Airport comic memories 0

[Aweandlorder]

This always happens to me...

every time I wait at an airport lounge overseas I let my mind drift and give in to sweet memories of me being a 4 year old sitting at the airport lounge/waiting area waiting for our flight to board and mom taking us to the nearest newsstand to pick some random comic book, activity books... it’s always the random superhero book for me.. a bronze Hulk, Superboy or Justice League... Not knowing, for the most part, who the characters are, just flipping through pages and marveling at each panel... 

This is probably my earliest memory of enjoying comic books, looking forward to that each time we go abroad. 
 

 

[Ken Aldred]

1 hour ago, Aweandlorder said:

This always happens to me...

every time I wait at an airport lounge overseas I let my mind drift and give in to sweet memories of me being a 4 year old sitting at the airport lounge/waiting area waiting for our flight to board and mom taking us to the nearest newsstand to pick some random comic book, activity books... it’s always the random superhero book for me.. a bronze Hulk, Superboy or Justice League... Not knowing, for the most part, who the characters are, just flipping through pages and marveling at each panel... 

This is probably my earliest memory of enjoying comic books, looking forward to that each time we go abroad. 
 

 

I’m from quite a poor working class background, and when I was that age we wouldn’t have been able to afford international air travel.  Also, it’s not really as necessary to use it to get across a small, state-sized country like the U.K., anyway. 

Not intending to sound critical towards your post at all, though. Just explaining my situation back then.

The only regular parallel I have is that I’d be given a 50p coin to buy some comics at the bus station newsstand after going on the market with my parents, and that was back in the mid 70s, aged 9 or so. I’d be waiting around for about half an hour while they finished up in the nearby cafe.  I still have fond memories of that as a very strong, nurturing introduction to comics, as evidenced by the number of times I’ve mentioned it here.

The best travel-related memory I have is one I posted recently  in the BA section. I’d placed an order for some Marvel magazines before going on a family holiday, and after a very uncomfortable and exhausting journey by rickety coach and choppy ferry, to and from Germany, I returned home to be pleasantly surprised by a parcel containing Savage Sword of Conan 1 to 10 in really wonderful NM condition.

Yup. The association with journeys like ours, whether taken by land, air or sea, can make early comic book memories indelible.

 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Ken Aldred

[F For Fake]

In the more general category of childhood travels and comic memories, every summer the folks would pack up and take us to Florida for a week, which was about a 16-17 hour drive. They'd always get me a few comics to read. The earliest were Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck. This was my introduction to comics, and a big part of why I still love the characters, I suppose. As i got older it became GI Joe, X-Men, Justice League, etc. I'd read and re-read every book, studying the ads and letter columns, making them all "last" as long as I could. That's why old Uncle Scrooge books still conjure strong memories of lounging across the enormous back seat of a 78 Dodge Magnum (which was a real land boat) with a stack of comics on the floorboards.

Edited October 4, 2019 by F For Fake

[WolverineX]

5 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

This always happens to me...

every time I wait at an airport lounge overseas I let my mind drift and give in to sweet memories of me being a 4 year old sitting at the airport lounge/waiting area waiting for our flight to board and mom taking us to the nearest newsstand to pick some random comic book, activity books... it’s always the random superhero book for me.. a bronze Hulk, Superboy or Justice League... Not knowing, for the most part, who the characters are, just flipping through pages and marveling at each panel... 

This is probably my earliest memory of enjoying comic books, looking forward to that each time we go abroad. 
 

 

I remember the first time I was in the airplane. Back there and you could even smoke on the plane. Craziness

[ADAMANTIUM]

I don't remember the exact age I was, should be easy enough to say as I was born in 1981....

I had gone to California with my dad, and to get back to Dallas I was to take the plane by myself, this was back when people waiting in Dallas could meet me at the gate when I arrived....

My Dad wanted me to behave alone, so he bought me the big "Death of Superman" tradepaperback, that has a grey border on the side and Lois holding a bloodied Superman/Clark amongst rubble....

I was quite during the flight, but now and then, I'd ooh and awe.....  I didn't realize it ha, the guy behind me complained to a stewardess, and my response to her was, "But Superman is about to die!?!  "

I made the flight alone, unharmed, and when exiting the plane it was the story of a lifetime to tell my mom how Superman had met an end  

[Robot Man]

As kids, we didn’t make plane flights either. I do remember lots of long car trips with the family. About the only time my parents would buy us more than one or two comics. As we started out, they would stop at 7-11 and let us buy a stack. Me and my little brother would sit in the back seat quietly, devouring a pile of cool early SA books and the latest MAD magazine while my parents would enjoy a little peace and quiet. That and playing those “license plate” games kept us amused and under control...

[Aweandlorder]

I was very fortunate to make several trips growing up, I can say comic book reading kinda started for me during those trips, I was honestly looking forward to most of those trips BECAUSE of the comic book purchases. I think by age 7 or so I only accumulated around 50+ books just from the trips we were taking at which point I started subscribing to 2 titles (batman and superboy), but the trips abroad were filled with comic book reading. i just came back from a trip overseas and while waiting at the lounge in came the sweet memories of my childhood and the comic books, so felt compelled to share.

So sad that there arent any comic books involved with my trips anymore (but my wife is kinda happy, thats the only time im NOT reading them lol) 

[Domo Arigato]

14 hours ago, Aweandlorder said:

.......sweet memories of me being a 4 year old sitting at the airport lounge.......and mom taking us to the nearest newsstand to pick some random comic book.......probably my earliest memory of enjoying comic books.......

 

I had some peasant friends that didn't get to fly until they were 4 years old too.

When we would take our plane on weekend trips, I would always recline my seat all the way back, close my eyes, and make our man-servant describe each comic panel to me in excruciating detail.  I don't think he enjoyed it much, as it would take about two hours per comic.....but it made the experience so much more exquisite, and allowed me to eat my peanut butter and caviar sandwich with both hands.