Bill Placek

Yes, I am! I am alive, and very well. I am still buying new books (yikes!) I am voting for myself. I started at six in 1956 with superman & batman. I can telly exactly where I saw and bought that first Justice League in B & B # 28 (Downtown Chicago, Randolph street news stand between State & Clark. As I turned 12 I got on my bike and rode to every resale store and always handed the owner an EXTRA dollar to save any "older" ones for me and then handed them a list. This continued until my father who pumped gas and was a mechanic who fix and reload cars, found a guy with a huge collection. I scoured the A-1 boxscore downtown, and they were basically a used book store that hide the comics from "little" kids with little $. Osfeld's (sp) was another with an even stranger owner who seemed to hate young people also b/c the had little cash...every thing was $25. (Mistake one...his cat knocked over a pile of magazines and I cleaned them up and saw a Marvel Mystery #1 (but wasn't sure it was really with the painted like cover) but didn't change my mind away from the All-Star #8 I purchase in really nice shape. I never filked in the Marvel Mysteries had the 8-10, and many of the 20's and 30s issues which were really the best of the companies work imo. My DC were pretty much complete to 1952 all the Actions Supermans Detectives World's Finest, and Batmans (and did my a very fine copy of Batman #1 fromJack Whalen in Canton PA, for $40.00 a few days after my dad was shot and killed.) Flash All-American, star spangled, Leading, Comic cavalcades, tons of Fawcett Marvels including nthat Mr. Mind series, the Mack Raboy Capt Marvel Jr.s.the MLJs, and I eventually purges the non superhero books as the doubles of the every silver age super hero books needs space. I kept collecting until about 1975 My grandson, Nolan River (from the M. Night Shamylan 'OLD", found this site. he is 10 and all we talk about heroes and villains from the all the books. It was great to have Roy Thomas stay over a week while he was reading all my 1939-41 Speed Centaur comic line issues, and our "conventions" in basements of 25 hard core comic fans. Going to South Bend Indiana to visit Keith Greene, Bob Butts and (another name) It tickles me that Doug Moench, was a fellow fan in our group, Spa fon's Rich Hauser, and may others. I was always the youngster in the group and was treated as an equal. I taught mathematics at Tilden HS and Lincoln Park H.S. until I retired to st. Pete., but still have an obsession for the only sport I every followed, hockey as I attended the Blackhawk games from 1960 on with regularity. My current job is being an amateur scout for myself originally on Draftsite.com and now on the mock drafts on Lines.com. I am a staunch liberal democratic socialist (sorry if I scare you with this)and attend church regularly at a church that says "all means all" and spend time with many volunteer projects involving food collections, a soup ministry, the Pack a Sack program with local elementary school, and give back. The comics have enabled me to live a pretty charmed life.