Day 2492 - Searching (and finding) stories from one's youth

I've always loved comic books.  I've also always loved reading.  So when I found a copy of "Comix: A History of Comic Books in America" in the Lutheran High School West library back in 1986, I jumped all over that.  But all I remember from that book (and I never even remembered its title) was a single story that they reprinted from Creepy magazine.  That story's title was "The Squaw."  It was adapted from a Bram Stoker short story by Archie Goodwin and Reed Crandell. It involves a cat, an iron maiden, and righteous retribution.  As a 14 year old it stuck with me in a very vivid way. 

But as the years have gone by, I had forgotten the book's name and the story's name.  Over the last 10 years or so, I would periodically Google "cat," "iron maiden," and "comic" in the hopes that I could find a copy of the story somewhere or at least its name.

Well, today was the day that it all came together (as you can obviously tell).  I have been cleaning my library over the last three weeks, and today I brought boxes 9 and 10 to Half Priced Books.  (Don't worry, my library is still completely full, I'm just culling all the books that I feel I'll never read again or at all.  There's still plenty left in both categories.)  While I was waiting to get my $10.25, I was hanging out in their specialized book area, and I saw the "Comix..." book.  Nothing about it reminded me of high school, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to flip through it.  And, lo and behold, "The Squaw" was reprinted within.  Yes, I stood in the bookstore and re-read the story.  And it was every bit as creepy as I remembered (pun both intended and unintended).  I almost bought the hardcover right then and there, but at 25 bucks, it was just a touch out of my price range.   But I do know that it has been reprinted a few times, so now I know what to look for.

I don't know about anybody else, but that's one of the aspects of my life.  I like tracking down stories that have affected me throughout my life.  It's a reason that I have a number of kids books in my collection.  And they're not there for show.  I will periodically reread them.  The internet (with this previous exception) has been a pretty good tool to track things down.  I own pieces of original book art, letters from authors, and various autographs.  None of that would be possible without the internet.  But sometimes finding something in a bookstore and holding it in your hands is such a treat.  The number of books and stories from my childhood that I'm looking for is becoming quite small now.  But they still exist, and that makes the hunt that much more fun.  But if you have any of "The Monster Series" by Ian Thorne cheap, let me know.

Day 1129 (again) Nancy Drew and The Three Investigators

I don't remember how old I was when I read my first Nancy Drew book, but I do remember the title - The Mystery of the Fire Dragon.  I loved it, and it was the beginning of a lifelong love of mysteries.  From that book, I worked my way through the first 56 hardcovers and continued through a lot of the softcovers (#57 and up).  And, of course, being the collector that I am, I had to have all the original Nancy Drew books.  What that meant for me, though, was a little different than having first prints of everything.  I could live without those, because I (probably) still can't afford those.  Instead, in the 1950's they rewrote the early stories, shortening the page count from 216 or so to 180ish.  There are no 180 page count books in my collection.  And last year, I finally finished upgrading the absolute worst copies I had, so now everything is good or better.

Then there's the companion series - The Hardy Boys.  Yeah, I didn't care for them as much.  I could never identify with Frank or Joe, and their stories never seemed as fun or dangerous or creepy as Nancy's did.  I've got a number of their books, but I've never felt the need to track down more than what I have.

However, there was a mystery series that I did find as compelling as the Nancy Drew series, and that was Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators.  Jupiter Jones (the smart one), Pete Crenshaw (the athlete), and Bob Andrews (the normal one) were teenage investigators who worked out of Jupe's uncle's junkyard solving cases that were strange, compelling, and always seemed to have a touch of the supernatural to them.  I still remember the day when I went into the bookstore and found out that they had revamped the series for teens.  I felt that I went in every two weeks looking for a new book.  Eventually, they printed 11 of them, and they're all pretty good, but one of the new series stood out.  But more on that in a bit.

I read 103 books last year.  That's probably why I didn't see as many movies as the year before, and I don't think I'll ever top that number in my lifetime.  But out of those 103 books, I re-read the original 43 Three Investigator books, along with the 11 updated ones.  It took me about five months get through all of them, and it felt great.  As with any series, it all depends on how much you like the characters, and with no exception,  these three guys were people I liked hanging out with.  They solved mysteries that involved art thieves, haunted houses, thieving midgets (!), and pirate treasure, among others.  Compelling stuff.  When they did the new series, they were less of a mystery and more of tracking down bad guys who stole cars or who wanted to stop the opening of a play.  And while they weren't mysterious, they advanced the characters, and were pretty exciting.  And the fourth book in the series was called "Funny Business" and was about the guys finding a collection of comic books, going to a convention, and meeting all the people involved in the industry from the editors to the artists to the cosplayers.  It was a clever mystery, it had incredibly well-defined characters, and didn't talk down to those of us who know comics.  (And, yes, Jupiter got a love interest in the story that didn't feel forced.)  It immediately surpassed my two previous favorite books in the series - The Mystery of the Vanishing Treasure (with the aforementioned midgets) and The Mystery of the Invisible Dog (which had real supernatural elements to it).  I read Funny Business every few years, because as with the best books, you want to immerse yourself in their world every so often.  At least, I do.  And a few years ago, through the magic of the internet, I found a hardcover copy of the book that was signed by the author.  It's easily in my top ten favorite things I own.

But to bring it all back around again, I started The Three Investigators series last February, and I think this year I might re-read all the Nancy Drew books.  It's been a while since I took them off the bookshelf (there's so much other stuff to read), but I do love reading series.  Heck, last year, I re-read Hitchhiker's Guide, too.  (so good!)  But right now, I've got a few books lined up in the queue, including As You Wish written by Cary Elwes about the making of The Princess Bride, and the new books by Gordon Korman and Carrie Vaughn.  So, February is looking like it's getting full.