Been thinking lately about the manner in which I was inculcated (or, more generously, indoctrinated) into comics, and how it has influenced my tastes now.
My first comics experiences had nothing to do with superheroes. I had a friend in second grade, in upstate New York, who got ahold of his father's comics and brought them to school. It was a cardboard box, full of them. The day he happened to bring them in was my birthday. I was probably six. Him, being in a generous mood, gave them to me. I'm sure his Dad was thrilled to find out that his beloved collection was passed off to some random kid at school.
It was a box full of treasures. Old Gold Key Magnus: Robotfighter issues, EC horror comics, Frankenstein, Dracula, war comics.
And maybe one or two issues of Spiderman.
The Spiderman stuff wasn't what stuck in my head. It was the horror comics. Dracula, hovering over another victim. Frankenstein, stomping away from raging mobs. African headhunters, summoning gigantic monstrous ant-gods to devour whitey explorers. Trench warriors, bayoneting German enemies in a muddy field of some unnamed European country.
It was awesome.
I spent hours with those things.
My mom burned them, promptly.
It was like burning my dog alive. I was pretty upset. I don't know if I cried, I don't remember.
Anyway, I wonder why I feel so strongly about non-superhero comics, and I can't help but think that my first exposure to them has a great deal to do with it.
I wasn't completely in love with capes and costumes, although I thought they were kind of cool.
I was looking for more giant man-eating ants.
Come to think of it, I think I still am.
Friday, August 04, 2006
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3 comments:
Mom was always a piro, still is actually. I bet she has burned half of my belongs. Probably destroyed all my CDs that I left at home. Burned my Baseball cards too. Haha
It was always amazing what mom would destroy to save her sons, and then claim to have no part of it.
That's all just... sad.
I was hoping the bit would end with you vowing to never again let a mother burn her child's things, never hear another child cry out due to things being all lit up on fire... you would become The Cool Dad!
Vengance, like the night.
And Magnus wore a skirt.
Yes, Magnus wore a skirt.
But he fought robots... WITH HIS BARE HANDS.
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