Tell Me a Tale - For Those Who Love Comics 7 7

[alecholland]

On 3/10/2023 at 4:17 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Oh gosh.  Discovering EBay.  In the beginning I simply searched “Spider-Man” and browsed everything.  Had a box of something Spidey related coming in every other day.

 

Do you still have that Superboy 84?

Yep, I still have that Superboy 84. The Rainbow Raider. 

[rumrunner71]

What a great idea for a thread!

My story is about the first comic cons I went to with my dad. I started collecting when I was about 12 or 13, and I found out about a comic con happening near us. This was the mid 90s. I asked my dad to take me, and he reluctantly agreed. He had no interest in comics, but he was one of those dads who was always supportive of our hobbies growing up. (Side story: I started collecting Choose Your Own Adventures when I was an adult, and my dad kept a list of all of the ones I had in his wallet and would check it each time he went to an antique store of flea market. That's how he was.)

So, back to the con. My dad was disabled (bad back) so he couldn't walk the floors all day. He would go sit in the cafe area and let me wander. When we met up later that day, he told me how he had met three "comic guys" while waiting. The cafe had gotten full around lunchtime, and these guys had asked if they could sit at his table. My dad was always super friendly, so he let them sit and chatted with them. He told them why he was there, and they told him to bring me by their booths later in the day. The problem was, he couldn't exactly remember their names. After some back and forth, he finally remembered, and we eagerly went to each. The three guys were Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Quesada, and Joe Jusko. My dad had no idea who they were, he was just being friendly. I got sigs from each of them, and I'll never forget Joe Q telling me how cool my dad was and how lucky I was for him to spend his Saturday sitting and waiting for me while I did something I loved. When we got home, I showed Dad a copy of Wizard with Joe J, Joe Q, and Jimmy, and all he said was, "Huh, well, they seemed nice." To this day, I still have the cards and comics they signed. 

Dad has been gone almost ten years now. I can't walk into a con without thinking of him, and the memory makes it even better now when I take my own kids to them. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 3/10/2023 at 11:35 PM, alecholland said:

Yep, I still have that Superboy 84. The Rainbow Raider. 

I had to look....

Awesome.  This was my very first EBay purchase.  Nothing cooler than getting my fave Byrne x-book delivered to my door.

Edited March 11, 2023 by THE_BEYONDER

[alecholland]

On 3/11/2023 at 9:41 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I had to look....

Awesome.  This was my very first EBay purchase.  Nothing cooler than getting my fave Byrne x-book delivered to my door.

X-Men was by far the best comic title at that time imho. I couldn't wait for the next issue to come out.

That is awesome!! 

[Ken Aldred]

On 3/11/2023 at 5:36 PM, alecholland said:

X-Men was by far the best comic title at that time imho. I couldn't wait for the next issue to come out

It really was. I was gutted when issues 121 and 122 weren’t distributed to the U.K. newsstands.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Ken Aldred

[Hudson]

I am really enjoying each of these stories.  I am amazed at how open and honest people have been.  People have shared their struggles with things like Autism and Dyslexia.   They have shared memories of parents (moms and dads) who loved them and sacrificed time and money to bring comics into their lives.  They have opened their sacred memories and experiences; laying it out there for all to read.  
 

Typically when I am reading through a thread and I see a “wall of text” (as the young folks call it), I will often move onto another thread.   I am reminded of another term the younger generation uses “TLDR” (which I am told is interpreted as Too Long, Didn’t Read).  
 

Now, however, when I come to this thread (which I will call the TMaT thread) I am excited when I see a long post; a wall of text if you will.  Here, a long post is not someone complaining or going off on a tangent.   Here a long post is someone sharing an important and precious memory (as our minds are only capable of remembering a limited amount and these memories must be precious to have endured the brutal ravages of time).  
 

Thank you again to all who have posted and even to those who have simply read and perhaps been kind enough to “like” a tale or two; encouraging those who have taken the time to share.   To each of you, for what it is worth, you have made this guy’s day.  

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 3/13/2023 at 2:25 PM, Hudson said:

I am really enjoying each of these stories.  I am amazed at how open and honest people have been.  People have shared their struggles with things like Autism and Dyslexia.   They have shared memories of parents (moms and dads) who loved them and sacrificed time and money to bring comics into their lives.  They have opened their sacred memories and experiences; laying it out there for all to read.  
 

