For the purposes of this introductory post, I'm going to start with what are perhaps the three most important comic books I owned.
First up, and this is kind of a cheat, is Amazing Spider-Man #122.
The cover date on this comic is July 1973*, which means it came out when I was two years old, and therefore long before I started reading comic books. It is included here, however, because it was an issue that was given to me later on by my Uncle Tom, and it totally blew my socks off. First of all, look at that cover! Spidey is holding the dead body of his girlfriend Gwen Stacy, who has just been murdered by the Green Goblin, who is the guy raining explosives down on a very angry Spider-Man. If ever a comic cover spoke up and said "Shaun! Read me!", this is the one, folks.
Gwen Stacy died in the previous issue, which I didn't get to read until years later, but the confrontation on the cover kicks the issue off, and as with most Marvel Comics of the 70's it was pretty easy to pick up and go in the middle of the story and understand what was happening. That's a good thing, too, because during the Golden Age here my selecting habits were pretty haphazard and I rarely had both halves of two-part stories.
Anyway, this comic is vitally important to my development. It started the whole Gwen Stacy thing for me, which I've talked about before. It was almost unbearably exciting, with the opening battle between Spidey and the Goblin, followed by the final showdown at the end of the issue (If you've seen the first Spider-Man movie, the confrontation here ends pretty much the same way). And then the issue ends with an amazing page between a grieving Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson (which I reproduced in the blog a few months back). While I shouldn't actually count this issue in the true chronology, this one comic book is one of the biggest reasons I'm still interested in these characters today.
*cover dates on comics are always three months ahead, meaning this one was released in April. The July date is when it is supposed to be removed from shelves.
Up next, we have The Incredible Hulk #182.
This one's cover date is December 1974, which puts it on the stands in September, which was right around my fourth birthday. This one I do remember my mom buying for me, and for years and years I believed that this one was probably my first comic book, based on the date of release. Wow, I can even remember that we were up at my grandmother's house in Norwood, and that this comic was picked out at that Pharmacy in Potsdam that we used to stop at all the time. It's clear as a bell.
I can even remember most of the story, even though I haven't owned or read this issue in eons. The Hulk, following a battle from the previous issue (which I'll talk more about in a bit), is roaming the countryside and wanting to be left alone, which was his general mood back in those days. He happens across a campfire, stops, and meets a kindly old black hobo named Crackajack Jackson (great name!). The two of them hit it off and become pals.
Meanwhile, there are two escaped convicts on the loose while chained together by the wrist. They run into an alien, who then uses a device to change their chain into an unbreakable energy kind of weapony thing (only in comics, folks). What I can't remember is why the alien does this. I kind of remember that he was angry at the two of them ... or something? I guess I'll have to wait until The Essential Hulk vol. 5 comes out, which will have this issue inside.
Anyway, things happen and the Hulk ends up battling Hammer and Anvil in a huge slugfest, which the Hulk wins, but through other circumstances that are fuzzy to me Crackajack Jackson ends up dying. I didn't know this at the time, but bad things happening to the Hulk was a common theme of the series. I do remember thinking it was pretty sad, though. The old guy totally gets killed at the end, and I read this when I was four. As you'll see, however, this is far from the last brain-warping experience I'll have with comic books in the years to come. The aforementioned death of Gwen Stacy was actually a lot more impactful on me.
Oh, of historical note: the first page of this comic features a cameo appearance by future X-Men co-star and red hot property Wolverine. The issue just before this one was Wolvie's first full appearance, and is worth big bucks today. The issue that I had, solely due to that one page appearance, is also worth pretty decent money.
Moving on ...
During my research the other night I happened upon a surprise, and that surprise was Captain America #180.
And the cover date on this one is also December 1974, which means it came out the same month as that Hulk comic, which also means that either this one or that one was my very first comic book. As I also remember this one falling into my hands during that Norwood trip, I've decided to call it a tie. I'll probably never know one way or the other. I do remember, though, that as a result of this comic book I had a label made for this little carry box I had at the time that listed my name as "Shaun" but my rank as "Captain America". I think it was a GI Joe carrycase or something, which is why there was a need for my rank to be filled in. Suffice to say, Captain America had a huge impact on me.
Which makes this comic so odd. Because it's in this very comic book that Steve Rogers, as a result of the shenanigans of the recently concluded Secret Empire storyline (handily recapped in the first few pages of this issue), suffers a loss of faith and gives up the Captain America identity, instead choosing to go out adventuring as the Nomad. The loss in faith resulted from Cap unmasking the head of the Secret Empire only to discover a "high ranking government official" underneath. As this showdown happened inside the White House, and the year is what it is, it's strongly been implied that it was really Richard Nixon (which is what I believe) under the mask. As shown in the recap, the Secret Empire commander then puts a gun to his head and fires before Cap can stop him. And let me repeat -- I was just barely four years old while reading this.
This issue of Cap is awesome. Cap, as the Nomad, goes out to fight the newly re-assembled Serpent Society (whose new leader, the female Viper, assumes control of the organization by shooting down the original Viper in the pages of this comic book), but has a hard time of it. In a moment that's stayed with me all these years, the Nomad sets out to chase down the escaping squad ... only to step on and trip over his own cape and falling on his face. It's no wonder most Marvel heroes don't have capes. It ends on a cliffhanger, though, which I wouldn't finish until ten years later.
Next time we do this we'll be jumping ahead into the exciting year 1975!
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