I started collecting comic books so long ago that I actually don't remember the first comic books that I collected. All of the details are lost in the mists of time.
My paternal grandfather bought some books for me that included Thor number 136 which had a story about how the mortal, Jane Foster, who was Thor's first love in his book, was taken to Asgard in a bid for her to become an immortal so she could marry the Mighty Thor. Jane Foster was given the power of flight and a sword by Odin, the king of the Norse gods, and she was given a demon to fight called, It the Unknown.
Jane became flustered and couldn't navigate in flying. Thor rushed in to save her but Jane was deemed unworthy to marry Thor and she was sent back to Earth, called Midgard in the Norse dialect. Then, Thor was introduced to his true Asgardian love, Sif, and that relationship, some 40 years ago, still hasn't led to marriage. Talk about sexual frustration.
Thor, like the Superman, had a lot of frustration when it came to his love life although Superman was married to Lois Lane for a while in his own book.
Now, Thor is a Marvel comic superhero and Superman is from the rival company of National Periodicals Publications, known as DC or Detective Comics. At the height of my collection I had over 1500 comic books and my collection revolved around what's known as the “Superman Family” of comic books specifically, Superman, Action, Adventure, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and World's Finest comics. You can also throw in the Justice League of America into the mix. I was fascinated by these whimsical stories and I found them to be charming and full of cheyn (Hebrew for “grace”).
I had every store within a seven-mile radius of my house staked out that sold comic books when I was in my early teens. I used to ride my bicycle as far as Bay Shore, LI from my house in Wheatley Heights.
My father was at a loss because he felt that I was totally out of touch with reality being immersed in the fantasy world of the comic book heroes. I don't agree with that analysis.
Many times, in my adult life, I needed help and the help always came to me when I needed it. A hero would pop up who helped me write, learn and debug computer programs when I was at work, for example.
A famous Chasidic rabbi told me many times, “Even if you're not good in learning, friendship is very important.” That's a truism and I know it for a fact. Being in the right place at the right time and being in with the right people is more important than anything else. Essentially, it's not what you know it's who you know that really counts in this world.
Superheroes are basically “messiahs.” In the video, “The Marvel Way to Draw Comics,” Jack ”The King” Kirby, who created almost all of the Marvel characters such as the X-men and Spiderman, in the early 1960's, posed the questions, “Who are our Gods?” The answer is that Superman and his descendents of sorts are all derived from the essence of godhood.
Superman's Kryptonian name is Kal-El and he came from the house of El. In Phoenecian mythology, El was the chief of the gods and in Judaism, one of God's names is El. Superman is a messiah who always shows up at the right time to bail out his friends and he actually fought various gods in his books including Atlas, a Titan, and others. Superman always wins his fights although his foes usually underestimate him on the onset of the battles.
Furthermore, Superman's original adopted parents on Earth were not Martha and Jonathan but Mary and Joseph. He was a Christ child in his own right.
At the height of World War II, Captain Marvel sold about 3 million copies per issue to Superman's 1.4 million copies. Later on, DC sued Fawcett, Captain Marvel's publisher, and Fawcett went out of the superhero business. Superman didn't stop there.
There was a Captain Marvel clone called Zha-Vam, who had the powers of Zeus for power, Hercules for strength, Atlas for stamina, Vulcan, Achilles for invulnerability and Mercury for speed. It took Superman three issues of Action comics to put Zha-Vam down for the count, but Superman came through as usually. And Zha-Vam had a belt which had 23 more gods that he could dial up for additional powers if need be and Superman still won the day. Talk about toughing it out.
Superman was basically super in every way. He could move the whole planet Earth into or out of orbit and did so several times. He had a race with the Flash where both heroes exceeded the speed of light and Superman lost to the Flash in their third race by a nose. The rationale that DC had was that Superman was super in every way but the Flash only had his power of speed so, DC decided to give the Flash the victory.
Many of the books that I had are worth about $50 a piece. I collected comic books in what was called the Silver Age of comics in the "60"s and "70"s. The Golden Age was in the "30"s, "40"s and "50"s. My father grew up in the Golden Age and he was familiar with the Justice Society of America, which was his generation's version of the Justice League of America.
My father never liked the comics of my generation, but every year during the summer, the JLA and the JSA used to meet and team up together. My father used to always read those team ups and he liked them very much.
Recently, I had over 200 books but I decided to donate them to a friend of mine who has seven children and quite a few grandchildren. I will probably build up a collection again from the ashes and who knows what charming characters I will pour over in the future. I can only say that I feel blessed to live in a land where the power of the imagination can roam free to create and experiment with impunity. Who knows what lies on the horizon? I can only dream of what the future holds.
