Redartz: Good day, everyone! Last week I mentioned a followup to the story about meeting heroes. Well......the dreaded deadline doom caught up with me (sorry Edo!). For today, once again the onus is upon you to pull a discussion topic from your fevered thoughts. As to next week, stay tuned for a discussion about meeting heroes and meeting friends, long drives and long lines, and plenty of fun...
15 comments:
First of all... Dang!!! It's 11:00 am CST.
Now for the first of my two questions:
As I've related before, when I was young, I would go on base, Fort Hood, with my Dad and while I was waiting, the GI's would give me comics. I have a distinct memory of reading a Kamandi issue during on of those visits. When my Dad did his last tour of Vietnam, Mom moved us to her hometown and started building the house where I essentially grew up. Dad's time in Vietnam was 69-72. Any time I was on base, according to my memory of events, would have to have been before then. According to Karen, and all available data, Kirby's Kamandi wasn't published until 1973!!! How could I be so wrong!?! How can a childhood memory, so clear to me, be so wrong. There's no way I could have read Kamandi before 73; I have no memory of being on base after 72 (we lived three hours or more from Fort Hood by then) yet it is what it is...
My Question: What childhood memory, comics related or otherwise, have you discovered to be wrong? Wrong, wronger, or wrongest?
Second question:
Given the following three choices,
ICEE - So cool, so delicious,
Clark Bars - get rich, get famous,
Slim Jim - a little less than a meal, a little more than a snack.
Which do you thing encapsulated the teen age you? (Let's say 13 to 15.)
(Picture yourself when you're getting old,
Sat by the fireside a-pondering on[?].
Picture book, pictures of your mama, taken by your papa a long time ago.
Picture book, of people with each other, to prove they love each other a long ago.
Na, na, na, na, na na.
Na, na, na, na, na na.
Picture book.
Picture book.
A picture of you in your birthday suit,
You sat in the sun on a hot afternoon.
Picture book, your mama and your papa, and fat old Uncle Charlie out cruising with their friends.
Picture book, a holiday in August, outside a bed and breakfast in sunny Southend.
Picture book, when you were just a baby, those days when you were happy, a long time ago.
Na, na, na, na, na na.
Na, na, na, na, na na.
Picture book.
Picture book.
Picture book.
Picture book.
Picture book,
Na, na, na, na na,
Na, na, na, na na,
A-scooby-dooby-doo.
Picture book,
Na, na, na, na na,
Na, na, na, na na,
A-scooby-dooby-doo.
Picture book, pictures of your mama, taken by your papa a long time ago.
Long time ago,
Long time ago,
Long time ago,
Long time ago,
Yeah, yeah, yeah).
Oh, this is a solid topic, Prowl--- nice. It may be one that has to develop a bit more over the course of the week, though, I bet. Part One, at least-- as that's fodder for some deeper reflection, and kinda hard to put to words near the end of a lunch break. I do promise to return to it, no question. (And VERY interesting about that trick of memory you describe-- it does sound very familiar. . . ).
Of your three snack items, though--- probably ICEE is the one that at least has a specific association, although we didn't get one very often. The nearest place that had them was the K-Mart in Mishawaka, IN (about 25 miles away), at the big, central popcorn/candy/snack island near the front of the store. If I happened to have enough un-spent allowance in my pocket, I would usually surrender to the temptation of the big plastic polar bear thingy suspended from the ceiling. At 13-15, though, I'd started buying LP's, so by then I wasn't as likely to spend on consumables. (That same K-Mart provided SEVERAL of my Beatles album purchases. . . including the oddball double-album artifact, THE BEATLES STORY---)
hb
As with HB, the first quetstion requires more though. I can't think of anything off the top of my head, though I've no doubt had many cherished false memories.
As far as the three choices, Clark Bar, no doubt. I was (and am) all about sweets, and I mean the kind you chew, not drink. I rarely had an Icee, I had Slim Jim probably more than Icee but not a lot, and while I usually opted for Snickers (or Charleston Chew) back in the day, Clark Bars are certainly more to my liking than the other two.
Hmmm, I can't think of any false comics memories offhand, but it's interesting you should mention it, as I was just reading about false memories not too long ago.
Being Canadian, I've never had an Icee or a Clark Bar, and I'm ambivalent about Slim Jims, so I'll have to go with "none of the above".
TP - Great questions...
