Of Age, Birth Order, and Coming to Comics

Doug:  Through our years together on the Bronze Age Babies, we've discussed our first comics, how old we are, and how we make a living -- among other personal anecdotal/historical topics.  But there's one thing I don't think we've done, and that's put the entire puzzle together.  Here's where I'm going with this:  Karen is slightly (hey, I'm no dummy when it comes to discussing a woman's age, don't you know?) older than I, so naturally she would have come to comics a bit earlier than did I.  But a more important factor, in my opinion, is that she has an older brother.  I, on the other hand, have one sibling -- a sister almost three years my junior.  It's my opinion that this latter consideration is most important when considering that Karen began her love of comics in the "Kree/Skrull War", while I would say the "Celestial Madonna" storyline was one of the things that hooked me.  Yet, I'm not that much younger than Karen...

Doug:  So today, let's discuss how old you are, where you are in terms of birth order (of course, if it was an older cousin, uncle, neighbor, etc. who introduced you to comics that were a wee bit older than you at that time, please mention that factor as well), and the first comics you can remember buying yourself.  My mind clouds a bit, but I recall buying the book below, as well as Fantastic Four #161 as among the first books bought with my own quarters.  That should give you some sort of an idea where I am coming from in this time/family paradox (if that's what it is!).