The Cost of a Comic

I learned how to play strip poker when I was in third grade. Having a good memory and an innate understanding of odds, I was a decent poker player from the start. Of course, having a grandmother who knew how to play poker and was willing to teach me helped a lot as well.

I didn’t have much of a chance to play strip poker then. I was taught by the older brother of a friend during Christmas break, but everyone returned to school after a couple of weeks, then Mom married Ralph on 1 February of that year, and we moved away. For some reason, the game slipped my mind for a while. Then in 1976, when my body was gearing up for some rapid changes, something brought the game back to mind.



In sixth grade, one of my closest friends was Jimmy Yager. I’m not actually sure why Jimmy and I were so close. Part of it was simply that he was into comics. Another big aspect was that he lived on the street behind us, so we’d often end up walking to school together. I had a lot of very close friends then, but I’m not sure I had a best friend. Whether I did or not, Jimmy was certainly one of the closest I did have.

Another of Jimmy’s best friends (I think all of us had two or three ‘best friends’ at that age) was Rudy De La Paz. I liked Rudy a lot, but we just weren’t as close as Jimmy and me. Rudy was also into comics, but he had a closer link to Jimmy than I did. I loved comics—almost all comics. Jimmy and Rudy were huge Spider-man fans.

In the fall of 1976, when Rudy, Jimmy, and I were sixth graders, Marvel Comics made an unusual move. Spider-man had been starring in his own comic since 1963. In 1972, Marvel had made him the regular star of Marvel Team-Up. Both books had continued to sell so well that he was given a second solo book of his own: Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man.

I love comic book stores. I think it’s great that people can come together and talk with other people they know will be interested in similar things. However, I’ll tell you something I don’t like about them. When I was a kid, I didn’t know what was going to be happening next. There were no PREVIEW magazines or Internet to show you covers, interior art, or tell you what the story was going to be. Except for ‘Next Issue’ blurbs at the end of the newest issue, and an occasional small ad in other comics, the first you found out about it was when it got to the newsstand. Anticipation was a definite spice, and going around to the different stores in town checking for new issues, then being shocked and surprised when you saw them, was sometimes as much fun as reading the books themselves.

On the other hand, the magazine distributors didn’t really care about comics like those of us who own comic stores do. They opened bundles and filled empty spaces on the rack. They didn’t alphabetize their stock and rotate it. They put out what they had room for, and then left the store until the next week. And sometimes that led to problems.

I’m pretty sure you could have heard Jimmy and Rudy yelling a block away when they got to the local convenience store on new comic day and found Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man #2. ‘Where’s Number One?!’ became their battle cry over the next weeks and only started to fade when number three came out, with still no sign of the first issue. Was number one even published? With no comic stores, there was no easy way to find back issues, so we all just went along with what we had.

And then, in a twist of fate worthy of Hitchcock himself, I found not one, but multiple copies of the much-sought collector’s item. I’d missed part of the school day for a dentist appointment. Ralph had taken my kid sister and me. I’d gone first. When I was through, I walked across the street to an old drug store to get a drink. Of course, before wasting money on anything so prosaic as nourishment, I’d sought out the comic rack. I can only say I was fortunate enough to have a little money of my own and was able to pick up extra copies of that book, as well as a couple of other things (and even still got a drink).



After school that day, Rudy and Jimmy were close on my heels, not believing my claims. We stopped at Rudy’s house just long enough for him to let his mom know where we’d be, then we went on to my house. Since Ralph was home and my little sister would be soon, we just grabbed the comics and headed for Jimmy’s place.

Jimmy and Rudy were both dying to finally get to read this comic, but they each had the same two tiny problems: they were broke and didn’t have any comics I wanted that they could (and were willing) to trade me. After several minutes of begging, pleading, and outrageous promises, an idea finally struck me.

"Do you guys know how to play poker?"

Jimmy nodded his head eagerly. Rudy nodded, but wasn’t quite as sure of himself.

"You wanna play for the comics?"

"Sure," Jimmy jumped in.

"But we don’t have anything to bet," Rudy added, dumping water on the deal, but only temporarily.

"We could play strip poker," I suggested.

The idea made both of them a little nervous, and it took a while for us to work out the details, but they both finally agreed.



