Adam Kubert.
• "Final Duties" from Green Lantern- This story was a tales of the Green Lantern Corps back-up story about a GL's last day. Kwo Varrikk's last day is filled with his heroic feats: stopping an interplanetary war, stopping a planet wide earthquake, diverting a meteor swarm from destroying a planet.  As he retires though, his thoughts are of a runaway kite he retrieved for a little boy.  At the time, the moral of the story was lost on me.
• "Viva Nebiros" from Blue Devil- A fun, goofy tale featuring a team up between Blue Devil and Zatanna.
• "Who is Donna Troy?" from Teen Titans- This Titans tale was and is still lost on me.  Then, because I had no idea who Donna Troy was and now, multiple retcons later, I still don't know who Donna Troy is.
• "Babe's Story" from Atari Force- I'm sure this origin story would have made more sense if I knew what Atari Force was.  As a stand alone sci-fi tale, it's decent, but formulaic.

In hindsight, I don't know what grabbed my interest so much, but I was soon reading DC titles.  Searching through the cover galleries at DC Comics Database at Wikia Entertainment for July 1985, I remember reading Crisis on Infinite Earths #4 (there's a gateway comic for you!), All-Star Squadron #47, Infinity Inc #16 and Green Lantern #191.

What was your first comic?

Yo Joe!

My love affair with comic books started when I traded a bag of shooters for G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #2 during the summer of 1982.  I read it that sunny afternoon and within minutes of finishing it, I was on my bike riding to the Dairy Mart 1/2 mile away where my friend said he bought it.  I walked into the convenience store and there it was- a circular wire rack of comic books.  I remember finding G.I. Joe #3, Avengers #225, Star Wars #66 and Captain America Annual #6.  I don't remember any DC Comics from that trip or for quite awhile to be honest.  I was a Marvel Zombie.  DC didn't get their hooks in me until 2 1/2 years later.  Rom, The Incredible Hulk, The Defenders and Spider-Man all quickly followed.  The Fantastic Four.  Marvel Two-In-One starring the Thing.  Marvel Team-Up.  Before I knew it, I had read everything that Dairy Mart could provide.  The phone book led me to three different comic book stores in Springfield (AKA the "Big City" in Western MA): Treasure Island, Rebel Peddler and Bob's Hobbies & Collectibles.  There were whole stores devoted to comic books!  This was too good to be true.  I convinced my mom to drive me to the Rebel Peddler.  It was a hole in the wall little store that had tables of long boxes.  I had discovered back issues!  My meager allowance wasn't going to be enough.  I quickly got two paper routes (the daily Union News and the weekly Pennysaver)  to make money.  Within months, I was taking the bus into Springfield every Friday afternoon, catching one or two transfers depending on the shop I was going to.

Looking back at G.I. Joe #2, I can't honestly say what it was that hooked me so hard.  It's a great story (I recently re-read it as part of IDW's collection of the Marvel run).  A Joe team consisting of Stalker, Breaker, Scarlett, and Snake-Eyes parachutes into the Arctic to investigate what happened to a US research station that was attacked. They cross paths with Kwinn, an Eskimo mercenary who is working for the Russians.  The Russians were preparing to use a fear wave on the US, but it backfired on the Russian team that was deployed to use it.  The Russian team, in a fit of paranoia, attacked the US research station.  Kwinn was hired by the Russians to recover the fear ray and destroy the evidence.  Kwinn gets the drop on the Joe team (so much for them being an elite counter terrorist outfit) and takes the firing pins from their weapons, adding them to his weasel skull necklace and he leaves the Joes stranded at a deserted Russian base.  Kwinn is torn by his conscience; not wanting to work for the Russians once he realizes they were using fear as a weapon, but forced by his word to honor his contract.  The Joe team scavenges enough equipment from the research station to make an ice sailboat and chase after Kwinn.  Meanwhile, Kwinn leaves his weasel necklace (with firing pins) hidden in an ice cairn and delivers the fear ray to the Russians and leaves, warning them that the Joe team is on the way.  The last panel of the comic shows the Joe team with Snake Eyes on point wearing the weasel skull necklace marching through the Arctic towards the Russians.