shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,512
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Post by shaxper on May 8, 2016 10:33:48 GMT -5
In honor of mothers' day, do you have any special memories of your mother and comics?
For me, I probably never would have gotten into comics without my mom. She brought me up on the licensed pajamas, coloring books, and Super Powers figures, often drove me to the LCS, and while I had to buy my comics with my own money, she always paid for the bags and boards because she wanted to help me take good care of my possessions.
I recall my mother driving me to the local stationary store, giving me money, and making me buy the death of Jason Todd because she'd heard it would be a collectors item, driving me to a store that had a slew of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures comics and loaning me the money to buy them all because, again, collectors items, and I even remember her chewing out an LCS owner once for being snappy and dismissive to me while he was chatting with his regulars.
My mom did so much to make me feel loved and supported in pursuit of my hobby, almost certainly to the extent of spoiling me.
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Post by Batflunkie on May 8, 2016 10:48:02 GMT -5
Around the time I was 8 or 10, my mom started dating this guy named Chuck who lived in the upstairs apartment/attic of a townhouse in the city which is maybe a 5/10 minute drive from my house. He was really big into comics and by proxy, got me and my mom into them. Most of what I got at the time were literal "funny books", stuff from Bongo like Simpsons Comics, Bart Simpson, Radioactive Man, Powerpuff Girls, Cartoon Network Presents, Dexter's Laboratory, numerous titles from Marvel's STAR imprint from the 80's, Ren & Stimpy, and Rocko's Modern Life. Most of what mom collected however was Alan Moore. She got me into a lot of comics that as I grew older, I'd learn to appreciate more. Like Judge Dredd, The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch, Shazam/Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, and Moore's "America's Best Comics" line, namely Tom Strong
She might not be the best parental figure in the world sometimes, but I can't fault her at least trying her best and instilling in me what a "strong and independent" woman should be, along with an appreciation for old sci-fi shows and a warped sense of humor that boarders on demented
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on May 8, 2016 12:13:04 GMT -5
My mom is awesome in so many ways, but sadly not in the way Batflunkie's was! When she was kid (early 50ies) she was heavily into the Disney ducks, so when I was a kid, I got hooked on her old ones, which is where and how I sterted to read... But that was mostly the end of that.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 8, 2016 13:12:47 GMT -5
My mom is a great fan of classic bandes dessinées, and when we were children she read us ten pages of Tintin each night before bedtime, giving each character a distinct voice (a trick I used when the time came to read to my own kids). In recent years I introduced her to such great series asGiroud's Le décalogue, Boulet's notes, Gilbert Hernandez's Palomar, Eisner's graphic novels, and Taniguchi's Summit of the gods. In turn, she got me into Sfar's Le chat du rabbin and Larcenet's Le retour à la terre. She really doesn't like super-hero comics, to put it mildly, but as far as most other comics are concerned she's way cooler than any parent has a right to be!!!  |
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Post by Red Oak Kid on May 8, 2016 13:15:34 GMT -5
My mom was instrumental in helping me get started collecting comics. Around 1971 I read a newspaper story about a comic book convention(headline said Superman #1 sells for $200). I began buying comics off the rack at the local 7-11. One Saturday she got back from grocery shopping and told me about a used paperback bookstore next to the grocery store that had old comics for sale. I rode my bike up there and bought a few. They were 15 cents each or you could trade two of yours for one of theirs. That store is still in business and is strictly a comic book store now.
She collected antiques and told me about an antique store in a nearby town that had several stacks of old comics. She drove me there in the car. The lady who ran it bought comics at garage sales. I think there were 6 or 8 stacks of comics. I think she sold them for 20 cents each. My mom would take me there on a pretty regular basis.
And I've told the story here before about the time I got home from school and there was a stack of comics in the dining room. She had bought them for me at a garage sale. I think one of them was X-Men 5 and another one was the Tales of Suspense with the first Black Widow Iron Man story.
She also drove me to downtown Dallas one summer day just to look for new comics at news stands.
And when I found out that comic book collectors put their comics in plastic bags she began saving me the plastic bags she got at the produce dept. of the grocery store.
