Sunday, July 29, 2018

Yesteryear


It was Thursday.  I’d just gotten out of high school, finished my paper route and was heading home, where I lived on Union Street, which paralleled Main Street in Milford, Michigan.
 
I pulled my bike up to Foster’s Rexall Drug Store on the corner of E. Commerce and Main Street (where Rottermond Jewelers now resides) entered the front door and said hi to Mr. Foster who was behind the prescription counter.

“Hi Boyce”, he said.  “The new comic books just came in a little over an hour ago and I just put them on the magazine rack.”

“Thanks,” I replied and made my way to the back of the store to check out the latest releases.
I picked up a Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four, an Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers and a few other titles-eight in total.  

I took them up front, paid my 96 cents + tax and headed home to spend a few hours enjoying my new acquisitions.

But before going home I made one more stop at The Shutter Shop where the owner: John Doliber, faithfully guarded the front entryway.

“Hey, Mr. Doliber.”

“Hi Boyce.  Come on in, I just got a new batch of old comic books you’ve got to see.”

Mr. Doliber was a huge comic book fan.  Almost the entire basement of his store was filled with comic books stacked six feet high.  None were bagged or boarded.  That was to come a few years later.

He loved Golden Age comic books while my taste was mostly for Silver Age.  He'd break out his latest finds and let me look at them.  I can’t recall how many classic comic books I looked at.  I held a veritable fortune in my hands.  Back then ‘hot’ comic books could be bought for practically cover price.

Did Mr. Doliber know something the rest of the comic book loving community didn’t?  

Looking back I’m sure his collection today would be worth millions of dollars.  Who knew?

After looking at a few early Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Superman and other assorted Silver Age classics I headed home, only to repeat the cycle again the next week.

This went on for several years, right up to the time jack Kirby left Marvel Comics and produced his famous Fourth World series of titles for DC Comics.

After a couple more years I abandoned comic books (I was too old for that kids stuff), discovered girls and cars, graduated from high school and started college.

A couple years after that I moved south to live on my own, dabbled in a comic books for a short time, abandoned them, finished up college, met my wife and moved to Texas for an illustrator job.

While there the comic book bug struck again when I came across some John Byrne X-Men and Frank Miller Daredevil.  I’ve been hooked ever since and I’ve managed to collect a respectable number of classic comics.

I’m still looking for old comic books, but my budget is limited (more like non-existent) and my taste in comic books is strictly limited to Silver and Bronze Age.

Like all serious comic book collectors and lovers I know that somewhere-out there-is a box of old comic books with my name on it.  I’ve been waiting a long time-perhaps tomorrow!