MARC ALAN FISHMAN: The First Comic That Mattered… To Me

Marc Alan Fishman

Marc Alan Fishman is a graphic designer, digital artist, writer, and most importantly a native born Chicagoan. When he's not making websites, drawing and writing for his indie company Unshaven Comics, or rooting for the Bears... he's a dedicated husband and father. When you're not enjoying his column here on ComicMix, feel free to catch his comic book reviews weekly at MichaelDavisWorld, and check out his books and cartoons at Unshaven Comics.

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7 Responses

  1. Marvel’s The Transformers #6 was the first comic I remember getting. The Ghost Rider vol. 2 #1 was the first super-hero comic I remember buying and liking.

  2. mike weber says:

    Fantastic Four #3.

    Yes. I am old.

  3. Jarrod Buttery says:

    Avengers #159. Graviton. How cool that he was the big bad in the animated series!

  4. Walt says:

    The four that started it for me were Batman 439, Detective 604, Superman 31, and Adventures of Superman 453; back in Spring 1989.

    Superman was (self imposed) exiled in space, Batman facing Clayfaces, Robin apparently had died, but here was a new kid (Tim Drake) about to become the new Robin.

  5. Russ Rogers says:

    For me, my comics reading came in 4 distinct epoch’s. The first was in Elementary School, when I would buy 100 Page Superman Family books for a quarter. There was a broad mix of stories in those.

    Then, when I had a paper route in Junior High, I would bike to the 7-11 to pick up comics for 20 cents, then 30 cents and when they went to 35 cents (and I couldn’t even get three for a dollar?), I stopped buying them.

    In college, a friend gave me a stack of about 25 comics. These included several from publishers I had not heard of before, Eclipse and First and other smaller publishers. This sparked the biggest purchasing phase. And I guess the books that caught my attention were GrimJack with the Munden’s Bar back up. I liked how Cynosure (the locale of GrimJack and Munden’s Bar) was the perfect place to do a cross-over story. I liked the Gritty Noir Mystery up front with the generally silly, slapstick story in the back. I have TONS of First Comics.

    But after I got married, and especially after the birth of my first daughter, I couldn’t afford the regular investment in comics. My new comics generally game as gifts at birthdays or Christmas. The Absolute Sandman’s. That kind of thing.

    My most recent phase with comics came with the discovery of ComicMix and online comics several years ago. Here were many of my favorite comics creators pumping out new comics and reposting comics I had never read before. Seriously, I became a little obsessed with reading and commenting on each comic as it was published. But I got to read a lot of fine comics. And, as a BIG bonus, I became reacquainted with the work of many writers and artists that I had admired for decades, several new writers and artists, and the big capper, they got to know ME!

    Chatting back and forth with the creators at ComicMix can be like a continuous virtual Comics Convention. Fans and Artist get to mingle and interact. It’s fun, it’s cool. And it truly reinvigorates my love for comics!

  6. Unshaven Matt says:

    I’m honored and humbled to be mentioned in this article. I make no apologies for getting Marc hooked on comics. Hell, he even makes me sound like a drug dealer in some respects, pushing the beautiful drug of reading onto a fellow sixth grader. He does not lie when he says that I showed up at his doorstep with a box of comics for his birthday (still one of the best gifts you can give any child or friend).

    In some respects, Marc getting the comics was a byproduct of me just hunting through the back issue bins. That’s still a thrill for me to do as my wife will attest when we’re in bookstores/comic shops/flea markets and just about anywhere there’s a box of comics out with the words “sale” attached to them. My dad would drop me off at the comic shop in Skokie and leave me there for three to four hour stretches. Why you ask, because there was a huge pile of comics marked fifty cents and I loved everything that I could get my hands on within my ten dollar budget.

    Anyway, Marc had a birthday coming up and I found said issues in the bins. Being the super-awesome-best friendly friend that I could be, I snatched them up instantly without thinking a second thought. OK, some minor turmoil over getting the Legends of the Dark Knight issues came up, but was dismissed quicker than a fart outta superman flying at mach three.
    In the end, I brought him something he loved forever. Then I got him Wetworks from Image and he cursed me anew….

  7. That you did Matt. And let’s be honest? Without those comics? I wouldn’t be making them with you now. Ain’t it grand, this life of ours? And to all above who posted comments, THANK YOU.

    @Christopher… Transformers, eh? Have you still a taste for them? I know a friend of mine is HUGE on the IDW stuff as of late.

    @Mike … You may be old, but who cares? FF #3? That’s a pretty killer book to get you started. Do you still follow them?

    @Jarrod … I really loved how they turned Graviton around on the animated series. I hope it means we’ll see him in the books again, as much as a bad ass as he was on screen.

    @Walt… That’s a great list. I’m curious to know how you came to buy those issues though, and what about them turned you on to comics?

    @Russ … That’s an amazing journey my friend! Especially given your trek into the First stuff. Matt is getting into the Grimjack stuff here, and I know, by proxy, I will too very soon. I own the Manx Cat, and loved it.