Blast from the past: While rummaging around in a far corner of the attic a couple of weeks ago, I uncovered a long-forgotten comics stash from my youth. Some of them were tattered and coverless (probably bought at garage sales and flea markets), while most were in fairly decent shape, considering how and where they were stored. Is "Fairly Decent" an acceptable grade, like "Very Fine"? Eh, I don't collect comics, anyway. I read, and occasionally, enjoy them.

Among the Wolfman-Perez "New Teen Titans," Simonson "Thor" and Claremont-Smith and Claremont-Romita Jr. "Uncanny X-Men" were several copies of "All-Star Squadron" and its indirect ancestor, "Invaders." The "Invaders" were obvious later flea market finds (I don't think I started reading comics of any kind until around 1980 or so). But I remember buying "All-Star Squadron" every month off the spinner racks at 7-11 and another little convenience store.

Flipping through them now, the dialogue seems stilted and over-the-top, the plots thin, and the exposition glaring. And I can't detect even the slightest hint of irony. But as a kid, I enjoyed the hell out of "All-Star Squadron" and, to a lesser degree, "Invaders." I didn't really care much for Spider-Man, or even Superman and Batman (except for when the latter two's Earth-2 incarnations showed up in "All-Star Squadron").

The comic wasn't an easy sell to a kid. It was set during World War II, a period that held no interest for me. It starred super-heroes that, for the most part, I'd never seen before. (Johnny Quick? Liberty Belle? And who's that guy calling himself Green Lantern?) None of my comic-reading friends bought it.

But for three or four years -- a lifetime for a kid -- I never missed an issue. And that's a credit to Roy Thomas, which brings me to the catalyst for this trip down memory lane (brought to you by the good folks at Journalista!).

After all these years, Thomas is still talking comics, and the appeal the super-hero genre held -- and maybe can still hold? -- for kids.

My "adult sensibilities" cause me to chuckle as I skim through Thomas' irony-free comics. But I can't deny there was something that hooked me, and reeled me in, as a kid.