captain_slinky | The Most Influential Comic Book Of My Life

In 1983, I started getting *serious* about Comic Books because of Kevin Closson, Football, Hives and Marlboro cigarettes.

KEVIN CLOSSON: I had a pretty good collection of second-hand comics, maybe 20 of them or so... but Kevin Closson had an entire STEAMER TRUNK FULL. His Dad was a Captain of Sanitation (Garbage Man) and was constantly bringing home collections of Golden and Silver Age comics for Kevin. Through Kevin I found out that there was a demand for these things, the older the better! He introduced me to my first "Comic Book Shop" (which was actually a box of old comics that thy had at the Stamp & Coin Shop), and he introduced me to the Overstreet Price Guide.

FOOTBALL: Since I was a "Husky" child, my Dad had dreams of me being a Football Player and encouraged me accordingly with regular gifts of sports cards and equipment. He willfully ignored my huffing and weazing, and turned a blind eye to the fact that the only part about the sports cards he bought me which I seemed to like was the whole collecting aspect of it. When he took me to see the Seattle Seahawks play football at the Kingdome, he had to bribe me. A person can only b in denial for so long before something gives.

HIVES: Near the end of that summer, I developed a mysterious case of the hives that resulted in forced bedrest all the way up till school started. It had to have been really hard for my Dad to do this, but *one day* when I was really sick, he brought me a stack of brand new comics. Blue Devil, Flash, Adventure, GI Combat... and Atari Force #4. I remember this moment clearly as being the exact point in our relationship, my dad and me, where he accepted that I was a Nerd. I wasn't going to be a sports guy no matter how hard he tried; I was a Book Worm Nerd.

MARLBORO CIGARETTES: Both of my parents smoked, and neither of them liked to go to the store and buy their own smokes for some reason. Lucky for me this was the early 80's, and all a kid needed was a note from their parent to buy cigarettes for them! My Mom would give me a $5 bill to go get her a pack of Marlboros and a bottle of coke, and then I could have the change (which was usually just enough for 3 comics plus a tiny bit to hold back for saving up).

Through these four things all happening at the same time in my life, I became a 10-year-old DYNAMO of the comic book world! I bought comics at garage sales and sold them to comic shops (only two of them that I could get to) for a profit. I bought comics through the mail using those long list ads you could find in comics at the time, always searching for Atari Force #1-3 and never finding them. Buying comics in bulk in order to get a discount on them and then resell them at street fairs and flea markets.

Through it all, Atari Force was my guiding light - my "in" to dealing with adults regarding comics. I'd go to a retailer looking for Atari Force back issues and come out having spent $20 on stuff I knew I could resell for $40 to $60. Atari Force lead me to being able to actually tell who wrote or drew a particular comic book with an amount of skill that impressed even the old timers.

If not for Kevin Closson, Football, The Hives and Marlboro Cigarettes... and ESPECIALLY if not for Atari Force #4, a comic I never ever would have bought for myself, I don't think I evr would have gotten as serious about comics as I did :)