Oh those 80 Pagers!

One of the best memories I have of being a child in the early 1960’s was running down to the corner candy store on 102^nd Street and Flatlands Avenue in Brooklyn with a quarter clutched tightly in my young fist. That 25 cent piece was my passport, my token for the (drum roll please!) 80 Page Giant Annual! Superman or Batman !

While a dime, and later 12 cents got you a 36 page comic with shiny new stories and if you were lucky Curt Swan covers, a quarter got you more than twice that AND they were stories from earlier days. The days before little guys like me were born! In those days there was no real back issue market. Comics were not considered collectibles. So the Annual was the only way you could really enjoy those old stories. And OH the covers!!!

I remember faking belly aches at East New York Day Camp so that I could sit on the side and read my 80 pagers (I sure hope none of my old counselors are reading this! Sorry guys! The truth is out. I wasn’t really sick!)

Well fast forward to 2008 and I am getting back into the hobby. Well I did not feel the need to run out and get a copy of Batman 180 or Superman 197, but I DID immediately look around to replace all of those annuals! Well they are not a quarter anymore but they are very much worth it!

That’s 30!