Fondest Comic Book Memories?

[GreenLanternRanger]

So I thought it would be a fun idea to create a thread for everyone to post about their fondest comic book based memories of their childhood &/or teen years. You can talk about a single issue or whole series. Anywho I guess i'll get things started.

Today i'd like to share 3 of my favorite comic series from my childhood.

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1. Justice League: Incarnations

I don't know if the popular opinion on this series is good or bad, or if anyone remembers it at all, but to me this book was alot of fun. I don't know what exactly drew me to it, but this was the first DC comic series I bought on a regular basis, and though it didn't last long, I enjoyed every issue. My favorites were issue #2 which as I recall had something to do with Batman and a Dinosaur, and issue #6 which focused on Blue Beetle & Booster Gold. And while I sadly no longer own my old copies of the series (they got ruined in a move) I still remember it fondly. Sad it was never collected in trade.

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2. Archie's Weird Mysteries

Even as a kid I loved stuff that involved Sci-Fi &/or Supernatural mysteries. When Archie launched the Archie's Weird Mysteries series I was super excited! Sadly since the cartoon was a syndicated one & none of the networks in my area picked it up I was out of luck on the cartoon front, but thankfully I was still able to pick up and read the comic,and man was it fun. Honestly my favorite part wasn't the comic strips, but the stories readers sent in about their own weird experiences. I stuck with the book till it dropped the weird part of the title with issue 25 and just became another genaric Archie title. But hey, those first 23-24 issues were pretty fun!

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3. TMNT Adventures

Although this series ran abit before my time in comics (1988-1995) I remember getting some issues of it for my birthday in the late 90's. My aunt knew I was a Ninja Turtles fan and she bought me about 6-7 of these comics as a gift. The ones I remember the most vivevdly are the Future Shark Saga books, those were pretty neat. Sadly I got them at a time where I would drag books & comics with me everywhere I went and read them till they fell apart, so I don't have all of my TMNT Adventures comics anymore, but I did enjoy them while I did have them. XD

So those are some of my fond comic book memories. How about the rest of you guys and gals. Any stories you care to share?

[Kirby101]

Not a comic, but riding my bike to various stores on New Comic day (Thursday back then) to check the spinner racks for the new books. Pre-LCBS.

[Kusanagi]

The entire run of Ostrander's Heroes for Hire really got me into comics, before that just occasionally bought Wolverine and the odd X-men issue.

Nextwave Agents of HATE. Yeah the entire run of this too.

Cable and Deadpool.

[hedgehogvampire]

For me one of my fondest comic book memories was probably when I got my first comic Sonic the Hedgehog #124. It was at a Borders book store that was having a midnight release party for the fifth Harry Potter book. I remember while waiting for the Harry Potter book I was looking around at the comic section and found the Sonic comic and fell in love immediately and have been reading the Sonic series since then. Heck I remember I use to bring that issue and #125 with me everywhere that they loss their covers. I actually still have them, they are in terrible condition but I still own them. I been now reading that comic series for almost half of my life now.

An other memory was when I got the House of M graphic novel, also at Borders. I remember I wanted to try to get into other comics that wasn't just Sonic and I saw the X-men and Spider-man on the same cover and thought it looked cool. I knew both of them was own by Marvel but at the time I didn't know that they lived in the same universe. And man how much has times change, when I got this comic out side of Spider-man and maybe Iron Man (I don't remember if the first Iron Man movie was out or not) I had no idea who the Avengers were. XD I thought the art work was awesome and the story was cool. By the end of the book I wanted to know what had happened to the mutants and made me want to start reading X-men comics. Now that I think back a lot of my early comic book memories came from Borders and sadly I don't think they are around any more.

[Filament]

I went back to college in my early thirties. I was low on money during that time and Claremont's Uncanny X-Men and New Mutants were the only two titles I could afford. Where I went to school, I was probably the oldest student they had. There were some folks in their mid-twenties and that's mostly who I hung out with. They were all quite familiar with what was happening with the X-Men. That's probably the first time in my life that I was not the only adult that still read comics. The rest of my life, where I live, was always me being the only person who had an interest. I know that would not have been the case in other parts of the country but it was like that where I am.

[Iron Maiden]

Not a comic, but riding my bike to various stores on New Comic day (Thursday back then) to check the spinner racks for the new books. Pre-LCBS.

