by KYW's Lauren Lipton

This story begins decades ago in Philadelphia when a little boy was given a choice.

"My father wanted to teach me about an allowance, and I was given two dimes.  One I was to put in savings, and the other that I could spend on whatever I wanted.  I could get a fountain soda, I could get a candy bar, I could buy a comic book."

Well, Steven Rothman (right) made his choices.  And the rest, as they say, is history.

"The first week, I think I may have gone for the soda, which I wasn't usually allowed to have.  But by the next week, I'd figured out (that) soda (was) gone after I drank it.  A comic book -- I'd still have that."

Now, Rothman has donated his huge collection -- tens of thousands of comic books and comic book paraphernalia -- to the University of Pennsylvania.  And you can see part of his massive collection, on display until March, at the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center. 

"An original script from Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff from the 1940s.  Doonesbury books, Prince Valiant, Joe Palooka, Tarzan, Batman Sunday strips, Mickey Mouse, Superman."

The exhibit is called "Life in Boxes," referring to the frame-by-frame action in comics. And many of the displays involve Philadelphians.

"We have Little Lulu, which was by Marjorie Henderson Buell (who) lived in the Philadelphia area.  The comic books, comic strips reflect what people were interested in, how they were living."

(Detail of Little Nemo comic courtesy of Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Pennsylvania)