Is My Memory Wrong?

[Tnerb]

Should I be collecting something else?

 

 

There are certain memories I have that I would swear by. I can remember my first crush (it was my babysitter), I can remember the first girl I loved (it was Kira, in first grade), I can remember my first Kiss (it was Nadja at Camp Council), and I can remember the first comic book I ever collected (it was New Mutants #15... wasn't it?).

 

I recently decided to start making top ten lists. I wanted to make a list of ten "raw" comic books and the top CGC graded books I would like, along with the best "Spider-Man" covers I enjoyed growing up. One of these titles started me thinking of my earliest collecting days (it was Marvel Tales #154).

 

I can remember seeing the cover of New Mutants #15 crying out for me to purchase it. I read it over and over and over becoming immersed into a new world. I enjoyed it so much that I couldn't wait till issue #16. Sub Mariner #38 was another monumental book. This one was released before I was born and I read that numerous times as well. Most of my silver age books at that time were given to me. I have thought about how I could possibly have gotten them and have arrived at the conclusion that I most likely got them from my Aunt Rozzie. Her son, my cousin Michael is a full ten years older than me and they probably were once part of his prized possessions, by the way, my earliest memory, it was his Bar Mitzvah, April 5th 1975.

 

I turned 12 in 84' and I remember changing my hiding spot from behind the right stereo speaker in the basement to my sock drawer. This is where I kept such titles as Marvel Tales, Fantastic Four, and Star Wars. I had numerous issues; all released before the publishing date of New Mutants #15. The thing is I can't remember when I got them. They were never bagged and boarded so I am sure I didn't buy them at a comic book shop. They weren't older titles so I don't think I got them from my Aunt. Could I have bought them at 7-11? Was I collecting comic books before I even knew it? Could my New Mutants #15 not be the catalyst for my collection I think it is. And if that is wrong, then what other memories could be slightly askew.

 

I had an oversized Star Wars treasury edition. I was five years old and more times than not my feet stepped on it when I got in my Pop Pop's car. I remember a rainy day and rushing in the car rather quickly (well as quick as a six year old could) stepping on the already worn comic. I picked it up not wanting to ruin it (more than it already was) and placed it next to me. I don't know if it was issue #2 or the complete treasury edition but I do remember the last page had a photograph of Sir Alec Guiness and George Lucas. I tend to feel that this was the comic book that got me to read other comic books which led to my fateful day purchasing New Mutants #15, but what if my memory is wrong?

 

Thanks for Reading

 

Tnerb

 

[surfer99]

the memory is the first thing to go dude! Besides, the older you get you can't even trust your memories. My wife gives me a hard time because I actually invent memories...yeah, yeah, remember that one time when we were...uh no babe, you weren't there.

 

It's all good, as long as you're collecting the books you love that's all that counts. If you enjoyed those other books, whether before or after New Mutants 15, collect them as well.

 

 

[phampton1737]

Hi Tnerb: Just wanted to say, I enjoyed reading and appreciated your posting. It felt both very personal and honest, and was refreshing in its focus on your personal relationship with comic books and their place in your heart. It is exactly that shared quality that has drawn us all to gather here in the first place, and to stay, though we forget.

 

Dorothy Parker was famed for her sizzling quotes, but I love most her observation that "The interesting thing, is the things that we remember."

 

I can't be sure whether the questions you ask are heartfelt or simply rhetorical, but just in case I'll offer up some answers anyway: Yes, you should be collecting comic books since that is apparently what you enjoy doing. Really, it's so much more than a "hobby;" it is a calling. (Sometimes I feel that we don’t choose comic books; they choose us.)

 

If you think about it, the "story of your life" just wouldn’t be the same, or nearly as colorful, lacking within it your Pop Pops or New Mutants #15, your Aunt Rozzie or Cousin Michael and Marvel Tales #154, along with the Sub-Mariner and the Star Wars Treasury Edition your instincts as a child led you to protect, even now replete in its mystery. Two of your earliest personal experiences of the sacred involve your cousin's bar-mitzvah, and your discovery of the joy of anticipation through the promise of that issue #16 coming out sometime, never soon enough, as far as you were concerned!

 

And, it doesn't matter whether your memory is right or wrong. Not in the least. The heart knows much the mind cannot even dream of, and it sounds to me like you are following your heart, and awakening within your own dream. That is exactly what we are here for, as I see it. It can drive us crazy sometimes, for sure, but that too is part of the plan.

 

Sometimes there is wisdom in simply reconciling oneself to live with a mystery, and letting yourself love what you love.

 

Sometimes I do go on. I hope you will forgive me. But thanks again for sharing. Really.

 

Paul

[Tnerb]

Thank you for your comments Paul. I still credit my New Mutants #15 because even though it is not my first comic book, it is the comic that started it for me. This was the reason I trekked to the comic book shop even when I wasn't allowed through a portion of road which even until this day is considered dangerous.

 

I might try updating certain journals with a few video entries if I do decide to go that route will have a link from my journals to my blog page. One of the things I would do would be to record my bike ride through the perilous journey... for a younger teenager of the time. In fact once traversing the road known as Krewstown road I was almost hit when I slipped on a patch of wet leaves. I can still remember the treads of the tires.

 

Thank you for reading and thank you more for your comment.

 

Tnerb