This comic book is a beloved memory of my cousin, Mary Ann, and me. Both being fans of Spin & Mary and, of course, Annette Funicello, stars of the Walt Disney TV show, "The Mickey Mouse Club", when we saw this for sale in a drug store near our grandmother's home in Atlanta, we both knew that WE HAD TO HAVE IT... So, we each bought a copy for the whopping price of ten cents apiece. It's a south seas adventure story where our three characters were SCUBA diving and encountered pirates. An underwater cave that led into a tropical island made it that much more exciting, especially in 1957 when I was eight and Mary Ann was but nine. We were enthralled and still are sentimental about this particular comic book.
This comic book is a beloved memory of mine, purchased early in the Fall of 1959. I had come to love Science Fiction and this title, an anthology series, featured a lot of it. The second story in the comic book, "The Secret of Camp Galaxy" REALLY grabbed me back then (when I was all of ten years old). It was about a mysterious group of alien councilors, disguised as humans, running what was a summer camp in the style of many such camps throughout the country. In this case, a young American boy (I could easily see me doing this) was unsuspectingly enrolled in the camp by his parents. In the camp he roomed and experienced camp life with other alien children. I was so envious..!
In the same summer in which I bought that Spin & Marty and Annette comic book I bought this one, Uncle Scrooge #19. Uncle Scrooge was Donald Duck's uncle and his nephews" great uncle. He was also the world's richest duck which led him and, by association Donald, Huey, Dewy and Louie, into much adventure. This comic featured a long story about Scrooge McDuck checking out his many properties throughout the world and in the process having an adventure discovering King Solomon's Mines in the process. At age eight, this thing also REALLY grabbed me!
This isn't technically a comic book and is considered to be a magazine: Mad Magazine, the best of the humor magazines of the era. It is, however, fully illustrated, like a comic book, and at its best, hilarious to read. I have a fondness for this particular issue because Mad Magazine kindly printed a letter I had written to them, extolling the virtues of a cartoon strip it had run in an earlier issue (#86). My name was IN PRINT! I was a contender!! Look for the letters pages and see for yourself.
In December, 1954, my family suffered a serious house fire in which my mother was badly burned. Soon after, my grandmother, my mother's mother, arrived to see her daughter and then take charge of my of my two year old brother and me (then aged five years). It was a traumatic period in our lives. That winter, trying to buck up my courage, she found this comic book and thought it would help me. It was a bit weird, but it also captivated me and I never forgot it or her love and kindness.
In December, 1954, my family suffered a serious house fire in which my mother was badly burned. Soon after, my grandmother, my mother's mother, arrived to see her daughter and then to take charge my two year old brother and me (then aged five years). It was a traumatic period in our lives. That winter, wanting to keep me entertained, she bought me this comic book. It featured a kind of science fiction story about Mickey Mouse and Goofy fighting off a mad scientist bent on controlling the world. I was enthralled by it and have fond memories of that story to this day.
This isn't technically a comic book and is considered to be a magazine: Mad Magazine, the best of the humor magazines of the era. It is, however, fully illustrated, like a comic book, and at its best, hilarious to read. I have a fondness for this particular issue because it was the very first issue of Mad Magazine that I ever purchased. Upon reading it, I was hooked! I never missed an issue for about the next five year or six years...
The year 1957 was a good one for me for memorable comic books. In addition to the previously mentioned Spin & Marty and Annette (Four Color #826) there was the, to me, fantastic comic, Uncle Scrooge #19. But there was to be another incredibly memorable comic in my life that I purchased in 1957. It was Christmas In Disneyland #1 and I am still in awe of the effect this comic had on me then and has had ever since. Despite the #1, it was really only a one shot comic book, never a series. It was, of course, a tie-in to Christmas and a way to merge the Holiday season with Walt Disney's creations and theme park. Being an anthology comic book made up of stories of different Disney characters, it was really only the first story in the comic book that so enthralled me; the rest of it isn't even a dim memory --- I don't recall it at all. But that first story was magnificent to eight year old me. It featured a voyage by Donald Duck's Uncle Scrooge along with Donald and his three nephews, Huey, Dewy and Louie, to an obscure island known both to be rich in exotic black pearls and tabu (taboo) to the neighboring islanders. Uncle Scxrooge wanted to obtain those pearls and scoffed at the tabu; Donald just seemed to go along with it all; and Huey, Dewy and Louie worried about missing Christmas while they were gone. It was a very clever and detailed adventure story that just swept me up in its telling, one I have never forgotten since and I hope others can enjoy too.
My favorite comic book publisher was National Periodical Publications. It was, however, better known (even in my day) by the name DC Comics. DC stood for Detective Comics, which I believe had been their second comic book, the first being one that morphed into Adventure Comics. Both began in the 1930s. By the late 1950s, DC led the pack and was considered to publish the best comics as well as the best selling titles. Always needing story ideas meant that a lot of characters and situations were often used again in stories. DC Comics, constantly drawing in new and younger readers, was then confronted with the problem of needing to explain the old situations and characters to the new readers and usually just said something to the effect that the new reader should refer to a comic book published years earlier. If you're only eight years old, however, finding and referring to a five year old comic book was impossible. So demand grew for DC to reprint some of those older stories. They finally began doing that in the summer of 1960 when they published the first Superman Annual, which was a collection of previously published stories, many of which were the original beginnings of story lines that had been referred to again and again afterwards. I was only eleven years old and was just dumbstruck when I at last was able to purchase this magazine and read some of them.
