Yeah, in many ways I think we are collectors of knowledge as much if not more so than the actual “collectibles” themselves many times!

Comics led me directly to my interest in 20th century illustration, esp mid-century illustration.

Do you ever feel a little conflicted on where to focus your purchases between the two? Sometimes I'm like "I could buy this guitar, OR...this really nice Silver Age book".

I can only speak personally; but, I tend to want to know more about subjects that capture my interest. My dad was like that. He'd pick up library books to learn how to do things, like a book on square foot gardening, after he and my mom moved into a duplex, after having a large garden, from years. He would grow beans and tomatoes, for their own consumption, while we always had beans, tomatoes, corn, strawberries, rhubarb =, and some other vegetables, from the garden behind our house, growing up. He introduced us to the joys of a library early on; so, I was always looking for something interesting to read, either a great story, an interesting biography or a non-fiction book. We also had a set of World Book Encyclopedias. I am from a family of 5, with one bathroom. I learned early on to get into the bathroom early, to have hot water and be able to eat breakfast on my terms. So, I was usually waiting on everyone else and often pulled out a random volume and started flipping through it, looking for interesting articles. World Book was very visually-oriented, so it was easy to find something of note. I started spotting entries about mythology and would then go looking for others. The entries on presidents would have a picture/portrait and then illustrations or images of events during their administration. That might lead to other articles. If something caught my eye, I usually wanted to know more and would look for other reference material or other stories by that writer or similar stories by other writers.

Comics helped introduce me to pulp literature and certain cartoonists and artists and a few writers. I also watched a lot of movies and they spawned interests in different things. We watched the film Zeppelin, with Michael York and Elke Sommer, on tv and I became fascinated with airships and started reading anything I could find about them. Ken Adams is directly responsible, along with some of the buildings of my childhood, in inspiring an interest in Mid-Century Modern Design. I loved those sets on the Bond films and the type of furniture generally used, the open spaces, natural and manufactured materials, and the shapes and things.

Movies got me interested in history and I would read about whatever event, person, war, or similar topic caught my eye. The 70s tv broadcasts included a lot of 60s movies (especially late or weekend movies). Those action pieces got me interested in the actual wars and what really happened. The Guns of Navarone had me fascinated with the gun emplacements and complex and then I stumbled across an article in our Encyclopedias, about the Maginot Line fortifications and support structures, complete with cutaway drawings and I saw where the filmmakers got their ideas. History also showed that, like in the film, the fort was too often built for one type of defense and couldn't handle things a commando attack, like the German neutralization of Eben-Emael, in Belgium.

I always loved comics; but, it was the late 70s before I saw a book about comics, either as history or pop culture and I soon devoured those.

I do think that collecting tends to appeal to people who have obsessive personalities, which fuels a desire to learn more about their interests, leading to in-depth knowledge on a wide array of subjects. Even if it isn't expert knowledge, it is conversant knowledge.

My personal interest, aside from comics and comic history, include: New Wave Music, pro wrestling, martial arts, concept cars, helicopters, the space program, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, book and magazine illustration/storytelling art, animation, sci-fi movies, Japanese hero tv shows, movie serials, pulp literature, French pulp literature, Victorian adventure fiction, military history, general history, biographies, Native American history and mythology, world mythology, archeology, graphic design, humorists, spy-fi literature and cinema, spaghetti westerns, Euro-Spy films, Macaroni Combat movies, movie serials of Louis Feuillade (Fantomas, Judex, Les Vampyres), Fritz Lang's German films and especially the Mabuse films (and the 60s series) and on and on. Some interests were spawned by comics, others by film, others by a mixture of things.

My other interest is hockey. I am a HUGE Leafs fan. Watch every game and have since I was a teen. I enjoy hockey in general and it is the only sport I would consider myself extremely knowledgeable of.

Outside of that, I am a teacher. I teach math. I like stand up comedy. Where I live I have not met many who collect comics. I have a close friend who collects though (and collects other stuff I don't like toys, mainly Star Wars and GI Joe). He is also a teacher. So I feel in that way we connect because neither one of use knows anybody else in our age range (30-45) that collect the way we do. Our city is not very large (75000) and we are a good 3.5 hours from any other major city of similar or larger size so we kind of feel isolated in our collecting ways. I wouldn't say I gravitate towards others who collect stuff though...I collect for me and while it is nice to have a friend with a similar interest, it is equally nice being "one of a kind" in a way for my area. Also ensures no one else is hunting for books which, are hard to find but definitely exist where I am.

A lot of people I have met or interact with or sell to nowawadays are my age or younger but I would not say I connect with them. They are always after keys for the most part, and even if I met them in person, I can tell that I probably would not hang out with them. They just don't seem like I am. Sure they seem to have an appreciation for comics but something about them I don't click with. Now, older collectors (in the 45-70 range) I could talk to all day long. I feel more connected to them despite being much younger.