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A few weeks ago, you may have heard me on Michael Bailey’s Views from the Longbox talking with him about Star Wars toys. But you also heard me answer the one question that Mike asks every one of his first-time guests: “What is your comic book origin story?” For the most part, my story begins in about 1990 when I began reading Batman comics and Tim Drake was on his way to becoming Robin. However, that’s the short version of my comic book origin story. For the longer version, you have to go back to 1986, and that means I have been collecting comics for 30 years.
Now, that in itself is too simple a statement. Yes, my true comic collecting career begins in 1990, but I spent the fall of 1986 until the spring of 1987 making regular trips to the comic book store and with the exception of an occasional trip or two would not head back after that for another two and a half years. The reason for my pause in collecting mostly had to do with my losing interest in comics because I was ten years old and my popular culture interests back then had a lifespan of about six to nine months. Furthermore, my comics corresponded with my taste in toys at the time–G.I. Joe and the Transformers–and by the end of 1987, my interest in those fell off as well.
But for that brief period, I took my first steps into a larger world and after talking to Mike, decided to take a look at what books were out during that period in 1986 and 1987 and see what I was reading. Then, because I can’t let a good idea go to waste or because I’m a glutton for punishment (okay, probably both), I decided to turn said exploration into a podcast miniseries that recaps my very first year of collecting comics. Origin Story will be a complete look at that year and I will review each of those comics on the day they came out, starting with G.I. Joe and the Transformers #1 on September 30, 2016 and ending with G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #69 on November 17, 2017.
Before I begin that, however, I will be writing a series of blog posts that recap and review those comics that I owned before 1986, the books taht I remember buying at random or receiving as gifts. You’ll be seeing Comics Prehistory over the next nine months as the lead-up to Origin Story.
The podcast will be part of the main Pop Culture Affidavit podcast feed, which you can find over at Two True Freaks, and I’ll post show notes and scans to the blog here. For now, whet your appetite with the Origin Story promo and check back in a week or two when I present my first comic for the Comics Prehistory: The Brave and the Bold #182.
Be a good citizen! Don’t do drugs! Understand the dangers of unprotected sex and fight the stigma of AIDS. These are all part of various DC Comics public service announcements over the company’s 80-year history. In this episode, I tackle citizenship by looking at a classic one-page Superboy PSA; fight the war on drugs by looking at not one, but all three New Teen Titans Drug Awareness giveaways; and I contribute to AIDS awareness by looking at one-page PSAs featuring the DCU’s best and brightest as well as the mini-comic Death Talks About Life.
Chuck Dixon, Wayne Vansant, and Tony DeZuniga bring us part two of “The Death of Joe Hallen” in The ‘Nam #55 as Joe Returns to Vietnam for some LRRP and falls in with a new group. Plus, I take a look at “Christmas in Saigon,” an episode of the classic 1980s Fox television drama 21 Jump Street.
Chuck Dixon’s regular tenure as the writer for The ‘Nam begins with part one of “The Death of Joe Hallen,” a special five-party storyline featuring art by Wayne Vansant and Tony DeZuniga. In this issue, we get a closer look at Joe (whom we’ve seen briefly before) and what is waiting for him when he returns from Vietnam to Baltimore. Additionally, I take a look at another story of a vet returning home from Vietnam by looking at Bruce Springsteen’s classic song, “Born in the U.S.A.”
My look at 80 Years of DC Comics continues with a review of the fantasy genre of comics, one that spans much of the company’s publishing history. I start off in the 1950s with a classic Kanigher-Kubert Viking Prince tale from Brave and the Bold #3 and then fast-foward to the 1980s for the 16-page Amethyst: Princess of Gemworld preview story “Duel in Dark Magic,” which appeared in Legion of Superheroes #296. Finally, I tackle one of Neil Gaiman’s classic Sandman comics, where he gets some help from Charles Vess on art and William Shakespeare himself in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” from Sandman #19. Plus … listener emails!
“The Long Sticks,” the first Punisher Invades The ‘Nam story, concludes with The ‘Nam #53 in a story written by Roger Salick with art by Mike Harris and Jimmy Palmiotti. Additionally, I take a look at Tim O’Brien’s 1994 novel In The Lake of the Woods.
The ‘Nam heads in a brand new direction for two issues as we take a look at the Vietnam War experience of Frank Castle, who is also known as The Punisher. That’s right, it’s THE PUNISHER INVADES THE ‘NAM! This one is brought to us by Roger Salick, Mike Harris, and Jimmy Palmiotti and is the first of a two-part story where Frank combats a fellow sniper. Don’t miss “The Long Sticks” from The ‘Nam #52.
Just in time for Halloween, it’s a look at DC’s horror offerings! I take a look at some classic 1970s horror with stories from Ghosts and Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion (a story by none other than Jack “King” Kirby himself) and after a very quick look at an issue of John Constantine: Hellblazer, finish up with the first story in American Vampire #1.
If there’s one genre that DC is known for as much as its superheroes, it’s science fiction. A staple of the company since it’s very early days, it has spawned thousands of stories, and in this episode I take a look at 80 years of DC Comics’ science fiction. What’s covered, you ask? Don Drake on the Planet Soro, Tommy Tomorrow in “Columbus of Space,” Adam Strange in “War on Earth and Rann,” a story called “Killing Time” from Mystery in Space, Hex #11, and the Warren Ellis/Colleen Doran graphic novel Orbiter. Plus, interludes from Real Fact Comics that show us all what a wonderful future the Golden Age had in store for us!
Our three-part chopper pilot and donut dolly romance story comes to an end as does Doug Murray’s run as the writer of The ‘Nam with issue #51, “Stone Age,” which has art by Herb Trimpel.
