Forgotten Bronze Age

Every few months, I’ll go to Second and Charles to buy some used Bronze Age comics. I’m completing my collection of any back issues from the early ‘80s that I don’t already have.

I’m also trying to reclaim those lost comic books, the Marvel comics I remember having and somehow traded away or lost over the years. I have a list in my head: Captain America #284, Iron Man #178, Fantastic Four #217, Defenders #123, etc. I’ve found a few of these white whales over the years and I was able to see and remember the old stories that stuck in my mind for decades but that I hadn’t seen for a very long time.

Last weekend I found a back issue that I didn’t remember I once had: Hulk #286. I vaguely remembered the cover of the issue, so I picked it up on a whim. After opening the book, I remembered the story immediately: the Hulk battles a mercenary in Kang the Conqueror’s dystopian future. I even remembered certain panels, like a green gamma blast hitting Bruce Banner and knocking him off his feet. I hadn't even thought of this story in over 30 years. I must have traded the issue away.

It brought me back to being a Marvel Universe-obsessed kid back when the issue was released in May 1983. It showed me a memory I didn’t realize I had forgotten. What a little burst of pleasure for just $1.