"My favorite was Captain Marvel."

Reading has never been on my list of favorite activities. However, during my early years while growing up in Bixby, I occasionally visited the comic book rack in "Blind Mitchell's" newsstand. For those who might not remember, Mr. Mitchell's establishment was in the front part of the post office when it was located on the west side of Armstrong, a few doors south of Divine's Drug Store. He also sold school textbooks, new and used, back in the days when students were responsible for furnishing their own books.

The variety of comic books was huge, perhaps a dozen titles at any given time! My favorite was Captain Marvel. He was the alter ego of Billy Batson, a boy radio announcer on station WHIZ in Fawcett City. Billy uttered the word, "SHAZAM," when the need arose to battle any evil that lurked in his environment! A flash followed Billy's utterance of the magic word and Captain Marvel appeared in his tight-fitting, red body suit with a yellow cape on his back. Captain Marvel, to my way of thinking, was far superior to another character, Superman. I participated in several arguments on the subject, but the matter was never resolved.

Classic Comics were also available. They were of a more serious nature; the comic book version of novels on which teachers often required book reports. Teachers were aware of Classic Comics, and they were unambiguous when they required reading assignments from the unabridged versionof the novels. I recall one such assignment by Mrs. Cannon, my English teacher during my sophomore year at Bixby High School. I simply had no interest in reading, "A Tale of Two Cities."

As the time approached when my book report was due, I was drawn to Blind Mitchell's comic book rack. Obviously, it would be a much more achievable task, and I chose to purchase the comic book form of the classic novel. I reasoned that I would have the same knowledge of the two cities, whether I read the novel or the comic book. The publishers were obviously aware of the emotional stress which plagued their potential market, because the price of the classics was 25 cents compared to five or ten cents for the more common titles.