I had my own comic book store by the age of 7 years. Those were the days before television and the many other distractions that surround us today. My comic book store consisted of over 200 comics, which I read and reread and then when I had enough of re-reads I would get on my bicycle and visit friends to do a comic swap. These were exciting times for we loved our few comic book heroes and when the next edition was at the news store we would often be their waiting to buy them as they arrived.
There was of course Superman and his amazing powers and he had Xray vision which made him seem almost mystical and add to that his ability to fly and lift trains and intercept even aircraft in flight had me locked in as a believer and follower However I felt he lost a bit of class when Lois Lane arrived on the scene.
Superman was the start of the hero era of comics for me and then came Captain Marvel and he was great but then Captain Marvel Junior got into the act and his hero status was reduced in my seven-year-old eyes. Best of all though was the Phantom, ‘the ghost who walks’,with his faithful wolf dog Devil who was his buddy in battles. But then I felt let down when the Phantom’s girlfriend appeared. Why would a powerful hero like the Phantom need a girlfriend I asked myself?
There were so many of these wonderful adventure comic magazines in those days and in that year of my childhood 1948 they cost about sixpence (five cents). Today I believe a phantom comic, in good condition, can be sold for over $6000! If only I had known my 200 comic books which cost less than $20 would now fetch about $600000. I could have retired a lot earlier than I did.
The comics in those days became a secondary school reader for me, I had no great interest in books but the graphic art with the words attached in the circle above the character captured my imagination like no book could do and in fact I believe my reading skills were mainly developed and honed through comics – I later became a Teacher and I could spell anything without a miss. Of course I did read some required books but only on instruction never by choice.
Other comics in my comic book store were Mandrake and the Disney comics of the day and I loved them too. Mandrake the magician with his faithful sidekick Lothar could do anything with a wave of his hand however he fell from grace a little with because he too had a girl friend called Nardia. However even if my heroes failed somewhat by having a girl in their team I got used to it and kept buying them and reading them and trading with friends and eventually changed my mind completely about girls when I reached the age of 14.
I miss that simple era where the comics were not filled with extreme violence and graphic sex. They were simply great adventures with a powerful hero fighting evil and winning. I loved that about my comic book store and maybe today’s children are missing something with the iPods and tele and sensational special effect movies which capture their interest where everything is imagined for them. With the comics you had to imagine the voice and create the action in your mind from the graphics.
But this is an old guy talking and some might think it’s an old grump talking but I loved my childhood and my comic book store and now, in my latter years, that era of the comic book holds such wonderful memories of a simple and safer world protected by the great comic book heroes.
Leonard Greenhall 2009 copyright