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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 14:37:28 GMT -5
First super-hero comic I clearly remember having was Batman #250, which was July 1973 cover date, but most of the other early comics I had were circa 1975 and later, so somewhere in that period was when I actually started buying off the racks, but often read/looked through comics given to me by people in my parent's bowling league on Sunday nights when they bowled and I was stuck hanging out at the bowling alley. My peak was in '77-'78 though, but my mom stopped me from reading/buying comics in '79. I read sporadically when I could through the early 80s getting an odd subscription here and there as a gift or through magazine drives, and buying the very occasional issue off the racks. In high school, when I started working in '85 I started buying again regularly and continued to do so for a long time, plus discovered comic shops and back issues and began filling in all I missed of my favorites, and started collecting hard core.
I've taken years long hiatuses here and there, but always seem to come back. But the driving force had always been to find what I missed when I was a kid or out of comics and be able to follow along my favorites "this time." Things changed a bit in the late 90s and early 2000s when I started moving away from mainstream to more creator focused stuff, and I sold off most of what I collected before taking another hiatus. When I returned in 2012, my focus and what I enjoy is very different, but there is still a part of me that likes to explore the stuff from when I was a kid (i.e. the Bronze Age) and earlier, but the impetus to keep up with my old favorites in the current era is long gone. I do like discovering new books to read (mostly creator-owned stuff) and love the medium of comics still, but I stopped caring about things like continuity and completism, and focused on what I enjoy reading regardless of how it fits int o a shared universe or if it does, whether I have all of something or just a sample, etc. etc. Now I'm just following my bliss...
-M
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Nov 11, 2014 14:48:04 GMT -5
I'll be curious if no one else started in the 1990s. Considering the state of comics back then, I can see why not many classic comics fans were born out of that decade. If it hadn't been for my back issue bin experiences with The New Teen Titans and X-Men, I likely wouldn't have made the leap either. I was. The TV shows of the 90's, Spiderman, X-Men and Batman TAS were one of the large aspect that got me to think about comics, despite their not being welcomed in the home (mostly due to my folks ignorance of them, not anything tyrannical). But a gander at a friend at schools 1994 Marvel Masterpiece card collection is what sealed the deal. I spent some time hunting those cards and doing some trading with him, and by close to end of 1994, I bought my first comics, introducing me to the then Age of Apocalypse in the X-Men titles and the 2099 universe. |
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Post by Hoosier X on Nov 11, 2014 14:51:21 GMT -5
Some of the comics I first started buying in 1975 to early 1976, I read religiously for a decade or more.
The Amazing Spider-Man - from #152 to about #260, though I did read it sporadically for a while after that.
The Avengers - from #144 to about #280.
The Fantastic Four - from #165 to about #290.
Incredible Hulk - from #193 to about #330.
Daredevil - from #126 to about #235.
I had medium to long runs on X-Men, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-In-One, The Defenders, Thor and Captain America and a few others.
I didn't get into DC (except for The Joker, The Secret Society of Super-Villains and the occasional issue of Batman or Detective) until 1980 and 1981 when I started reading Batman and Detective regularly, as well as Legion of Super-Heroes, All-Star Squadron, Green Lantern and even Justice League for a while (I still have a weak spot for the Detroit era of the League).
I wasn't totally done with the comics by the time of Secret Wars and Crisis on Infinite Earths, but I didn't but nearly as many super-hero comics after that, preferring Cerebus, Love and Rockets and a few Vertigo titles.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 15:53:22 GMT -5
I only started reading comics 2-3 years ago.
The more 90's comics I am reading, the less I am liking comics from then.
I can barely tolerate MOST of the art. I won't skip them completely because I need to complete series.
But most of the 90's books I have, and have looked through, seriously hurt my eyes. And I don't mean I just do not care for it. Something about the art screws with my eyes.
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Post by The Captain on Nov 11, 2014 15:58:26 GMT -5
I received my first comics from my maternal grandmother on one of her annual summer visits up to Pittsburgh from Memphis. She brought me the polybagged reprints of Star Wars #1-3, which I still have (they're beat to hell, but I won't give them up or replace them). After that, I had a handful of books (I vaguely remember at least one issue of Godzilla that I threw up on, and I'm pretty sure I had the issue of Micronauts with Man-Thing on the cover). However, as I turned 7 in 1980 and started receiving an allowance, I turned my focus to baseball and hockey cards.
I got fully immersed in comics in the mid-80s (I want to say 1986, but I may be wrong). We were getting ready for a family vacation to Ocean City, NJ, and I was looking for something to do in the car on the ride there. I went to Toys R' Us with my sister and mom, and I wound up getting a polybagged three-pack of GI Joe comics; on the way home, we stopped at the newsstand and I picked up that current month's issue as well. I eventually had almost a complete run from #1 to #110 before transitioning over to Amazing Spider-Man around issue #330 and it's been full immersion ever since.
