When I was a kid, I used to hang out a lot at my friend Tim's house. His two older brothers had left behind a bunch of cool stuff that Tim had claimed as his own. One of my favorite things that Tim had were these little Spy vs Spy paperbacks. They were so neat! I can't remember exactly how many he had, but I know there were at least a few of them.
Tim and I were really into Get Smart, which had just started airing on Nick-at-Nite. Plus, it seemed like the old James Bond movies were always on cable TV. So, spy stuff was totally our jam. What I loved about Spy vs Spy was the crazy contraptions the spies used to try and outdo each other. It was so funny to see them constantly foiling each other's plans.
At the time, I didn't really understand the references to nuclear destruction and the Cold War. To me, these comics were just cool and funny. I had never even seen an actual Spy vs Spy comic in Mad magazine - I was more of a Cracked magazine fan myself (because Cracked wasn't as popular as Mad). I remember spending hours reading those comics while Tim played Nintendo or messed around on his Amiga.
Over the years, I've managed to collect five of the Spy vs Spy paperbacks for myself. I think there are a few later ones that I'm still missing, but I've been able to find most of them at thrift stores and garage sales.
