My father has always been a bit of a sci-fi fan. This is something he has passed on to me and something that has been a bit of a bond between us. I remember when the movie Aliens came out and as we were waiting in line and I think I mentioned something about being potentially maybe being a little nervous or scared about the upcoming cinematic space horror fest we were about to partake in. He looked at me and said in his most reassuring voice “Yeah, I remember seeing the first one, it scared the crap out of me.” Yeah, that’s my dad.

While we definitely can appreciate the greater world of sci-fi movies and television together, comic books have always been a little bit of an undiscussed subject between us. While growing up, I spent the better part of Saturday mornings doing household chores and yard work to earn my weekly allowance so I could take that money as quickly as I could to the nearest comic shop and pick up that week’s latest offerings.

I recall from an early age my father reading the Sunday comics section first before he read any other part of the paper. He taught me how to read with Dr. Seuss books. I don’t think my interest in comics was a secret to him but, until we decided to do this Father’s Day segment at the B.R.C.P., I never knew what his interest (if any) he had in the world of comics. What I found out, surprised me and showed me a side of my father I never knew about. I thought I would share with you his thoughts and comments on being a parent of a comic fan and his relation to the whole thing. Below he discusses watching my brother and I grow up and and pursue our love of comics…

“I recall the comic episode with with both you and Josh.

In my youth I too used to love comic books but I think that we took them a bit less seriously than you did. Superman was big on my list and the others in a declining order from Batman to Spiderman. Here is the shock—they used to cost 10 cents to a quarter and we used to wait fr each new addition. I seem to recall that we also had a Robin Hood comic and archery was big on our agenda but believe that series to have faded out quickly. Dick Tracy was a favorite and stuck around a long time.

I also recall taking you to the comic book store and your interest in comics was far more intense than mine. Then Josh started collecting them, something that we never did, he tried to prove value of the comics to me. Something that could not be proven unless he sold one and a market was established—which we or he never did. Again–this was a foreign field to me as in my days comics were just comics and while we would keep them we did not look at them as collectors items.

On the other end I do recall reading the Dr. Seuss books with all you kids and thought that they were both fun and a good reading learning tool. I recall leaving out some words to see if you would catch that and you always did.

As for spending all of your allowance I thought that sort of strange compared to my comic involvement as I had other interests which I would spend my money on. As mentioned, a bow and arrows was big on my agenda and even once bought a green cowboy hat. Actually Oklahoma in my day was not big on cowboy hats, that came much later, and green cowboy hats were never “in”.

By the way, in my days (as a kid) comics only occupied a small part of a drug store and did not have specialty stores as the one you visited or frequented.”

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