Do you ever come across a comic or title or comic character that takes you down memory lane? I didn't really start reading and collecting comic books until I was in college. I know, those are the years where most money is spent on beer and pizza. While a solid portion of the paycheck from my dorm, food service job was spent on beer and pizza, I saved a bit to start collecting comics. One of my best friends (and drinking buddies), Pete, started this habit of collecting comics at the same time. So we worked out a deal that I would purchase a certain list of titles and he would purchase a certain list of titles then we would read, swap and read, then give back. It was a two-for-one deal story-wise. Every Thursday, we would walk off the campus of
Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois (yep, home to
Jimmy Johns) and head to the local drug store where there was a rack of comics. It was about a mile from campus, and there were some really snowy and cold days that we would trudge through the weather, but we never missed a Thursday. Once there, we would pop a few quarters into the X-Men arcade game then rummage through the comic racks. Month to month, there was pretty decent consistency with titles, so we were able to start putting together chronological stories. Some months a title might sell out or the store wouldn't get certain issues, but it actually wasn't too bad. The issue was the variety of titles. The mainstream titles like Spider-man, Batman, Superman, and the X-Men were there but some of the smaller titles would be hit-and-miss or just not there at all.
Luck came our way when a couple of guys decided to try opening a comic shop in Charleston just a couple blocks from campus! Visits
Midgard Comics fed our addiction for more stories and more books. Even though their website is woefully outdated today, I was in Charleston a couple months ago and the shop, to my delight, was still open. I wish I had time to stop in, but I was in a hurry heading home from a board meeting for work. Anyway, my friend and I would head over on Thursdays after classes to pick up our new books, then walk back to my apartment on 7th Street. We would spend Thursday evenings eating Mac and Cheese or Domino's Pizza (courtesy of my apartment-mate who worked there), laying on the floor with the TV muted on whatever seasonal sport was on, and reading our books. It is such a great memory for me because it was more than just the books, the art, and the characters. It was the discussions and hanging out with friends. It was debating what the cliffhanger endings were, and what we would see as the next book came out. It was the agony of waiting 30 days for the answers. It was all priceless and I long for those conversations today.
We generally read Marvel Comics. I have always been more of a Marvel fan, but Pete was a huge fan of Batman, so I read some of the Batman titles at that time. Other than Batman, Pete read the X-Men, X-Factor, Avengers West Coast, and Wonder Man. I have always enjoyed the character of Spider-man and reading the Amazing Spider-man title launched me full-fledged into a fan of the webhead books: Spider-man, Spectacular Spider-man, and Web of Spider-man. Even though I wasn't a huge fan of the X-titles, I did enjoy Cable and X-Force. But one day, Pete came in with a completely new comic that blew him away. I was skeptical, so I didn't read it for a couple months, but then I couldn't resist any longer. I picked up his new issues of Guardians of the Galaxy. I fell in love. Vance Astro, Starhawk, Charlie-27, Martinex, Aleta, Nikki, and the others drew me into this new 31st-century universe. I loved the connections to the late 20th century with Vance and the introduction to new villians like Taserface and The Stark. It is the Guardians of the Galaxy that always draws me back down memory lane. Not the contemporary Guardians with Star-Lord, Rocket, and Groot, though I love them as well, it is the "old" guardians that can flash my brain back to the 1990's Charleston, Illinois and my long-lost friend Pete.
I was at the public library browsing their graphic novel section a couple weeks ago and I came across the
Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1 compilation by Jim Valentino. It collects "Guardians #1-7 and Annual #1; and material from Fantastic Four Annual #24, Thor Annual #16 and Silver Surfer Annual #4." (see Guardians cover above). These are the characters and stories I discovered 20 some years ago. I highly recommend this story!
Some other old stories and books that can draw me down memory lane are the
Maximum Carnage story that crosses over the Spidey titles and the
Operation: Galactic Storm crossover. These are some awesome stories.
What comics take you back? What are some of the great stories you remember? They could be 2 years old or 20 or 40! What characters lead you to your comic beginnings. Where were you? Where were you in life and who were the friends you shared those comics with? Comment below and enjoy!
