What got you in to comics?

[Donald M.]

As I kid I loved anything with superheroes in it, except, somewhat ironically, most comic books on the subject, but more on that in a bit.

I loved The Incredible Hulk and really loved reruns of the 60's Spider-Man cartoon as aired every afternoon on WLVI channel 56. I think it was the theme song that did it.

Anyway, Spider-Man on tv lead to Spider-Man in the comics. I even remember the first comic book I ever read, one of the rare truly clear memories I have of age four:



I liked Spider-Man just as much in the comics as on tv, but for whatever reason didn't find much to like in other superhero books, including the Hulk. In the years that followed I read a lot of Archie comics, Gold Key/Whitman comics back when you could get them in bags of four at the toy store or drug store, as well as the Disney Ducks, Harvey Comics, stuff from Marvel's Star imprint, reprints of EC Horror and Crime comics, Mad, Cracked, Ralph Snart and when I could get to a comic shop, stuff like Jon Sable Freelance, America Flagg, Grimjack and Ms. Tree.

Didn't get into superheroes in a big way until my late teens/early 20's but that phase only lasted a few years. By the time I stopped reading comics regularly I had dropped most of the superhero books in favor of Vertigo and independent stuff.

Now my comic reading is limited to the occasional TPB, including DC's Showcase volumes. Now that's what superheroes are all about, that classic silly Silver Age stuff. I love that junk.

[Winslow]

My parents bought us comics to keep us entertained on long drives during family vacations. I remember The Archies and Richie Rich, but the three I enjoyed the most were Batman, The Fantastic 4, and Thor.

I started using some of my own money to go to the local 7-11 and buy comics after vacations were over.

I stopped around 1975 or so.

I got back into comics with Crossgen in 2001.

[dupont2005]

Really what got me into comics was my grandpa and his coin collecting. Downtown there was a coin/comic shop. My grandpa brought me in there with him when he was buying coins. I don't remember him buying me a comic or if I had mentioned it to my mom, but for one reason or another my mom took me in there for some bargain bin comics. She bought me quarter comics every week from that point on. As my stack got larger and my interest in them grew other family members would buy me comic books for Christmas and my birthday. Things just escalated from there.

[K'Nort]

My father would buy Harvey comics for us when picking up things like Jonah Hex and Moon Knight for himself. We'd end up reading everything. That's also when The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman were on television. And Super-Friends on Saturday morning.

[Eric D.]

i think it was around the time I was 7 years old, - that i tried to be like evil kneivel on my bike...attempting to jump a ramp. - - didn't work out so well, - stitches and scabs were the result. - Mom would take me to the local convenient store and I would pick out a comic book off the spin-rack, to help me feel better, - - funny, - thing i Just thought about, -my first comic book was Ghost Rider.

[Eric D.]

i think it was around the time I was 7 years old, - that i tried to be like evil kneivel on my bike...attempting to jump a ramp. - - didn't work out so well, - stitches and scabs were the result. - Mom would take me to the local convenient store and I would pick out a comic book off the spin-rack, to help me feel better, - - funny, - thing i Just thought about, -my first comic book was Ghost Rider.

[J. Robb]

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and Donner's Superman. After I saw these I was hooked.

What's interesting is that I loved the Donner Superman movie, and I remember getting a big Superman Treasury edition around that time, but it didn't hook me into Superman comics. Even at seven I found things like the giant key to the fortress kind of goofy.

[captainamerica4]

The small stack I had when I was young was thrown out by my parents but I got to keep Star Wars 4-6. In the 1980s I got into GI Joe and found out there was a comic book that went along with the toy. Started with issue 61 and after a few trips to Titan's Games and Comics I asked the owner what would be a good series to pick up. By this point I was already getting Avengers he handed me the third issue of Excalibur. Yeah, that was it for me...hook line and sinker.

[Gary_B]

My older brothers got me in to comics. They lost interest by the time they were adults, but I didn't. I particularly remember reading a Spidey/Vulture story over and over during a family camping trip. A little research reveals that I was reading The Amazing Spider-Man #64: The Vulture's Prey. I also remember reading some Sgt. Rock and The Man-Thing comics of theirs. In fact, having just done a Google image search I now realize that they owned the 1st issue of The Man-Thing.

[jessecuster3]

My cousin passed this off to me:

[jesse_custer]

I didn't seriously get into comics before X-Men.

And what made me buy X-Men comics? The X-Men cartoon on Fox.

Scott Lobdell and Joe Madureira were the creative team for Uncanny X-Men at the time.

The only X-Men comic I've read in the last few years is Astonishing X-Men.

[Aziz Abbasi]

I was a superhero geek since I was 2 years old watching Spider-Man cartoons of the 60s & the 80s, along with "Incredible Hulk 1982" series & "Incredible Hulk" starring Bixby & Ferrigno

My father introduced me to translated Batman & Superman comics (not one title)

I used to read Disney comics since I enjoyed Disney cartoons very much

Archie comics always were good for laughs

I read other short forms of translated comics like "Star Trek"

Now I enjoy most sorts of fiction in print form

[DubipR]

My grandfather.

He was a pediatrician and always had comics in his waiting room; mostly Archies and Harvey books. He'd go to the Safeway for comics and always refresh the waiting room. But when the grandkids would go and visit he'd give them out to us to read. While most of us just read them and gave them back, I kept all of them. Thus starting my collection and my love of them

[Slam_Bradley]

Reruns of the Batman television show.

[DanDunne]

I have my dad's dyslexia to thank. My dad spent his whole childhood as an undiagnosed dyslexic - his teachers just thought he was stupid. Around 18, he was finally diagnosed and he started teaching himself how to read properly by reading comics. He had a large drawer full of Archie and Harvey comics, so I got into reading and knowing comics at a very early age. Then I think due mostly to my love of the superman movies I started checking out superhero comics as well. The rest is history.