Austin Books & Comics 40 Year Anniversary

2017 marks 40 years of your favorite local comic book store, Austin Books & Comics! In celebration of this, we’ll be having some new features over the next few weeks and months.

On our Facebook page, we asked fans and employees to share their first comic book.

Share your own stories in the comments section below!

Check back next week for more comic memories, and be sure to Like Us On Facebook for more 40th anniversary festivities!

Batman #240
My first was a hand-me-down copy of Batman #240 missing its cover. It took me many years of working at Austin Books & Comics to figure out which issue it was, based on my memory of the opening splash page. And of course, I bought the Near Mint copy we had.

-Brandon Z.

Uncanny X-Men #284
Uncanny X-Men #284. I saw it at a newsstand inside a convenience store and thought “what the hell is this about?”. I got hooked. “What lies beyond the void?”! What seven year old didn’t want the answer to that question?

-Ty D.

Macross #1
Macross #1. Robotech was my favorite cartoon, and became my gateway into comics. I read this thing cover to cover a dozen times — incidentally, its credits box was what clued me in that ACTUAL PEOPLE write these things, thus cementing my career aspirations at eight years old.

FUN FACT: Given the time, and the store at which I bought this issue, (Remember When, in Dallas), it turns out that it was almost certainly sold to me by Mark Waid. Neat!

-Dave J.

Silver Surfer #60
I can’t guess at my first comic ever, as they were always around as my dad used to collect. But something about Silver Surfer #60 made me the comic crazy dude I am today. Was it the fedora, plates for hands, or purple body suit? No idea.

-Nolan B.

Bone: Out From Boneville
Bone. When I was a kid, they ran the first volume or so, colorized, in Disney Adventures magazine, and after reading a few of the serialized bits of it that way, I asked my parents to take me to the nearest comic shop, in LaGrange, Georgia, and started reading the series obsessively.

-Rory B.

Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?
Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? I was by no means a collector, but through nothing but luck of the draw I would randomly pick up comics at the local grocery store. This was my first. My second was The Dark Knight Returns. I really had little knowledge of superheroes beyond what I knew from Super Friends, so you can imagine how immediately addicted to comics I became when my first two shots out of the gate were these great pieces by Alan Moore and Frank Miller.

-Tony S.

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
First comic book ever was Frank Miller’s Daredevil: Man Without Fear #1. It had just come out, and I thought the cover was cool (why can’t they just bring back holofoil covers already?!?) so 10 year old me picked it up, and my life was forever changed. Daredevil is still my favorite Marvel book thanks to the brilliance of Nocenti, Bendis, Brubaker, Waid, Soule, and most importantly, Miller.

-Ian E.

Mighty Marvel Team Up Thrillers
For my 7th Birthday, I got a Mighty Marvel Team-Up Thrillers #1 which was a collection of stories featuring all of Marvel’s heavy hitters. I thought it was the best thing ever and it sent me down a rabbit hole of comic collecting that I have yet to climb out of.

-Bryan R.

Superman #297
Superman #297. I don’t think this was my first, but it’s one of my earliest memories.

-Cully H.

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Posted March 29, 2017

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