Bleme: The First Comic You Remember Reading

[dvandom]

Inspired by gamera_spinning's link to an EW Article about the comics that got various creators hooked, I figured I'd try to start a little LJ meme.

What was the first comic you can remember reading, or the first to make enough of an impression on you that you do remember reading it, assuming that you were reading comics as a wee little kiddie? Bonus if you can find the cover on CoverBrowser or some similar site and link it in.




(Image taken from CoverBrowser.)

I had to do some research to be sure on the primacy of this one, because I have equally old memories of Thor #261, Iron Man #98 and an issue of Conan brought home around the same time when I was six years old. But Cap #200 came out nearly a year before those others, so it must be the one I got as a birthday present in 1976. I would later read and be much more influenced by Cap #178-9 borrowed from my cousin, but the ol' Madbomb was the star attraction of the first comic I can clearly remember reading.

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I remember thumbing through a yellowed, coverless, disintegrating copy of Adventure Comics featuring Sun Boy, the Space Ark and the mutiny of the Legion. Great issue, and you know, I've never really liked Dirk, as something of a consequence.

The one comic that got me hooked, though? G.I. Joe #7. It all falls on Larry Hama, as these things often do.

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

While it is not the first comic that I read (I had been thumbing through Marvel's Origins compilations and various paperback compilations of Kirby's Captain America and others as a very small boy), The Uncanny X-men #153, "Kitty's Fairy Tale," was the first comic that I remember truly enjoying. That was the one that got me hooked, and given the large collection of Elseworlds and other Alternaverse issues that I have or have enjoyed, I think it set a trend.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Probably one of the old Superman comics. My grandma had a box of them in her spare room for when the grandkids were over. This would be sometime in the late 70s, and they were old comics even then. They might have been early 70s, or even late 60s.

The first comic I actually remember reading as a separate issue, rather than a kind of generic blur of stories and panels, was Transformers UK #112:

[jkcarrier.livejournal.com]

I talked about it a bit here (http://jkcarrier.livejournal.com/1770.html).

[foomf.livejournal.com]

I have that somewhere in my longboxes.

My first comics memories are, I think, from when I was six or seven.

Now, at the time, I lived in Montana, on a small two-bedroom ranchhand's house near Fort Shaw/Sun River, and comics were something my paternal grandmother would bribe me with - she was a nasty piece of work, although I didn't know it at the time, and rather than stir herself to leave her house with the four ashtrays all holding at least one cigarette she was smoking, she would send me with a quarter to go to the store and get candy or comics.
First time she did this I was four or five, I think, but I don't remember the comics until after I was six. And she did at least send me with some neighbor kids so I wouldn't get completely lost, though she wouldn't have minded.

OK. I have several. I'll link them rather than steal the image bandwidth though :)

From this page: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/fantastic-four - I have several but the one I know I bought was http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/fantastic-four/3-1.jpg from a corner store that had comics. The store across the street was better because it had penny candy but the comics were in the drugstore.

Oh yeah, and the earliest prediction of the Civil War Reed Richards, here: http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/fantastic-four/10-3.jpg

However, this page: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/uncanny-x-men has the most of them and I know I bought this one: http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/1-3.jpg and this one: http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/12-1.jpg and especially this one: http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/uncanny-x-men/19-1.jpg who has always been one of my favorite characters.

There were others: Aqua Man, Justice League, Metal Men, the Sub-Mariner. Doom Patrol. Superboy. I especially remember the Charlton HARVEY comics "Fly" character, but they have no scans. edit: Found a pic here: http://www.mycomicshop.com/viewissue?IVID=5509511 but I never had that comic.

We moved just before 5th grade, and at some point in there I remember the origin of Tiger Shark: http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/sub-mariner-1968/5-1.jpg with one of the most modern costume designs from the sixties. Oh yeah, and Krypto and a bunch of talking space-dogs.

I didn't get into the Legion until later, I got into the Avengers starting with the addition of the Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye to the membership roster, and of course the Legion when I was in sixth grade, and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Metamorpho were also cool then.
And somehow in there, was Herbie, the Fat Fury, aka the Human Flying Saucer, whose powers came from lollipops.

But I think the real first comic I remember reading was one of the 80 page giant size Batman comics, because it had the origin of the Joker. I think it's from here: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/batman/4 and it's either this one: http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/batman/176-4.jpg or this one: http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/batman/187-2.jpg but I think it was #176 because it was the first 25 cent comic and there was a lot of concern over whether it was really worth it.

It was.

[z4nd4r.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I have any older comics than this:
http://www.yojoe.com/comics/joe/joe1.shtml

By older I mean in my possession.

I'm sure I do have older Disney and Warner Bros comics, but this is the comic that had the biggest impact on me buying comics. Every time I saw a new issue of GI Joe I'd get it. Mind you, I had like 12 issues total. Not too many were within 6 months of each other either.

Same with Transformers, The first 18 issues I had maybe 4 of? Then I got a subscription starting with Issue 19. It was so cool getting them in the mail!

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

It was The Champions, issue #4, and it was awful. The team members were poorly drawn, hated each other, and the story was abyssmal, but the characters themselves were interesting.

[jameel.livejournal.com]

The earliest comic I remember reading was either an issue of Teen Titans (had Beast Boy in it, and Duella Dent blew a giant bubble with special gum and used it to float like a balloon) or a DC Digest that had Supergirl in it and a GL story where Hal mused on the yellow weakness.

