My Comic Book Secret Origin

You probably are not wondering how I got into reading comic books, but the guys over at the Fire and Water Podcast are, so I’m going to tell you.  The first comic book I remember is Incredible Hulk #267, cover date January 1982.  This was a comic that was kept at my grandparents’ house in Fanwood, NJ, which means I only got to see it every now and again (since we lived about an hour away).  I have no idea where it came from, but I think that my grandfather bought it knowing that I was a fan of the TV Show.  In any case, this comic was kept in a dresser drawer in the room my sister and I shared when we would go to visit, so it got beat up real quick.

The interesting thing about this comic was that I was in kindergarten when it came out and I managed to read it 3 different ways over the years that it was there.  At first I liked the pictures.  I’m pretty sure I knew some of the words, but I was more into the pictures.  Then I started reading the dialog balloons.  For some reason I thought that the yellow narration boxes weren’t part of the story (I was a weird kid, OK?).  I eventually managed to read the whole thing, all text included, but I don’t remember how many years it took me to get to that point.

I never really thought about it but I think my grandfather was the one responsible for getting me into comics.  Not just for buying me this issue, but because he would tend to get me a comic when he would go to the newsstand/convenience store, even when I got into high school.  I don’t think he “got it” but he knew that it made me happy so he would get me what he thought I liked.  I didn’t think about it too much at the time, but I really appreciate it now, especially when I see what my dad is willing to do to make my daughter happy, even when I know he doesn’t really want to.