Saturday, August 20, 2011

Friday, Aug. 20th, 1976


Wrote my EC chapter today.

Picked up most of the new books at the Terminal for a change but found HOWARD THE DUCK at Bell Block News and a new Marx Brothers mag at King's.

Watched the final rerun of THAT GIRL today and was surprised that it turned out to be an episode I didn't even remember.

Felt really, really down this afternoon which led to, yes, IT, thinking about Sally S. I am ashamed.

NOTES: The interesting part here is that I really didn't know all that much about EC Comics as of this point. I had a few fanzine reprints and had read a coupe of articles but that's it. Eventually, Russ Cochran would reprint the entirety of the classic EC horror, sci-fi, war and humor comics in hardcover slip-cased editions but in 1976, it was pretty presumptuous of me to even attempt a history of EC.

When I went into Cincinnati, the bus from Kentucky would go into an old-fashioned terminal that had been converted from a trolley car terminal. You could still see the tracks. Inside the terminal was an old-fashioned newsstand with magazines, comics, newspapers, cigarettes, candy and lottery tickets. From there I had a route. Up the stairs to 4th Street, walk up almost one block to Fountain Square News near 5th. From there another block and a few doors over on 6th to King's News. Half a block further over to Vine and then half a block down to Bell Block (which usually had the best comics). The Wendy's was a few doors on up Vine. If I was feeling particularly adventurous, two blocks up and a few blocks back the other way would take me to the Ohio Bookstore and then, heading back toward the terminal, Acres of Books. The saddest part is that here, 35 years on, there are only two of those stops left--a vastly remodeled, relocated and nowhere near as good Fountain Square News and the Ohio Bookstore, virtually unchanged after all these years. Even the terminal is gone.

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