I too have had "false memories." For decades I recalled buying Giant Size Super Stars #1 when we lived in Gary, Indiana. We moved in February 1973. The issue was published in May 1974.($.35, Thing punches Hulk in face in Boxing Ring)
Question #2... I can't really choose one. As a kid I would have opted for Icee. Not that it described my personality, but it described my taste buds! But rather than Icee it was an ice cold Orange or Grape Nehi or Crush Soda.
And as I've aged, I don't care about "cool and delicious" but rather "rich or famous" and hence would prefer being a personification of a Clark Bar!
False memories, eh? Probably have some, but can't recall accurately (sorry, can't help myself). But seriously folks, some false memories manifest themselves as I purchase specific comics. While generally trimming my collection, one exception is that I try to pick up particular comics I remember having as a boy. Some have turned out to be correct- when I reacquired Casper's Ghostland 38, the first comic I ever bought, the stories triggered 'deja view ' even after some 50 years.
On the other hand, some comics I've picked up thinking they were early possessions have been completely unfamiliar. Perhaps it's just the memory of seeing a cover on the spinner rack.
As for a snack- from the choices given, it would be the Clark bar. Childhood redartz always associated them with Clark Kent and Superman; though I never saw Mr. Kent munching on one...
Prowler your memory may be true - - Kamandi #1 came out in August 1972.
Do you remember which issue you had?
Oh, man. Saw Prowler's post yesterday but was in the middle of something and couldn't respond right away, then I got sidetracked later and I'm only getting to this today.
Like others, I'm having trouble thinking of anything specific for that first question, although I'm sure I'll think of something in a week's time.
And I have to say, van mark has a point: Kamandi #1 is cover-dated November 1972, which means it was on sale in late summer of that year (August as van mark noted, and I just confirmed at Mike's Newsstand). If you visited the base any time in the last few months of 1972, you could have been given an issue of Kamandi, as the first three came out that year.
As to the second question, well, by the time I hit my teens Icees weren't really rocking my world any more (also, I usually consumed Slurpees, as 7-11 stores were more common in the towns near where I grew up), and I never really liked Clark Bars, or the very similar Butterfingers. And Slim Jims were all right, but I preferred beef jerky, and that actually was a favorite snack all through my teens - so that's my answer.
I don't know about a 'wrong' childhood comic memory, but I can offer a wrong childhood assumption.
When I was a boy I assumed that kids in the United States had exactly the same comic choice as I did. In fact, until the Bronze Age Babies blog came along I didn't know that Harvey, Dell and Gold Key were even a thing.
As a result I still get a thrill from seeing what are - to me - these obscure comics, while to my American brothers and sisters they are everyday fare.
1) I vividly recall a TV series called FLAMBARDS which was set during the First World War. The series (a drama) consisted of 13 episodes and had a very memorable theme tune which I could still hum many years later. I was 100% certain that FLAMBARDS was broadcast from September to December 1977. But when the internet came along and I googled the show I was utterly astonished to discover it had actually first appeared in the Spring of 1979.
2) I don't know any of the products mentioned but in 1981, when I was 15, I tasted a Pot Noodle for the first time. I think they'd only just been invented - dried noodles and vegetables in a pot onto which you poured boiling water. How exotic it seemed :D
But the instructions are all wrong - they say you should eat it straight away. Better to wait for around 15 minutes so it's no longer scorching hot and the water has had sufficient time to properly rehydrate the noodles and vegetables.
On a completely different matter - Redartz, did you hear about the 518 million year-old fossils in China? It's like the Burgess Shale fossils all over again !!
Coming late to the party,
But: False memory, not comic related. I have a distinct memory of their being a bathroom in our basement. But the spot We never had one and I spot I clearly remember it being in is impossible.
Alan
Colin b- it's kind of a mirror image situation: those Marvel UK mags and annuals always seemed vaguely exotic to me. Imagine;comics published weekly! So your familiar books are new here, and vice versa!
Colin J- yes, those fossil images are beautiful. Such amazing preservation. Steven Jay Gould would have been thrilled..
In the false memory department, I do have a reverse scenario that has mystified me for years. . . decades, even.
Our town barbershop was the classic little place that had TONS of comic books sitting on the side tables for kids to leaf through-- and my hair got cut pretty frequently when I was very little. Early 60's in a little rural-Michigan town-- the 50's-era clipper-cuts, buzz-cuts, and flat-tops were still pretty much the only haircuts that self-respectin', regular men n' boys were allowed to sport (to prove we weren't communists or something, I suppose. . . ). I'm sure it was a lucrative era to be a barber. ANYHOO-- one particular day, I remember being captivated by a comic where this tormented brown-haired guy went through a physical transformation into this huge green-skinned guy. Then back--- then transformed again later. It happened twice in that one story. . . one sequence focusing on his head and face, another his entire upper torso. This was BEFORE I COULD READ-- so I don't know any of the details of the story itself. It also means it would have to have been before 1968, as once I learned to read at all, I RAN with it.
