Your First 4 4

[Robot Man]

I was a teenager of the 1960’s so I am probably a little “foggy”…

I believe my first purchase was probably a Batman or Detective with the large 10 cent price at the rack at the drug store. I liked the character and solving mysteries. I remember being shocked at the large 12 cent price soon after.

My dad, being in the service bought me DC war books and Sad Sack which he also read before I started buying my own.

I do remember my first Marvel though. ASM #3. Blew me away and most of my allowance went that way from that point on. I also bought every issue of MAD Magazine from #72 on.

Has been a fun ride…

[Azkaban]

my first books I can't get to at the moment but they would be ASM #39, Ringo Kid #8 and Cheyenne Kid #68, my Mom and Dad would always buy me one issue anytime we went to town. Of course the westerns or war books would be the ones my Dad would grab and my Mom would get me stuff like Hot Stuff 

I do have a pic handy of the first book I got thru the subscription service though 

[marvelmaniac]

One of these two...

[Dr. Balls]

My mom and I moved to Denver in 1983 when I was 10 years old, and that is when I started getting allowance. Which was tough because I was into baseball cards AND comic books. But, living in Montana - there were no 'comic book stores' where I lived, so my mom usually just bought me comics from the grocery store. When we moved to Denver and I got to go to Mile High Comics for the first time, my little 10 year old mind grapes were blown away - and I bought G.I. Joe #1 for $5 (I think) since I missed it on the news stand. I can actually still visualize myself standing there in the store in front of the long boxes and looking at GI Joe #1 on the wall - not quite knowing what the next step was in getting it down.

That might have been the first time I'd ever had to buy something by *asking* for it. (As opposed to just grabbing it and going to a cashier, whether it was a comic book, pack of cards or candy). A funny rite of passage in life I hadn't thought about until just now.

I also got my first comic book subscriptions at that time, too. They were good birthday and Christmas presents from my mom that I subscribed to for a few years.

[Patriot6]

On 1/26/2024 at 11:12 AM, Dr. Balls said:

That might have been the first time I'd ever had to buy something by *asking* for it. (As opposed to just grabbing it and going to a cashier, whether it was a comic book, pack of cards or candy). A funny rite of passage in life I hadn't thought about until just now.

That's a funny thought. I remember my grandmother always saying "if you don't ask, you don't get" when I'd shy up in similar situations.  

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 1/26/2024 at 9:12 AM, Dr. Balls said:

my little 10 year old mind grapes

[themagicrobot]

I've told this tale before but that is how it happened for me. I had purchased new UK comics previously but the first time I came across DC comics was..................

It was the Summer or possibly early Autumn of 1964. There was some kind of Fete event at my Junior school one Saturday. Sales tables set up in the playground. Lots of stuff going on. Tombola. Lucky dip in a barrel of sawdust. Mad stuff like that odd game where someone would drop a toy rat down a drainpipe and you had to hit it with a bat as it came out the bottom to win a prize.

Anyway one sales table was full of second hand comics. 4 comics rolled up and tied with string so you didn't see exactly what you got till you bought them. The price would be something ridiculously cheap like 3d per bundle. As I only arrived with 1/- I spent my funds on 4 bundles of comics. I didn't even untie the strings till I got home because I was busy pestering my dad to have a go on the Lucky Dip and Whack-a-Rat.

3 bundles of comics were the usual UK comics like Dandy/Beano/Lion/Hornet/Hotspur/Buster/Eagle. One bundle had a Beano on the outside and 3 American comics hidden within. I had never heard of DC Comics until that day. My mind was blown.  

[Artboy99]

My first comic I ever bought was a Fantastic Four 112 and I still own that original copy which is a miracle.

I lived on a farm back then, and my Father wanted to get some rye bread and lunch meats as he liked to eat that with hot mustard. He would get headcheese ( yuck ) as he knew I didn't like it. 

We went into the city, and when we got there he gave me the change in his pocket and told me to "go to the used book store across the street and buy some comics"

Paul's Book store was the place, and he had shelves and shelves of used books for sale at half cover. You could also trade 2 for 1.

Fantastic Four 112 really stood out to me, that black cover and those powerful looking heroes ready to do battle. I really liked what I had read and collected the Hulk until I had them all. Decent feat for a kid age 14 with a paper route.

[southern cross]

I was playing D&D with my school friends and I bought the Marvel superheroes roleplaying game for something different. The rule book said you can get good ideas from Marvel comic books for adventures.

The game came with a adventure module called The day of the octopus.

Spiderman and Avengers against Doc Ock and a bunch of Spidey villains.

So the next day I ventured to the new stand and bought this book.

This is the same exact comic book.

I enjoyed reading it and the next day I bought Avengers 277 and I've been buying and collecting ever since. 👍

[Phicks]

On 1/25/2024 at 7:07 PM, Dr Zen said:

My first just celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Not my first, but a very special comic because Santa put it in my stocking.

[AJD]

I was disappointed when I clicked on the thread title and found out that you are all talking about comic books!

But since I'm here now I'll show this one. I was 7 when my mum took me to Melbourne to see me grandparents. I had no idea at the time, but she was there to have a tough talk to them about their living arrangements, since they were getting past the point of coping in their home. I suspect that's why I was given 30c and told I could go by myself to the newspaper seller around the corner and buy some comics. That was the first time I can remember having autonomy in my choice. I can't recall what the other one was, but this Australian Disney reprint was one of them. It has the Carl Barks story "The Paul Bunyan machine" in it.

 

[Norrin_Radd]

I didn't start reading & collecting comics until I was an adult.  My first trip to a local comic shop was 3/12/2001.  Bought these three comics.

