What got you into comics?

[Darthphere]

Theres a 100% chance this has been done before, but now its better, because I made this thread. Simple question. What got you into comics?


I remember it was 1989 and I was barely 3. It was around Christmas time so im pretty sure id just truned 3 recently. It was a Saturday and my mom was at work and my dad was taking care of my two older sisters and I. He had a video and sat me down with him to watch it. The video just so happened to be Batman. At this point im not sure if it was a bootleg but it really doesnt matter. I have a fuzzy memory of it you know being 3 and all but my dad tells me I had a smile on my face the whole time. Which worried him because he thought it was a bit too scary for me but he was too lazy to put me to sleep or something(My dad is a great parent). All I remember after that is being obsessed with Batman and having Batman bed sheets, backpack, pencil set, shoes, shirts, the works. Then when I was 5 we walked next to a comic book store and I saw a Batamn stand up and begged my dad to let me go in. Now, I know this place was full of fanboys. it was about 1993 so this was the apex of the comic boom. And I saw Batman comics all over the place. Funny thing is I didnt buy any and ended up buying A Power Ranger comic. My first comic ever. Thats how I got into comics. Batman and Power Rangers.

Whats your story?

 

[Anubis]

Well, I had read comics before when I was younger. You know, here and there. But I was never really into them. Well, It was like, 1998, maybe 99, and I was just out of high school and I had gotten my first real job so like, I was looking at my pretty much my first paycheck here. So, I cashed my check at the bank, but the teller gave me all 50's. I didn't care at the time, I was too happy to have some cash. (If you've been dependent upon others for so long, then suddenly get your own money to spend how you see fit, you'd be geeked too.) That was, until I had to get on the bus to go home and all I had was a bunch of 50's. So, I went into a Walgreens near the bus stop to try and get some change. I was browsing around. Thought maybe I'd check out the Video game magazines, when I saw a comic book rack. Which is kinda rare in a Walgreens after the crash. I figured, why not. So I grabbed a couple of Spider-Man issues. Lucky for me they were all part of one story arc in PP:SM involving this villain who seemingly had all the powers of every superhero and villain you could think of. So, I bought it, and enjoyed it surprisingly. So much so that I wanted more. I went to another Walgreens and grabbed some more comics. Avengers, Superman, Batman, Spidey, and I also saw an issue of Wizard. Now, say what you want about wizard, but this was the first time I ever read a mag devoted to whats going on with comic books. It was an eye opener to say the least. Because of that one issue I was exposed to books I hadn't even heard of with characters I probably never would have heard of. Spidey might have sparked my interest, but Wizard made me a comic book fan.

 

[Silver Sable]

From the Batman,Spider-Man,Wildcats,etc cartoons.I then started reading their comics and that's how it started

 

[Dr. Mid-Nite]

My dad owned this box of really old comics from his time as a kid and used to read them to me during most of my youth, after he took me to our local shop when I was about 8 and I rember seeing this poster of Dr. Mid-Nite and the JSA that I just had to have. Ever since then I've been reading comics, and for the life of me I don't think I'll ever stop reading them.

 

[Xofenroht]

Hmm, it's pretty hard to pin point. My mother was always a fan of comicbook characters in the 60's and 70's. When she had me in the mid-80's I came along for the ride. My cousins were the ones who really got me into them. One in particular was really big into the X-Men franchise, so I would sneak behind his back and flip through the comics whenever I got the chance. In addition to that I watched old reruns of the Adam West Batman show, then fell in love with the Batman movie of the 80's AND Prince's "Batdance". Some time later my cousin convinced my mom to get me some X-Men action figures for my birthday, these were to support the cartoon they had coming out in the 80's (with Storm, Colossus, Aussie Wolvie, Kitty, Nightcrawler, Dazzler, Cyclops). I specifically remember not even being able to read around this time. Afterwards I learned to read from reading the backs of the action figure card packaging.
Everything just sort of took off from there.

 

[TheFalcon]

I can remember starting to read some Donald Duck comics here in Norway when I was 6 or 7 and then I guess it just developed from there.
I started reading american comics in 2004 after I joined this board to read about the new Batman film that was coming out.
I decided to pick up Year One and DKR and after that I've been hooked.

 

[Honey Vibe]

I started reading comics for the first time when the Spider-Man 90s cartoon came out, as ...uninteresting as that sounds.

 

[deathshead2]

Well I read comics for awhile go to the gas station with my dad to buy them. I didn't know how to read so I would just make up my own words and story for each page. I really got into them thanks to cartoons you know B:tas,S:tas spider-man x-man,iron-man,hulk, and FF. I never really started reading comics until I my mom took me to the movies and there was a ad for a comic book store. When I saw the ad I begged my mom to take me she did I bought some transformers comics and later after dreamwave died out I stated buying other non transformers comics.

 

[XwolverineX]

I started readin' comics when my dad was into 'em. Then I quit. I got back into 'em when Spider-man 2 came out. I started readin' USM, then all of Ultimate. Then I went big an' started gettin' alot.

 

[Lackey]

What started my love of superheroes was the Superman movies. One of my earliest memories is seeing Superman II in the theatre and getting a Superman pin they were giving out to people as they walked out of the theatre. Later on my dad bought me a Superman action figure that was my favorite toy for years. As a kid, I watched every superheroh tv series or cartoon series there was... Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, The Flash, Superboy, even The Greatest American Hero.

