Great thread….!
As for me, I think I was in about 8th grade when, on the bus home from school, I saw a kid reading Electric Warrior #1, published by DC. I knew nothing of comics at the time other than the Sunday Funnies. A short time after, I found my first LCBS, in Red Bank, NJ. I forget the name, but it was in what we called the Mini-Mall. I remember seeing all the comics up on the wall and in the bins, and being amazed at it all. I bought the first issue of The Dark Knight Returns, along with a few horror comics (for mature readers, hehe), and took them to the beach to read. I can recall getting sand pebbles in my copy of The Dark Knight, and being a bit upset.
I branched out into some sci-fi, also for mature readers. And I think it was then that my mother found them and threw them out. Including The Dark Knight. Argh! If only…
Flash forward a mere 20 years later, in 2006, and I was wandering around Barnes and Noble with a wad of cash and a depressed attitude. I needed something to cheer me up, and what did I find but a copy of the tpb The Dark Knight Returns. I had to have it. As well as The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Oh, and Knightfall. And The Long Halloween. And The Haunted Knight. And The Batman Chronicles Vol 1. :) Sure, it was a bunch of money, but like I said, I was depressed and didn't care. It was my way of saying "F—- it!" to the world.
That spending spree was actually on a lunch break from work, and I went back to my office and showed my friends Steve and Rob what I had purchased. Unbeknownst to me, the two of them were into comics and they told me all about what I was about to read.
Rob added his two cents on what comics I should get, and it was Steve who informed me that comics come out on Wednesday's. So the next Wednesday I went to Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, also in Red Bank, NJ, although by this time the Mini-Mall had closed down. I think my first buys were some issues of 52 and the issues that would make up Batman: Face the Face. Great stuff.
Heh, that was fun thinking about how I got into comics. I guess you could say I'm a late bloomer, as I really didn't get into any of it until 2006. I'm still waiting for an Electric Warrior trade. hehe.
-B.