Hey Kids, Comics!: True-Life Tales From the Spinner Rack Kindle Edition

There are times when you open a book, and find friends that somehow seem at once to be both familiar and new. This is one of those times, and "Hey Kids, Comics!" is one of those books. As I read this wonderful anthology, I kept wishing that I knew all of these amazing authors in real life. In the introduction, Rob Kelly describes comics as "four-color passports to other worlds." What a beautiful truth. He also writes that in art school "he found obsessive comic fans like himself (which was like discovering there were, in fact, other people living on the island he had been shipwrecked on." )I can so relate. As a toddler, I carried around my favorite Batman comic until its pages were soft with loving wear. I still have that very comic, and many others, not only from my childhood, but those I've collected as the child masquerading as a "grown up" that I am. My grandparents gave me a subscription to Donald Duck when I was three years old. Before I was even able to read, comics were part of my life.As such, I loved hearing about the love and passion these authors have for comics. Some stories are so joyful that I read them as quickly as I could. Some stories are so poignant, that I lingered over them, not wanting them to end. And some stories are just so fun, that I found myself smiling as I read them. Reading each of these stories, is like having a childhood best friend to invite into a secret tree house to conduct very important detective business-- the transaction of sharing just how and why comics and their heroes are so exciting and among the best things ever in the world. And somehow strangely, I don't think you even need to be a fan of comics to love this rare book, because no matter our lives, our hobbies, our dreams-- we all have them. We all have that special secret story of how something or someone in our childhood showed us that, with a little luck and a lot of love, anything is possible. Rob Kelly is not just in the business of "selling" comics; he's giving us all a nudge, a wink and a reminder to remember how you felt when you were little, the days were long, and the world was luminous with possibilities.I predict I will be re-reading this anthology and its life-affirming stories many times, whenever I want to return to a simpler day when I could solve all crimes with my makeshift Bat Utility belt, when I never doubted my eventual super powers, and when the good guys really did win."Hey Kids, Comics!" makes me feel a little less alone in this sometimes "shipwrecked" world. And really... isn't that the very best you can ask of a book?

"Memories of Discovery"The author gathers 38 comic book collectors to recall their first discovery of comic books, and how it impacted their lives. Each story brings personal memories of a time in their young lives when comic books meant the world to them. Some perhaps escaping chaos, others finding adventure. All are tales that grab at the readers heart, and takes them back to their own days when comic books were important to them.The front cover features one picture of a young lad reading a Golden Age Shadow Comics from the 1940s, although this is not a story included in the volume. Most writers in the book were introduced to comic books in the 1970s and `80s, and Marvel was usually their preference, although a few did favor DC. One writer was born in 1955, and discovered comic books in 1960 Silver Age. All knew of the Golden Age, and the damage of the Comic Code in the 1950s, but sadly we don't hear from anyone who may have discovered the Golden Age as early as the 1940s. I was seven in 1947 when we moved from a farm and ranch community to the big city where I discovered comic books. Long before Marvel and Stan Lee broke the mold with heroes who had problems. My interest was not as strong as these writers, as I drifted away from them early, finding much more to entertain me than just a comic book. Still, I could understand their awe of discovering that certain four-color art form at a young age, and being a life-long fan. Anyone who ever read a comic book, and remembers that first gem that came into his/her hands, will enjoy this book as it takes a look at when we were all young, vulnerable, and needed heroes.

Rob Kelly has assembled a fantastic and varied collection of essays on comic fan experiences. Okay, these aren't really essays...they are confessions. Soul-cleansing releases from folks who took their hobby SERIOUSLY. Who were touched by this often-maligned graphic art form to their very core. The passion these people felt for their four-colored heroes are palpable, and their sincerity reminds us of that child-only wonder that is often so hard to tap into as we trudge on into adulthood. From Sholly Fisch's blackly humorous memoirs on a near-fatal childhood injury in "Hey Kids...THUD!" to examinations on racial and class prejudice in the moving "Steel Hard Skin" by Evan Narcisse, Kelly presents stories conveying the full range of the emotional spectrum, but all tied to those stapled, floppy pamphlets that helped form and shape our personalities, for good or ill...mostly good.I highly recommend this book to anyone who was ever enraptured by comics ... who can still recall that magic moment when you held that one comic in your hand for the first time, the one you just can't forget. The one that changed everything, even if it was just for that very instant. This book captures that same feeling, 39 times over.Chris Franklin

Excellent series of tales of how comic book professionals and fans reveal their secret origin of their love affair with comic books. Rob Kelly has gathered a wide range of stories which illustrate why people gravitated towards Batman, Spiderman, Superman, the Hulk, Archie and all of their comic book compatriots. A must read for anyone who is interested in comics.