Saturday, March 11, 2017

“In the course of time, Michael Strogoff reached a high station in the Empire. But it is not the history of his success, but the history of his trials, which deserves to be related.” ― Jules Verne


When I was a kid I was a voracious reader. There is a public library on the corner of Clinton and Union Street. My Dad brought me there when I was in the first grade because he was always taking out books. Every week we would go and he would take out a bunch of books and I would get one or two. Kid books at first but gradually I got into the adult section. I took all of the usual suspects. Jack London. Steinbeck. Twain. Jules Verne. Arthur Conan Doyle. So when these books came up I had read them years before and the book reports were a breeze.

Not so much for some of the other mooks in Sacred Hearts. They couldn't be bothered. So they relied on two major source materials. Cliff Notes and Classic Comics.

I enjoyed collecting comics back in the day. In the sixties Marvel was just starting out with the heroes that are making millions today in the movies. I had a bunch of the origin stories and full collections for a lot of years until I lost interest. Of course they all got thrown out and I lost the dough I would have made if I had kept them but waddaygonnado.

I do have to admit that I always loved the Classic Comics. My favorite was my dog eared copy of Michael Strogoff. A tale by Jules Verne about Russia and the Tsar. We were all up in the Russki's face in those days. With Khrushchev banging his shoe and the Missile Crisis and what not. So to read about Russia before the Commies was very interesting to me. It was one of the few comics I kept.

I haven't thought about that for a long time. The mention of Classic Comics brought it all back. I thnk we should chip in and send President Trump the whole series. I think it might help him. At least it will keep his attention.

7 comments:

The Dude said...

Did he have a brother named Biff?

Trooper York said...

No but his nickname was Beef because he was packing something serious if you know what I mean.

The story is quite interesting with a Muslim element that is prescient to say the least.

My second favorite Verne story.

edutcher said...

Classic comics got many a Baby Boomer through school.

PS Everybody in my family read, so it came as second nature (once I actually got interested in stuff).

chickelit said...

Never heard of "Classic Comics." In Wisconsin we had Classics Illustrated. That sounds somehow classier than Classic Comics. Still, I wonder if the difference isn't along the lines of the classic Drake's Cakes vs. Hostess dichotomy:

You had Ring Dings, we had Ding Dongs
You had Yodels, we had Swiss Cake Rolls
You had Devil Dogs, we had Suzy Q's

WTH did you guys call Twinkies?

The Dude said...

Italians.

chickelit said...

Set and spiked, Sixty. Set and spiked. Teamwork!

john said...

I didn't know they had onesies back then.