There is no doubt that Rudy is one of the prettiest boys I’ve ever known, and I was really having to concentrate not to salivate while Jimmy was digging up a deck of cards. Rudy is Hispanic, with a very lean build. He wore his black hair longish and feathered back in the male version of the Farrah Fawcett hairdo that was so popular back then (like Shaun Cassidy). His dark brown eyes were framed by lashes that were longer and thicker than most women get with mascara. His face was fine boned, with strong cheeks, but not too long. His medium brown skin glowed with the sunlight it had stored over long months of spring

baseball and summer play. Jimmy was almost the opposite of Rudy. He wasn’t fat, but was a bit stocky. Jimmy had fairly pale skin, showing only slight darkening from the summer. His hair was a fairly dark brown that he wore in what was practically a Beatles cut—thick, over his ears, and hanging nearly to his eyes in front. His eyes were a muddy brown that showed hints of green in bright light. He was cute, but not nearly as good-looking as Rudy.

It was really a pretty good game. Rudy didn’t know how to play real well, but I was pretty nervous, which tended to balance the two of us. Jimmy was the most experienced of us, but his style of play didn’t work for Strip Poker. He liked to discard one or two cards and go for the big hand, like a straight or flush. When you’re betting several times a hand, that works out okay, since you can drop out before the pot gets too big. In strip poker, though, if you don’t win, you have to take something off, so that idea doesn’t work as well. Still, he did well enough that we were all staying about even.

I don’t remember how every hand went (and wouldn’t bore you with it if I did), but I have a very clear image of the three of us sitting on Jimmy’s bedroom floor (for some reason, even though no one else was home or due home for nearly two hours, we’d all wanted to be in the bedroom with the door shut). Rudy and I were both down to our jeans, though mine were only unbuttoned, while his were unbuttoned and unzipped, but Jimmy was down to just his briefs, and he ended up winning that hand. I ran the zipper on my pants down, but was mostly watching Rudy take off his jeans, exposing his own white shorts. It’s hard to tell with Latinos since they don’t show a blush well, but Rudy was acting so nonchalant that I think he had to be a bit embarrassed. As the fly of my pants spread open, I noticed Jimmy was swinging back and forth, from checking my just exposed Fruit of the Looms to watching Rudy’s jeans slide down his dark, smooth legs.

Rudy was a baseball player, and one of the best ones in town. He made the all-star team every season and was one of the best players on the high school varsity team starting his freshman year. He had the build you’d expect from someone like that. Lean and firm, but not chiseled. Even at eleven, he looked really good with his shirt off. It looked even better as he pushed his jeans down.

I think the nicest thing about watching Rudy take his jeans off was seeing the contrast between those white briefs and his bronze skin, with a slightly paler band on each leg, between his briefs and where his shorts or swim trunks would have stopped.

It was my deal, and I had to will my hands steady as I shuffled and passed out the cards. Quickly enough, we’d drawn and were showing hands. I was nearly hyperventilating. I’d started with a pair of jacks (which seemed fortuitous), then improved to three of a kind. I had Rudy beat clean. Jimmy had drawn one card, and it actually worked that time, giving him a straight. ARGH!

Rudy looked nervous for a minute before asking, "Do I have to take them off?"

I wanted to scream yes, but before I could say anything, Jimmy did it for me.

"That was the deal. If you lose, you gotta strip."

It was easy for Jimmy to say, since he wasn’t the first person naked. They both looked at me. Since I didn’t want to give Rudy any reason to protest, I quickly stood and pushed my jeans off. They both watched me, but I had them off as quickly as I could; then we both turned to Rudy.

Rudy shared a bedroom and bath with his two younger brothers. When we had gym class together the next year, he wasn’t shy at all about changing. I think his real problem here wasn’t that he was undressing, but that he was undressing in front of us instead of with us. Whatever the problem was, he stood there for another few long seconds, his fingers tucked into the waistband of his briefs, before he finally pushed them down.

To be honest, the first thing I really noticed when Rudy’s briefs came down was how pale his skin was. It was still brown, but a very light brown, like caramel with a ton of milk added. I was fascinated by that, and it was only years later that I learned that UV rays would penetrate even jeans, and the extra protection provided by underwear did make a difference.

The skin color was easy to see. It was only then, after a glance at me and Jimmy, then a sigh, that Rudy stood up and tossed his undies over to the pile formed by the rest of his clothes.

