Anyway, here we go!
First up is All=Star Squadron Annual #2. I have no idea why I bought this one. Maybe it's because there was a cute green chick on the cover. Maybe it's because it was a quarter. Maybe it was both. Hey, isn't that the Green Lantern who's gay now? Go on with your bad self, GL!
I always buy every issue of Arak I find, and I never read them. I think it stems from the tenuous connection of the Arak action figure from Remco being released with the Warlord figure, a comic that I love. Maybe one day I'll sit down and read through all of these. Maybe not.
Yeah, I'm still in the throes of Avenegers love, so any issue of Captain America I find is gonna get bought.
Who remembers these? When I was in middle school, I had a complete run of both DC Who's Who guides and Marvel's Marvel Universe guides. They were the best books to have back then, especially when me and my friends would sit around just making up comic book characters and flipping through these books for ideas to rip off. I think i may have to make an effort to re-collect all of these again. There were just too awesome.
I used to read DC's TSR-based book back in 9th and 10th grade, and the nostalgia alone makes me keep buying them whenever I see them in the cheap bin. Now I look at the interior artwork (or those horrid colors, ugh!) and cringe. Still, these books are nerdcore.
Ka-Zar has always been one of my back-up favorite characters. Part Tarzan, with a dash of Kamandi and a sprinkle of Conan. And he had a pet saber-toothed tiger and a hottie of a girlfriend wearing a skimpy fur bikini. Mash all that up and then make him hang out with Spider-Man every now and then and what's not to love?
And finally, here's where I share my most shameful secret. When I was in 7th grade, my comic book collecting got serious for the first time. Sure, I had had comics throughout my youth, but 7th grade was when I started saving them and trying to complete runs and whatnot. In fact, me and my friend had both decided that we were going to start collecting at the same time and one day took a long bike ride to our local mall where they had a Waldenbooks that we knew carried a bunch of comics. Comic book shops had yet to be introduced to us.
So we go to this Waldenbooks and pick out some issues. That was when I saw this new character with a hockey mask (like Jason!) and a football jersey (like Wlater Payton) and an uzi (like Snake Eyes!) and I went nuts. I declared right then and there that this was my new guy and I bought the first issue (it'll be worth millions one day!).
Well, I stuck through all 4 issues of Wild Dog, before moving on to much better characters. But for a hot second, one the stupidest Punisher kock-offs in comic book history had a very enthusiastic 12 year old fan.
Dang! Look at all those guns and missiles!
