Epikuras<p>My dad had a great <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/union" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>union</span></a> job and did not require me to contribute to the household budget. He also paid me extra for special chores on top of my allowance for using the dangerous IC lawnmower and taking out garbage and cans weekly.</p><p>That provided barely enough to sustain my comic book obsession that started in the 3rd grade of <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/Elem" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Elem</span></a></p><p>I loathed most of the books of plain text that the school and town libraries offered. </p><p>My reading skills were so bad that I was grouped with the slower half of the 4th where my math skills soon outshone my smart friends in the other </p><p>I discovered Doc Savage in 5th and luckily had a classmate willing to sell the couple dozen he had to buy lunchroom treats</p><p>He had the hard to find PB about Doc's Arctic Fortress of Solitude that preceded Superman's by years. </p><p>In <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/JrHS" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>JrHS</span></a> I joined comic fandom and acquired back issues of titles I had missed. </p><p>Bought some amazing SF volumes of old classic SF and soon became member of <a href="https://universeodon.com/tags/SFBC" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SFBC</span></a> to get more by fantastic authors.</p>