Parental Guidance

Doug:  Some of the comments in our recent discussions, notably the post last Friday on periphery products (Karen's tale of a father not happy due to the redecorative properties of the Marvel wall stickers was a hoot) alongside our comics buying, has us thinking about the role our parents and other significant adults played in our buying as children and teens.  Today we'd like to talk about allowances, parental support or disdain (and we hope to not open any wounds for our readers -- forgive us in advance, as that is certainly not the intent of this conversation), and maybe even specific comics you recall a significant adult in your life purchasing for you.

Image courtesy of the Mego Museum

Doug:  My mom was just a saint when it came to supplying this pup with comics and comic-related goodness.  I wish I could remember if I was a royal pain-in-the-butt at the store; I don't think I was, but hey -- I have a hard time remembering what I ate for breakfast yesterday.  I can recall several trips home from Target or Venture with a Mego in hand, and I have vivid memories of riding my bike -- at the ripe old age of 7 (something I never would have let my own kids do) -- to the local drugstore to buy 25c comics.  I really don't have any memories of getting an allowance, although I think I did.  Back in the early 1970's, it probably would have been a dollar per week.  But shoot -- that was four comics!  My dad wasn't around much when I was little, but I remember that he wasn't the least bit excited about my interest in comics.  I don't know that he talked down to me about it, but there were just enough comments made that it was clear where he stood.  Incidentally, I do think he was more in favor of my G.I. Joes, having served in the U.S. Army in the early '60's; Planet of the Apes was stupid, however.  Funny thing is, one of the last comic-related comments he made before the divorce was while looking at the Thor vs. Loki image in Marvel's 1977 calendar and saying of the John Buscema/Joe Sinnott image, "Man, those guys sure can draw muscles!"

Karen: For me too, my mom was always very supportive of my interests, particularly my more creative ones. Heck, she introduced me to the Universal monster films, Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, the Twilight Zone, and innumerable 50s sci fi films. My older brother brought comics into the house, but I was the one who really went bananas for them, and mom always encouraged my reading of them. She not only bought me comics, she took me to my very first comic book convention -the San Diego Comic Con in 1975. Mom enjoyed anything imaginative and over the top. I recall as a teen taking her to see Star Trek:The Wrath of Khan and The Empire Strikes Back at the theater. She had not been out to a movie theater in many years (she had been bedridden for several years when I was in my tweens) and the powerful, immersive sound system got her as pumped up as any 12 year old kid! At the time, I was annoyed but now I look back and smile. Dad has always been a much more practical guy. While he has never really understood my love of all this stuff, he's never put it down. I recall trips to the drugstore with him and he would pick up a comic or two for me.

Image found at Steve Does Comics

Doug:  As to comics I can recall relatives buying for me, there are a few.  I mentioned in the comments of last Friday's post that my sister and I spent a week in the western suburbs of Chicago with my uncle and aunt.  In 1975 I vividly recall a trip to an indoor amusement park called Old Chicago.  After going on some rides, we went out into the concourse to an ice cream shop.  There must have been some sort of gift shop adjacent to it, as I bird-dogged a spinner rack and instantly wrapped my 9-year eyeballs around it.  I am pretty sure I begged and pestered my aunt into buying me copies of Daredevil #'s 126-127 (October-November 1975) with the Torpedo, and Amazing Spider-Man #150 (November 1975), the epilogue to the "clone saga".  It was 75c well spent, I'm sure, as it probably kept me busy the rest of the day -- after I read them, I'm sure I would have asked for typing paper or tracing paper and done some of my own artwork.  As to specific books from my parents, we've discussed the Fireside books before, and I can recall each Christmas that I got one of the first five volumes, from Origins of Marvel Comics through Marvel's Greatest Superhero Battles.

Karen: For many years, Christmas at our household also meant Marvel goodies, including the "Origins" books as well as calendars. For specific comics, I can recall only a few. But one that  stands out is X-Men #114. When that issue came out, I had been laid up at home for some time with an illness, and there was little that brightened my mood. But when mom came home one day with that comic for me, it really picked me up. To this day I can see that cover in my head effortlessly. That one book lifted me out of a bad time and to this day is one of my favorite issues of the title, probably just for that reason alone. And also, I'll always connect it to my mom, and all her efforts to help me feel better when I was having a rough go of it.

Doug:  Well, the ball is in your court now.  Do you have some remembrances to share, of good deeds and kind relatives?

Doug Says: "Check out some of my Stuff!" Part 9

Hello, and welcome to another installment of the things I've acquired during a lifelong affair with comics. No photos today, but instead we'll take a look at what became an annual rite of Christmas -- the unwrapping of a volume in the ongoing Origins of Marvel Comics series!


First up is Son of Origins of Marvel Comics, on sale way back in 1975. Of course, this was the sequel to the previous year's "Origins", but I didn't get that one then. I recall that we lived near a mall that had a Walden Books (or some similar store) that had a section called "nostalgia". I didn't know, at the age of 9, what that word meant, but I was very excited that whatever it meant had to do with comics! I believe I requested Son of Origins on my Christmas list, and along with Avengers #'s 145-146, it arrived under the tree.


