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ComicJoeSuper Posts: 14
5/5/2017
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Hi everyone,
I'm still new to the board so I figure this must have been discussed somewhere here at some point. Forgive me if it has.
My question is in the title of the thread... why do YOU collect comics? Is it because you love reading the stories? Is it because you love the art and cover art? Is it just based on nostalgia? Is it for home display reasons?
Why do you collect?
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Defiant1 Posts: 720
5/5/2017
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Nostalgia. I bought comics for a few months before discovering Marvel. When I discovered Marvel, I found out they lived in a world where any characters that I like could cross paths. I was in awe. I bought them regularly until I started dating. I could not afford to take a girl out and afford to buy comics. I dropped out. Many years went by and I worked in dead end jobs. After quitting two jobs back to back and cussing out management, I was unemployed. I had no regrets, but I was essentially broke at that point. I pulled my comics out of storage and read them. That was when nostalgia kicked in and I wanted all of the comics I could not afford as a kid. I started trading duplicates I had from years earlier and started trading for some of those comics I wanted. I was able to do this even though I had almost no income. I traded 70's and 80's books for a Strange tales #110 and I left the store in shock. That fueled the fire. Eventually, I got a decent job, but still became very shrewd in negotiating with comic book shops. I eventually acquired Hulk #1, Fantastic Four #1, Amazing Fantasy #15 and a lot of other lesser books that I thought I'd never own. I am not a fan of modern comics at all and I buy VERY little these days. I still have the nostalgia factor going and buy back issues occasionally. I'm more into comics history now. I have no interest in buying comics that depreciate in value. There are enough comics out there that I can be selective and only collect good stuff that (at the very least) has a potential to increase in value. This is VERY important to me because when I was unemployed, my comics were the only money I had. I have more comics than I could ever read in he rest of my lifetime. Occasionally, I do read something new to my collection, but it's usually an EC or a pre-hero Marvel comic. My guess is that I own about 10,000 comics.
Defiant1
edited by Defiant1 on 5/5/2017
edited by Defiant1 on 5/5/2017
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lealew7 Posts: 73
5/5/2017
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Well, my parents bought me Tomoe #1 as my first comic book and both my parents and I realized I took a liking to comic books and I started to collect them on my own for years to follow. Now, they are a common gift for me now because everyone I know; knows that I have a collection that I take pride in and am starting to focus on more specific comics or sets I appreciate that my parents took the chance to buy me a comic at 12 yrs old and I never regret a moment spent on them!
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sclingerman Posts: 157
5/8/2017
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ComicJoeSuper wrote:
Is it because you love reading the stories? YES!
ComicJoeSuper wrote:
Is it because you love the art and cover art? YES!
ComicJoeSuper wrote:
Is it just based on nostalgia? YES!
ComicJoeSuper wrote:
Is it for home display reasons? Partially yes!
Before I was 5 years old (around 1971), I found a couple of comic books in the house (probably one of my older brothers). The first one was a "House Of Mystery". There were some "House Of Secrets" too. I read them all. Then in the 7-11 one day, I saw The Spinner Rack! It had Spider-Man (from the cartoon)! And it had one with Batman (from the TV show)!
The stories and art...I love reading in general, but really I love being able to appreciate the forms of art and text together. Then there's the covers. And in the older comics, the ads. They're like a whole medium themselves. I love seeing the changes in art-style and story-telling over the decades.
The nostalgia... Yeah. When reading a comic from a certain time period, you're also taken back a bit to that time. (Read some of Snapper Carr's dialog in the early 60s JLA.) When reading my older issues, I'll think to myself "What would it have been like as a 10 year old kid reading this comic in my treehouse with my friends in 1952?"
Home display... They're all boxed in the office room, but I take some of them out to show people when they're over. So I guess that still counts. Once the kids move out and I convert one of their rooms to The Comic Room, I'll put some up on the wall.
I even love the history of the comic book industry itself. I love the stories about the people and the business in the golden age days at Timely and National, and stories about how things evolved.
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Finley2020 Posts: 42
5/11/2017
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My older brother got me into comics when I was little. I read copies of Moon-Knight and Spider-Man over and over again because the art work fascinated me even if the stories rarely made sense (I never had full story arcs). Kinda of what Defiant1 said- the realization of just how big the Marvel Universe was. From the Five Boroughs of NYC to the other side of the Universe- it was crazy! After long stints of collecting on and off I grew up to appreciate the industry (good and bad) as a whole and just how much work goes into making each issue and just what a beautiful medium it was. It's inspired me to create my own book- due out on shelves Spring 2039!
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SimonMayers Posts: 2
5/17/2017
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Because this is my hobby and I can read again when I have free time, comic help me feel better after school and workday.
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ComicJoeSuper Posts: 14
5/17/2017
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Nostalgia is a big reason for me. I collect mostly EC comics since I grew up reading the reprints. Other comics I collect are usually also from my childhood (Midnight Sons Unlimited for example).
I'm a huge Watchmen fan as well so I've been getting the DC Rebirths tie-ins and am really enjoying that story.
I keep all of my ECs on a spin rack (again... for nostalgia) and really love how they look displayed.
