Every Guy at some point or another wishes he was a superhero. It’s in our blood. We’d all like to be the Guy whom everyone loves. The Guy who saves the day, gets the girl and is adored by “fans” worldwide. Or maybe even sweeter, use our powers to exact revenge on the bullies or evil people of the world.
Of course, this is all fantasy, along with our dreams of Farrah Fawcett and the Bond Girls. So we turn to comic books to live vicariously through our favorite heroes.
All these memories came flooding back to me when my son asked me to take him to the comic book store yesterday. I remember visiting my grandma walking down Bliss Rd. to the neighborhood pharmacy. Back then comics went for 15 cents. (Now of course they’re $2.99 and more.) The pharmacy was next to the very first Friendly’s restaurant where we could buy Fribbles and enjoy our favorite heroes. Talk about a one-two punch!!! WHAM!!!!
I also remember taking the Rapid Transit with a friend at ten year’s of age to the comic store in the old “Mall” in the big city. I mean really!?? By ourselves!!! At this “Mall” we instinctively knew not to use the public restrooms. Bad things could happen in there. Bad things did happen in there. We kept to ourselves, took care of business and went home. But I mean, REALLY??? How times have changed. These days, as much as I want to be a progressive, I keep a close watch on my kids. I mean, they’re not super heroes you know!
“Iron Man” was my favorite hero. This is way before Robert Downey Jr. became a star, then a drug addled nobody, then a star again. “Iron Man” wasn’t even one of Marvel Comics’ most popular heroes. But that’s why I liked him. He was different. I wanted to be unique myself, so I identified with him.
I remember going into the big Comic Store one day with $10, which was a ton of money for a kid, 35 years ago. Iron Man #1 was about $7 at the time. But if I skipped that, I could get Iron Man #2-#6 for my $10. It was an easy choice. I was all about volume. At that time kids collected for the sake of collecting. We didn’t put our baseball cards in plastic sleeves, we flipped, traded and enjoyed them. The same with our comic books. We actually read them and discussed them and dreamed of being comic book artists and writers. What a fun time in the life of a young guy!
Comics have changed a lot since then. Sure you still have your super hero genre, but now we have, Horror, Comedy, Alternative, etc. So much to choose from. So many fantasies to have. (In a moment we’ll be talking about one of our buddies and his new comic.) But let’s finish our story.
Guys never give up their fantasy of being super heroes, we just lower our expectations a ton. Instead of flying from the sky and saving the damsel, we
hope that we are the “best” our woman’s ever had. (Yes, we’ll even believe a lie!) Instead of saving the city from a giant monster, we fix something around the house. Even helping an elderly person cross the street makes us feel a little bit like a hero….especially if our girlfriend or wife sees us do it.
But it’s our kids that we have the best chance with. That’s if we don’t screw it up. For some reason they give us credit for stuff that we have no business getting credit for. Here’s a few clips from my house:
My Boys: Dad, you’re probably better at basketball than Lebron James.
Me: Ahh, thanks boys. Sorry, but no Lebron’s a little better than me.
My Daughter: You’ve been to the moon right?
Me: (Laughing to myself) Well, not actually. But I like the moon.
These kind of questions and statements go on all day. I cringe to think of the day they realize I’m just an ordinary guy doing the best I can to be a good dad, a good husband and provide for the family any way I can. Certainly not blogging!!
So even though I’ll never actually be a superhero in the true sense of the word, that’s OK. As long as my wife and my kids think I’m pretty cool, I can live with that.
“ONE of THE GUYS”
PS:
THE GUYS would like to congratulate their friend, Chuck Harrison, the author of Decaffeinated Coffee for his great news! Chuck’s new comic, “NewBot” was one of ten comic books selected by Zuda comics to compete for a comic book contract with DC comics!
This is a contest. Which means he needs votes. We’ve voted for him, but he could certainly use a little extra help.
PLEASE HELP CHUCK BECOME A TRUE SUPERHERO TO HIS KIDS AND WIFE!
So here’s what you do.
1. go to http://www.zudacomics.com/node/1717 and click the SIGN UP! button in the upper right hand corner. (If you already have a Zuda account proceed to step four)
2.Enter your email and make up a user name.
