Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,069
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Post by Confessor on Oct 29, 2019 7:29:45 GMT -5
One of my earliest comics was Captain America #228, at the end of which Cap and the Constrictor are trapped in a collapsing building. I only found a copy of #229 recently. As you might guess, Cap's shield (and his strength) protected them until he could dig his way out. But I still had to see it! Comic book closure finally achieved.
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Post by brutalis on Nov 8, 2019 8:27:40 GMT -5
Do you REMEMBER WHEN you changed from being a kid who got random comic books sporadically as a gift or impulse purchase of a single issue when you could convince a parent while shopping and you began to actively "save" your money to spend on comic books and actively collecting? Whether it was a specific series or publisher or hero you began to focus on and the never-ending hunt had truly begun for you with the need/compulsion/addiction of being a comic book COLLECTOR?
As most here know my 1st purchases were in August of 1971 when my grandmother had sent 9 year old me down the street to the corner drugstore with $5 to get her some milk and bread while telling me to spend whatever change was left on myself. I came home with an Underdog (who I knew from Saturday mornings) and The Mighty Thor #193 featuring Thor and the Silver Surfer together in a fight against some powerhouse. The Buscema cover was awesome with the villain lifting a building as Thor confronts him with his hammer swinging as the Surfer flies in from the background aboard his surf board. Could a 9 year old resist such an incredible looking comic book? I think not.
From that point onward I would ask whenever grocery shopping with my parents or sent to the corner Korean market to get my mom her weekly cigarettes and milk and bread to hold until we grocery shopped the next week: can I please spend the spare change on a comic book? Sometimes i would receive a yes and there was just enough for 1 15-25 cent comic or if really lucky change for 2 comic books. At that age and time without having any knowledge about companies or heroes other than knowing of big name guys Batman, Superman, Spiderman from cartoons, my purchases were only ever based upon what was on the rack and what cover caught my very young attention. It remained this way for probably around 2 more years as i would get a comic her and there and was getting to read my cousins comics during visits to with them as my exposure to comic books grew and expanded. I would read Archie and Harvey comics my female cousin would have. At my male cousins I would find and devour whatever odds and ends they had bought so I may read an occasional Disney or Warner Bro's cartoon comic or read some War comics my one cousin was into and never really noticing companies or brands.
Comes along summer of 1973 (June/July/August) and 11 year old me is waiting to start 6th grade. My parents have finally started an allowance in doing chores around the house like mowing the yard, cleaning the house, doing the dishes, doing laundry and doing the same things for my grandparents who lived 2 blocks away. Now I had real money of my own to spend as I wanted on comic books or candy or ice cream and other such indulgences. Now I begin to become aware that the few quarters added up and spent VERY fast. I quickly learned to hold onto any change I might get and build up my savings to spend. Looking at all of the kinds of comics that were out there to choose from: i leaned towards Marvel and DC superheroes. My cousin was into war comics and I could read his, I could read Archie stuff whenever visiting my female cousin. So my focus and attention went towards which comics gave me the most bang for my pennies. Avengers was NUMERO UNO at the time for me: a team of 7-10 heroes provided lots of color and action for my young brain to devour.
Avengers #115 was my turning point. The apelike/caveman-ish villain tossing Cap, Thor, Iron Man and Wanda into a pit with a giant scorpion like monster awaiting. From that issue I was soon able to find at stores or trading several issues (110, 112, 114, 109) over the summer along with 116 and 117 which kicked off the Avengers/Defenders war. With this big crossover starring a ton of heroes I was hooked and never looked back. I could NOT find any of the Defenders on the spinner racks until years later so I only had one half of the story but I didn't care because I read them til they were falling apart! Soon enough Fantastic Four (hey I'm no dummy as I got 4 heroes for the price of one) and Marvel Triple Action with Avengers reprints and Marvels Greatest comics with FF reprints. Justice League from DC because again I got Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern all in one comic.
There were of course other odds and ends single issues i would buy when I wasn't finding the newest team issues. So a Spider-Man here, a Demon there and so forth. But it was my time to start evolving and turning toward becoming a collector during those early Junior High years and by High School and my teenage years I was actively pursuing my desire of comic books and driving my folks crazy with my obsession. So what about you all? What's your stories of evolution to collector/addiction?!?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2019 9:26:06 GMT -5
Ha, was trying to remember when I first started collecting comics in high grades/bagging & boarding? I really cannot pinpoint an exact moment, but it must have started around 1980/81. I think I was happier buying and saving comics before I discovered their value and the phrase "NM/M".
