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Posted on 01.12.08 by Widge @ 2:11 pm
You know, Dan Goodsell posted this over on his website–his first comic book. And I thought for some time that I remembered my first comic. It was in a drugstore, back when they still had comics–remember "Hey Kids, Comics!" Remember those wire metal racks? When you would flip towards the back to find the ones that weren't fucked up and creased by people flipping towards the back to find the ones that weren't fucked up and creased? Or were you someone like me who was a considerate member of the comics buying community and very cautiously flipped back? Anyway, it was a Justice League of America comic. I remember it was one of those annual crossovers with the Justice Society, and I thought the cover was one of those classic setups where one group of characters was rushing in from left and the other was rushing in from right with the inevitable clash in the middle something that was supposedly inside the pages. What I remember most about it, though, is reading it and recognizing the Justice League characters from the SuperFriends cartoon that I watched religiously (even the shit episodes, and by me saying that probably three or four jumped into your mind). But the Justice Society–the idea that there was a whole separate world out there where the heroes were older (not just older–Batman was dead?!?) and had fought during World War II? Holy crap! From a continuity standpoint I had no clue what was happening, but from a conceptual standpoint I was addicted. Thus, I was introduced to comics and advanced multi-dimensional physics in one sitting. Oh sure, I'm positive I had read some Harvey comics or Disney comics or something when I was younger–but this–this was something else. This was nitroglycerin, baby. And it started me on my love of the spandex genre and comics in general. So I decided to try and track down my first comic. Using this cover gallery. With disappointing results. First, it's hard to distinguish, this far removed from when I was collecting comics on the neurotic level, between comics I bought from the racks and comics I bought later when I was a Collector. Like for example, the 100-page giants–I owned a bunch of those, but I'm certain I bought them later. I'm almost positive, for example, I owned #189 and #190 (the Starro two-parter). But when I acquired them, I have no idea. #191 I don't remember the cover for, but #192 (the start of the Red Tornado origin story) I know I bought from the rack. And then ongoing from there, since I read the Justice Society bit, going back into the Old West and then on through and past the great extra-sized #200. So what JLA book did I pick up first since I can't find a cover that fits what I knew in my mind? Well, my memory is terrible, especially when you go back that far in my life. Is it possible that I crafted some kind of amalgam ur-comic in my head? Is it possible that #192 was my first comic and I've just mixed up the contents with another comic? That was 1981. I was 8. That sounds about right. I do remember that the copy of #192 in my collection was really shredded. So that makes sense. But still, I don't know that I'll ever remember for sure. So. There you have it. What was your first comic? Can you sort out which one it was? Filed under: General BS
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Posted on 08.12.06 by Widge @ 9:27 pm
So Engadget has talked about their first PCs. I actually used a machine before the PC…when I was eight, I trained on an IBM Displaywriter. The Displaywriter was a $14,000 word processor. And by word processor, I mean that's all it did. You had a green screen and you had the ginormous eight-inch diskettes (if I remember correctly…I still have a couple around here somewhere). I grew up blue, so of course we had an original PC. Then we were amazed when there was actually a 10MB hard drive included. Ten megabytes…Jesus, who could ever need that much space? Then I used to work on the first luggable PC IBM made, the Portable PC. It was basically a PC with a handle on it. Seriously. It came with a tiny amber monochrome screen and two diskette drives. I don't think it had a hard drive, but I can't remember exactly. I think in there somewhere I worked on a PC Jr. That was the biggest piece of crap I've ever had the misfortune to work with. I still refer to it as the Tonka Toy of PCs. My neighbor who had a Timex PC, one with keys so small you needed a toothpick and a magnifying glass to work it–that was more impressive than the PC Jr. The majority of my novel's first and second drafts were done on a Portable PS/2 Model 8573, a slightly more luggable luggable. It too had an amber screen–but larger–with a fold-down detachable keyboard, a fold-out diskette drive and a hard drive. I used an external monitor with it and wrote the novel on the kitchen table of the apartment I shared with my girlfriend at the time. I'm still amazed that I walk around today with my iPod and my MDA and I've got more computing power just on my freaking belt that I would have thought possible back in those days. By my desk at work, I keep a PC diskette drive. Whenever I feel like I'm losing perspective, I take it in one hand and my laptop in the other–and I heft them both for a weight comparison. I do this just to keep my head on straight. Filed under: General BS
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John Robinson is a writer of prose, poetry and comics who also writes under
the pseudonym of Widgett Walls.
This is my latest book. Short stories written especially for you, or at least someone who reminded me a lot of you at the time.