Obviously, the images impressed themselves upon me deeply.
And I've never been able to track them down. I have the entirety of the Hulk's TtA run; reprints of the first six issues; and the same for his early appearances in FF and Avengers. I would even go so far as to posit that it might have been Marie Severin's pencils (again, just from 50+ year old memory). And the backgrounds were all quite dark (like a lot of the Hulk's run from issues #102-#108)-- but I've got nothin'. And my search was thorough, believe me. . . ! Could'a been done as a cliche'd film sequence-- with a tense underscore to make it exciting. . .
Have I . . . have I gone mad. . . ??
HB
In trying to keep my post short, I left out a few pertinent details.
Summer of '69, after my first year of kindergarten, Dad was deploying to Vietnam. My parents were also getting ready for life after the Army. They bought a plot in their home town, Richmond Rosenberg area, hired an architect to build our house. Rather than wait until the house was ready, we moved from the Fort Hood Killeen area into a rent house in the Rosenberg. I don't recall how long it took but I'm thinking a year? Year and a half? Anyhoo, Dad came back for a week or two, we moved into our house and he went back to finish time in Vietnam. End of 72, he came home for a bit, then off to West Germany to finish his time and retire.
So that's where I'm stuck. If I did, which I remember, read through a Kamandi comic, it would have been 72 at the earliest. We moved from the Fort Hood Killeen area in 69, three years earlier. I have no memory of a trip back to Fort Hood. By 72/73, I would have been 8/9, certainly, I hope, old enough to remember a three hour road trip. Nope, Just the comic, which I have always placed in our time in Killeen. Not the years after 1969.
To quote a great man (who's not Doug):
"Have I... have I gone mad...??"
(It's two tickets to a concert, it's a Daytona airbrush t-shirt
Wonderin' who's gonna kiss who first, you know what I'm talkin' about
Hey baby what you doin' tonight?
It's butterflies and Bud Lights
Under the stars and on the stripes of a beach towel in a spring break town
It's playin' in the night air, through the speakers all night long
Couple kids just livin' that American country love song
In every town and every place
There's a boy who's tryin' to take a chance and dance
And find a way to run away with her heart
In the back of an old Ford truck
In the bar just lookin' for love
In a pair of oh my blue eyes
Let them fireworks start
That American
Country love song
Ain't never gonna quit playin' on and on and on
Well it's "Chris loves Jenny" on a license plate
It's daddy gettin' mad 'cause you came home late
It's one last kiss in the driveway
Hey radio DJ, can you play that song that she loves
So I can turn it up, and maybe turn her on
An American country love song
In every town and every place
There's a boy who's tryin' to take a chance and dance
And find a way to run away with her heart
In the back of an old Ford truck
In the bar just lookin' for love
In a pair of oh my blue eyes
Let them fireworks start
That American
Country love song
Ain't never gonna quit playin' on and on and on, and on
So let's raise a glass
Cheerleaders and quarter-backs
Cowboys and country girls
All around this small town world
To the same old pick up lines
We've tried a million times
All the bad and good is against
The ones that you ain't met yet
In every town and every place
There's a boy who's tryin' to take a chance and dance
And find a way to run away with her heart
In the back of an old Ford truck
In the bar just lookin' for love
In a pair of oh my blue eyes
Let them fireworks start
That American
Country love song
Ain't never gonna quit playin' on and on and on).
Prowler, do you know all those lyrics off by heart? I mean all of them - all the lyrics you quote in every comment?
Here's another false memory related to TV. I remember watching a documentary about naturism called LET'S GO NAKED which was broadcast on January 3rd 1976...or so I thought. I've recently discovered it was actually broadcast on January 3rd 1979. Weirdly, I was correct about the date of January 3rd but I got the year wrong by three years !!
Both this false memory and my previous one really shook me because I'm usually pretty good about remembering things.
HB mentioned those Hulk images and something similar happened to me. When I was about seven I read a comic strip about the life of St. Francis Of Assisi but I'm baffled where the strip appeared. It must have been in a weekly comic because I recall the St. Francis strip being in weekly instalments but what kids' comic would feature a weekly comic-strip about a Catholic saint? I've tried to find out but to no avail. My family weren't Catholic or even religious so I'd never have even heard of St. Francis of Assisi if it weren't for that comic-strip about his life.
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