I remember those spinner rack days too. And we didn't know what was going to happen in advance like you have now with the internet. It was a constant surprise to see the covers when the new issues came out.
Also, reading the letters pages. Most of the time Stan was answering those too and you got some goofy fun going on there at times too.

• And no prizes! I wish I had won one!
• Annuals! and they did come out annually. Marvel still does some from time to time but not consistently. Usually something important happened, like Sue and Reed's wedding, the birth of Franklin, etc.
• Speaking of annuals, the pinup pages!

[Lee Stone]

I had been reading my brother's comics prior, but when I first dived into 'my own' comics... it was the same month that Marvel launched the original Contest of Champions.

I remember reading all the bios of the characters in the back of each issue and making lists of the teams.

I remember sorting my comics out where the corner box of each Marvel comic was seen.

I remember the first book I became a 'fan' of: JLI.

I remember my junior high had one comic in its library and I kept it checked out on a regular basis: the DC Digest that reprinted the first issues of the All-Star comics revival with Power Girl.

I remember being blown away by Sienkiewicz's art in New Mutants.

I remember buying Madman Comics #1 just to have a new comic to sell at a convention, only to end up reading and loving it, effectively opening my eyes to indie comics by sole creators.

[codystarbuck]

Reading Super Goof, as he took on the Beagle Boys.

Riding my bike 5 miles to the next town, which had a grocery store with a comic rack and buying issues of the Wolverine mini-series (Claremont and Miller), X-Men (Brood saga), Legion of Superheroes (Great Darkness Saga).

Walking into a favorite bookstore, after a long time away and discovering that their comics spinner was filled with stuff from the Direct Market and being introduced to Jon Sable, American Flagg, Starslayer, Nexus, and discovering reprints of Micronauts and the Roy Thomas/Neal Adams X-Men.

Finding out there was a comic store in Athens, GA, walking into it, and picking up a book about the tv show The Prisoner, a hardcover of The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, all 6 Pacific Comics issues of Starslayer, and seeing the third issue of The Tick, with Oedipus and the ninjas.

Driving up to Charlotte (from Charleston, SC) to hunt for back issues. I stopped halfway, at Columbia, SC and picked up comics at a store, plus some Avenger paperback reprints (the pulp hero), at a used bookstore; then stopped in Charlotte, at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find. After sifting through the back issues and buying a stack, I was told about there warehouse sale, going on a couple of blocks away. I drove over and discovered a treasure trove of Treasury Editions, issues of Warrior Magazine, the Dixie Pistols record album (Tim Truman's blues band, with the Scout wedding comic, from Eclipse), and the Comics Journal issue with the extremely rare long interview with Bill Watterson. I walked out of there with a massive haul, at really good prices, too.

My first big comic convention, the Atlanta Fantasy Fair, where I got a bootleg of Heavy Metal (before it finally got a commercial vhs release), Jonny Quest episodes (to supplement the handful that were on vhs), a bunch of Starlin Captain Marvels and Steranko Strange Tales, the last of the Swanderson Superman "sand creature" issues I needed, Mike Grell's Starslayer portfolio and Paul Gulacy's Black Widow portfolio, a 1940s issue of the Black Terror, a guide to the Wild, Wild West tv show, a sketch of the original Captain Marvel from Joe Staton (who also signed my E-Man #1), saw Marina Sirtis in a very sexy black mini-dress, and got Marc Singer to sign "happy birthday" to my sister, on a photo of him from Beastmaster.

Meeting Mike Grell and spending the day talking to him, Mike Gold and John Ostrander about comics, publishing, Kim Yale, Robin Hood, Maxfield Parrish, Elliot S! Maggin, the owners of First Comics, Eclipse's publishing woes, and King Solomon's Mines. I then got my Astro City trades signed by Kurt Busiek and got to meet Yvonne Craig. She was still a beautiful woman, nearly 40 years after Batman.

[Matt Murdock's Swagger]

Wolfman/Perez - Teen Titans
Claremont/Byrne - X-Men
Miller - Daredevil

[Orujo-man]

Uff a lot of comics when I was a kid. Mostly French and Spanish, I discovered American comics later when I was a teenager.

