What Effect Did Comics Have On You?

I don’t know about you but the comic book has had a profound effect on my life and here is the reason why…

When I was around six or maybe seven years of age, my grandfather took me to the local candy store ( for those of you who might not know what one of these things are ), they were more of a place to get a ” Malted Milk Shake ” ( this was a real milk shake thank you ) or what was called an ” Egg Cream ” which was made with some milk, carbonated seltzer, and chocolate syrup, mixed well and served. The local candy store also had a place set aside for magazines and comic books.

And this would be the place that would foster what was to become a life long passion for a young, impressionable, future fanboy.

My first experience with the comic would actually be a black and white over sized Silver Surfer comic magazine ( because that’s what this was more like, and if I remember was marketed that way also ) and I remember being pretty excited about bringing this comic home and looking it over.

And thus another comic book aficionado is born.

This of course for myself was just the beginning…I was never up until this point in time, never really interested in reading anything. I either wanted to watch that little black box we call TV, or play outside mindlessly with whoever were my friends at the time.

But the Surfer, had started a minute spark…now I had a reason to actually stay indoors sometimes…to read my comic(s) and what an assortment of comics they were…

Superman, Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder, Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, The Mighty Thor and the Fantastic Four.

These characters would slowly replace my real world friends, and would also become my new reality.

Did the comic teach you how to read? For me they certainly were a major contributor to what would later be a tenth grade reading level in the 7th grade.

This was not the only contribution that the comic would make in my life…I would also nurture a love for drawing that was manifested thru my love of the comic book hero.

I had wanted to be a comic book artist, and so I had spent many long hours sharpening my #2 pencils to teach myself how to draw the Batman or Thor or even The Submariner, and if I do say so myself, I was pretty decent at doing so, but I was never one who liked to draw in perspective ( and I’m sure that there are some of you out there that were just great at mechanical drawing, unfortunately, I was not, but I have no regrets about that either ) that part of the equation of drawing the comic just did not interest me.

I even tried out one time for Marvel, by doing one of their over sized tryout books. I had spent weeks inking & painting a Spiderman panel. Sent it in to Marvel, and was summarily rejected, and never tried again.

This did not however mar my love of the comic obviously even today, because whether it was thirty years ago or if its thirty years in the future , the comic is in my opinion the best form of accessible art and written word that when meshed together properly is still one of the best and cheapest forms of entertainment available to young and old alike today.

So what effect did comics have on you?

Please share your thoughts and comments here.