What got you into comics

jaydee74

Basic question and one that CGS often asks a creator when they first come on the show.

For me it was through my uncle. He read comics growing up and I remember reading all of the books he still had after my grandmother threw some out while he was in college. I remember reading old Batman, Detective Comics, Action Comics, Superman, Adventure Comics, Spider-Man, Green Lantern and Flash. I remember how excited I was when my parents would take me to the U.S. 1 Fleamarket and started buying my own comics.

fredzilla

I met Spider-Man in the mall one day when I went shopping with my mom (and this was the real deal, not that Toby Macguire hack). He shook my hand and then had to leave, running to the escalator and sliding down. I don't know why he didn't use his webs--out of cartridges? That's all it took. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. They also got me into reading other things. Mostly Marvel, but I've since branched out to all the major publishers and lines.

kfreeman

Getting $1 from my dad and buying four 25 cent books at the Stars and Strips Bookstore in Germany in the mid-1970s. That was the hook.

miscatonic

My dad read them when I was in grade school and so they were always laying around for me to read. I just wish my mom had not left those early70's books for the Salvation Army when we moved.

PeanutButterMustache

My mom. I hated reading when I was a kid and loved playing with G.I. Joe's. So my mom thought it would be neat to bring me to a comic shop and buy me some G.I. Joe comics. 23 years and 20k comics later I still love it!!

Torchsong

Both my older sisters read comics so I tended to get them after they were done. Lots of Archies, but also Supergirl (which gave birth to my Kara obsession which continues to this day!), Starfire (the pre Teen Titans), Superman and Batman Family, Rose & Thorn, etc.

I credit two books and two (four) creators for hooking me 100% on funnybooks - Mantlo/Golden on Micronauts (I was playing with the toys AND reading the books at the same time), and Wolfman & Perez on New Teen Titans. While my sisters' books started me reading them, Micronauts and NTT were *my* books that made me a lifetime fan.

Caliban

A British comic that none of you will have heard of
http://eamonn1961.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/day-01-your-first-comic-book.html

Happenstance

I read the Beano when I was a kid but getting me properly into comics was the 90s Spider-Man animated series. Loved that show and it made me want to read more Spider-Man, then moved onto more characters.

John_Steed

I got my first Asterix in Kindergarten - 40 years later I'm still loving comics :)>-

miscatonic

A British comic that none of you will have heard of
http://eamonn1961.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/day-01-your-first-comic-book.html

I have indeed heard of Victor and I live in southern West Virginia. I enjoy being the exception. :))

BadDeacon

Spinner rack and G.I. Joe. My 10 year old self just couldn't resist.

When I learned that there was a store in town that just sold comics, it was game over.

jt3fan

GI Joe #18 on the spinner rack at the local drug store. That was only the beginning...

Kat_Rocha

Borrowing my friend's Xmen comics. He rarely brought them over in order so I had to guess what was happening, but I loved them. Fell out of comics till High School when I discovered Lenore and JTHM.

hauberk

A stack of comics I found at my Grandmother's house. Early Legion of Super Heroes appearance, Magnus, Mars Patrol. Really liked the Gold Key stuff but the Legion really punched my buttons.

Eric_C

First, the movies never hurt, but I place most of the blame on Power Rangers. I was and still am a huge Power Rangers fan and was looking for more action in that same sort of vain. Superheroes seemed like a great transition and comics seemed like an awesome format. I picked up Cap #25 and was hooked. I have spent most my time and money with Marvel, but gradually made my way into DC. About 5 years later I am still here and now reading mostly superheroes, but branching out with stuff like Morning Glories. I love comics and don't ever anticipate leaving.

fredzilla

As I think a little deeper about this, I discovered The Adventures of Tin Tin and Maus in middle school and I think that really helped me along in the medium. If it weren't for those I would have grown up thinking that comic books were just superhero books.

JohnTilton

When I was younger I would just pick up an issue of Cable or Spiderman if I happened to see them on a spinner rack at the drug store or K-Mart. When I really got into reading was when I was about 12 or 13, early teens. My parents splitting up was a big part for me. My Ma was going to graduate school to become a Nurse Practitioner and I had to take care of my little sister a lot. I used to pick her up every day from school and she would ride on the pegs of my bike and on the way home from her school was a little bookstore and magazine shop in a shopping center on Simpson Ferry road in Mechanicsburg, PA. It was owned and run by one single man and he had a very small section of a shelf dedicated to comics, maybe 12 new comics a week, and most of those comics were Top Cow and Marvel. My Ma would give me 40 bucks a week for helping out with my sister and I spent almost all of this on comics, pretty much bought everything he had on the shelf, including the really bad non Amazing Spiderman comics that were about Spiderman which were published in the late 90's/early 2000's. I loved the Tomb Raider and that is what first caught my eye since Top Cow was putting out a series, this is also why I started reading Fathom, and since I was always at home watching my sister, comics were a great way to pass the time. Surprisingly, even with moving a lot I still have all of those issues.

Caliban

A British comic that none of you will have heard of
http://eamonn1961.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/day-01-your-first-comic-book.html

I have indeed heard of Victor and I live in southern West Virginia. I enjoy being the exception. :))

Cool!

JohnathanConstantine

The first X-Men movie. Left the movie theatre, turned left, walked 200 metres, turned left, walked 150 metres, turned righted, waited for traffic lights to change, crossed the road, walked 125 metres, turned right, walked 5 metres & was in a comic book store. First thing I got was the X-Men movie tie in comics as a trade. I have comics from before that but it was that movie that got me in. So it is a necessity to go to every comic movie.

