I wrote a little story to introduce myself to everyone, called the first one. I hope you like it.
Do you remember your first one? I sure do. Well, it wasn’t exactly my first, but it was the first time I realized I was hooked. I realized I held something *special* in my hands. Something that gave me joy for reasons I couldn’t explain.
I was about 12 years old and I had saved up all my allowance to buy a pristine copy of Amazing Spider-Man 20. The price I paid is now lost to the travails of middle aged memory, but the feeling of joy is still there. When I was a kid, on every family vacation I convinced my parents to take me to the local comic book store. This was in the 1980’s and stores were often in dark alleys and unadorned strip malls throughout the country. Until I discovered these ghetto comic book stores, the only other ways I could buy a comic was at the local Target in comic book three packs (that’s why 40 cent comics from 1979 have the slash across the UPC - they were meant to be copies 2 and 3 in the three packs).
When I spotted that Amazing Spider-Man 20, I had never seen a comic so old. And, more importantly, I had enough money! There was no hesitation, it was mine. And it still is - many decades later.
The years went by and I collected comics on and off for a few years at a time. I haven’t collected in the last 20 years, but one day I stumbled onto comics being sold in Ebay in collector containers - with official looking grades. What are these strange things? I investigated further and that’s when I discovered CGC.
The mad scramble began. Where are my old comics! How much are they worth! Why didn’t I buy Amazing Fantasy 15 for $1000 in the 80's?!
I gradually tracked down my old comics and realized 12 year old me did his best but didn’t know how to store stuff. I had the important stuff bagged, but nothing with backing boards and there were oh so many camics left unbagged and unloved.
After thumbing through a couple boxes, there it was - Amazing Spider-Man 20, the crown jewel of my pithy collection. The Scorpion menacingly tossing Spidey high up in that air! In retrospect, a villain with a unbalanced, heavy tail would seem like an impediment, but 12 year old me (and now 40 year old me) didn’t care. I knew what I had to do. I had to preserve it, I had to get it graded.
Off to CGC it went.
And I waited. And waited. And waited. One day a large box was delivered to my house. I had no idea what it was (it had been so long since I submitted my comics for grading). I opened it up and found the comics I sent so tenderly and impeccably packaged they could have been delivered to space.
There it was, my Amazing Spider-Man 20. My pristine, near perfect copy, with a grade emblazoned in the top left, a grade of:
5.0
it’s no 9.8, but it’s mine and I will always love it.
Aweandlorder reacted to a post in a topic:
WELCOME TO THE BOARDS! New members, please introduce yourselves here!
I wrote a little story to introduce myself to everyone, called the first one. I hope you like it. Do you remember your first one? I sure do. Well, it wasn’t exactly my first, but it was the first time I realized I was hooked. I realized I held something *special* in my hands. Something that gave me joy for reasons I couldn’t explain. I was about 12 years old and I had saved up all my allowance to buy a pristine copy of Amazing Spider-Man 20. The price I paid is now lost to the travails of middle aged memory, but the feeling of joy is still there. When I was a kid, on every family vacation I convinced my parents to take me to the local comic book store. This was in the 1980’s and stores were often in dark alleys and unadorned strip malls throughout the country. Until I discovered these ghetto comic book stores, the only other ways I could buy a comic was at the local Target in comic book three packs (that’s why 40 cent comics from 1979 have the slash across the UPC - they were meant to be copies 2 and 3 in the three packs). When I spotted that Amazing Spider-Man 20, I had never seen a comic so old. And, more importantly, I had enough money! There was no hesitation, it was mine. And it still is - many decades later. The years went by and I collected comics on and off for a few years at a time. I haven’t collected in the last 20 years, but one day I stumbled onto comics being sold in Ebay in collector containers - with official looking grades. What are these strange things? I investigated further and that’s when I discovered CGC. The mad scramble began. Where are my old comics! How much are they worth! Why didn’t I buy Amazing Fantasy 15 for $1000 in the 80's?! I gradually tracked down my old comics and realized 12 year old me did his best but didn’t know how to store stuff. I had the important stuff bagged, but nothing with backing boards and there were oh so many camics left unbagged and unloved. After thumbing through a couple boxes, there it was - Amazing Spider-Man 20, the crown jewel of my pithy collection. The Scorpion menacingly tossing Spidey high up in that air! In retrospect, a villain with a unbalanced, heavy tail would seem like an impediment, but 12 year old me (and now 40 year old me) didn’t care. I knew what I had to do. I had to preserve it, I had to get it graded. Off to CGC it went. And I waited. And waited. And waited. One day a large box was delivered to my house. I had no idea what it was (it had been so long since I submitted my comics for grading). I opened it up and found the comics I sent so tenderly and impeccably packaged they could have been delivered to space. There it was, my Amazing Spider-Man 20. My pristine, near perfect copy, with a grade emblazoned in the top left, a grade of: 5.0 it’s no 9.8, but it’s mine and I will always love it.
