Posted By Dan Greenfield on Nov 27, 2025 | 5 comments

JIM BEARD joins your Thanksgiving spread…

By JIM BEARD

True Confession: Back in July, I stopped buying new comics after 55 years of collecting.

Suffice to say, it was time. There were a lot of reasons and a lot of deliberation, but in the end it was the right time for me to go cold turkey. It was a good run and I enjoyed myself — heck, I even wrote a few professionally — but all good things must come to an end and so this one did, too.

Here’s the kicker, though: I still love comic books. Always will. That will never stop and never change. Comics have become part of my life, literally, and I could never cut them out completely. In fact, now I’m focusing more on vintage stuff, trying to fill in some holes in my collection from the crappy newsstand distribution of the early 1970s and having a good time with it. The love continues, albeit in a mutated form.

So, now that my comic collecting is a finite thing — in terms of current titles — I’m feeling nostalgic, so much so that I offered Dashing Dan Greenfield an idea for Thanksgiving this year: 13 things I’m thankful for, from those 55 years of being neck-deep in my most-favorite hobby of all.

Hope you enjoy. If not, keep it to yourself, nerd!

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Casper. I’m thankful for the Enchanted Forest’s resident Friendly Ghost. I cut my comic-book eyeteeth on tales of Casper and his friends, Harvey’s ghostly group of smiling spooks. They were my gateway drug to harder things, like superheroes and stuff, but they still remain that innocent kick-off to my reading and collecting of comics. What a wonderful way to start.

1970

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Batman. I’m thankful for the Caped Crusader, the Darknight Detective, Gotham’s Protector. My top fictional character ever, Batman is, to me, the Superhero for All Seasons, able to be adapted to any kind of story in many, diverse ways. I love all his eras (especially the Silver Age), and everything about the hero. Special shout-out to the classic Robin and Batgirl, too, as well as my personal hero, Adam West.

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The Justice Society of America. I’m thankful for the world’s first and best superhero team. I discovered them early on in my journey and still stand in awe of the group. They loomed so large for me that they even informed my longtime “alter ego” of JSA Jim. I even brushed up against them professionally, once upon a time, when I penned a little adventure of them for a DC book. Good times.

1940

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Lee and Kirby. I’m thankful for the Man and the King. I could have separated the duo into their own entries here, but I realized that together they stand taller and larger in my fandom than they ever could apart. So many stories, so many memories, so much legend and legacy. The Greatest Team Ever in Comics, bar none.

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100-Page Super-Spectaculars. I’m thankful for DC’s monstrous tomes of the 1970s. These books literally made me the fan I am today with their heady mix of reprints across the eras and a then-new story or two — not to mention the occasional puzzle or trivia page. In those hundred pages I learned the history of DC and their characters, and fell in love with it all. Because of it, my respect and admiration for What Came Before was cemented, making me well-rounded in my likes and interests. I couldn’t have asked for a better comic book education than the Super Specs.

1972

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Treasury Editions. I’m thankful for DC’s and Marvel’s oversize titans. I remember very clearly the first Big Book my dad brought home for me like it was yesterday. If the Super Spectaculars were a meal in the ’70s, the Treasuries from both companies were the pumpkin pie dessert. Loaded up with reprints at an eye-popping size, they were something every comic-collecting kid wanted and I was lucky to have gotten quite a few over the relatively short span of years they lasted.

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Gold Key. I’m thankful for the “other guys.” When all is said and done, “little” Gold Key very likely comes out third after DC and Marvel for me. Not only were they the champions of tie-in comics, but they had all those cool original characters I loved, like Magnus, Robot Fighter and Turok, Son of Stone. There’s just something about the heyday of Gold Key that cannot be denied and must be recognized, if only for their gorgeous painted covers alone.

1963

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Quirky Characters. I’m thankful for all the ones who weren’t Batman and Superman. I maintain that for every Dynamic Duo and Man of Steel, there is a Ma Hunkel and Ambush Bug. As much as I will always express my love for Batman, my ardor for those wannabes, could-have-beens, and has-beens on the fringes of the universes remains undiminished. Give me a Wildcat, Black Knight, Kid Eternity, Son of Satan, Diamondette, or Stingray any day of the week… and more of ’em, please.

1969

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Monthlies. I’m thankful for the monthly proliferation of comics. I’ve never been much of a graphic novel, collected editions guy. I grew up teething on that monthly fix, that regular stream of installments to look forward to. Something died with comics in my opinion when that cycle first started to be broken and newer and newer converts wanted the instant gratification of a complete story all at once. Me, I went monthly for all those years, right up to the end, and loved it.

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Guidebooks. I’m thankful for all the directories and tours of universes. I love comic stories, but I do love me some Who’s Who, too. I could sit down for hours with a list of characters and read through their bios, powers, affiliations, and appearances, over and over again. And truth be told, they sure helped me as a comics historian, too. I hope such books never truly ever go away.

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Letters Pages. I’m thankful for all those fandom discourses. Not only did I always read every letters page in every comic I ever owned, I also took part in them on occasion. In fact, I count them as how I got my “start” in pro writing, seeing as how I won my first comics gigs because I got to know editors and they got to know me (proud Baldy and No Prize winner here!). Those days are pretty much gone, but I love seeing the old letters pages in all these great Facsimile Edition comics we have now.

Adventures of Superman #537, 1996

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Merchandise. I’m thankful for all the wonderful comics-related merchandise out there. Not comics, but comics-adjacent, I want to give a shout-out to everything from Mego’s World’s Greatest Super-Heroes action figures, to the Marvel World cardboard playset, and postage stamps, bed sheets, posters, and all that cool stuff. It all kept my love for comics burning long after I set down whatever I was currently reading and dressed up my life from corner to corner of my room.

TOYHEM 2025 starts Friday! I have two columns this year!

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Friends. I’m eternally grateful for all the comic-book souls whose paths have crossed with mine. One of the greatest parts of my life is all the people I know and cherish because of comics. Not only have I gained lifelong friendships because of them, but also the confidence of so many professionals who I have now worked with and enjoyed their knowledge and insight. Too many to mention here, and I don’t want to brag, but you know who you are. Take a bow, old chums.

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MORE

— PAUL KUPPERBERG: My 13 TURKEYS That Got Published Anyway. Click here.

— Have a Very Happy MARVEL and DC THANKSGIVING! Click here.

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When JIM BEARD’s not editing and publishing through his two houses, Flinch Books and Becky Books, he’s pounding out adventure fiction with both original and licensed characters. In fact, he’s put words in the mouths of Luke Skywalker, Superman, Fox Mulder, Carl Kolchak, Peter Venkman and the Green Hornet… and lived to tell about it.

Check out his latest: Jack of All Comics! is 28 essays by some of today’s most engaging comic historians and fans on nearly every series Jack Kirby worked on for Marvel and DC from 1961 to 1978. It’s better’n a Boom Tube to Supertown, True Believers! Click here to order.