When Rudy stood, it wasn’t like he was modeling but more like he saw both of us looking at him and decided to give us the look. I glanced once at Jimmy to make sure I wasn’t embarrassing myself by looking too hard, then I focused on Rudy.

I didn’t really know anything about puberty when I was eleven years old. I do know that I didn’t realize that I was already going through it. After all, I saw my own dick several times every day, between bathing and relieving myself. Seeing it that often, I didn’t recognize that it was growing and changing. The only reason I realized that Rudy didn’t just have a tiny peter was because my cousin Darren had been fascinated by my dick the last time we’d seen each other, and we’d examined each other closely. Between that and seeing my brother Matt naked on a regular basis, I realized that Rudy was bigger than a little boy, just not as big as me.

Rudy’s balls weren’t really any bigger than Matt or Darren’s, but his sac was bigger and looser and hung a bit. His peter was a little longer and wider than a little boy’s, but only a very little. He was definitely not excited, and his peter was just lying there atop his sac. He’d been circumcised, but it was pretty loose, and the remaining foreskin was gathered around the head. It was a very cute picture, and was every bit as nice looking as the rest of him.

"What do we do now?" Rudy finally asked, after a minute had passed.

"We play again, right?" Jimmy said, half in reply, half in question.

Before I could answer, Rudy jumped in, "Do I still get to play?"

"You already lost," I answered.

"Yeah, but if I win, couldn’t I still get the comic?"

"What happens if you lose?" I asked.

Rudy thought a second, then shrugged, but Jimmy knew the answer.

"I got an idea. What time do you have to go home?"

"I gotta be home at 5:30, so I got about an hour."

"Okay, if he wins, he gets the comic, but if he loses, he can’t get dressed until time for him to go home."

I was more than willing to agree to that. Rudy argued a minute, but couldn’t come up with a better idea, and he really wanted that comic. We’d all come to our feet while discussing it and now moved back to the cards. I waited a second behind the other boys. I’d been fascinated to see Rudy’s peter, but I wanted a good look at his butt; and now I got to see Jimmy’s too, even if he still had on his Penny’s, double seat briefs.

Rudy’s rear end was like the rest of him—firm and lean. Even walking, he had nice dimples. His rear was pretty narrow from side to side, but nicely curved from top to bottom.

Jimmy, on the other hand, had a full backside. Seeing him in nothing but his undies, it was obvious he wasn’t fat. He was actually pretty firm, but had just a hint of softness to him. His rear was the same, full and round, but not enough to look flabby. I’d never given a real spanking then, but the two of them, walking away from me like that, was enough to make my hand itch.

Would you believe that Rudy won?

After we both lost, Jimmy and I looked at each other for a minute and shared a shy grin. Almost no time at all passed, though, before Rudy started demanding we undress. At a nod, we both stood. I have to admit to being pretty embarrassed, but it didn’t seem to bother Jimmy at all as we both slid out of our undies.

Rudy kept glancing back and forth between the two of us as we stood there naked, but I barely noticed it since my attention was focused on Jimmy.

Unlike Rudy, Jimmy and I were both fairly excited. I was rock hard. Jimmy wasn’t fully erect, but his peter was standing up and out, though it had a slight downward slope to it. My dick was probably just over two inches long. Jimmy’s looked slightly shorter than mine, but thicker—like a thumb—while mine was more like a finger (and Rudy’s more closely resembled a pinky). While my balls were bigger than Rudy’s, we both were hanging a bit loose. Jimmy’s were bigger than mine, but tighter to his crotch. Considering the size difference, though, his sac might have been as loose as ours but better filled.

By the time my examination was finished, Jimmy had grown just as hard as I was. Apparently Rudy liked the idea, because when he stood up, his smaller peter was poking towards the sky, though it was still shorter and thinner than ours.

I was trying to think of a way to suggest some of the games I’d played with other boys in the past when Rudy broke the mood.

"So I get one of the comics now; right?"

"Uhhhh…yeah," I answered after dragging myself away from those wonderful daydreams.

"What about me?" Jimmy asked.

"You didn’t win," Rudy supplied for me.

"Neither did you. You were the first one naked?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Hold it," I called, before the argument about who got my comic books got too far out of hand. "Jimmy, it was your idea that Rudy could get the comic if he won this hand, remember?"

"Yeah, I know."

