Number 1316: Pappy's tastes change, and oh, the Wonder of it all

As part of my ongoing growth as a Golden Age comic book fan, Wonder Comics #11 (1947) fits in. I bought it in 1978 (paid about $6.00 as I recall), and hated it. I bought it for the Graham Ingels cover, and noticed there was a Graham Ingels face on the girl (right side of the “Wonderman” double-page spread), but the rest of the comic seemed dopey to me; also goofy, silly, stupid...

But that was then and this is now, and I don’t even have to go back as far as 1978 for the change. It has happened recently, within the past couple of years, when I saw the things that formerly offended me now pleased me. I like Wonder Comics #11 for exactly the same reasons I hated it 34 years ago.

Personally, I now like a comic book where an outer space villain, Dr. Voodoo, wears a string tie. I like that another character looks like a smiley-face with a strangely shaped head. I like that the method of planet-hopping isn't by rocket ship, but by something called a “Vacuum Spiral.” Perhaps my change in tastes is that I am still evolving as a comic book reader — or, based on your opinions of my personal tastes, devolving.

I showed another oddball story from this issue in Pappy's #1090 in January, 2012, “Dick Devens of Futuria.”

Art by Bob Oksner.