[loki-liesmith.livejournal.com]

(http://www.comics-db.com/comic-book-art/1063127-Optimus_Prime_vs_Megatron_2_Cover_Image.html)

Image Courtesy Big Comic Book DataBase (http://www.comics-db.com/)

I remember picking it up at the BX.

[amigoid.livejournal.com]

We had some friends with older boys and I got to thumb through their comics when I was a kid.
I remember one about the negative zone, and the Fantastic Four.

http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/fantastic-four/6#i251

I was so impressed with Reed Richards.

I read OMAC and enjoyed Kirby's style.

Metal Men fighting Chemo.

Gyro Screwloose and Scrooge and the Nephews all trying to eat this growing green jello or pudding.

I guess if I had to pick a comic that I read from the start that I really cared about it'd be New Mutants. Typical story, had em all from issue 1, and they got thrown out. (not by me...) I loved the New Mutants characters. Cannonball rocked. I still read the New Mutants special 2-parter where they were kidnapped to Asguard.

I still have a copy of Web of Spider Man #1 and Spectacular Spider Man #100, and I'll pass them on to my sons or maybe my grandson.

I also have the Collected Omaha, but it'll be another 20 years before those get handed down. That series really impressed me too. :-) ;-)

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a pity the Omaha creators had a bitter divorce and will no longer work together. It'd be nice to at least find out who shot the Senator.

[recharge138.livejournal.com]

I had a hanful of comics before I could really read them. The earliest I remember is an issue of Fantastic Four She Hulk era. I dunno if I could even spot the cover going through those years (81ish?). But I'm sure Shulkie was on the cover.

When I first started really reading comics, it was the Star line, along with Archie and other kiddie comics, Groo, and of course Joe/Transformers. Didn't start in on Superhero comics probably till I was 12.

[recharge138.livejournal.com]

Aha! 271, Dormu cover. Remember it perfectly! Can't figure out how to link it tho. She Hulk's not actually on the cover.

But the year would put me at 1984, at seven. I could swear I was a year or so younger, but that would put me at my parent's first house, which is where I remember having it.

[z4nd4r.livejournal.com]

I had that issue too. It was part of one of those comic collection things that they sold around Xmas time. You know, it had one of every Marvel title.

[aardy.livejournal.com]

The first comic book I remember reading is one whose identity was a mystery to me for many years; I only knew I'd read it in the pediatrician's office when I was very young.

One of the main impediments for tracking it down was that the only things I could remember were a blue furry guy who could change into Eddie G. Robinson, a short guy with an orange suit and grey tabs around his neck who hopped a lot, a big guy with an angular white mustache, and a large red alien with wavy lips and tentacles.

When I got into Marvel comics through kateshort, I figured it was probably some early issue of X-Men, once I figured out that the first two were Beast and Toad. But then we completed our collection back to Giant Size #1, and it wasn't there--and the previous issues of X-Men were published so much earlier the chances of any of them being in the doctor's office were slim.

Then I started compiling the Exhaustive Completist's Annotated Index of X-Men Guest Appearances and picking up many other Marvel comics, and there it was, exactly like I remembered it:

Avengers #138 (http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/avengers/138-2.jpg), August 1975.

After that, I read "Superman from the 30s to the 70s", "Secret Origins of the DC Heroes" (the earlier version sans Martian Manhunter), a "Wonder Woman" archive, an omnibus collection of early Buck Rogers strips, and most of the Nostalgia Press collections of Flash Gordon strips--as my father had bought those around the time they came out--and some Archie (the Spire version) and Disney comics a friend down the street had.

However, what truly got me hooked on reading monthly comics as they came out was the 1980s relaunch of Superman with Man of Steel #1 (http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/man-of-steel/1-13.jpg), and, that same year, being allowed to read a family friend's copies of Transformers #1-25 or so--especially Transformers #5 (http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/transformers/5-1.jpg).

[dreadpirate.livejournal.com]

Mine was Iron Man #135, "Last Tango With the Titanium Man," though I don't remember whether it arrived in a Christmas stocking or Easter basket. I do recall my brother getting an issue of "Spidey Super Stories" around the same time.

Had they known what it would lead to, I'm sure my parents would never have given me that comic. Then again, I probably would have been hooked anyway...my barber always had a pretty good collection in the waiting room, along with a few tattered issues of Mad magazine...

[grant-p.livejournal.com]

Mine was an old 1950's era thing I found in our library called 'Hot Stuff the Little Devil', from the old Archie Comics line, I think. A weird story about a small demon's quest to get rid of his alarm clock for waking him up. I thought it made little sense for him to have bought an alarm clock if that wasn't what he wanted, and also thought that it was funny that the clock was specially mentioned as being electric, like it was unusual. Plus the clock was alive and talking.

I was only four so these things made little impression except that I went through my parts bin and built a clock that had foldable little legs that could pop out, as I thought the clock walking around was a neat idea. No one else understood the joke. I wasn't stupid, though. I also made a small wall outlet separate from the real wall so I could play with plugging it in without frying myself.

[razorsmile.livejournal.com]

Whichever issue of Batman that had him beaten (twice) by the Night-Slayer.

[stankow.livejournal.com]

I think I read comic books pretty much from birth, but the ones I remember first actively collecting as in "Oh, I gotta get this one next month" were the Flash series soon before Crisis on Infinite Earths when he apparently killed Reverse-Flash and went on trial.

[gwox.livejournal.com]

Shogun Warriors #1 from Marvel, sometime in the mid-to-late seventies.