75 Years of Green Lantern

So, strangely enough, my first Green Lantern comic book was also my first Flash book.  You can see the cover in this post.

It was also where I learned a little bit about Aaron Burr and dueling.  I don't remember much else about the story; I'd have to dig it up to refresh my memory.

But it did bring a certain poignancy to this "Got Milk" commercial:

75 Years of Shazam!

I don't know if I missed the DC celebration for Shazam (the character formerly known as Captain Marvel).  I never saw it, but since his first appearance was in February of 1940, I'm thinking there should have been something.

My first Shazam comic was "Shazam!" #16.  This was not long after DC bought up the property, but still had 12 years before they would integrate the Marvel family into regular continuity.  The Marvels were still stuck on Earth-5.

The statues coming to life was a cool story, and I was already familiar with Shazam from the Saturday morning live action television show.

But of course there was my first introduction to parallel worlds with "Superman" #276 with the confusing (to me) Captain Thunder with a sun emblem on his chest.

This one was DC's way of having Superman fight Shazam without actually doing it.  There were lots of similarities, and it was very strange to my 6 year-old self.

75 Years of the Joker

So, I know that there used to be a Joker comic book back from before I was collecting.  I never had any of those.  The first Joker story I remember is the first Batman story I remember.

But the biggest Joker story I remember was in a tabloid sized coloring book that I had.

The Joker had decided that he was going to commit crimes that were related to sadness instead of laughter.  I vaguely remember that he even had a Joker-mobile.

The attraction of the book was supposed to be the back cover which was a Batman action shot.

Al I know is that I cut it off, and then carried the comic around without a back cover.

75 Years of Superman

Now comes the big one.

Again, my first memory of Superman is from the Super Friends cartoon, and he's always been my favorite (aside from having a Robin costume because it seemed more logical as a kid to be a sidekick).

But my first Superman comic?  That's really hard to remember.  And after some research (thank you Grand Comics Database) it was Action Comics #443.

Reading the synopsis, I remember the story of Superman confusing Brainiac by hypnotizing the world into reversing their knowledge of Clark Kent and Superman.  Looking back it's pretty strange (as a lot of that period stories were).

It was a small introduction, and I actually had the Superman #283 from the same month.

Which again was a throwing people off the secret identity trail.  I think.  The second story with Mr. Mxyzptlk was more memorable with the imp bringing the statue of Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial to life.

But it was from these humble beginnings (again thanks to my Dad's friend and his drug store) that my comic collection eventually grew.

75 Years of Batman

My first memory of Batman is tied up in both the Super Friends cartoon and what has come to be called the Batman '66 television show.

But my first comic book?  After some web searching, it was Batman #260 (a 100-page special).

I remember a story where the Joker has poisoned Batman who will die laughing.  And things just keep getting worse as the Joker tells horrible punning jokes.  The Joker is freeing inmates from Arkham, and Batman comes up against Two-Face who has a gun stolen from a guard.  This was my first encounter with Two-Face as he wasn't used in the TV show.  Two-Face flips his coin and it comes up heads, so he doesn't shoot Batman (who is on the floor laughing painfully), and allows Batman to lock him back up in his cell.

Looking at the cover, I can vaguely remember the story with the Riddler, but the rest are a blank to me.

75 Years of The Flash

I should probably think back and try to do this for Superman and Batman, but I just had this idea today after reading DC Comics' post on Google+.

So this was my first Flash comic book, The Flash #231.

I got this book from a friend of my dad who ran a drugstore and gave me a bunch of books that hadn't sold.

It was a crash course introduction to the Rogues Gallery for me, and also a great example of just how fast the Flash is.  The second story in the book with Green Lantern also introduced me to Aaron Burr years before the famous Got Milk commercial.