Typically when I am reading through a thread and I see a “wall of text” (as the young folks call it), I will often move onto another thread.   I am reminded of another term the younger generation uses “TLDR” (which I am told is interpreted as Too Long, Didn’t Read).  
 

Now, however, when I come to this thread (which I will call the TMaT thread) I am excited when I see a long post; a wall of text if you will.  Here, a long post is not someone complaining or going off on a tangent.   Here a long post is someone sharing an important and precious memory (as our minds are only capable of remembering a limited amount and these memories must be precious to have endured the brutal ravages of time).  
 

Thank you again to all who have posted and even to those who have simply read and perhaps been kind enough to “like” a tale or two; encouraging those who have taken the time to share.   To each of you, for what it is worth, you have made this guy’s day.  

That was a humble explanation of why sitting to read thoughtful laid out experiences are their own rewards.

To that point, caretaking has been many a boards member duty as of late, and I'm exacerbated in the real time, I can't fix everything  Yet I'm learning and finding the grace to recognize teachable shortcomings. When they're laid out and I can actually catch the understanding of the wisdom!?!  like your post  

[Robot Man]

On 3/11/2023 at 7:29 AM, rumrunner71 said:

What a great idea for a thread!

My story is about the first comic cons I went to with my dad. I started collecting when I was about 12 or 13, and I found out about a comic con happening near us. This was the mid 90s. I asked my dad to take me, and he reluctantly agreed. He had no interest in comics, but he was one of those dads who was always supportive of our hobbies growing up. (Side story: I started collecting Choose Your Own Adventures when I was an adult, and my dad kept a list of all of the ones I had in his wallet and would check it each time he went to an antique store of flea market. That's how he was.)

So, back to the con. My dad was disabled (bad back) so he couldn't walk the floors all day. He would go sit in the cafe area and let me wander. When we met up later that day, he told me how he had met three "comic guys" while waiting. The cafe had gotten full around lunchtime, and these guys had asked if they could sit at his table. My dad was always super friendly, so he let them sit and chatted with them. He told them why he was there, and they told him to bring me by their booths later in the day. The problem was, he couldn't exactly remember their names. After some back and forth, he finally remembered, and we eagerly went to each. The three guys were Jimmy Palmiotti, Joe Quesada, and Joe Jusko. My dad had no idea who they were, he was just being friendly. I got sigs from each of them, and I'll never forget Joe Q telling me how cool my dad was and how lucky I was for him to spend his Saturday sitting and waiting for me while I did something I loved. When we got home, I showed Dad a copy of Wizard with Joe J, Joe Q, and Jimmy, and all he said was, "Huh, well, they seemed nice." To this day, I still have the cards and comics they signed. 

Dad has been gone almost ten years now. I can't walk into a con without thinking of him, and the memory makes it even better now when I take my own kids to them. 

Great story about your dad. Although my dad never took me to comic shows, he would often take me to comic shops and slip me a little money.

He did take me and my little brother to a lot of Dodgers games in the mid ‘60’s. Patiently, explaining the rules to us. Good times…

I am taking my grandaughters to WonderCon in a couple weeks. Their first comic show. They have a little limited interest in comic books but are going to love the rest especially the cosplay. They love to “dress up”. 

[Hudson]

@Robot Man I seem to recall my daughter wearing that same Supergirl costume several years ago.

She and I are planning to attend a small local comic show this Sunday.

Thank you for sharing.

[rumrunner71]

On 3/14/2023 at 11:35 AM, Robot Man said:

Great story about your dad. Although my dad never took me to comic shows, he would often take me to comic shops and slip me a little money.

He did take me and my little brother to a lot of Dodgers games in the mid ‘60’s. Patiently, explaining the rules to us. Good times…

I am taking my grandaughters to WonderCon in a couple weeks. Their first comic show. They have a little limited interest in comic books but are going to love the rest especially the cosplay. They love to “dress up”. 

Adorable:) I hope you all have a great time! 

