Why Westerns: I Owe It All To The Man With No Name

Of my childhood interests and pastimes, I could number among them neither comics, pirates, nor westerns.

As a child I had no interest westerns. Not movies, not books, not comics.
Cowboys didn't interest me.
For the longest time, I labored under the mistaken notion that western plots would be complicated, and I wouldn't have the patience to decipher them. Funny stuff, that.

I never cared much for John Wayne movies.

Maybe John Ford was a master of cinema, but all I saw was just another black and white cowboy movie.

Roy Rogers? Nah.

And western novels? Are you kidding me! No way.

These things just weren't exciting. They weren't cool.

But then, as always happens, you discover the spaghetti westerns of Clint Eastwood, the Dollars Trilogy, Sergio Leone's masterpieces.
And you're hooked.
These are the gateway drug to all other westerns.
Ah, you're mind expands. And pretty soon you're watching an overweight, middle-aged Duke, and thinking, Yeah, this is cool.
You're hooked. You're a junkie.

But then it's over. The western has gone the way of the dinosaur. Where will get your next fix?

I'll tell you...

Why Pirates: I Owe It All To Jim Hawkins

Of my childhood interests and pastimes, I could number among them neither comics, pirates, nor westerns.

Pirates weren't big in West Tennessee when I was a child.
There was no sea, no sailing ships, no privateers.
I had no interest in pirates.

Of course, that changed after I read Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island.

Treasure Island is the adventure tale of the boy Jim Hawkins.
And this is what made, and continues to make the story so appealing: Jim Hawkins is a boy like any boy, save the incredible adventure. But all boys, of all ages, wish they could have the adventure of young Jim Hawkins.

Treasure Island has it all: Billy Bones, Captain Flint, Blind Pew, Squire Trelawney, the Black Spot, Ben Gunn, maps, and buried treasure.

What's not to appeal to the boy in all of us!

Why Comics: I Owe It All To Kid Colt

Of my childhood interests and pastimes, I could number among them neither comics, pirates, nor westerns.


Comics:
As a child, I might have, upon occasion, picked up the odd Richie Rich, or Kid Colt, or, maybe, Captain America. But more often than not, I simply read without buying, having no great or abiding interest in the medium.
Comic books played no role in my childhood.
It wasn't until after college that I made a serious attempt to acquaint my myself with the world of comic books.
I chose Batman, The Phantom, and El Diablo.
None of the above titles were the typical super heroes. These I considered more based in reality, more plausible. More down to earth.
And though I enjoyed these for awhile, I never completely cottoned to the world of comics.
Gradually, my interest waned, and it would be years before I picked up another comic book.

Then, one day, for no reason that I can now remember, I decided to see if I could get my hands on some old Marvel cowboy Kid Colt comic books
I could. And did.

And though I still haven't developed an interest in the super hero genre, my interest in comic books has not waned this time.