Every time I hear a discussion about how children should remain in school longer, I get horrified, because I loved summer vacation so much. Sleeping in, watching reruns on television, having mostly nothing to do - this pleased me. In the summer of 1984, I remember having three things happen that would affect my life.
It was always somewhat weird that I never really hung out with school friends, & this was true for me that summer. I met a fellow Gary - last name Anderson - at the comics shop. The owner, Don, knew I hoped one day to write comics. He told me there was another person in the neighborhood who liked comics but was an artist, so he arranged for us to meet. Gary Anderson was a bit taller than I was, he had curly blond hair he wore long - a decade too late - & he loved elves. He loved Elfquest, to be exact. I could tell a lot of stories about Gary, & maybe I already have - yes indeed I have! - but suffice it to say he didn't want to draw my comic ideas because they weren't about elves. We became friends of a sort, because we were both a little lonely, & he encouraged me to revisit a lot of the play-acting I used to do when I was younger. We would spend time in overgrown fields & pretend to be other people in an adventure - well, I would pretend to be people. Gary was always the elf. Sometimes I had to play both the hero & the villain. I was, you'll recall, sixteen years old.
More normally, my friend Kirk would come over occasionally. Kirk Ditterline was a brash fellow, opinionated & foul-mouthed, & his mother was his constant driver. Kirk would get it into his mind to do something, his mother would drive him, & sometimes he'd show up & take me along. I remember being dragged with him to a Chuck E. Cheese's & watch him blow twenty bucks on Dragon's Lair that I didn't get to play because I had no money. (Kirk, sadly, died in a car accident in 1987. He would perhaps be amused to know that nowadays you don't have to play the game to see it solved.)
Another brash friend I had, one whom I didn't see that often in 1984, but with whom I spent most of the summer three years before, was named Gus. (I talked about him here. Gus Papageorge had been a friend of my little brother's & had contacted me back then to ask about comic books - mainly as an investment. I had been drifting away from comics for a while, but Gus drew me back in - in a short amount of time I discovered Frank Miller's Daredevil, Chris Claremont & John Byrne's X-Men, & Marv Wolfman & George Perez's Teen Titans. Gus called me up out of the blue that summer & asked if I wanted to go to a comic convention with him. I said fuck yeah, & went to my first convention. I got to see a panel with Jim Starlin & I got to chat with Mike W. Barr but Gus was there to buy stuff. We didn't get to stay long - again, I had no money, so I couldn't buy anything - I probably spent what little money I did have to get in - but as we were leaving I might a fellow named Hank who introduced me to amateur press associations. This was one devoted to "young heroes" - basically X-Men & Teen Titans fans, although there were some members who didn't do DC & some who didn't do Marvel - yes, it was like that even back then. It was my first attempt to connect with people who shared a love of comics with me. & they were in nearby Richardson.
The idea of being able to contribute to a fanzine about comics - even young heroes - was thrilling for me. I wasted too much time & too much paper trying to make my contribution perfect. I spoke to members on the phone. It was neat.
As I started eleventh grade, things seemed to be more promising. One of the members of the APA (as you called amateur press associations) was named Kurt, & it seemed like he & I were hitting it off. Another friend outside of my high school, sure, but he also dug music, & actually liked Elvis Costello. Alas, Kurt would not be my new bestie, but he would at one point drag along a fellow named Joe who would become my "best friend" & also would betray me worse than anyone I ever loved. He would do that, actually, within six or seven years. But that story I can save till later.
Something else happened in 1984 that was very important - I think it must've happened in the fall - I got my first car!
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