This selection was mostly based on what I watched on TV - Super Friends and The Incredible Hulk as a kid and Futurama as an adult.

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 1/27/2024 at 9:10 PM, Norrin_Radd said:

I didn't start reading & collecting comics until I was an adult.  My first trip to a local comic shop was 3/12/2001.  Bought these three comics.

This selection was mostly based on what I watched on TV - Super Friends and The Incredible Hulk as a kid and Futurama as an adult.

I was looking at my copy today wondering how to process having picked it up, I should sit down and read to enjoy, no such thing as coincidence s! Still probably holds up, if just to remember 

 

[Azkaban]

here's another maybe from one day Dad took me to the barber shop

Nick Cardy cover 

[hyhhyss12]

On 1/25/2024 at 11:48 AM, Patriot6 said:

What was the first comic book that you purchased with your own money?

It wasn't my first comic book, but I remember my father giving my sister and I our allowances. It was Friday. We were driving into the city and we would always stop at a particular convenience store in a small town on the way. It was an old general store type place that sold little bits of everything. My father would always get an Orange Crush slurpee and the latest Superman. It was a bitter sweet stop because it was the first time I had to buy my own slurpee and comic book. Until this point my father had always paid. Decisions had to be made. Often times I would wait in the car and my father would bring out some kind of super hero comic for me to read on the drive. Left to my own devices, I reached past the heroes and left the store with a Richie Rich. I can't for the life of me remember which one it was, but I remember, keeping tradition alive and all, I had also purchased an Orange Crush slurpee. I remember my sister complaining on the drive home that the comic was all sticky and gross from my slurpee hands when it was her turn to read. 

Why am I remembering all of this? I was walking through a book store, the big box kind, that has a few comic spinner racks. There was a mother and maybe six year old girl standing there. The girl only had so much money and had two comics in hand. It was a budgeting teaching moment kind of thing. She had an Archie digest and something I had never seen before. It was a comic book, but one I wasn't familiar with. She took the Archie digest. Big life moment right there I said to my wife. Real wholesome stuff. 

 

Moon knight #1 1980 newsstand 

[WernerVonDoom]

On 1/26/2024 at 4:41 PM, Artboy99 said:

My first comic I ever bought was a Fantastic Four 112 and I still own that original copy which is a miracle.

I lived on a farm back then, and my Father wanted to get some rye bread and lunch meats as he liked to eat that with hot mustard. He would get headcheese ( yuck ) as he knew I didn't like it. 

We went into the city, and when we got there he gave me the change in his pocket and told me to "go to the used book store across the street and buy some comics"

Paul's Book store was the place, and he had shelves and shelves of used books for sale at half cover. You could also trade 2 for 1.

Fantastic Four 112 really stood out to me, that black cover and those powerful looking heroes ready to do battle. I really liked what I had read and collected the Hulk until I had them all. Decent feat for a kid age 14 with a paper route.

Perfect first!!

[Robot Man]

On 1/30/2024 at 2:07 PM, Azkaban said:

here's another maybe from one day Dad took me to the barber shop

Nick Cardy cover 

Our barber shop had a pile of old comics for kids to read while getting their hair cut. Sometimes he would let us take one home. I remember getting a Fight or Jungle one time. We could trade one for one sometimes. Traded a lot of ‘50’s Harvey’s for GA. But you had to blow the hair out of the pages…

[B2D327]

First book I bought with my own money from the neighborhood coffee shop's spinner rack. I was hooked ever since. 

   I remember being mesmerized by a panel with the Angel flying solo because his costume looked so cool to me at the time.

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

On 1/27/2024 at 7:10 PM, Norrin_Radd said:

I didn't start reading & collecting comics until I was an adult.  My first trip to a local comic shop was 3/12/2001.  Bought these three comics.

This selection was mostly based on what I watched on TV - Super Friends and The Incredible Hulk as a kid and Futurama as an adult.

 

[ttfitz]

On 1/26/2024 at 10:32 PM, Phicks said:

Not my first, but a very special comic because Santa put it in my stocking.

I've told this story here at least twice before, perhaps more - but my kids have to hear my stories over and over again, why should I treat y'all any better?

When I was growing up (late 60s- early 70s), Virginia had what was known as "Blue laws", under which most stores had to be closed on Sundays. We lived about 45 miles from the Tennessee state line, and TN didn't have such a law. At that 45 mile mark down Interstate 81 was the twin city of Bristol - where the state line ran right down the main street, aptly named State Street. On one side of the street it was Bristol, VA, on the other side it was Bristol, TN. And on Sunday, half the street was closed while the other half was open.

So, on many occasions when I was young, we would go to Bristol after church on Sunday to shop. This particular story takes place on a Sunday approaching Christmas, and we were shopping on the TN side of the street when I saw this Superman comic on the rack. And what a cover it was to 5½ year old Timmy - burning letters floating over a prone Superman, with the obligatory question that so many comics of the times would display - "WHY do these initials mean DEATH for the Man of Steel?"

Oh, man, I just had to have this comic. My mother reminded me that it was almost Christmas, we were supposed to be shopping for other people, and it wasn't a good idea to buy things for yourself. But I just HAD to have it - I was willing, in fact, to spend my own money for this book. I wouldn't give up, so she let me buy it.

So, comes Christmas day, and I'm opening my stocking, and what did I find there? You guessed it, a copy of Superman #204 with the fiery "LL" on the cover!

So, boys and girls, like all good stories (I hope) involving little kids, this one has a moral - When it's Christmas time, don't buy anything for yourself, you never know what Santa might bring you!

Don't know what happened with one my copies of this book - probably traded it for something else over the years - but here's the one that remains in my collection. Beat but complete, as they say, and never to be replaced: