My interest in comic books stemmed from collecting cards at first but my (as far as I can remember) first experience with a comic book (other than Archies) was when I found Web of Spider-Man #36 in my Christmas stocking. That would have been around 1987. I can’t say I really had any revelations after reading this book. If anything, I was probably wondering why the heck Spider-Man was wearing a black suit and not a red/blue one as found on the Spidey cartoon!
It wasn’t until years later when I had an interest in comic books that I received (what I found out through research on the fabled Internet) a ‘Marvel Value Pack’ which could be ordered from JC Penney and Sears. It was a box along with 20+ comic books to introduce you. I also remember a book along with it talking about comic book collecting in general. I even found an old advertisement showing the set! I still have the box and I must still have the comics although it may be hard for me to remember which ones came in the set. It introduced to me to characters I wasn’t familiar with but I enjoyed the stories nonetheless.
It was a pretty smart idea to have these sets for beginner collectors like me. I get a box to keep comic books in, and a book telling me how to keep them in good condition AND I also get 20 books to read? Sweet! I also remember getting this set at a Christmas in Scarborough. Judging from the time I started collecting comics, I would think it was around ’91 or ’92. I’ll have to scour the old photo albums to see if we did in fact end up in Scarborough for Christmas that year.
Let’s also not forget the Marvel Holiday Specials that would involve your favourite characters in some holiday hi jinx!