Solderpunk mentioned Stan Lee in his last phlog post[0]. Admittedly, I've 
never really been all that into superheros, and I can probably only name a 
handful of Marvel/DC characters (and sure as heck not know *which* 
franchise they're from), but there's no doubt that Stan Lee had a huge 
impact on the comic book industry for years and will certainly be missed.

I do, however, LOVE comics. Whenever I was a kid, my dad would bring me to 
the Mobile Flea Market - a huge open-air flea market with antiques, video 
games, books, movies, and more. It was basically 2nd to Heaven on places I 
could spend an eternity in, and we'd spend 2 or 3 hours there at least 
once or twice a month. There was a comic shop/booth there that sold used 
comics for a dollar, and I'd spend a good while always sifting through to 
see if anything ever caught my interest. One comic that I, in particular, 
remember getting from there was Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog Issue 
14[1], which I kept in a box in my room in my dad's house up until his death 
(I don't know what happened to this box, but my best guess is that it's 
either buried in what's now my brother's storage room or was thrown 
away). I actually didn't like Archie's Sonic series (hated the later 
art style overhaul, and it was too dramatic for me), but I freaking loved 
that comic book - if not only because the main story in it was about 
Tails. He's my favorite; don't judge.

Archie Comics was also something that I loved growing up, and I'd almost 
always get my dad to buy me Archie's Double Digest if I spotted it near 
the cash register at Walmart. I couldn't get enough. Archie's recently had 
a revival with the updated series of comics and CW's Riverdale, and while 
I'm not all that thrilled about these, I really do appreciate that 
Archie's regaining the popularity that he once had. The Chilling 
Adventures of Sabrina Netflix series, which I binged right after 
Halloween, is freaking great, and I love it. The spontaneous Archie 
revival of the past few years warms my heart (or should I say - bewitches 
me - ha!).

When I was in the third grade (2006-7, 8 years old), I began writing 
my own comics; I actually remember writing my first. I was in my room at 
my dad's house, and grabbed a pencil and an index card (several of which 
were scattered on my floor, by my brother most likely) and started to 
think about what I wanted to write. I could write a comic about a dog, I 
thought to myself, but no - that was too cliche. Lots of comics were about 
dogs, and I'm no one's gonna buy a replacement for Snoopy. No, I needed a 
different animal. A cat? No, also cliche. Aha! It clicked. A comic about a 
squirrel. Now THAT was new! "Silly Squirl" - aptly named with my 
third-grade spelling abilities - "in Acorn Trouble. By Jesse Downing. 
Inspired by Archie's Double Digest." It was a three panel comic of Silly 
Squirl getting into a fight with an acorn that fell onto his head before 
eating it - which I am ashamed to say that I can no longer draw by memory 
today (I was able to for a very, VERY long time).

At some point or another I brought the first few Silly Squirl comics back 
home with me - all on index cards (of which I *think* there were five), 
all drawn with the same extra-wide red pencil that had been broken in half 
at some point and hand-sharpened by my dad. In some sort of horrible, 
horrible mistake that surely cracked my eight year old heart, my mom threw 
the index cards away after I had set them down somewhere, and she thought 
they were trash (my mom has always loved my writing, so she didn't think 
the comics themselves were trash - just that the index cards were) - 
information conveyed to me after I asked about them in our driveway. Oh, I 
said. They were important, I said. My heart sank. Five had been lost.

Still, I continued to write Silly Squirl comics for years, along with a 
whole bunch of other comics (that I eventually all branded under "Silly 
Squirl Inc."). The sixth comic, and I believe the seventh one, I held 
onto. They were also on index cards, and I had them in the same box as my 
Sonic the Hedgehog Issue #14. They, too, have been lost. The seventh one 
got lost at some point that I can't remember and don't know how (it was 
probably under one of the cardboard folds in that box, or just buried in 
my room somewhere), but the sixth one remained until ultimately the box 
itself was lost. "JESSE'S STUFF - DO NOT THROW AWAY" was apparently not 
enough to keep some of my earliest work from being lost by time. I still 
choose to believe that those comics and my red pencil are in that room 
somewhere - buried - and can only hope that eventually I'll get a call 
from my brother or sister-in-law saying "hey we found a box of your stuff; 
do you want it?"

At some point after about six or seven years in, I pretty much stopped 
writing Silly Squirl comics - spare for the occasional one - and 
eventually stopped branding my work as part of Silly Squirl Inc. Someday 
I'd love to round up as many of the Silly Squirl comics as I can find, and 
publish a collection. I was a pretty hilarious kid, and on more than one 
occasion I've stumbled across an old comic of mine and busted out 
laughing. Plenty have been lost to time, but not once have I ever 
intentionally thrown one away - probably thanks to losing the very first 
one at eight years old and a heckton of others once my dad passed a few 
years later. I wrote the first Silly Squirl comic in several years last 
month[2] - after a random bout of inspiration and clarity - delivered like a 
gift of God (probably in the form of a little green pill called "Zoloft"). 
It's not my best work or the funniest comic, but that little comic coming 
out of nowhere brought a small sense of relief to me. A sense that some of 
me is still here; my childhood isn't completely dead.

Comics are an incredible art form that drove nearly an entire decade of my 
life. I still write them every so often (more like once in a blue moon), 
and in fact there's a series on Tapastic that I think SDF comic-lovers 
might enjoy that I sporadically add to called Subject X31[3]. Check it out, 
if you want.

That's all for now, my dudes. Also I'm not big on the whole reference 
thing (I'm lazy), but I'll do it for this post since there are a few 
things that I think should be linked to. See you around the phlogosphere!

[0] gopher://circumlunar.space/0/%7esolderpunk/phlog/comic-book-memories.txt
[1] http://sonic.wikia.com/wiki/Archie_Sonic_the_Hedgehog_ISsue_14 
[2] https://www.deviantart.com/jebug29/art/Silly-Squirl-in-The-Satellite-769797789
[3] https://tapas.io/series/subject-x31