Author |
|
Peter Martin Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 15794
|
Posted: 23 April 2019 at 3:25pm | IP Logged | 1
|
post reply
|
|
I had read assorted Spider-Man, Hulk and Daredevil tales growing up and had a smattering of knowledge about quite a few Marvel characters by the time I was 10. But it was Secret Wars that made me go doo-lally about Marvel, presenting many of the characters I knew alongside loads of others I didn't (curiously, there were several characters I did know that didn't make it, such as DD, Namor and Dr Strange). It brought home how all these characters operated alongside each other, in a world separate to Superman and Batman.
I was crazy about comics for many years after Secret Wars. My enthusiasm only really started to wane when I hit my twenties.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Doug Centers Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014 Location: United States Posts: 5466
|
Posted: 23 April 2019 at 4:10pm | IP Logged | 2
|
post reply
|
|
It was a foregone conclusion even though I didn't know it yet, after the 60's Spider-Man cartoons and Batman '66 multiple viewings it just took the knowledge that comics existed and the access to them . I guess I was pre-hooked!
Edited by Doug Centers on 23 April 2019 at 5:52pm
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Brian Hughes Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 15 June 2015 Location: United States Posts: 293
|
Posted: 23 April 2019 at 5:34pm | IP Logged | 3
|
post reply
|
|
I watched Adam West as Batman on TV as a child. At the age of four, I was in the hospital awaiting surgery. In the children's ward, many of the other children were able to get out of bed and play, but not me.They had re-purposed a China Cabinet into a bookshelf for games and books. I could see from where I lay "Batman". I don't recall really seeing comic books before that, but I made my mother read it to me every day while I was there, several times a day. When I was being released, they let me take the comic with me. Batman 202. I was still enthralled with it. I asked my mother to teach me to read so I could enjoy this on my own. How could she refuse? So I was reading on my own a few months later and my parents were more than happy to buy me comics since they got me reading much earlier than other kids.
So yeah, Batman '66 was my gateway into comics and so much more!
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Steven Myers Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 June 2004 Location: United States Posts: 5624
|
Posted: 23 April 2019 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | 4
|
post reply
|
|
Though as far back as I remember I loved the Batman live TV show and cartoons, Super Friends, and Spider-Man cartoon, they never got me reading comic. A children's book (a Big Little book I think they were called) about the Fantastic Four got me wanting to read their comic. I didn't really like it when I did. Not at first. I think the story was too mature for me. But I actively sought out later FF tales, albeit sporadically.
So what really hooked me? And got me to subscribe (through a school fund raiser--smart move, Marvel!)? Star Wars!!
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
|
|
Eric Jansen Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 27 October 2013 Location: United States Posts: 2292
|
Posted: 23 April 2019 at 7:03pm | IP Logged | 5
|
post reply
|
|
I think I was 7 when somebody brought some RICHIE RICH and ARCHIE comics to school. I fell in love with the format, characters, and medium immediately...but I'm pretty sure I quickly asked "Are there serious ones?" I don't know if it was two whole years later, but I know for sure I was 9 when I bought my first SUPERMAN, BATMAN, SPIDER-MAN, and CAPTAIN AMERICA comics. I loved them all, and the Steve Englehart/Sal Buscema CAP became locked in as my favorite hero (to this day)...but I probably understood and felt more "at home" with the DC books for those first couple of years of buying.
I have nephews now, aged 31 and 23, and I would have loved to get them interested in comics, maybe buy them some subscriptions so they'd get a treat in the mail every month (or week)--but there was nothing appropriate or worthwhile to set them up with during their formative years and now it's too late. (Though the younger nephew found manga on his own.) RICHIE was gone, I couldn't find ARCHIE at the (too cool) comics shop I found myself shopping at, and the Marvels and DCs seemed boring, messy, overblown, and--worst of all (DC)--confusing in this period. Image comics were available and attractive--but then you opened them up and found profanity, big gun violence, enhanced women wearing thongs, and other things that were not kid-appropriate.
Book publishers offered material to the young, and they reaped the benefits when the aging kids came back to the bookstore to buy their more mature offerings.