[Tom789]

I remember my first comic books.  I was probably 7 or 8 at the time (so 1967 or 1968) and my Mom was dragging me around to a bunch of garage sales.  I was bored out of my mind until I saw a stack of comic books at one of the sales.  Mom let me pick a couple out and bought them for me - Metal Men #20 and Detective Comics #362.  I think I liked the slab of cake on the Metal Men cover and wanted to know why a robot was eating it.  For Batman, I liked the idea of a huge, evil Batman stalking the city.  When I started seriously collecting around age 20 I picked up copies of these books for sentimental reasons and I've slabbed the Batman, never to leave my possession.

 

[Ken Aldred]

On 4/2/2023 at 4:48 AM, Tom789 said:

I remember my first comic books.  I was probably 7 or 8 at the time (so 1967 or 1968) and my Mom was dragging me around to a bunch of garage sales.  I was bored out of my mind until I saw a stack of comic books at one of the sales.  Mom let me pick a couple out and bought them for me - Metal Men #20 and Detective Comics #362.  I think I liked the slab of cake on the Metal Men cover and wanted to know why a robot was eating it.  For Batman, I liked the idea of a huge, evil Batman stalking the city.  When I started seriously collecting around age 20 I picked up copies of these books for sentimental reasons and I've slabbed the Batman, never to leave my possession.

 

 

One of the first comics I picked up during the summer trips to the seaside, Blackpool in this case, in the late 70s, when you could still find older comics in the shops off the seafront.  I picked up three that day; the Metal Men 20, Batman 181 (1st Poison Ivy), and Justice League of America 45. I was very pleased with that, and it was only sometime in the 2000s when I was thinking back about them and Googling around online that I discovered that the shop I'd bought them from might've been a bit sneaky.  Apparently these June 1966 issues were distributed as a multi-pack over here in the UK, and so the comics had been split and sold separately, the dates being obviously too coincidental.  Still, at 10p each I hadn't been too hard done by, even back then.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Ken Aldred

[themagicrobot]

It's a shame that threads here die as soon as they fall off the front page.

Quote

One of the first comics I picked up during the summer trips to the seaside, Blackpool in this case, in the late 70s, when you could still find older comics in the shops off the seafront. 

Not exactly a story. Rather a question. As he is over the North Shore beach, what on earth is Spider-Man's webbing attached to?

A No-Prize to whoever knows where this image first appeared.

 

[Hudson]

@themagicrobot

I guess you have the boards stumped with your question.

I thought with all the Spidey fans out there, someone might venture a guess.

[01TheDude]

On 4/23/2023 at 11:39 AM, themagicrobot said:

It's a shame that threads here die as soon as they fall off the front page.

Not exactly a story. Rather a question. As he is over the North Shore beach, what on earth is Spider-Man's webbing attached to?

A No-Prize to whoever knows where this image first appeared.

 

hot air balloon above the beach area

 

[LowGradeBronze]

On 3/13/2023 at 4:21 AM, Ken Aldred said:

It really was. I was gutted when issues 121 and 122 weren’t distributed to the U.K. newsstands.

Not to mention X Men 137, but by that time a school friend was ordering advance import copies through a mail order catalogue and allowing myself and another chap to piggy back on his order as a favour and to reduce postage costs. That's how we all got our hands on XM 137. A happy coincidence is that I recently managed to track down these two school friends and we met up and spent Saturday 29th April catching up on the nearly 30 years that have intervened since we last met. Comics formed a large part of our conversation and we were all 15 again. We're not going to let the grass grow so long this time! 

Edited May 1, 2023 by LowGradeBronze

[Ken Aldred]

On 5/1/2023 at 4:44 PM, LowGradeBronze said:

Not to mention X Men 137, but by that time a school friend was ordering advance import copies through a mail order catalogue and allowing myself and another chap to piggy back on his order as a favour and to reduce postage costs. That's how we all got our hands on XM 137. A happy coincidence is that I recently managed to track down these two school friends and we met up and spent Saturday 29th April catching up on the nearly 30 years that have intervened since we last met. Comics formed a large part of our conversation and we were all 15 again. We're not going to let the grass grow so long this time! 

i saw a fairly rough looking copy in a record store here, near Manchester, and wanting a couple of cherry-picked minty copies.  At the time of X-Men 121 and 122 we didn’t have any dedicated specialist comic shops near here, I was still limited to whatever appeared as distributed 12p Marvel All-Colour Comics, and that record store, later on, only had a handful of ND imports on a small shelf.

