Summer 1966: Captain Marvel #3

Before I bought my first comic book, I had been given at least a couple of others. One of them was Captain Marvel #3, published by M. F. Enterprises.

I wasn't yet in school when my mother bought this for me (no kindergarten for me!). As best as I can recall, it was a treat for having suffered through an inoculation at the Health Department, probably getting some required shots for the upcoming first grade. I remember looking through this in the back seat of our old Nash.
I can't imagine why my mother would have picked this comic out for me. She must not have given it too much thought, and, I'm happy to say, she was never too concerned about protecting me from "violent" entertainment, so the punching on the front probably wouldn't have fazed her.
It would be great to be able to say that I kept and treasured this first comic book forever, but it disappeared quickly from my world. Lost, destroyed, stolen, thrown away, who knows? In my short time with it, it made a small but powerful impact on my young mind. I was in awe of the concept and the images of Captain Marvel's powers in action: he could split his android body into multiple, separate flying parts, independent and autonomous (note: I didn't know any of those big words then, and I doubt any of them were used in this very juvenile comic). I remembered the name, and I remembered the flying, unattached hand, and that's all.
Nowadays, you can surf and find several web pages discussing this incarnation of Captain Marvel. Here's one spotlighted courtesy of my cartoonist pal Scott Shaw!, of the legendary Oddball Comics slide shows, card set, and website. But in the dark ages, what little comics history was available to the average fan was usually focused on the greater lights of the medium. Jim Steranko didn't waste space on this guy in his History of Comics, Don Thompson and Dick Lupoff ignored him in All In Color For a Dime, and even the fan magazines of the 70's and 80's had better things to talk about. So for about 15 years, I half thought that my memories of this comic were the muddled confusions of a preschooler's mind.
Then, in the early 80's, my favorite comics dealer, Kendall Carnes of Memphis Comics and Records, pointed out his new box of "Esoteric Comics", and there I rediscovered my old friend! I was right! There was a Captain Marvel that could split!
Eventually, I bought back issue copies of all six issues of this wonderful turkey. It's not quite the same as having my first issue, but it's the best I can do.