The first Superman Annual was a smash hit and guaranteed that DC would try to repeat its success. Therefore, in late November, DC published the second Superman Annual. This one featured the origins of many of the villains who were repeatedly complicating Superman's life. I was again totally enthralled and the second Superman Annual proved to be another big success.
It quickly became apparent that not only would these giant Superman Annual reprint comic books be regular, semiannual events, but that other arms of the DC Comics empire would seek to duplicate the success of the first two Superman Annuals. DC had many superheroes; most, other than the Big Three (Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman) having been created in the previous ten years or so. Some were even recreations of superheroes who had been popular in the 1940s but had faded into obscurity before being resurrected in the late 1950s. There had been so many requests for reprints of the origins of these other superheroes that, in the late spring of 1961, DC published a large comic book they called Secret Origins #1 which finally reprinted most of them. It was a memorable purchase indeed for me back then, so much so that I have been nostalgic for it ever since.
The success of the Superman Annuals likewise spawned a new series of similar Batman Annuals. This one was the first and it excited me almost as much as had the all the others. It appeared in the early weeks of the Summer of 1961, after the appearances of the Superman Annual #2 and the giant Secret Origins.
By March, 1957, I was still seven years old, but becoming a more and more proficient reader. I was therefore discovering that it was easier to read comics books myself. I had many comic book interests: Cowboys and Indians, funny animals, super heroes and dinosaurs. The spinner rack at the nearest drugstore featured lots of comics. The cover of one featured two Indians being menaced by a huge dinosaur, a Stegosaurus, dinosaurs and Indians together: WOW!! I bought it and its hero, Turok, became one of my favorite heroes. It was the seventh issue in what became a long running series of comic books that I devoured when I could.
DC Comics created this comic book, Showcase, in 1956 to save money. A number of their old titles had been losing readership and so were canceled. DC recognized that it needed to create new comic titles, but the company wasn't sure which new directions their readers would prefer that they take. Figuring that out would require some experimentation to discover new formulas that the company could then pursue. Unfortunately, starting up numerous new comic books would be expensive, so DC hit upon the idea of starting just one new comic book, one that would be used to showcase all of their new ideas, one after the other, in one new title called, naturally, Showcase! This amazing comic book was to foster and create some of the most memorable new titles of what was eventually to be known as the Silver Age of comic books. Many characters and series that later became famous and much sought after first appeared in Showcase. These included among many others, the Flash, the Challengers of the Unknown, Lois Lane, the Suicide Squad, the Atom, the Metal Men, the Sea Devils and, starting in issue #22 of Showcase, one of my all time personal favorites, the Green Lantern. I bought this comic book, Showcase #22, in 1959 when I was ten years old as well as the next two issues of Showcase that continued his series and then bought every copy of his own title which began soon after in 1960. In time, Green Lantern was possibly more popular than even Superman --- for a while anyway. And I was right there at the beginning.
The character now known as the Silver Age Flash was based upon an earlier character with the same name but who had been popular in the 1940s during what is now fondly called the Golden Age of comic books. Flash began in 1940 but was canceled in 1948 because of declining sales. Then, in the mid-Fifties, the whole industry was troubled by allegations that comics were unwholesome and harmful to children, leading to more comic book cancelations. Elsewhere, I have described how DC decided to create a comic book, called Showcase Comics, to present new ideas for new comic books. In a push by the editorial offices of DC for new ideas for Showcase, in 1956 one of their best editors, Julius Schwartz, received a request to come up with something new. He decided to try a new superhero by resurrecting an earlier superhero and making it into a science-fiction based kind of a story. His idea was to remake the Golden Age Flash, giving him the same name, but making a new origin and new costume. The comic book featuring his creation, Showcase #4, appeared in the summer of 1956 and was a big hit. Another stab at the new Flash was published in Showcase #8, again to test the water. That was also a big success and sparked a decision to give the new Flash his own comic book title. To prime the pump before the new Flash comic appeared, two more issues of Showcase Comics, #13 and #14, each containing stories about The Flash, were first published which then urged the readers to try the new title scheduled to appear soon after. It was sheer genius and worked! Rather than start up a completely new title and be required to have it registered with the post office to obtain discounted postage, DC elected to just continue the numbering after the old, original Flash title (which had ended with #104 in 1948). Thus, the first issue of the Silver Age Flash is curiously numbered as #105! I was a bit slow in trying Flash out and skipped a few issues before I bought one. That first issue of the Flash I bought was Flash #107, actually the third issue of their new title. I was HOOKED immediately.
This comic book, Superman #117, is not particularly import to the development of the Superman character, except possibly for its story about Superman's fortress which became very important in later stories. It is important to me, however, because although I had owned earlier isues of the Superman series, I'd lost them somehow and this issue was the earliest one I had in my collection for a long time. I'd bought it when I was only eight years old and, being sentimental, I still like to look back at it every now and then!
This comic book, Lois Lane #1, is definitely important to the development of Superman's character. Its full title was Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane. I distinctly recall buying it when my family went to Dayton's railroad station in the late winter of 1958. Of course, we were there early, before my grandmother's train arrived and I quietly sidled over to a nearby comicbook spinner rack to see what I could see. Lo, and behold, there was the recently announced first issue of Lois Lane. I ran back to my parents to beg for a dime to buy a copy, and not only did I acquire it but there was my grandmother! I was in ecstasy!! Even then, when I was still eight years old and in the third grade, I knew that first issues of a comic book were valuable and here I had one, a major one devoted to Superman and Lois Lane!