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ironchimp
Full Member
Simian Overlord
Posts: 456 
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Post by ironchimp on Nov 11, 2014 16:51:56 GMT -5
80s. From memory tho Marvel UK would do 60s reprints with other stories so it was 60s and 80s at the same time. I definitely read early x-men and fantastic 4s off the rack in the 80s
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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 11, 2014 17:02:07 GMT -5
First super-hero comic I clearly remember having was Batman #250, which was July 1973 cover date. . . My brother from another publisher! My first was Amazing Spider-Man #122, also July 1973.
I came to comics via the '67 Spider-Man cartoon (I watched it in syndication). The first season episode "The Witching Hour," featuring the Green Goblin, captivated me. Very soon after, I spied ASM #122 on the stands at a Kresge during an errand with my father and pestered him to buy it for me. Those were twenty cents that changed my life. Obviously that story was far more intense than the cartoon and so I promptly cut up and repasted the panels into a notebook with my own stellar dialogue and captions. Don't worry, I bought a reader copy in 1986 and a stunning 8.5 last year for my "40th Anniversary."
I loved and still love Spider-Man '67 so much that Paul Soles is still the voice I hear in my head when I read Spidey.
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Post by Paste Pot Paul on Nov 11, 2014 17:08:30 GMT -5
I know that as a kid i had a regular order for the British weekly Cor!! ( was that 1, 2, 0r 3 exclamation points?), as well as regular trips to a local book exchange. I would go through phases of interest, Harvey, heroes, war, MAD, Disney etc but generally preferred DC (it was all 100 page B+W reprints here at the time) or war comics as there was more reading than the humor titles.
I also had a friend who received regular deliveries of boxes of Marvels from an uncle or some such...this is where I encountered my holy of holys...Captain America 153-156...which he would never trade, no matter the offer.
Started collecting 2000AD with the 2nd issue after devouring the first at a mates place. I also started to collect around this time too(77-78) with Conan, Avengers, Defenders, 2-in-1, and Star Wars.
My biggest soft spot would be the 70s books, especially those early 70s ones with the art boxed on the cover. As for the generalisation of the 90s, remember every era is full of rubbish, its only the occasional book that stands out. The 90s did give us Marvels, Kingdom Come, Preacher, Authority, and Planetary, as well as creators like Waid, Ellis, and Busiek breaking through. The Heroes Return books were pretty good after the dire Image does Marvel thing. Yes there are plenty of books to moan about, but what about DC in the 70s? They were lucky to score nil (as we say here).
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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 11, 2014 17:22:00 GMT -5
I also had a friend who received regular deliveries of boxes of Marvels from an uncle or some such...this is where I encountered my holy of holys...Captain America 153-156...which he would never trade, no matter the offer. Holy tales of suspense! That's the 50s Cap and Bucky story. So what happened? Did you eventually acquire them? Did you make him an offer he couldn't refuse? I. . .I gots to know!  |
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Post by benday-dot on Nov 11, 2014 17:23:29 GMT -5
1974-1975 through 1983
Quit
2006-present
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 17:46:04 GMT -5
I started reading comics in the 80's. I don't think the time period had much impact on my comic preferences, but my budget did. Buying exclusively out of the bargain bin for three or four years before buying my first comic had broadened my horizons early on. My first several comics were not super hero related. It was probably several months of weekly visits to the comic store before I bought a super hero comic. So while I did like super hero comics as a kid, I also read a pretty broad spectrum of material from a pretty broad spectrum of publishers.
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Post by Action Ace on Nov 11, 2014 18:24:41 GMT -5
I'm also in the 1975 club.
My peak year of collecting comics as a kid was at the age of seven in 1977.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 18:36:06 GMT -5
Late 1980s. I was in kindergarten.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,871
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Post by shaxper on Nov 11, 2014 18:37:33 GMT -5
Late 1980s. I was in kindergarten. Now that response surprises me. So, assuming that you were not the most meticulous of kindergarteners, at what point did you become concerned with condition? |
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Post by Phil Maurice on Nov 11, 2014 18:50:48 GMT -5
Now that response surprises me. Not presuming to answer for Jez, but you shouldn't be surprised. I dabble in toy collecting and girls' toys in general* fetch markedly lower prices than boys' toys for one simple reason. Girls tend to take far better care of their toys than boys do*; thus, girls' toys survive intact in much greater numbers than their counterparts'*. *Exceptions abound. |
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