The cover is striking, yet somewhat stiff when looking at it now. Iron Man dominates the scene -- I was a fan of his appearances in the Avengers, so I knew I would like this. Boy, was I surprised when I got to reading this and saw his first gray armor! My favorite story in the book was the origin of the Silver Surfer. At the time it was the longest single comics story I'd ever read. If I have a complaint, it would be that there are only 1st-issue stories for the X-Men and the Avengers. Here's the rundown of what was included -- links will take you to the Comic Book Database website:


The Avengers (1963) #1
Daredevil (1964) #1
Daredevil (1964) #47
Silver Surfer (1968) #1
Tales of Suspense (1959) #39
Tales of Suspense (1959) #97
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #1


I don't recall when I received Origins of Marvel Comics -- it might have been for my 10th birthday in the summer of 1976. You know, Stan Lee has been much maligned for his "me-centric" focus on the history of Marvel Comics. That's never more prevalent than in the text that precedes each feature in this book. For example, from the Hulk narrative, it's all "I had Jack do this" and "I asked Jack to introduce a kid sidekick" -- like me, you 've probably also read some Kirby apologists who say that the foundations of the Marvel Universe probably leaned past the 50-50 point toward Jack, not Stan. At any rate, they were magical together, and like most famous duos were never the same apart. This book was my introduction to Stan's hucksterism and self-promotion (although I gave neither a second thought at the time -- shoot, I thought Stan was speaking directly to me!).


A note on the cover -- doesn't everyone look great?? Even the Torch's bald head is OK -- weird, especially since John Buscema had recently been drawing him with flaming hair in the FF's own mag.


Here's what was in Origins of Marvel Comics:

Amazing Fantasy (1961) #15
The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #72
Fantastic Four (1961) #1Fantastic Four (1961) #55
The Incredible Hulk (1962) #1
The Incredible Hulk (1968) #118
Journey Into Mystery (1952) #83
Strange Tales (1951) #110
Strange Tales (1951) #115
Strange Tales (1951) #155
Thor (1966) #143


Bring on the Bad Guys was up next, released in October 1976, and is really a lot of fun. In the days before comics shops, and being so young, I had no access to back issues let alone the seminal stories of the Marvel Age of Comics. This is my favorite volume of the five I own. The origin of Dr. Doom, of the Red Skull, and the unmasking of the Green Goblin. Toss in a few installments of Tales of Asgard that show Thor and Loki as kids, as well as another John Buscema Silver Surfer story, and you have a winner. Here are the issues included in this one:


The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #40
Fantastic Four (1961) Annual 02
Fantastic Four (1961) #5
Journey Into Mystery (1952) #112
Journey Into Mystery (1952) #113
Journey Into Mystery (1952) #115
Silver Surfer (1968) #3
Strange Tales (1951) #126
Tales of Suspense (1959) #66
Tales of Suspense (1959) #67
Tales of Suspense (1959) #68
Tales to Astonish (1959) #90
Tales to Astonish (1959) #91



And I think I would be remiss if I didn't expose those cave-dwellers among you who have never partaken of Alex Ross's stunning homage to Romita's Bad Guys cover:

I'll admit that I was a little leery in 1977 about asking for The Superhero Women (you think my mom wanted to buy a book with Red Sonja hanging her stuff out all over the place - right on the cover??), but again -- I'm glad I did. Behind another Romita painting (these are just great), the reader was treated to another tour de force of Marvel's female characters. The cover doesn't begin to do the table of contents justice -- in addition to the ladies pictured, origin stories of the Cat, Shanna the She-Devil, and Lyra the Femizon (huh?). Some of the stories are multi-part, and the list of creators is a definite who's who, with John Buscema dominating (YEEESSSS!). Here's what ya got:


The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #62
The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #86
The Cat (1972) #1
Fantastic Four (1961) #22
Fantastic Four (1961) #36
Marvel Feature (1971) #4
Ms. Marvel (1977) #1
Savage Tales (1971) #1
Shanna the She-Devil (1972) #1
Tales to Astonish (1959) #44
Thor (1966) #189
Thor (1966) #190


Last, but as they say - certainly not least - is Marvel's Greatest Superhero Battles (1978). Now how would you interpret that title? I'm thinking good guys fighting good guys. Well, that would only be half right. Inside you get the FF vs. the Hulk with the Avengers lending a hand, a fabulous battle-royal between Subby and Iron Man (interesting dichotomy of art, however, as Gene the Dean Colan began it and Kirby finished it), the always-awesome Silver Surfer #4 where the skyrider battles Thor in Asgard, and DD vs. Subby. The other three tales, however, are just the X-Men, Dr. Strange, and Spidey getting it on with some of their greatest foes. Oh well -- maybe it's something for everyone?


Here's the list of stories:


The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #69
Daredevil (1964) #7
Fantastic Four (1961) #25
Fantastic Four (1961) #26
Silver Surfer (1968) #4
Strange Tales (1951) #139
Strange Tales (1951) #140
Strange Tales (1951) #141
Tales of Suspense (1959) #79
Tales of Suspense (1959) #80
Tales to Astonish (1959) #82
Uncanny X-Men (1963) #3



Oh, and did I mention that these books ranged in price from $5.95 to $6.95? Yeah, it was good to be a kid in the Bronze Age!!



See ya next time.