I do remember my mum getting me copies of cheap comics from the supermarket when I was younger (marvel gi joe, star brand & transformers) but it wasn't until the movie that started getting in completely. I do specifically remember an issue of Transformers Generation 2 #1 that I still have (even though I wrote my name on the inside, but not any other issues of that series. I really want to read the whole thing now.

jkwoodward

When I started reading, comics were cheap.($0.35). I was a poor kid and couldn't always afford movies and T.V wasn't providing what I wanted, so comics was it by default.
I haven't really been able to kick it sinec childhood and I'm still reading today.
When I came to grips with the fact that comics would be with me for the rest of my life, I decided to make a career of it.

ChrisSnell

My grandparents owned a small grocery store in the town I grew up in, and they had spinner racks of comics. When we went to visit the store, I was able to pick out a couple of comics. I can't remember what my first one was (I'm guessing Batman), but that's how I started collecting.

mguy1977

A spinner rack at the pharmacy or grocery store got me into comics. Yes in the early 1980s, I read Detective Comics, Batman, Superman, & Action Comics w/ a few issues of justice League of America (vol. 1). In 1987, I consolidated to reading Superman vol. 2, Action Comics & Advs. of Superman (& later on Superman Man of Steel monthly comic. Until CGS I virtually ignored Marvel as a comic company with some a few issues here & there. I got hooked on the last few issues of Bendis' Daredevil & I saw the light of what Marvel had to offer. Later on indie comics like The Walking Dead after their BOMC episode (I still miss those kind of episodes Bry & Jamie D.), with various noir comics taking chances unlike the big two -- Stumptown, Criminal, Fatale & yes even Usagi Yojimbo surprised me.

I enjoy reading comics. Thanks for the forum community & the podcast for broadening my horizon over the years.

Matthew

knightwingbk

Legends of the Dark Knight #63 where Bruce takes back the mantle from Jean-Paul Valley. Art by Barry kitson = AWESOMENESS

Greg

I grew up in the 70's and got hooked through the reruns of the 60's Marvel cartoons. Sundays after church there was a uhf channel that showed an episode each from Spider-Man, FF, Thor, Cap, Iron Man, Hulk and Sub-Mariner in a block. That's what got me interested in reading comics. Super Friends and later cartoons in the late 70's and early 80's just helped to egg it on.

Webhead

I got into comics because of my dad.

I was 7 and we were moving to a new town. The family stopped off at a liquor store to get some snacks for the road. Dad went into the store and about 10 mins. later my mom sent me into the store to "hurry up" my dad. Well I was in the store I saw a spinner rack and started to look through the comics. My dad noticed and sent me back to the car with the snacks. A few mins later he came out with another bag, after he removed his adult beverage out of the bag he pulled out a bunch of comics and handed them to me. I've been hooked ever since, through the years he did little things to encourage me to keep reading comics, he built a shelf in my closet to store the comics, he always pointing out comic racks in store, and would drive me to my first LCS when I was too young to drive.

siliconwolf

I saw this and I thought it would be a nice discussion to comment on, and then realized I can't remember. I seem to remember the first thing was a Superman/Spiderman crossover where in the end Superman is in an reactor and Spidey uses his spider sense to turn the switch off in the correct direction. And a quick googling says that was back when I was 9. But I have no memory of how or why I had that comic. And so now I feel old. So I will take this time to sit on my rocking chair on the porch and complain to no one in particular how things have changed and tell all these new superheroes to get off my lawn.

LibraryBoy

I don't remember not reading comics. I started to read early, and my parents wanted books that were more challenging than See Spot Run stuff, and I still wanted lots of big bright pictures, so comics were a great middle ground. Plus, I loved Star Wars, Batman reruns, and cartoons of all varieties, so it was cool to find stories with these characters beyond TV. Plus, this was the late 70s/early 80s, so comics were EVERYWHERE - corner stores, book stores, big department stores, I remember even getting those tiny March of Comics issues from the treasure chest at the local shoe store (my parents were friends with the manager, so whenever we'd even just stop in to say hi, he'd hand me a book to take home). It was great.

electric_mayhem

comic strips in the Variety section of the ol' Star Tribune. Then the ol' book store sold some and I remember one Spider-man comic that dealt with smoking and I think Storm made an appearance. I read that one over and over...

Marathon

While I was previously buying British children's comics at a young age, what got me into American comics was an honest to goodness event; the death of Robin. I saw an article in the newspaper about it, but missed out on getting the issues, luckily DC rush-released a collection and away I went.

The next series I started reading were Firestorm, right in the middle of a major change in the character ( confusing) and then the 5 years later Legion (very confusing!). Looking back now though, that era is my favourite time of the Legion. That series is so rewarding once you gain some knowledge of their history.

Modern_Lover

My first comic reading experience was in the shrink's office when I was in elementary school. He had the last part of the Legion story Earthwar, the Teen Titans drug comic and some Harvey comics. Didn't make much of an impression. I got comics in care packages that my parents sent to me at church camp in the summer, the first one I remember was JLA Classified 3 I think, which had an Ed McGuinness cover of Batman being roasted over a spit. I read a lot of webcomics, and then I heard about Understanding Comics, and I asked for it for Christmas, and I read the crap out of that, and that was the breaking point. It blew my mind and I just wanted to read everything and I read Tintin, DC, Vertigo, and a little Marvel. The first time I bought single issues was when I was in college and went to Big Brain in downtown Minneapolis and got Brave New World, Trials of Shazam #1 and the first appearance of Misfit in Birds of Prey.

dubbat138

Back in 77 or 78 to keep me quiet while she was grocery shopping,my mom handed me an issu e of one of the various RIchie Rich spinoffs. Then thanks to the filmation Batman cartoon ,Spider man and his amazing friends,and daily airings of Superfriends I was buying close to 10 comics a week in the very late 70s/early 80s.