One afternoon as I was wandering aimlessly up and down the aisles of the local People?s Drug while my dad filled a prescription; Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #10 caught my eye on the spinning comic book rack. The agony and equal perseverance the Mike Zech drawn Doctor Doom elicits on that cover struck me as something awesome. I HAD to have that comic. Just as my dad agreed to shell out the sixty cents to buy the book, Amazing Spider-Man #261 twirled around the rack, exposing that beautiful Charles Vess painted cover with the Hobgoblin standing victoriously over a seemingly defeated Spider-Man. Now I had a dilemma. I had to somehow finagle $1.20 to have these two comics. I struck a deal with my dad. He?d buy one comic of my choosing now, and I could earn the other sixty cents needed by cleaning my room. Within 24 hours I believe I had my room cleaner than any other kids' in the entire neighborhood. I now had both of these brilliant comics and I read and reread them incessantly. My love of comic books was born.
Needing to feed the urge to read every single comic book I could get my hands on, my dad passed by what became my Mecca as a pre teen, and the source for my insatiable habit. Being a Naval officer who worked in Crystal City he often would take lunch breaks in the Crystal City Underground. He would pick up one issue of Secret Wars per week at Geppi?s Comics (only after my chores were complete, of course) until I had all 12. My first in store visit came after I had finished collecting that first run. Seeing the alphabetized bagged and boarded back issues in the white Formica bins and the new releases on the shelves back in the corner had me giddy every time I walked into the store. Who needed the arcade next door to Geppi?s with all these comic books to read???
High School brought a move to Annapolis as Dad?s last tour was at the Naval Academy. It also brought me to my first part time job at Twilight Zone Comic Books and Records. It was on the second floor of a brownstone in the harbor of Annapolis and yet another slice of utopia. To this day that year spent at The Twilight Zone is my favorite work experience ever, and it was also the lowest pay I?ve ever received (happily I might add).
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