It's Just Some Comic Books

When I was 9 years old, my family became friends with a family named the Sweets. They had a son named Woody who was a couple of years older than me. He collected comic books, so I started collecting comic books.

I loved to read, and I already had quite a few comics, but the idea of collecting them was new to me. Woody introduced me to price guides, correct storage and handling, etc. I wanted to collect everything, but that of course was impossible, so I decided to focus on my favorite: The Avengers.

The Avengers had all the greatest heroes: Iron Man, Captain America, Ant Man, Thor, The Wasp, and more. Of course, the Avengers also included The Vision, who was my favorite.

After I had been collecting for a year or two, my family took a trip to a large flea market/trade day/swap meet in Pearland, Texas. It just so happened, one of the permanent stores at this location was a comic shop! Wahoo!! Comic books!

In this comic shop, like most, comics were organized alphabetically by title, starting from the lowest numbered issue and going forward. When we entered the store, I went straight for the Avengers, and started looking through the most recent issues. I only had a few dollars with me, and I knew I could get more book for my buck by buying the newer issues, which are usually the least expensive.

So, as I was looking through the 150's and 160's, my dad walked up and started looking through the box to my left. He pulled out a comic and laid it on the box.

"Do you have this one?"

I glanced over, it was Avengers issue number 23!

"No sir," I said, thinking to myself, "Of course not, Dad, that's number 23!" At that time, my oldest issue was number 127. I went back to sorting through the 150s: 152...need it...153...got it.

"Do you have this one?" He had laid issue 24 on top of 23.

"No sir."

Okay...154...got it...155...got it.

"How about this one?"

Issue 26. Now I started to get suspicious.

"No sir."

Issue 27 joined the pile. "This one?"

I just shook my head.

"These the other ones you need?" he asked, picking up the stack I had created.

I just nodded.

Dad walked up to the counter and purchased them. I was now the owner of issues 23, 24, 26, and 27!! No way!!

Almost 30 years later, I can still tell you the numbers of those four issues. It wasn't the fact that my dad spent some money on me and bought me some comics. It was that he participated. Even though it was only for a few minutes and in a small degree, he demonstrated that he knew something about what I was interested in. My dad was not a "comic book kind of guy". In fact, in his life, I don't know that he ever read a single comic.

Of course, this wasn't the only time my dad ever participated in the things I liked. He was my t-ball coach, and came to see me play the trumpet every time I played. But there was something about that day, that moment, that has always stuck with me.

I think it is for two reasons. One, he surprised me! I had no idea he was going to do what he did. And two, I didn't ask him to do it. Not only was he willing, he initiated it. Oh yeah, there's a third reason...it involved the Avengers!