Comics that changed my life forever (Part 5).

• Part 1.
• Part 2.
• Part 3.
• Part 3.5.
• Part 4.

This'll have to be another retro-linker....

So, I covered all the sickie books that "warped", me.

Now, I loop back to part 1 with all my firsts.

All right, in 1979, dad gave me my first comic, and it was Batman, because I was into the Adam West spinoff cartoon.

So, we continue from there...


Star Wars #23 (1979)

I'm dead certain this was my second comic ever.
My first batch of comics all connected to a show or movie.
I was a Star Wars nut, had all the figures, so, this was the obvious next step.

The Marvel run got sneered at during the Bantam novel/Dark Horse comics years...but then those got so formulaic and silly, the Marvels started looking good by comparison, and then Dark Horse reprinted them, and people saw they weren't so bad.
In fact, a lot of them were fucking great, and gave the best of Dark Horse a run for their money.

Now, with Disney owning Marvel and Star Wars, Star Wars is back under Marvel's roof again, and hardly anyone complained.

So, what's cool and uncool is arbitrary, and decided by dipshit hipsters, and you're best off liking what you like, and fuck everyone else.


Hulk #235 & #241 (1979)

And these were my first Hulks.
Naturally, because I was bonkers for the show.

Now, which one of these was exactly first is fuzzy to me.
"It's #235 you idiot!!".
Well, not necessarily.
See, back in my day, they had this thing where back-issues were packaged up in plastic bags, and put on end caps in toy departments of department stores.

So, I could've gotten #241 as the new one, and #235 after as the plastic-wrapped oldie.
In fact, I'm pretty certain #235 was in plastic regardless of when I got it.

Whichever order it was, they came within days/weeks of each other, so they're so closely tied, I'll just put them side by side.

My gut says #241 was first, but it's the kind of thing you can only really check with a time machine.

Oh, factoid, Machine-Man premiered in the "2001: A Space Odyssey", comic, so Hulk #235 is the Hulk/2001 crossover!
Talk about 70's, baby!


Action Comics #495-496 (1979)

And, these were to go with the Christopher Reeve movie.

Similar situation to the Hulks, #496 came in a baggie, and it might have even been the same baggie as #495, so I don't quite know the chronology.


Justice League Of America #162 (1979)

To go with the Superfriends cartoon.
And, you had Wonder Woman there, and I still had a crush on Linda Carter.

It was a weird one, they were fighting animals evolved into humanoids.
Kind of Superfriends vs. Dr. Moreau.


Hulk #249 (1980)

Got this one down in Florida on my first trip to Disneyworld.

It vanished when we got home; I was heartbroken.
It never left my sight unless I was asleep, so I suspect shenanigans.
Anyway, I found it again at a flea market.
Couldn't fucking believe it.
No, not that exact one, a replacement, but still.

And, what the hell, let's chase the Florida theme down the rabbit hole...


Gumby's Winter Fun Special (1988)

See here.

My grandmother brought this one up from one of her Florida trips.


Hulk #372 (1990)

And, when I went down to Florida again two years later in 1990, I grabbed this one at Flea World, a flea market literally the size of a mall.
The only one I ever saw that made Shady Daves look pathetic and puny.

Their comic section wasn't a table or booth, it was a SHOP the size of Moonshadow!

Anyway, nobody stole it on me this time.
Fuckers.

And, the end.
Now, to retro-link.