The hashtag #FourComics is going around Twitter and Facebook today. And, of course, that is right up my alley! I think the idea of it is four comics that influenced you as a kid. Or just plain loved. I could have picked dozens of others but these were some of the first that came to mind. And to be honest, the only one that is specific is the Crisis on Infinite Earths one. The other 3 were just random covers I found of comics I loved back then. I'm going to individually break these down for you. Enjoy!
If you know me then you know my unabashed love for Archie Comics. As a kid, they were some of my first comics I started collecting. And I have been and always will be a huge Christmas nerd too. So the Archie Christmas comics are among my favorite to this day. I'm not sure if I had the particular issue shown above but I bet I did. How is that possible? Well, there was an old used book shop in my hometown of Jacksonville, FL that carried old/used comic books. They had tons of old long boxes full of them. And, best of all, they had dime and quarter bins! My mom would give me a certain budget of a few dollars and I'd go crazy in those bins often coming out with stacks of Archie comics. The Christmas ones were either just silly fun or very sentimental with a message. And being a young sap (and now an old sap), I loved it.
One of my favorite stories was a take off of Gift of the Magi. Archie wanted to get Veronica something nice for Christmas and vice versa. I don't remember what he got her...maybe some sort of jewelry piece? I know she bought snow chains for his old jalopy. Which he sold to get her the jewelry she wanted. But of course, she sold something connected to the jewelry he got her to help pay for his snow chains. I know, sappy. But I love it!
I still have some of the Archie Christmas collections and enjoy reading some of them each year at Christmas. You can find some of them for purchase at your local comic shop or online.
Crisis On Infinite Earths was one of the most groundbreaking comics in history. This was probably the only comic out of the 4 here that I bought when it came out. DC decided to take all of their characters and stories, including parallel worlds/universes, and combine them into one earth. Thus literally killing off hundreds of minor characters and a few major ones as well. I was a DC Comics kid growing up. I don't know why I didn't get into Marvel until my late teens/early 20's but that's what happened. Anyway, I knew a ton of these characters well. And even the minor ones that bit the dust kind of hurt. I'll never forget the iconic cover of a crying Superman holding a dead Supergirl in his arms. Or when The Flash dies. I think it was after Supergirl's death that a funeral was held in the next issue. Most of the remaining heroes attended and it may have been Wonder Woman and/or Batgirl who delivered some great dialogue remembering Kara. Something like, "The days will seem long. The nights that much longer". I'm quite sure I teared up reading that. Heck, I probably still would today!
Since then, they've retconned/rebooted/relaunched their comics many times including the recent "New 52" and I'm glad to see some of the old characters back. But that series started all the other major changes in comics over the years (which Marvel is now doing with their universe of comics soon). I need to go back and re-read this one.
As you read in the Archie notes, I used to bin dive the dime boxes at the old used book store. Besides Archie, I would come out with a ton of Richie Rich comics. Growing up a poor kid, I guess I liked them because I could fantasize about having abundant wealth. And they were funny and silly. But also like Archie comics, they had adventure stories on occasion with Richie acting as a spy of sorts and boy were they exciting to read!
I chose the cover above because Jackie Jokers was one of my favorite supporting characters. There were so many other Harvey Comics characters that made appearances and I would get their books too like Little Dot, Little Lotta, his mean cousin Reggie, his girlfriend Gloria, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Hot Stuff the Little Devil, etc. But Jackie I related too. Maybe because he looked slightly Asian and had a bowl haircut like I did and was a comedian/entertainer. And he was funny! At least I remember him to be. And I'm sure my 10 year old self laughed out loud a lot at his jokes. All of his original comics usually had them spoofing some movie or TV show. Be great to get a collection of both the Jackie Jokers comic series as well as the Richie Rich and Jackie Jokers series.
Like the Archie and Richie Rich comics, I got a ton of these back issues in the bargain bins though these were more in the quarter and fifty-cent boxes. I loved the older ones with Superboy but it was when they went on their own that it go really good. All the different heroes from all over the universe with so many different powers...and in the future! Heck, they even had a Karate Kid! It got heavy serious too. Triplicate girl became Duo Damsel when one of her "others" was killed by a villain. Family drama between the twins Lighting Lad/Lightning Lass and their evil brother Lightning Lord. Romance between a ton of different heroes. The awesome bad guys. Braniac 5 and his super smart ideas. The one that always baffled me was Ultra Boy. He basically had Superboy powers but could only use one at a time. I always thought how hard that would be to concentrate on which to use and to switch back and forth just in time during battles.
The really old issues when it was Superboy and the Legion of Superheroes are more lighthearted and fun (though not completely). And I always enjoyed the "team try-out" issues. Poor Polar Boy. So qualified but never made it to the team. He started his own "Legion of Substitute Heroes" and they helped out LOSH often. But it seems they were a comic relief often as well. Alas, he did eventually make the time years later.
As I said, so many more comics I could have chosen but I'm sticking to the "four" theme. What are yours?