What started my love of comics as a medium is the Sunday newspaper "funnies"...I would read the Sunday comic strips from the time that I learned to read. My first comic books were an Archie Double Digest and a mini-size reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #1 that I received as part of a contest for school in 4th grade.

What started me in collecting comics was the Death of Superman, it was such a big event, that my dad went and reserved a copy of Superman #75 for me and started picking up the comics that lead to that issue. Afterwords, he continued to buy me Superman comics until Superman's return. I always looked forward to my dad coming home from work with a new comic book to give me. I found out that my dad was heavily into comics when he was a kid, but that most of his comic books were thrown out by my grandmother when "he was too old for them." My dad had even won a "create a superhero" contest with his entry "Mr. Excellent." I couldn't have been more proud of him.
Even after my dad stopped buying me comics regularly, I would go to the grocery store and read the ones on the rack and buy a few here and there whenever I had money to spare. I stopped keeping up with comics when I went to college, but when I got out and had a job, I picked up the habit again in full force since now I had the money to support this addictive habit...and I don't see any signs of slowing down.

 

[Elijya]

The Marvel Trading Card series 2. Loved those things. They taught me all the characters, then I jumped to the comics

 

[Sentry2005]

As I was starting secondary school ('96-97) I randomly found an issue of the collectors edition UK reprints in my local news agents (for the same price as a regular comic, you get three reprinted in normal size... pretty sweet to get you into comics).

So I was reading these old Spider-Man and X-Men stories (Spider-Man was telling the Clone saga at this point, and X-men was was in the middle of Age of Apocalypse) for about a year, until suddenly they started producing a book reprinting the Heroes Reborn saga; now say what you will about the Heroes Reborn era, and i'll agree it did suck, but it allowed a new generation of readers to get on board, and I actually really enjoyed it.

It was at this time I found a comic shop in my local shopping centre, and picked up some more pretty bad comics (unfortuantly A-Next was among them, but I also managed to grab some issues of Volume 3 of Iron Man, who thanks to Heroes Reborn was fast becoming my favourate super hero).

I calmed down on the comics until my third year of school, where my art teacher encouraged me to draw like the books I still picked up when i had some change. I got back into comics heavily as an Avengers reprint series began, beginning with the Busiek/Perez era (My FAVOURATE run on anything EVER).

Now for the next three years I picked up the reprint titles semi-reguarly (with the exeption of Avengers, which I got consistantly every month), until I stopped as I began college (2001-02). Then last summer I found a new comic shop. And my curse began.

So now i'm back into comics, and have been for coming up a year, and thus far I am picking up around 8-12 titles a month from each company, as well as a few image titles. All of this and the fact I started university last september, am in debt by around 1200 pounds, and rather than food I buy comics with my loan. But, it has made me realise that I want to write something in this medium. I always wanted to be a writer, but comics just seem the perfect medium now. Anyway, thats my reasons for getting into comcis boring really

 

[The Question]

Well, you know how parents read their kids story books before bed? Well, my dad read me the latest issue of Superman.

 

[Elijya]

aww

 

[Silver Sable]

The Marvel Trading Card series 2. Loved those things. They taught me all the characters, then I jumped to the comics

How old you were then?

 

[Elijya]

nine

 

[co2]

I loved the Superman movie and Hulk TV show as a wee one, so I would say that got me into comic heros. I was a little too young to read comics at that point, but did pick up a few. Then later, I got into G.I. Joe cartoons and toys as a kid of the 80's. To my memory, that was the only time a commercial has ever ran for a comic book. They would run that commmercial during the show. I started picking up the Joe comics and collecting them. Very soon after, my dad took me to a comic store, and that just opened the whole world right there. I got away from G.I Joe and embraced the Marvel Universe stuff, particularly Spider-man and Hulk. I stopped after high school and didn't read a comic for over 10 years. Now the movies have renewed my interest and here I am posting on a message board.
I have embraced my geeky roots.

 

[yenaled]

Pretty hard to pin point, going round to a cousins and reading all his old comics when I was young originally got me into comics, but I got pretty bored of them after a while, after all I was only young. I think the early cartoons like the Spider-Man and X-Men and the Batman cartoons cefinatly. But those characters comics bored me, it wasn't till I moved out from those when I got interested.

Eventually I ended up picking up a Kyle Rayner Green Lantern book, and I was hooked.

 

[XwolverineX]

Well, you know how parents read their kids story books before bed? Well, my dad read me the latest issue of Superman.

Awwww, how cute!

 

[C.F. Kane]

Freedom Force by Irrational Games

 

[Rez]

Pop Tarts and Jesus.

Don't ask.

 

[Darthphere]

Pop Tarts and Jesus.

Don't ask.

Im sorry, im going to have to.

 

[Whirlysplat]

1974 and I saw a copy of Iron man at the Newsagents, I thought he looked so cool. I had to have it. It cost all my pocket money that week! I only got 10p!

- Whirly

 

[Anubis]

heh, I love that term the English use. News Agents. Makes the job sound so sophisticated.

 

[Whirlysplat]

heh, I love that term the English use. News Agents. Makes the job sound so sophisticated.

Yes it does, doesn't it

- Whirly