This picture was taken at That’s Entertainment, Paul Howley’s award-winning comic book and collectibles store in Worcester, MA. The comic book is Captain America issue #108, on newsstands September, 1968. The pencil art was drawn by Jack Kirby, and it was inked by Syd Shores. Captain America #108 was the last issue of Cap I bought in Norwalk, CT, before my family moved to Massachusetts. The villain was the Trapster, a revamped version of Paste Pot Pete, who should have worked for 3M, but instead used his expertise in adhesives for evil.
What would I have done without comic books when I was a kid? The point is, I like comic books being physical things, but like music and movies, comics are becoming virtual products. The Boston Globe has an article at this link about comics publisher DC offering a digital alternative. Of this development, Paul says…
“Once one of my customers buys a comic online, then DC Comics has them forever,’’ Howley said. “They don’t need me. They have no interest in keeping people like us in the middle. This really is, in the long run, cutting our own throat.’’
My friend Morris doesn’t see digital comics as replacing the real thing, on paper. He has a point. How many casual comics readers are there? There used to be many, when comic books were sold in drug stores and read in barber shops, but these days almost all comic book readers are also collectors, and who wants to collect PDF’s?