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!