3. Got to the VOTE section and find NewBot.
4. Vote, add to your favorites and give NewBot a five star rating!
It’s a great comic so enjoy! And thanks in advance.
Voted! And don’t worry, we still love our dads even after realizing they’re human.
Congratulations to your friend!
Your memory of getting comics by yourself reminds me of my experience in the ’50s when I used to go into Manhattan or “the city” when I was the same age. A group of my friends and I would get on the subway and go to Times square or Central Park or even the big library on 42nd St and 5th Ave. We would go in the morning and come back at night. No parents ever came or questioned us.
Keep that superhero thought in your kids’ heads as long as possible:)
Boy, are you ever right about the superhero thing! When I was a kid, it was Superman, Captain Marvel, Kid Colt and Errol Flynn. I don’t think I have those kind of grandiose dreams any more, although I’d love occasionally to pen a sentence that moved or meant something to some fellow human being.
I ‘m not trying to suck up here but I think you’re a hero enough to your kids, from what I read of your post before. Yeah, remember collecting comic books. My faves were Batman, Archie, Peanuts, Spiderman. I think I was running around the house in a Batman costume, yelling “Da da da da da da… BATMAN!” (from the old tv show) until I was eleven or something- then a relative cracked a joke about it and I stopped. Hey, maybe I should dress up as Batman again, yelling the tv theme tune and run rampant around the streets of town and see how it takes until I’m thrown in the looney bin.
Btw, I’m adding you to my site’s favorite blog list later. Whoopity doo… or something, aye?
I loved comics over my studies. Now which kid wouldn’t. I loved Superman. His Intelligence and Simplicity was something I wanted to have too. I liked the way, he would fly out of the top floor of their News Office.
I had even confessed once in class, I wanted to be Superman on “What would I be” essay…lol Crazy days….:)
I created an account and dropped in a vote for “NewBot”. Looks like its in the Second position….
Thanks for this wonderful post. Brought back the old memories. Have a great day…!
Absolutely nice, OTG! I love the part where you talked about kids thinking of us dads as their superhero. Yeah, we kick ass, don’t we? But, you, my friend, kicks Lebron’s ass. You’re definitely a more powerful hero than I am. My daughter can only say, “Hey dad, make that funny noise again! That’s fugging awesome!” So, you can see, my superpowers are somewhat related to soundwaves and things like that…
On a serious note, I think our need for heroic role models comes from a desire to express a personality. And that personality has something to do with the latent abilities inherent in all humans. Have you ever noticed that the superpowers that comic book writers give to their characters are mostly based on psychic abilities and physical strength? Well, that was before people developed an astonishing ability to imagine which was due to progress in technology and communication. What’s happening today is that scientists are now trying to make all these super powers possible.
Who knows… one day we might really be able to fly like superman and wear our underwear on top of our pants.
Thank you everyone!!!
@Kelly….that’s no suck up. I appreciate it a ton!!
OK, off to make some more funny noises…..and hot chocolate. I’ll be a hero for the day.
My dad is my hero. With everything that he has done in his life for his family, I can’t think of anybody better.
But as for my favorite comic book hero, I always liked Nova. He wasn’t the most popular character out there, mostly played the underdog. he had great powers, always did what was right, and his personal life was easily relatable.
That’s too funny. I love Nova!! I have #1 thru, I think #20 if he went that far. He and Iron Man were my favorite superheroes! I thought I was the only one who liked him.
hey guys! have you guys seen the brand new series
“Brothaman”. the colors are bright, and the message is right.
yeah I remember buying those Archie and Betty and my favs were the
lil mini books by Ripleys Believe it Or Not. can you believe I bought one
a couple months ago as agift for hubby to enjoy while hospitalized. we’re
both big fans of that series.
also there’s a comic book called “Rastaman” which is new as well and is a positive message comic book by somefolks in Fla. it comes to me in email. let me know if you want to read it and I’ll be glad to pass it along my friend.
Awe sweet childhood memories! Comic books were great and a great thing to trade around among your friends. And your right every kid dreams of being a super hero with magic powers, and it’s great your kids think you are one! Because in their eyes you are. I mean your the one that makes magic in their lives happen
Cherish it before they turn into know-it-all teenagers lol