Edited by Eric Jansen on 23 April 2019 at 7:07pm
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Bill Collins Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 26 May 2005 Location: England Posts: 11249
|
Posted: 23 April 2019 at 9:48pm | IP Logged | 6
|
post reply
|
|
My gateway was my mom sitting me on her knee and reading Playhour comic to me, she taught me to read before i started school, and made me a lifelong comic fan, but later on she did blot her copybook by throwing some away!
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
|
Joseph Greathouse Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 August 2015 Location: United States Posts: 588
|
Posted: 23 April 2019 at 10:20pm | IP Logged | 7
|
post reply
|
|
My kid and his friends read tons of comic books and graphic novels, though hardly a super hero. I think Diary of a Wimpy Kid was his gateway. He never had quite the interest for my own super hero collection, though he does love super heroes in other formats such as video games, TV, and film.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Koroush Ghazi Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 October 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 1646
|
Posted: 23 April 2019 at 11:03pm | IP Logged | 8
|
post reply
|
|
I'm proud to say my gateway comics were the early Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four issues, starting with FF #4. However, not in their original form - this was in the late '70s/early '80s when I was a pre-teen, and didn't have much to spend on comic books (plus my parents hated them). So I bought the black and white pocket-sized Australian reprints featuring 3 comics' worth of material (with no ads!) in each issue for less than the price of a single latest-edition US comic. Loved them.
What was really great was that when I graduated to JB's FF run, coming in as of FF#242, it was an easy transition; I knew all of the characters and they felt familiar to me. The main difference to my young eyes was that the art looked a lot better (I'll now say ten 'Hail Kirbys' to atone for my blasphemy).
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
|
Brian Hague Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 14 November 2006 Posts: 8515
|
Posted: 24 April 2019 at 12:22am | IP Logged | 9
|
post reply
|
|
Mom was an avid reader and early on, bought me a DC Tarzan tabloid edition with art by Joe Kubert. Tabloids were a fascination for me afterwards, and through them, I fell in love with Batman, Superman, the Legion of Super-Heroes, and a number of other characters, by dint of the sheer variety of stories reprinted, especially in the Super-Villain Origin books. I glommed onto DC's 60 cent 100 page specials as well (Flash #229 was one of the first I remember) and found there was a rich history of stories going back to the 1930's. I loved the idea of traveling back in time to read stories that had once been read by my father and his generation. The local library nearby had a few books on the history of comics as well, and I was absolutely lost in the world of four-color fantasy for years afterwards.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
|
Trevor Thompson Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 June 2015 Posts: 346
|
Posted: 24 April 2019 at 4:04am | IP Logged | 10
|
post reply
|
|
Spider-Man (I can't remember which one) but as I could literally buy any comic from the newsagent near my school I could pick one up on the way back from school. Probably Marvel UK's Secret Wars got me really hooked on comics though.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
John Popa Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 March 2008 Posts: 4371
|
Posted: 24 April 2019 at 7:19am | IP Logged | 11
|
post reply
|
|
My interest came from the various Spider-Man cartoons - the 60's version and "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends," that's what sparked my interest in the characters. Then it moved to the Marvel RPG and finally, from there, I picked up some comics. My first comic was Uncanny X-Men #195.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Trevor Krysak Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 4155
|
Posted: 24 April 2019 at 7:57am | IP Logged | 12
|
post reply
|
|
I started collecting comics in general with G.I. Joe comics in the 80s. As my interest in all things Joe waned I switched over to Marvel Superheroes. Growing up I was very aware of Spider-Man from his various animated adventures and the Hulk from his live action and animated faire. But I dived right in at either the best or worst time depending on your perspective.
Most of my first Marvel superhero comics were the 25th anniversary issues. The ones with the border of Marvel characters around a head shot of a single character. I just started buying new titles based on whatever appealed to me. In many cases I had no clue who these characters were or what they were about. It was learning about them that became the draw.
Many comics had references to earlier adventures. Often with notations for some older comic(s). It made me want to buy those comics and experience the earlier adventures. My love of Marvel just grew from there.
I've collected plenty from DC and other companies but Marvel is home for me.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|