Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Tell your story about ONE purchase of a comic book!

Originally posted by Cobalt Kid:
Fanfie will know the issue number, but an even better issue than the above one, which occurs about mid-run, is the one with the huge confrontation with the Kree soldiers that have a nega-bomb. Dane, Crystal & Herc are all captured and its when Hank becomes Giant-Man again for the first time. It may just be my single favorite Avengers issue of all time. That's the issue that made me write Bob Harras a letter (with pen and paper--I was 11 years old).

Originally posted by Power Boy:
ok I've got one ....

My best friend in elementary school was frickin awesome. I use the word frickin because I remember he used to cuss a lot. And wear hightop converse with shorts. And he had a shaved head and a duck tail. (and he got the George Michael tape with 'I want your sex' on it) Keep in mind that we were about 8ish to 10ish when we were friends. so ... 9 or 10 punk haircut .. cussing.

So, I've been into comics since I was 4 or so. And [b]JH <-- my best friend in elementary school. was also into comics. He even had the Marvel Role Playing Game. Which was far too advanced for us. I don't think I've had a real life friend into comics since then.

Now, JH was awesome ... he would tell off people that were snotty to me. One of his favorite words was 'B.S.' ... and as I get older, I realize a lot of things are B.S..

The funny thing is, his parents were really mellow hippy type people, really quiet people. I liked them also, they were down to earth.

So back to the comic books:

we were on a field trip one day to, I think, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and we stopped at this place called 'the Grapevine' which is a spot with tourist shops, all in wood or log architecture. It's right before you go over the 'mountains' from the valley where we lived to the coast to see the Aquarium.

The gift shop had a very small collection of comic books. Now that I think about it, I don't think it had comics, just a few randoms.

BUT !! I see THIS:




Funny but not so funny, it's the first cover to come up when doing a google image search of justice league of america detroit covers.

I see it and I have to have it. I know this is an especially good comic book. I get in the super long line at this tourist shop. George Perez goodness! Who's art I already was a fan of because his New Teen Titans and Crisis OIE. The best things my child eyes had seen!

This was 86 ish so my brain freaked out :

The satellite league is back !??! At the time, this was I think in the middle of the Detroit League, which sadly lost my 8 year old butt. So I was excited the 'real' JLA was back !

(When researching this issue it says '83 ... so I'm not sure if this was a reprint or this had been on the shelf at the shop for years, untouched because it seemed like new)

.. I jumped on to the JLA when the satellite era was pretty much ending. I maybe caught the last 5 or so issues of the satellite era originally. Which I still love to this day. Martian war, demons taking of Zatanna .. it was fun.

JH waits in the long line with me. We get to the register. And I place my comic on the counter. And the stern lady rings it up and ............. CHARGES TAX! .....


My child face went blank. I had like 66 cents. And ... the lady charged an incredible amount of tax because I was 30 cents short!! I was aghast. I would never have waited in line for something I couldn't afford. I counted my money before getting to the counter. So I waited there confused ... hoping the clerk would be kind but ... she wasn't .... the line was getting longer ....

I didn't understand why it said 60 cents and it wasn't priced at 60 cents. I must have known somewhere in my little head that comics weren't taxed.

JH offered to pay the difference, obviously pissed at this lady!!! I said no. Trying to think of an alternative solution. JH offered again, I said OK since the line was getting longer and longer. I think JH put something back actually to help me pay for my comic. And did a fairly good job of acting disgusted like "he didn't want what he was going to get anyway!" I actually think he really didn't.


Problem solved. I got me issue 217. Thanks JH!

I didn't get to read it on the bus to the Aquarium but I enjoyed it later, I think I was kinda traumatized by the whole experience at the time.

After that, JH used to ask about the comic he partially bought. But I was always weird about the whole thing. Like he would take it or was mad to have paid part of it. I think he was just giving me a hard time because I'm sure I tried to pay him back.

Unfortunately, We moved away when I was 11. There was no JH or JH like kid at my new school. We tried to stay in touch and hang out on the weekends but that only lasted a year. I was kind of weirded out by my new living situation, we moved to a much less nice town.


I'm not sure I've had a friend like JH since, It's hard to say though because life gets more complicated as you grow up. It WAS nice to have someone tell off people that were snotty to me. I've tried to look up JH on FB but, no success. Besides, It's been like 24 years.


I still have the comic book though. it's a good one.[/b]

Originally posted by lowercase mllash:
>>>GASP!<<<< Peebs, I **love** your story!!

Please keep trying to find JH!!