However, by the time of X-Men 137 I’d also heard of Forbidden Planet down in London.  I absolutely hated school despite being pigeonholed as a nerdy academic type, and every so often I’d take a ‘day off’ and go down on the Intercity to visit the store and buy a stack of new imports and back issues, and, being a huge X-Men fan, the Death of Phoenix issue was an obvious motivation for this. It had to be done. Fond memories.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Ken Aldred

[themagicrobot]

Quote

 

I guess you have the boards stumped with your question.

I thought with all the Spidey fans out there, someone might venture a guess.

 

A number of tales here have been about discovering comics when young. Here in the UK one of the great things about summer holidays at the coast was the chance to overdose on comics. Heck, back then I preferred the likes of Blackpool to any "exotic" hotel in Spain etc. At least you were guaranteed to be confronted with comics (in English) at Blackpool. Comic Spinner racks were even to be found in shops that weren't newsagents. Shops that mainly sold  kids plastic buckets and spades those little packs of flags and Li-Los you could risk floating out to sea on and require the service of the Coastguards etc etc often had remaindered comics or heaps of Alan Class comics, or mounds of Famous Monsters of Filmland or those Charlton Cartoon magazines. Anything was possible. 

And the newsagents themselves had our UK weekly comics along with heaps of Summer Specials. The weekly comics changed weekly (natch) but the Summer Specials would be on sale for three or four months and were a must-buy. This particular comic sells on the Bay for around £50 now, even in tatty well-read condition.

 

 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by themagicrobot

[The lips]

I started collecting back in 1990 at the age of 13.

Here in Newcastle in the north east of England used to be a great little comic shop called Timeslip. I remember vividly the first time I went in and saw all the wall books, back issues, new issues and could sense also the community of the customers. I was hooked. 
it was here where I fell in love with the Silver Surfer ( how could you not ! ) and bought a new release for the princely sum of 60p. I loved it 

Around a month or two later I called in again and there in the back issue section was a Silver Surfer 1 from 1968. I couldn’t believe it. It was a bit beat up and had a price tag of £5 which was too much for this young teenager but my mother bless her dug deep and saved the day. I couldn’t believe it being the proud owner. 
Fast forward a few months and Timeslip has now been bought out by the multi chain Forbidden Planet and on a visit there they had a sign in the window telling me Stan Lee was going to be there signing copies of his new book. 
Now this I couldn’t get my head around. Where I’m from, people didnt go to America, it was way too far and way too expensive, but more so than that, Americans certainly didn’t come to Newcastle and even if they did, it wasn’t my hero and creator of all these super hero’s. Stan to me was a super hero and here he was visiting my home town. Unbelievable 

So naturally I go and take of course my SS1. 
I was straight there from school so was one of the first in what developed into the biggest que I’ve seen. 
When it was my turn I approached him and presented him my book. I’ll never forget our small exchange of words. 
“geez kid, the first Silver Surfer. You be sure to look after her for me”

Not only was this the first time I’d heard an American accent that wasn’t on TV, it was Stan Lee..talking and smiling to me…about my Silver Surfer 1. 
I can’t begin to articulate how surreal and wonderful this was. 
Its easily my most treasured possession and something that will stay with me always. 

[Hudson]

On 5/1/2023 at 3:20 PM, The lips said:Americans certainly didn’t come to Newcastle 

First, let me thank you for this amazing tale.   It never ceases to amaze me how many board members are from the UK.   As we approach Mother’s Day, here, it warms my heart to think how generous your mother was to purchase you that SS 1.   I am sure you treasure it not only for Stan’s signature, but also as a reminder of your mother’s kindness and love. 
 

As for Americans not visiting Newcastle, I have to tell you that although I am no where near as important as the great Stan Lee, I do recall flying across the pond and then driving up to Newcastle.  It was probably around 2002 and I went there to finally meet my favorite actress; Louise Jameson.  She was appearing at a Dr Who convention and charity auction.   I managed to “win” a -script at the auction, that Ms Jameson was kind enough to sign for me (along with several other signatures from other actors/actresses there at the time).  This was the first time I had the privilege of meeting Ms Jameson and the trip to Newcastle was well worth the expense.  
 

Cheers to you, to Newcastle and to all our board member friends from the UK.