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DarkKrytos Posts: 29
5/20/2017
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I love to read them..but i was taught how to do it right when i was young ..and sometimes it's for cover art  but for the most part i read them all ..i was out of the loop from 97 till 4 months ago so i am getting back into it and love it
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canesmacker Posts: 49
7/1/2017
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First off, this will be my first post on the forum. Too busy with work and family to post but saw this thread and had to share my story.
I started reading comic books in 1974 when I was 8 yrs old. My next door neighbor had all the Marvel stalwarts, ASM, FF, MTU, Avengers, Iron-man, etc. I was hooked - the artwork for me is what captivated me. Especially a lot of the Gil Kane covers (even though at that age I had no idea what GK meant on the covers). I remember my next door neighbors older brother had the nice comics that he wouldn't allow us to touch!
One day, me and my friend rode our bikes to the local 7-11 and bought 4 quarters worth of comics each. I don't remember all of my purchases except for those comics that I still have to this day. They are obviously in very poor condition but they will never be thrown away as they are extremely sentimental - GS X-Men 1 (detached and torn front cover), ASM 138-145 (detached and torn front covers), etc.
Over the next few years, we made many trips to our local 7-11 and Top Banana convenience stores and also amassed a collection of super-hero slurpee cups too. I still have a few of them today!
After my parents moved us to a new neighborhood when I was 10, I discovered my local comic book store. That's where I saw ASM #1 in the glass cabinet. It was a VG copy for $120! I had to have it. But what 10 yr old in 1976 had $120? So my dad said start mowing neighbors yards and in a couple of years you will have saved $120. Two years later, I walked into that comic store and paid $120 for ASM #1. Still have it today.
I read and collected comics all the way through my senior yr in high school. However, with other interests such as girls and college, I pretty much stopped collecting and reading them around 1984. I purchased and read sporadically from 1984-1998. In 2000, I landed my current job, moved up the corporate ladder quickly and in 2004 began collecting comics as an investment. The comic bug that so deeply bit me as a child and adolescent, had bitten again! I started first by replacing my ASM collection with high grade books. I then worked my way through all the major Marvel titles and their keys and then moved to DC. I also obtained a couple of very nice collections consisting of GA, SA & BA books. Today, I have amassed a very nice collection with many, many keys from the GA, SA & BA and also titles I just loved when I was a kid, i,e, MTU, Werewolf By Night, War is Hell, Ghost Rider, Jim Aparo Detectives & Adventure Comics, Daredevil with Black Widow, Inhumans, Invaders, and all the Giant Size Marvels, etc.
I really just love to read the books I read when I was a kid, plus John Romita's ASM from #39-on, Ross Andru, etc. They take me right back to when I pulled them off the comic book racks in the mid 70s!
It's a hobby my wife will never truly understand until I auction them and buy her the ocean front homes she always wanted in FL and the Caribbean.
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Itosukai Posts: 25
7/3/2017
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Great story canesmacker!
For me, it was my Grandma that started me on comics. When I was about 5 yrs old, she started getting me some coverless comics from a thrift shop, a couple a week for a good while.
So I cut my first "comic" tooth on titles like War Stories, Sgt. Rock, Haunted and Superman and a few Amazing Fantasy.
I maintain to this day, that comics were the reason I learned to read as well as I did.
Of course I kept all these comics as I got older, purely sentimental reasons. Then I started to learn about the value of some of these comics of mine.
Imagine the feeling you get when you realize how much your Amazing Fantasy #15 would be worth today if only it had a cover on it, and no store stamp on the first page.
Not much opportunity to collect more once The thrift store closed. It wasn't until the late 80's when I moved to the city, that I amassed the bulk of my 6,000+ collection. Again, I really did miss the train when collecting during the over production period.
I have a few decently valued comics but not many. At almost 50 yrs old now, I don't think I'll be renewing my passion for collecting beyond my few fave titles that I will get until I can no longer read them.
I have all my collection cataloged now (CLZ) and am now looking for the best way to start selling off the bulk of that collection.
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imatonkatoo Posts: 151
9/16/2017
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I have no idea. I started when I was about 39. Just said to my wife one day I wouldn't mind starting collecting comics. She bought me some at Christmas and that's when I found out I was a completionist. She got me Ultimate Spider-Mans in no particular order, Hellblazer, and Rising Stars. No clue why she got them but then I had to complete the runs in those. I then started noticing others I might like when I was looking. Plus things like Hellblazer lead me onto Swamp Thing too. You kind of learn other characters appeared somewhere else first or have started their own title so then I like to get those too.
Though I mainly collect Stephen King, Joe Hill and Clive Barker stuff as it comes out. In between those days they haven't brought anything out I like to browse for older comics and have had a cheeky bid on 90 silver age at the mo. If I win I will post them on here. Nice little bundle. Don't know whether to keep or sell on individually. Will see if I get them.
Never really read comics as a kid. Dandy and Beano but none of the super hero comics. Can't even recall seeing any in the shops over here when I was a kid but they must have been, but probably just wasn't interested.
edited by imatonkatoo on 9/16/2017
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quinnspuddinjoker Posts: 673
9/16/2017
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A old habit that I just can't stop!
edited by Jokerbangedquinn on 9/16/2017
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