Heroes, superheroes of a 10-year-old kid growing up in Midland

What 10 year old at heart, fuelled by candy, doesn’t imagine himself saving the world with special powers?

Con Passos, owned the Brown Derby Café. After school, our go-to place for comics and candy. He was master and ruled over the comic stand. If you dared open or read, his eye was on you and he always had a line or two, “This isn’t the library…”

However, it was Con that opened our eyes to Thor, Flash, Doc Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts, and a host of other superheroes. Hackers and Parkers were the Sanctum. Sanctorum Comicus for generations of Midland kids.

Did I know then, that these were perennial tales retold? No. They were fresh in their new clothes and who was I but a neophyte with the adventure before me. Always wondered where Asgard was.

Thor, Flash and Doc Strange all had day jobs. They also had special powers that connected them to an invisible force.

The Flash reacted, like mercury or quicksilver. Something hidden and not  revealed - that was treasure worth seeking.

How about Doc Strange’s colleague, Wong, Master of the Mystic Arts? What was that all about? Smart, not inscrutable. Mysterious. Pesky evil-doers intent on self interest and world domination beware!

We found the thread of the story in a comic book and joined in. Who said where the story started and where it ended? Where we left off and those realms began? 

Have we the same in mind today? Is saving the world still at the top of the  agenda for 10 year olds? I hope so.

We are in trouble, enemies at the gate. We need as many superheroes as ever.

René Hackstetter August 7, 2022.

Back Stories: 

Thor:

Thor's father Odin decides his son needed to be taught humility and consequently incarnates Thor (without memories of godhood) on Earth as a mortal, partially disabled human medical student, Donald Blake.

After becoming a doctor, Blake witnesses the arrival of an alien scouting party while he is on vacation in Norway. Blake flees from the aliens into a cave.

After discovering Thor's hammer Mjolnir (disguised as a walking stick) and striking it against a rock, he transforms into the thunder god.

Later, in Thor #159, Blake is revealed to have always been Thor, Odin's enchantment having caused him to forget his history as The Thunder God  and believe himself mortal.

The Flash:

Barry Allen is a forensic chemist with a reputation for being very slow, and frequently late, which frustrates his fiancée, Iris West.

One night, as he is working late on a new case, a lightning bolt strikes and shatters a case full of unspecified chemicals and drenches Barry, temporarily knocking him out.

As a result, Allen later finds that he can run at super-human speeds and possesses equally enhanced reflexes, senses and healing.

Doctor Strange:

The character starts as a brilliant but egotistically arrogant neurosurgeon whose hands get injured in a car accident. Because his hands have severe nerve damage from the accident, he is told that current medical therapy and rehabilitation would not be enough to enable him to practise again as a surgeon.

Unable to accept this prognosis, he starts to travel the world searching for alternative ways of healing, which leads him to the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme.

Strange becomes his student and learns to be a master of both the mystical and the martial arts. He acquires an  assortment of mystical objects, including the powerful Eye of Agamotto and  Cloak of Levitation, and takes up residence in a mansion referred to as the Sanctum Sanctorum, located at 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village,  New York City.

Strange assumes the title of Sorcerer Supreme and, with his  friend and valet Wong, defends the world from mystical threats.