Comic Book Heroes

[Al Agnew]

I was musing while watching the movie "Thor", that all these Marvel comic superheroes were first created back in the 1960s when I was a kid. I was always a Marvel comic fan--didn't like the DC comics much at all. I was always bored by Superman; geez, he can only be hurt by green kryptonite, so that kinda limited the plot lines. The Marvel heroes always seemed more modern, more real, and even more vulnerable.

I think the first Marvel comic I ever bought was the number 1 issue of Spiderman. After that, I bought all the Marvel comics. This was in junior high, as near as I can remember; I remember spending my allowance and lawn mowing money by going down to the grocery store and buying the latest issues, along with a bag of red licorice, and spending the next hour or so not only reading them, but poring over the artwork. Yes, even back then I was more interested in art than the average 7th grader. That was another thing about the Marvel comics--they had better artists.

I remember the artist who did the early Spiderman, Ditko I think his name was, and how he was so great as putting Spiderman into such interesting postures and actions, with terrific perspective. I also remember most that Thor was done by an artist who did only that comic, and had a wonderfully fine and polished inking technique.

Back even before the beginning of my interest in Marvel comics, I remember reaching Archie comics. In fact, the first time I remember really noticing the artwork was in an Archie comic where Archie and friends ran afoul of a vicious mountain lion. Now Archie was usually pretty "cartoonish", but in this issue the artist tried to make the mountain lion look realistic, and I was somewhat impressed by how well he did.

One of the older neighbor kids was into Tarzan comics, and when he tired of them, he gave me his whole collection. That was when I really came to appreciate the art in comics. The Tarzan art was done by a pair of artists, Al Anderson and Jesse March, and they were very good, with extremely realistic animals and people.

So when I got into the Marvel comics, I was already noticing the artwork as much as the story lines. And Stan Lee always made sure the artists were prominently featured in intros to each story. It was always a shock when a different artist filled in or took over from whichever artist usually did a particular comic.

Actually, much of the time there were two artists for each comic, the one who drew the outlines of the action in each panel, and the inker. The inkers were the most individualistic, and the people I noticed the most.

I read Marvel comics all through high school, and even up into college age, before finally deciding there were better ways to spend the money. I'm not sure even then if it was not wanting to spend the money, or thinking that I was an adult and adults don't read comics.

I find it interesting that all the Marvel heroes, and the DC heroes Superman, Batman, and the Green Lantern have become so popular in movies. I wonder how much of the popularity has to do with the baby boomers like me who read the comics as kids.

When I went away from home to college, I told my mom she could throw my comic book collection away. It included that number 1 Spiderman, number 1 Thor, number 1 Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos (Nick Fury is now reincarnated as the leader of Shield, the confederation of superheroes, but back then he was an army sergeant who, with his men, killed thousands of Nazis and quite a few Japs.), number 1 Daredevil, and probably a bunch of other issues that are now quite valuable. If only...

[Mitch f]

Back then the super Heros weren't politically correct. I remember a Japanese super hero kids program kind of like Godzilla type thing called Tobor, which was robot spelled backwards. The guy would turn into a robot called Tobor by smoking a cigarette to get his special powers...imagine that today!! Funny about those post WW2 Japanese shows, they all were fought against some huge giant like Godzilla, which I suppose represented an overwhelming imperial power like the USA. But who got the Rast Raff, those jerk baits go for $28

[moguy1973]

Spiderman was always my favorite.

[Old plug]

I used to read a few comic books. Liked Dick Tracy as i recall. But in my culture around Chateau and Vandeventor. The most popular ones were the little one but they only had 8 pages. But the art work was very impressive to 12 and 13 yr olds.

[jdmidwest]

Archie comics were the ones that I remember the most. The Flash was another. Grandpa had a stack of old WWII adventure comics that were great, something you don't see any more.

Later in life, it was MAD Magazine. I still have a stack of those in storage somewhere. SPY vs SPY.

[DaddyO]

My uncle passed down his collection of Tarzan, Rawhide Kid and Sgt Rock comics. Later, I became a fan of Edgar Rice Burroughs and read almost all of his books including the entire collection of Tarzan books and the John Carter Barsoom series. But, keeping with the comic thread, when I think of comics, the ones my uncle passed down always come to mind first.

[Al Agnew]

I've always been a Burroughs fan. I believe that the first Tarzan book was about the fourth or fifth adult book I ever read. I have nearly every Burroughs book he ever wrote in my collection. I believe I read that book before I acquired the collection of Tarzan comics. Having read the book, I was always extremely disappointed with the Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movies.

I could talk for hours about Tarzan and the other Burroughs heroes.

I read some Sgt. Rock, but once Sgt. Fury came out I never bothered with another Sgt. Rock.

[Mitch f]

Al, you have a gift of remembering everything you read!! I wonder if you ever get thru a book and think...man, I just wasted one week of my life!! Of course comic books don't require too much time commitment. I distinctly remember reading a few Rudyard Kipling books when I was young but that's about it, Rikki Tikki Tavi was one of my favorites. Don't know why but I just never got into the comic books very much.

[Quillback]

Anyone read the Doc Savage paperbacks? Technically not comic books, but the books were put together from pulp fiction magazines of the 30's. I was on a Doc Savage kick when I was 10 years old. I think I read them all that summer. He was known as the Man of Bronze. His credo:

"Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it. Let me think of the right and lend all my assistance to those who need it, with no regard for anything but justice. Let me take what comes with a smile, without loss of courage. Let me be considerate of my country, of my fellow citizens and my associates in everything I say and do. Let me do right to all, and wrong no man."

[Al Agnew]

No, never got into the Doc Savage books. I think I read one, but didn't care for it.

Getting a little away from the comic book theme, but for a long time I really enjoyed reading Star Trek books, back before all the other Star Trek versions came out on TV. I have a collection of over 50 Star Trek novels based upon the original TV series. And before that, I read every "Man from U.N.C.L.E." novel that came out, based upon that old TV series.