"And Rudy, you did lose, right?"

"Yeah," he said dejectedly, as if he were afraid I’d take the comic away from him now.

"You still want a copy, don’t you, Jimmy?" I asked, a light bulb going off in my brain.

"Yeah," he answered, the ‘of course, stupid,’ left unsaid.

"Your birthday was a couple of weeks ago when you were at your Dad’s; right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I’ll give you the comic as a birthday present, but only after I get to give you a birthday spanking."

"Oh, c’mon," Jimmy cried in disgust.

"No," Rudy responded, "that’s a great idea. I get to give him one, too."

"No way," Jimmy answered, and the two of them were off and running again.

"Hold it," I called them down after a minute, when I’d worked out what I wanted to do.

"Okay," I continued, when they’d both quieted, "how about this: you get a birthday spanking from me, and I give you the comic, or, you get a birthday spanking from both of us, I give you the comic, and Rudy can’t get dressed until time to go home, like you said?"

There was a little more arguing, but we all finally agreed on the details. The biggest argument came when Rudy and I both said no one could get dressed until after the spanking. Jimmy was disgusted, but I think he was a little amused at the same time. Either way, he really wanted the comic and agreed to it.

Still naked as jaybirds, the three of us went into the living room, where Jimmy bent over the arm of the couch. Rudy and I lined up behind him, then began the count. Each of us would take a turn, and we each only spanked one cheek.

"One!" I counted, as I smacked my hand down, firm, but not real hard, on Jimmy’s left cheek.

"One!" Rudy called in reply as he did the same thing on the other side.

After six smacks, Jimmy’s round, firm, but slightly chubby cheeks were very rosy. He wasn’t yelping, but he was squirming around quite a bit. I was watching Rudy as he smacked, seeing his hard little peter bouncing around with each swing, before looking at the smack and lining up for my next swat.

After six smacks each, we traded sides. You’d think Jimmy would have been happy even for a short break, but he was griping almost constantly that we were spanking too hard. That didn’t deter either of us, though I think we were both toning things down from what we wanted to do.

By the time we reached twelve, my hand was tingling, but not quite stinging. Both of us were placing the smacks mostly in the low middle of the cheek, right above the sit spot, and the cheeks were growing pretty red by twelve.

"Okay, that’s twelve; let me up," Jimmy called, as he pushed up against our hands."

"Nope," Rudy supplied, "still have one to grow on."

Jimmy moaned, but let himself fall back against the couch. Rudy leaned forward and whispered something to me. I nodded, and we both lined up and raised our hand. He silently counted three, then both hands fell as one.

Jimmy’s complaints had turned to yelps as the last few swats had landed, but when the last, extra sharp swats fell, he howled and jumped straight up from the arm of the couch, reaching behind him to rub out the sting and maybe to make sure we didn’t sneak in any extras.

There might have been a hint of moisture to Jimmy’s eyes as he bounced around and glared at us, but I was much more interested in the way his stiff little dick was bobbing around. Rudy was shaking his hand, but a big grin sat on his face as he watched his best friend’s antics. Still, I couldn’t help but notice that his gaze wasn’t wandering much higher than my own, and the evidence said that he hadn’t hated having to give the spanking.



A few minutes later, after Jimmy had given himself a good rub and thoroughly cussed me and Rudy for smacking him too hard, he and I had gotten dressed. He hadn’t felt like putting his jeans back on, so was lying on the couch in just his undies. Rudy, true to his word, was still naked; but with the rest of us dressed, he’d become shy again and was sitting in another chair with his legs pulled up and the comic sitting in his lap as he read it. I was getting ready to go home, so I was fully dressed as I read a comic borrowed from Jimmy. I didn’t have any reason to stick around, but wasn’t going to leave until I’d watched Rudy dress.

Jimmy had sworn bloody (or at least very red) vengeance against both Rudy and me. Unfortunately for him, Rudy was a month or so younger than me, so it was over four months until his birthday. By the time my birthday rolled around, Jimmy had either forgotten about it or was too embarrassed to bring it up (and considering that I had a few hairs by then, I can imagine that he might have been worried about ending up naked again himself). I thought about reminding him, but wasn’t interested in taking my turn, and it just seemed like a bad idea once I’d let my own birthday pass.

Besides, that wasn’t the last time I saw either one of them naked or with a red rear.





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