[Trouble with Comics: The Group Blog of Comic Book Galaxy] Guest Reviewer Mon...
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Alan David Doane
Mar 1, 2010, 12:59:00 AM3/1/10
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I first knew Roger Green from seeing him at FantaCo, the Albany, NY comic book store I frequented in the early 1980s. I don't remember ever really talking comics -- or anything else -- with Roger or anyone at FantaCo, probably because I was a fairly shy teenager and also because, since most of FantaCo's employees were also characters in some of the comics they published, I was intimidated by what I'm sure Roger would laugh when I refer to as their "fame." But Roger, and Mitch, and Rocco and especially the late Raoul Vezina were all giants in my eyes, and FantaCo was one of the greatest and most diverse comic book stores that ever existed, anywhere. It's been one of my great joys in the internet era to finally get to know Roger a little bit, and spend some time talking with him; and I'm hugely honoured to have him be our debut writer during Guest Reviewer Month here at Trouble with Comics.
-- Alan David Doane
I didn't start collecting comics until I went to college. Oh, I'd buy an odd Richie Rich or Archie, and I'd manage to get my hands on an odd Superman issue or two; he usually seemed to be dealing with a half dozen different forms of kryptonite. But it didn't take.
Jump to 1971. My friend from virtually the first day I met him on September 12 was Mark. And Mark, odd as I found it, collected comic books, specifically Marvel Comics. Even odder, I soon started collecting comic books, starting with Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1, Red Wolf #1, and Sub-Mariner #50. I really lucked out on the latter, for most of the next dozen issues were drawn by the great Bill Everett. Unfortunately, Subby ended with issue #72, but even before that, I had discovered a nascent back issue market where one could buy old comics via mail order.
Eventually, I bought issues back to #1, encouraged by love-of-my-life-at-the-time, who was a huge Namor fan; it was either his buff bod, his pre-Spock ears, or his mixed race heritage. (I have a picture of her in a Sub-Mariner T-shirt, somewhere.) But then I discovered that even his recent past had started, not with Sub-Mariner #1, but with something called Tales to Astonish. So eventually, I picked up those issues, #70 to #101, which Namor shared with the Hulk.
And I thought I was done. But no. There was this one-off book called Iron Man and Sub-Mariner. Tales to Astonish #101 was followed by Hulk #102, just as Tales of Suspense #99 was followed by Captain America #100, and I loved the arcane numbering system; it made me feel like an insider. But apparently Marvel wanted to stagger their rollout of four new titles, so one last shared issue before SM #1 and Iron Man #1 was put out.
I sold the bulk of my comics in 1994, in no small part because I'd just finished graduate school and I didn't have a job yet. Unfortunately, those issues of Sun-Mariner were among them.
So when I somehow got on Mile High Comics' mailing list and saw a bunch of Marvel Masterworks on sale last year, I ended up buying a couple. The Sub-Mariner: Volume 1 contains a story from Marvel Comics #1 from 1939 (!) by Bill Everett; Daredevil #7, which came out a few months before Namor's run in TTA in 1965; and TTA #70-#87, most of which were written by Stan Lee, penciled by Gene Colan, and inked by either Everett or Vince Colletta. Volume 2 covered TTA #88-101, during which Stan Lee passed the writing torch to Roy Thomas, and Bill Everett penciled about half the stories, with inks largely by Everett and Dan Adkins; Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1; and Sub-Mariner #1.
I must say that it took me back to a point where I really loved comic books, was excited about outcome of the storylines, and long before most people even thought of comic books as an "investment." This was years before I ever worked at a comic book store, so I didn't care how the book sold except that it move enough copies to keep coming out. My goodness, it felt good to see these old friends again; really good.
---
Roger Green is a business librarian for the NYS Small Business Development Center. He was manager of the comic book retailer/publisher FantaCo Enterprises from 1980 to 1988. He is an obsessive blogger whose main point of entry is Ramblin' with Roger.
--
Posted By Alan David Doane to Trouble with Comics: The Group Blog of Comic Book Galaxy at 3/01/2010 12:59:00 AM
-- Alan David Doane
I didn't start collecting comics until I went to college. Oh, I'd buy an odd Richie Rich or Archie, and I'd manage to get my hands on an odd Superman issue or two; he usually seemed to be dealing with a half dozen different forms of kryptonite. But it didn't take.
Jump to 1971. My friend from virtually the first day I met him on September 12 was Mark. And Mark, odd as I found it, collected comic books, specifically Marvel Comics. Even odder, I soon started collecting comic books, starting with Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1, Red Wolf #1, and Sub-Mariner #50. I really lucked out on the latter, for most of the next dozen issues were drawn by the great Bill Everett. Unfortunately, Subby ended with issue #72, but even before that, I had discovered a nascent back issue market where one could buy old comics via mail order.
Eventually, I bought issues back to #1, encouraged by love-of-my-life-at-the-time, who was a huge Namor fan; it was either his buff bod, his pre-Spock ears, or his mixed race heritage. (I have a picture of her in a Sub-Mariner T-shirt, somewhere.) But then I discovered that even his recent past had started, not with Sub-Mariner #1, but with something called Tales to Astonish. So eventually, I picked up those issues, #70 to #101, which Namor shared with the Hulk.
And I thought I was done. But no. There was this one-off book called Iron Man and Sub-Mariner. Tales to Astonish #101 was followed by Hulk #102, just as Tales of Suspense #99 was followed by Captain America #100, and I loved the arcane numbering system; it made me feel like an insider. But apparently Marvel wanted to stagger their rollout of four new titles, so one last shared issue before SM #1 and Iron Man #1 was put out.
I sold the bulk of my comics in 1994, in no small part because I'd just finished graduate school and I didn't have a job yet. Unfortunately, those issues of Sun-Mariner were among them.
So when I somehow got on Mile High Comics' mailing list and saw a bunch of Marvel Masterworks on sale last year, I ended up buying a couple. The Sub-Mariner: Volume 1 contains a story from Marvel Comics #1 from 1939 (!) by Bill Everett; Daredevil #7, which came out a few months before Namor's run in TTA in 1965; and TTA #70-#87, most of which were written by Stan Lee, penciled by Gene Colan, and inked by either Everett or Vince Colletta. Volume 2 covered TTA #88-101, during which Stan Lee passed the writing torch to Roy Thomas, and Bill Everett penciled about half the stories, with inks largely by Everett and Dan Adkins; Iron Man & Sub-Mariner #1; and Sub-Mariner #1.
I must say that it took me back to a point where I really loved comic books, was excited about outcome of the storylines, and long before most people even thought of comic books as an "investment." This was years before I ever worked at a comic book store, so I didn't care how the book sold except that it move enough copies to keep coming out. My goodness, it felt good to see these old friends again; really good.
---
Roger Green is a business librarian for the NYS Small Business Development Center. He was manager of the comic book retailer/publisher FantaCo Enterprises from 1980 to 1988. He is an obsessive blogger whose main point of entry is Ramblin' with Roger.
--
Posted By Alan David Doane to Trouble with Comics: The Group Blog of Comic Book Galaxy at 3/01/2010 12:59:00 AM
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