-Mortadelo and Filemon by F. Ibañez
-The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé (I have an special affection for this)
-Asterix by R. Goscinny and A. Uderzo

I have an special memory. I had 8 years old and I remember when I took "borrowed" the comics of my parents who had a rather adult themes. Including several magazines like Metal Hurlant, Totem, Cimoc and one of "El Víbora". I won a penalty for that, but I don't regret.

[The Whovian]

-When I was about 6 or 7, my step father took me and my siblings on vacation and we stopped at a corner store which had a spinner rack. I walked right up to it and was reading one of the comics. My step father asked me if I wanted it and of course I said "yes". So he bought it for me and I read that comic several times on vacation.
-When I was in high school I had accrued a bunch of comics that, after reading, I really didn't want anymore. BUT, a friend of mine had somehow got his hands on a copy of "The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans" which featured the Phoenix and Darkseid by Simonson. I HAD to have it. He wanted about 50 of my comics that I didn't even want anymore, but I was more than happy to trade them to him for that one book. I was so ecstatic to have it and read it! One of the best trades I ever made.
-Going to the local store and buying FF and other comics off of the spinner racks. I'll never forget the time me and my friend had just bought the newest FF comic. We were walking back across the railroad tracks and he slipped and hit his knee. He has his copy of the FF issue and when he hit his knee, he mangled the comic in his hand from the pain. After about 15 minutes, he felt better but his FF comic looked like it had been through war. We laughed and I let him read mine.
-Another friend of mine gave me one of his Thor issues by Simonson to show me how cool it was. I was blown away. I hunted down the back issues and I've been a fan ever since.
-Buying Crisis on Infinite Earths every month off of the racks and being totally amazed and in awe by what was happening and what DC was doing. It was a time before there were ever spoilers being heard of before hand and the internet would not be even available for another 15 years. It was refreshing to get each issue every month not knowing what was going to happen and see these iconic characters being killed off.

*edit*
Oh geez, I can't believe I forgot one of the best memories I had as a kid. My oldest brother used to buy a comic and then never read it again. He would just stack them up in his closet. He had three large stacks of comics. No bags or boards. He didn't care about that stuff. Just read them and threw them on the stacks already piling up. I wanted to read them dearly, but you just did NOT touch my brother's things. Even things he really didn't care about.

He must have got sick of them taking up room in his closet because one day my dad asked me if I wanted them. I thought he was joking. He gave me three large stacks of my brother's comics. When I sorted them out and put them in order and by title, they included the complete Byrne FF run, most of Miller's DD run (I think he was missing 2 or 3 issues which I eventually tracked down), the Claremont/Byrne Uncanny X-Men run and some Cockrum issues, most of the Perez Avengers issues and many other Marvel comics. It's part of the reason why I grew up a Marvel fan. It was probably the most exciting day of my life in terms of acquiring comics to read. Especially the quality of the comics and at the age I was.

[The Whovian]

Mark Gruenwald's Captain America
Archie Comics
TMNT Adventures

My first exposure to Cap was the Stern/Byrne era, which was awesome. Then J. M. DeMatteis' run and Mark's right after. It was a fun time to be sure!

[The Whovian]

I remember those spinner rack days too. And we didn't know what was going to happen in advance like you have now with the internet. It was a constant surprise to see the covers when the new issues came out.
Also, reading the letters pages. Most of the time Stan was answering those too and you got some goofy fun going on there at times too.

[LIST][*]And no prizes! I wish I had won one!

I remember wanting one when I was kid. I used to think of ways to get one but gave up after a while.

[GreenLanternRanger]

Lots of awesome stories so far. Thanks for sharing.

[Kirby101]

I remember those spinner rack days too. And we didn't know what was going to happen in advance like you have now with the internet. It was a constant surprise to see the covers when the new issues came out.
Also, reading the letters pages. Most of the time Stan was answering those too and you got some goofy fun going on there at times too.

[LIST][*]And no prizes! I wish I had won one![*][*]Annuals! and they did come out annually. Marvel still does some from time to time but not consistently. Usually something important happened, like Sue and Reed's wedding, the birth of Franklin, etc.[*]Speaking of annuals, the pinup pages!

Yes, I knew which comics were due each week, but if i didn't find them we weren't sure if i missed it or it was delayed.

And ordering old comics from Passaic Books to fill out my collection. I should have gotten the Amazing Fantasy #15 for $150, but it seemed like so much money.