I learned to look out for this from you, from several previous posts of yours!

And that is one fantastic cover, isn't it? I really should pick up some of these Atom issues for the Gil Kane art. 



Yeah, I threw Casper in mostly for laughs. Obviously DC was in full Bat-mode back then, so the Atom's not a surprise, but I was actually going to note something about the subtle aspect for the Casper, or put a  or  aside it. 

I did quickly check other issues of that particular Casper (The Friendly Ghost) title, to see if bats had been featured on that particular title on earlier occasions. It would seem to be a natural cover element, right?  

However I didn't see any other Casper TFG covers that included bats--granted I took a very quick look and didn't go that far back, and I didn't check the myriad of Casper-associated books, just this one title.  Now, had I come across bats on other Casper TFG covers, I would have noted that Casper had featured bats previously and so concluded that this issue was not a case of jumping on the Batwagon (I know, I know...groan... )

I would read any comics i could whenever i would visit cousins that had any issues as i was growing up. A couple of my cousins had comics: mostly Archie and Harvey with a sprinkling of Dell or Gold Key so i saw and new there were other kinds of comics out there and saw them on spinner racks at the grocery stores or Circle K's.
Sadly the neighborhood i grew up in the southern outskirts of Phoenix here in Arizona only had 2 Korean convenience markets. The nearest "real" stores were a 30-45 minute drive away "into" Phoenix so i never really saw much in the way of comic books until i was older. My dad was working 6 days a week and mom controlled the money/paying bills and she was focused on providing meals and clothes for 3 growing boys so comics and books and music was pretty much not in the allowed budget. I never owned any comics of my own until i was able to buy some for myself.

My 1st two comic books were Thor issue #193 and Underdog #9. A quick look in Mikes Amazing World tells me it that would have been November 1971. So i would  be 10 years old. We were spending a weekend with my grandparents and my grandmother sent me down the street to the Circle-K to get some bread and milk and told me to spend the change on myself. I went straight to the spinner and boy did my mom get angry! Almost tore them up but grandma intervened and told her leave me alone i only did what i had been told.

From there on i could only buy comics if i spent my own money. So it was saving the few dollars i could get for an allowance to get whatever odds and end comic i might find/afford. Most of the time it was only through thrift stores or old used bookstores when i stayed with my grandparents and they would shop the thrift stores for clothes. In those days you could find boxes of old comics, torn comics and coverless comics for pennies. That is where my addiction began. Those 2 Korean markets eventually began to carry a few Marvel and DC comics in those early 70's as they both shipped from the same distribution company but every week any new comics were sparse and there was no continuity to what they received. One month you might find 2-3 issues of a series and then months without seeing that series. I think the only time i got any Dell or Gold Key or Charlton was through K-Mart when they had the old 4-5 comics in a bag together in the toy section.

In 1976 once i began riding the bus to the nearest high school an hour away then i had access to the 4 Circle-K's and 2 used bookstores within walking distance of the school. I would save all summer doing yard work, chores and helping neighbors so i could buy comics once fall and school arrived. There was a deaf neighbor lived behind me whose parents bought him tons of comics and occasionally i could trade or read what he got but that wasn't very often. I was only allowed 1 brown paper grocery bag of comics to be kept in my bedroom closet and as i filled that bag up mom forced me to hide or trade or throw away comics to be able to buy more. High school was heaven for me. finding comics all over, having a school locker to store comics in and notebooks to carry comics in every day and reading with friends and trading comics at lunch. 

Thankfully by 7th/8th grade due to my grades and teachers explaining my reading aptitude was college level and their encouragement to my parents to allow me reading more and anything i could devour mom reluctantly allowed that maybe my comic book reading wasn't so terrible. But the early days were a hard struggle finding comic books...

Farrar I do know so well the games involved in sneaking comics in and hiding from mom. Thankful i am indeed that both my brothers were younger and screw-ups of the spectacular keeping her occupied while i was the good son who stayed out of trouble, got A's in school and followed the house rules.  Was very funny one day when i was around 30 years old explaining to dad that i wasn't necessarily the good son, i was the eldest and smartest and knew enough to avoid their radar and that i did my share of "bad" but was able to get away with it all because my brother's were such idiots and defiant.

Also did you know you can survive high school on just french fries and a chocolate shake a day for 50 cents from the school cafeteria to ensure that you can spend the remaining $2.50 mom gave for the $3.00 lunch meal on comic books? Survival of the fittest indeed!

This is why i missed out on so much of the other companies product growing up because when you have to hoard and sneak and limit your buying of comic books i quickly chose to recognize that DC and Marvel were the best purchases for reading, art, enjoying and holding onto. Which is why i wish that i could go back in time to tell myself how to find ways to get my parents/family allowing me a wider variety since i do wish i had access to all the variety from then. Today most of my buying is reversed so i am getting all i can of alternative comics and very little DC/Marvel. Oh what a collection of Archie, Dell, Gold Key, King Features, Charlton, Harvey, Whitman and Disney comics i would have built up in the 70's...

Still a little before my time but I'm starting recognise a few things, though that could just be from seeing back issues years later. I know that's the case for this month's Thor because I recall distinctly when I first read it upon finding the back issue in the early 80s. I managed to pick up a good chunk of the Kirby/Lee Thor around that time and remember how blown away I was, reading most of them for the very first time - back when they first came out, I don't remember having seen much Thor before the Ringmaster story a few issues later.

The cover to Spider-Man #48 this month looks familiar, but that could be just because I think it's one of the all time great Spider-Man covers. I can't picture the story, so my guess is that I'm remembering this from a later encounter - maybe a house ad, if it was ever used for that kind of thing?

With FF #62 OTOH I do think I can remember the story - if it's the one where Triton of the Inhumans has to use his ocean-going navigational skills to rescue one of the FF in the Negative Zone? If so, this would make it one of if not the very first FF comics I ever read. But once again, it's possible that I'm remembering this story from a later reading. The earliest FF comics I'm fairly sure I read back in the day came a few issues later.

The only thing presently in my collection is:

Avengers  40  (featuring Sub Mariner)

I've had this one for a long time and though not my oldest Avengers issue (that would be 18) it is certainly in the best condition.

Thanks for getting March 1967 off to a great start, Bronze age andy and Prince Hal .

March 1967 Part 1:
Even though I still did not have an allowance, and so could not buy comics on my own, this turned out to be be a banner month for me (and it would just get better). To start with, I obtained my first issues of Aquaman and Justice League of America--I couldn't resist these crazy covers! I'd read older issues of these series thanks to my cousins, so I was familiar with the characters...well, except for Aquagirl, who was a brand new character. Bob Haney wrote the story and throughout the story Aqualad calls Aquagirl "Aquachick", in keeping with what the boys over in Haney's Teen Titans comic called Wonder Girl ("Wonder Chick"). Hmmm. 

Also, on a related note: though she's not on this kooky cover (which may have been created first, and then the story crafted around it), Hawkgirl (later called Hawkwoman) appears in this JLA issue and saves the day. But as we know, she wouldn't officially join the team until many years later.