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Post by Ozymandias on May 8, 2016 13:15:57 GMT -5
That's a funny one. My mother, who's basically read every book you should, tried to steer me towards her hobby. As soon as she noticed my interest in Marvel comics, she baited me with some quality european stuff, in the hopes that this would pave the road to literature. For quite some time, she encouraged my reading habits, with the goal of transitioning to "real" literature, at the appropriate time. The flaw in her plan, was that she didn't really know, what she was dealing with. By the time I gave her Watchmen and TDKR, she abandoned all hope, admitting those were just as good, as anything she could muster.
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Post by batlaw on May 8, 2016 13:20:39 GMT -5
My mother would bring me a comic from the grocery store when I was sick.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2016 14:06:42 GMT -5
There are plenty of stories I could tell, but my favourite one will always be the one where my mom saw a copy of The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers at a comic shop she'd driven me and she let her guard down as my mom enough to buy it.
Probably also the first time I really encountered underground comix.
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Post by Batflunkie on May 8, 2016 14:24:15 GMT -5
My mother would bring me a comic from the grocery store when I was sick. Some of the first ones I bought were from this local grocery store called Zuppardo's (which smelled of wonderful freshly baked breads) in the late 90's, when comics had long since meandered on over to direct market comic shops  And these weren't your typical garden variety crop of Archie books either, Adventures Of Superman #558, The Mighty Heroes #1, and Sonic The Hedgehog #48 & #52 |
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Post by tolworthy on May 8, 2016 14:42:56 GMT -5
I will never forget Mum buying me my first ever comic. Monster Fun Comic, issue 4 or 6 I think, from the newsstand of Birmingham New Street station. I remember how big that stand seemed, as I was barely six at the time. I loved that comic. Mum then paid for it to be delivered every week. I remember waiting at the letter box for it to come through the door each Saturday morning. I love my Mum.
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Post by Batflunkie on May 8, 2016 14:56:45 GMT -5
Monster Fun was an amazing book for it's time, shame it had such an incredibly short run
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Post by hondobrode on May 8, 2016 15:29:56 GMT -5
It was my dad that really was my go to person for comics. My mom thought we spent way too much money on them and was passive-aggressive when Pop would take us to our comic shop about once a year or so, or to the local newsstand or spinner rack.
However, she doesn't feel that way now.
On a Wednesday night back in '74, on our way back home from Catechism, she stopped at Piggly Wiggly to pick up a few quick items.
That's when I saw my first spinner rack, and on it, the Super Friends, or close enough, Justice League of America # 115 - 100 pages for 60 cents.
I asked her if we could get it, and she actually got it for me, which was an extreme rarity. We normally only got something on our birthdays or Christmas.
My brother and I read that until it was falling apart, rolled spine and no cover. We did the crosswords, word finds, carefully studied all the ads and tried to figure out who's who and what's going on.
That did it.
Even though she didn't understand when she was younger, I think she does now, kinda.
I love my mom and we talk at least once a week.
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Post by Bronze Age Brian on May 8, 2016 20:17:59 GMT -5
Although she never showed much interest, my mom always said yes to "Can I get a comic book?", which I greatly appreciated.
The one time she was interested in comics was in 1983 after watching "Breathless" with Richard Gere. She was telling me that this movie had involved a Silver Surfer comic and wanted to know if I had the comic. I didn't have it, but my mom definitely piqued my interest in the Silver Surfer the way she was describing how the comic had an emotional impact on the actors in the movie. I've since become a big fan of the Surfer and own the full run of the 1st series thanks to her.
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Post by Bronze age andy on May 8, 2016 21:37:45 GMT -5
My parents were from "putting childish things away when you become an adult" school.
But one time my mom was picking me up from the LCS and whilst asking me to wrap things up and go I saw her face change. She had spied an old copy of Little Lulu and just for a fleeting moment my mom was 8 years old again. Love my mom.
Similarly my father had a Blackhawk moment later at the same store.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2016 21:46:45 GMT -5
My Mother did not care for Comics - but she did not mind me getting a Superman, Batman, and even an old Justice League of America Comic Book with my allowance monies that I got and sometimes I even spent a dollar or two on Comics with the odd job monies that I got in the Summertime and she did not stop me from buying it. However, my Father had a different take and he objected it and he thinks Comics are a waste of monies. That's one thing about my own Mother - she wanted me to have a sense of fantasy and adventure of which I did not get much of during the sixties and the the early seventies.
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