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Post by brutalis on Nov 8, 2019 9:54:39 GMT -5
Ha, was trying to remember when I first started collecting comics in high grades/bagging & boarding? I really cannot pinpoint an exact moment, but it must have started around 1980/81. I think I was happier buying and saving comics before I discovered their value and the phrase "NM/M". Thankfully I have never taken on that aspect of the value/resale/speculation buyer. I get what I like and NEVER for resale value. And I try to get the best/lowest price. What matters about condition for me is that the comic book be complete with all the pages and cover intact and not full of holes or missing pages or so old and yellowed and aged that it falls apart in my hands. Some of my most read and favorites are comics that i bough new off the rack and boxed up and aged naturally or used over the years under the $5 cost range. I won't buy or pay for exaggerated collector pricing when much of it can be found in newer reprinted TPB's or Omnibus. My comics are for READING and to enjoy the story and art and the memories relived. Happiest days for me where during high school walking around from store to store at home and school searching out each week the newest releases and then the early 80's filing and digging through the then new LCS shop with the owner and building my back issues of Avengers, Fantastic Four and Captain Marvel (then other series or issues missed out on) as noted each month in the what did you buy 10/20/30/40/50 years ago threads.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Nov 8, 2019 11:32:20 GMT -5
Do you REMEMBER WHEN you changed from being a kid who got random comic books sporadically as a gift or impulse purchase of a single issue when you could convince a parent while shopping and you began to actively "save" your money to spend on comic books and actively collecting? (...) Well, yup, it happened when I was 10 years old. Before that, from about the age of 6, I just picked up anything off of the spinner racks that had a really cool cover and/or Spider-man on it, and then detoured into Archies and funny animals for a while. But somewhere at the end of 1978, I really started getting into superhero comics in a big way. And then early in 1979, I got X-men #120 and Iron Man #121 and they just blew my mind. Not long afterward, I picked up Daredevil #158 (first issue drawn by some guy named Miller). From that point on, I *had* to get those every month - and not just those.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2019 12:11:33 GMT -5
I tried my best to grab many Justice League of America comic books because seeing the original 7 to grow to Sensational Sixteen excite my senses. to Got me running to the nearest LCS.
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Post by beccabear67 on Nov 8, 2019 13:23:00 GMT -5
First titles I specifically looked for: Scamp, Shazam, Supergirl and Plop, 1971-73.
Had to get the next issue: Star Wars, 1979.
Had to get the earlier issues I'd missed: X-Men (1980-81). *
* which led to an attempt at mail order from a list and then actually going to a comic book shop for the first time.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 8, 2019 13:29:16 GMT -5
It was after I was in a position to be able to go to stores on a regular basis and have money on a consistent basis. So probably around 14 or so. It was a minimum of seven miles to get to a store with a spinner rack and you never knew what was going to be there. Time-wise it would have been roughly 1981.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2019 13:34:28 GMT -5
I tried my best to grab many Justice League of America comic books because seeing the original 7 to grow to Sensational Sixteen excite my senses. to Got me running to the nearest LCS. Nice, but NOT the original.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2019 13:37:35 GMT -5
After a few false starts ordering through the Previews catalogue at a strip mall comic shop, I got my first pull list in 1997 at what would be my LCS for the next 15 some years.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2019 15:57:02 GMT -5
I tried my best to grab many Justice League of America comic books because seeing the original 7 to grow to Sensational Sixteen excite my senses. to Got me running to the nearest LCS. Nice, but NOT the original. The original DID NOT INCLUDE Hawkgirl ... of which DISAPPOINTED ME greatly.
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Post by Prince Hal on Nov 8, 2019 16:29:23 GMT -5
@mechagodzilla , here's the bogus reason why (from JLA 31):
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2019 16:59:16 GMT -5
@mechagodzilla , here's the bogus reason why (from JLA 31): She eventually got in Justice League of America #146 JLA #146
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Post by Rob Allen on Nov 8, 2019 17:07:55 GMT -5
I was a random comic buyer from September 1963 to November 1964. That's when I bought Daredevil #6 by Stan Lee and Wally Wood. I loved Wood's Daredevil so much that I made sure to buy every issue from then on. I continued buying other comics randomly, but bought every Daredevil even after Wood left. Eventually I realized that the magic had gone and went back to random purchases, but by that time I had decided to focus on Marvel exclusively. For years thereafter, my run of Daredevil #6-19 was my longest consecutive run of any title. Yes, I bought all the Romita issues but didn't buy Colan's debut.
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Post by badwolf on Nov 8, 2019 17:22:22 GMT -5
I remember getting my first subscriptions. I was 9 going on 10, and comics were 40 cents going on 50. But even then I was "random" with them, at least for the first few years; when those subs expired I started on completely different titles. I did occasionally return to some (I subscribed to Micronauts twice with a break in between).
I suppose X-Men (going on Uncanny) was the first book I actively (non-sub) collected regularly.
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