50 YEARS AGO TODAY, JULY 22, 1975: The "on-sale date" of the first comic I ever bought, at the age of 15 years old. h/t @kurtbusiek.bsky.social—who was there. (and yes, it says October on the cover; that was a thing they did in those days, presumably to extend shelf life.)
Awww year I was born. Starlins my dad’s age. Warlock is such an interesting character and love Starlins vision. Cool stuff
My first Starlin and Warlock was Infinity Gauntlet but I quickly purchased back issues. My next was the Avengers Annual where they fought Thanos.
My first Starlin / Captain Marvel. I mean, who could pass up that cover 👓
Jim Starlin. I have this as well.
Well THAT is a heck of a starting point.
FWIW, Scott, I was just there last week and Tony and the store are alive and well, chock full of comic goodness. :D
Love to hear it! 💜
I think the cover date thing is like an expiration date, time to take it off the shelf to make room for new stuff, back when newsstands could still return unsold stock.
Wait hang on why was his Premiere Issue issue #9?
The previous series ended with issue 8.
Old comics were weird about continuity.
At the time, publishers felt readers engaged more with established books. There were no stops and starts like we see now with constant series ending to be continue down the road with a new number one. Completely unheard of back then.
Indeed! Spider-Man's "first issue" was Amazing Fantasy #15!
See that I knew. I'd have been similarly confused if that was sold as 'Spider-Man #15' though
Haha good point!
You want confusing? CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS ran for 73 issues starting in 1941. Followed by CAPTAIN AMERICA WEIRD TALES #74-75. Revived briefly in 1954 as CAPTAIN AMERICA #76-78. TALES OF SUSPENSE started in 1959 as an anthology and began starring Iron Man in #39. 1/2
With #59 TOS became a split book starring Iron Man *and* Captain America. Then it became CAPTAIN AMERICA #100 in 1968 while Iron Man got a #1. CAPTAIN AMERICA kept that numbering through #454 in 1996. As a result, there's never been issues #79-99 of CAPTAIN AMERICA. 2/2
Smells like an opportunity to me…
That’s a good one! Jim Starlin is awesome
Now I'm curious - what'd you think of what the MCU did with him as someone who was there from the very start? /gen
Common story in those days, and fuel for later efforts like the Creators Bill of Rights.
Good gravy that is a high bar to set!
What a great first purchase! Starlin’s Warlock is something I only came to much later, but it really resonated with me.
What a start for you! Not my first purchase, but one I also bought off the rack in ‘75. Transformative in so many ways.
Not sure if it's true, but years ago, a friend who stocked magazines said that the date was for when something should be pulled off the shelf and that's why it was always in the future vs when it went on sale.
Yes, this is absolutely true.
in my part of the magazine world, you didn't want to look like you had an old magazine on sale so the October issue went out in September
Memories... I forgot about the future dating the companies used to use.
I was a huge fan of Starlin's Captain Marvel run, but somehow only picked up on Warlock with this issue. Leialoha's interior inks are fantastic, but Alan Weiss's chunkier inking on the cover was equally mind-blowing to me.
I discovered Starlin with Captain Marvel #30 (January 1974), an issue I bought because it had the Controller on the cover - the villain from Iron Man #28, a comic given to me by my grandparents.
I had been borrowing stacks of Kurt's comic books for a while, so this wasn't a casual purchase. I bought it knowing full well that I had crossed some kind of childhood Rubicon. Kurt and I think it was probably at Cambridge, MA's legendary @myp-comics.bsky.social shop.
It was definitely at the Picnic. If they were still in that location I could even point to where that particular rack was in the store. The things that get lodged in memory…
I didn't know MYP moved, and I wonder where it was back then?
It was in a mall called The Garage; I don’t know if that’s still there at all. It was in at least two spots in The Garage before moving to 99 Mt. Auburn.
I thiiiiiiiiiiiiiink the Garage has closed up altogether, which is a tough pill to swallow
My recollection is The Picnic started in its current location, but had to move out due to a fire in the kitchen goods store upstairs. Then it was in the Garage, and eventually able to move back to its original home.
I first encountered it in The Garage, very early in 1975, in what I think was its first location there. The second time I went, it had moved, and I couldn’t find it for a while, which was baffling.
I know at least ONE move to temporary quarters was a fire in the cooking store but apparently I have the exact set of moves a little scrambled.
Those cooking stores, you gotta watch out with those things. I have this vague, vague idea that you’re remembering why they moved from their first spot at 99 Mt. Auburn to the space across the hall. And then later they had both spaces and then I think shifted back to just one.
We started in the Garage in the spring of 1974. Around 1979-1980, we moved into 99 MT Auburn ST & took up both sides of the basement. The building burned down the day before "The Death of Superman" went on sale & we were across the street for a year. When we came back, we were just on the one side.
I also don't know whether The Garage is still there. The next time I need to visit 9 banks in one day, I'll go to Harvard Square and look for it.
the building is, but it's being repurposed into office space but there's some stores still there. Newbury Comics is still hanging on!
actually i guess they decided to make it mixed office/retail space according to an article i just skimmed. probably gonna be more mall shaped in the end 😩
The fact that Jim Starlin both wrote and penciled the book (w/trippy inks by Steve Leialola) was inspiring to me. It helped cement my eventual desire to write and draw my own stuff, culminating 9 years later in my own first comic book ZOT! in 1984.
Here's an interview with Starlin (now 75 year old) from just 8 months ago. I'm delighted to see he's still in great shape and enjoying life. I owe him a debt of gratitude for setting an example of how to be your own artist, even when that meant swimming against the tide.
That’s some place to start! My first Warlock was 10, and it blew my little mind
when I was 9 we drove my brother to school in Cambridge - and went to MYP - first time I'd seen an actual comic shop - I was transfixed! a magical place. Heading there for a talk in October and planning to visit for, I think, first visit since...
oh hell yeah you started at the top
If I remember correctly, the cover date was when it was supposed to come down. So, out in August, go through Sept, and then down in Oct. That way there were a few issues in play at any given time. I could be incorrect though.
It was a bimonthly book, so the next issue would have been out in late September.
That's correct. I used to handle periodicals for a bookstore, and they are a very odd merchandise category. The date on the cover is the pull date, the title is irrelevant, you can return some periodicals for credit but others you can't return and others you only need to return the cover, etc etc
(Jesus, I also just realized who I said that too. I am dumb)
Good info for anyone reading the thread who may not have known that, though.
I was going to say you had great taste as a 15-yr old but I should say you had great taste in befriending the amazing Kurt Busiek first
I think it was quite rude of @kurtbusiek.bsky.social not to be my friend when I was 15 just because we've never met, I'm 15 years younger, and live on a different continent
You tell 'im, Jon!
I'm so envious of anyone who can remember that milestone. Comics are hugely important to me, but I can't remember the first one I ever bought any more than I can remember my first steps as an infant.
A good start for sure
One of my favorites!