Friday, October 24, 2008

Hello to Comics, Part 2: Hello to THE BIBLE!

Mulling over my life as a comics reader gave me no clear idea which comic could be called my first. I'm sure I still have my first comic, and "Sheldon Mayer and Joe Kubert Present: THE BIBLE" might well be it. Originally gifted to me by a friend of my mother's, this DC Comics Treasury Edition book saw publication in 1975.


Rather than try to explain it myself, I offer you the introductory text and accompanying headshots from inside the book's front cover:


It says that the creators did a good deal of research for this book, but I can't help but imagine Mayer getting drunk on scotch and yelling about the bible to Kubert over the phone.

The book's first biblical tale is that of Adam and Eve. Being treasury-edition-sized made for literally thousands of acres of naked Eve.


...and our first ancestors eating suggestive fruit. Yes, suggestive of the power of knowledge:


This book also features the first appearance of DC's Cain and Abel, who were revived by Neil Gaiman for his Sandman series.


Included in "The Story of Abraham" is a super-hot lady statue:


We also get a lesson in biblical archaeology, and coverage of "The Tower of Babel" and the story of "Sodom and Gammorah" and crazy old Lot:


I feel lucky to have found this comic again in the midst of moving one summer, buried in the bottom of a box of random books. This is truly the Ten Commandments of comic books, featuring astounding craft that fits the format used:


Oh, whoops. That's more naked Eve.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Hello to Comics, Part 1: Hello to Comics!

My hometown of New Albany, Indiana, played host to two Winn-Dixie stores in my youth, one in the New Albany Plaza on State Street and one adjacent to the K-Mart on Grantline Road. I anticipated trips to either due to their proximty to stores that sold toys.

That faded after I found the spinner racks. Not that my lust for toys ever vanished completely, as my shelves will attest, but the lust for comics burns over the fire with no flame.

My name is Mark Hale. Using scans of and images from actual comics I purchased in my youth I will document my life as a comic book reader. From the spinner racks to my first comic book shop, from state to state and shop to service.