Hey, Kids! Comics! Comics
I can't remember when I started reading comic books. I used to get stacks of old comics from my uncle (before he discovered Playboy) and the stacks would pile up until my mother decided to weed out the truly decrepit ones. If I remember correctly, I enjoy ed super-heroes, funny animals and Archie comics. When I started buying my own in the early '70s, I pretty much opted for the boys in spandex, though I did read and enjoy an occasional adventure of Jughead or Dennis the Menace. I dropped out of the comic buying habit for a few years in junior high when I discovered science fiction books, and then started buying comics again in earnest t the end of high school. During those days I had a real obsession with amassing a collection. If I discovered a title tha t was having a period of exceptional writing or art, I then started buying all of the series. I usually only ended up buying the cheap back issues, which were usually from those periods in the series history which were really lousy. When the comi cs field expanded in the eighties, I tried some of the science fiction and adventure titles, but I still spent most of my comics dollars on the boys in spandex.Eventually my interest in comics waned. In part, it was due to the ever increasing price. But it was also due to the change in tone of the mainstream titles. The moral ambiguity that crept into the four-color world didn't make sense to me. There were too many violent psychopaths held up as heroes, without any believable rationale as to why they would be working on the side of "right." And then, those heroes that were believable (or at least held up my ideals) seemed to spend every summer barely staving of f universal destruction and then returning to business as usual. So, bit by bit, I dropped titles and cut back on the back issues I purchased. I even (gasp!) sold off some of my collection when I moved out to Seattle. (There was a wife involved in this. Y ou married guys will understand this.)
Anyway, these days, I'm down to following one regular title. I don't have a lot of comics links because, after all, my heyday was the early eighties. First Comics doesn't even exist, so I'm sure a website is out of the question. DC Comics does have a website, and I enjoy perusing the message boards on occasion. Like the letters pages in the comics themselves, I don't often try to air my own views. The title I still follow, JSA is published by DC.
I spent many years as a fan of Marvel Comics, but dropped out a few years back. A major part of my collection is their Avengers title. I'm four issues shy of having a complete collection of their first run. (i f you count reprints, and don't count companion titles like Solo Avengers or Avengers Unplugged) However, that first series went out on its back, so I've avoided picking up the latest version. I did greatly enjoy issue #8 of Ultimat e Spider-Man so who knows? I may end up reading Marvels again.
I've peeked at some Eros Comics, and promise never to do it again.
Archie comics, however, I have no moral problems with. I've even started sharing them with my kids. Not only are they wholesome entertainment, but the ratty back issues are dirt cheap.
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of graphic novels from Belgium that are also good for kids. A friend of mine had some back in the seventies and I enjoyed reading them when I visited him. I had seen some in the Libr ary, and just last year I read them again. My oldest daughter started reading them too and we both fell in love with them.
Back to Nostalgia.updated 4/29/2001