"My mom threw mine away"

[Moondog]

I have loved comics from the time I could read and for whatever reason - I just wanted more and more. From the time I was 10 to around 14, I would accumulate huge stacks of them and my mom would give them away to my cousins' uncle who was a barber. I would just cry when I came home and the stacks were gone.

 

When I hit high school (1966) and started making a few dollars selling comics through ads in fanzines and by contacting other collectors through letter column addresses, she quit throwing them away. My dad even let me buy out the stock of a used magazine store when I was a sophomore. I had an incredible SA collection when I went off to college.

 

In June 1973 I needed some cash to get married and sold everything for $160. FF 1-up, Spidey 1-up etc. Multiples. I'm not haunted by it as much as I can't believe that I did it even though I knew they were worth more than the paltry $160...

[PovertyRow]

 

What is YOUR sad story or were one of the lucky ones?

 

Well, my mother threw out three major items: JIM 83, FF1 were the comics along with a few like Superboy. A friend let me have them and they were among the first comic books I read. I hid them in the cellar. This was in the early 60s. About 18 years later when I started collecting seriously I remembered them and found my hiding place empty. I have to assume mom.

 

The other item I found about 1959. Our house was about 80 years old and they decided to renovate the attic. Up there I found a 1925 Universal PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 1-sheet poster. You can see the same on Heritage. Wen for 150-200K. I was fascinated by the art. I rolled it up and put it in "my cabinet." One day my mother decided to clean out "my cabinet". 'nuff said.

[slym2none]

My mom bought me comics for Christmas the same year I started buying them myself (1983).

 

Never had any problem with anyone wating to throw them away.

 

Of course, there was that time me & buddy got "confronted" by a group of youths at the city library during a comic swap once... but that ended well, no matter the case.

 

 

 

 

-slym

[01TheDude]

never had any issues with anyone throwing away my comics, in fact I found a neat little pile of books once while participating in a paper drive with the scouts )nothing amazing bit more comics are more comics). I made sure to let my parents know that my books were not to be thrown away or given away. I don't recall anyone ever buying me any comics or giving me any for that matter from my family. I had three paper routes that supplied the money to obtain my stuff, including buying my own bike. There was a short time when I got a paltry allowance but it was tied to chores (which I would have been doing anyway). It lead me into picking up a paper route and then another and another.

 

I also collected beer cans and kind of got into stamp collecting for a while. My dad had gotten his fathers stamp collection that was in a box up in the attic. I pulled that down and went through it-- tons of duplicate stamps which was baffling to me, a bunch of first day issue documents and wide range of other things. I started buying stamps at the store (the reproduction types) as well as the foreign ones you could get through the mail. I had spent quite a bit of money on them. Apparently my dad had no idea that this was going on-- and when we moved, he just sold the entire collection of stamps without mentioning it to me. I guess he thought it was just his dads old stuff. I was not as into it as I used to be so I kind of shrugged whenI could not find them years later. Then in a conversation about 2 years ago, the topic was brought up and we figured out the situation.

 

The thing I remember about my grandfathers stamp stuff was that it also had an old printing press with all the typeset stuff etc-- I think that also got sold for peanuts and is probably worth something these days.

 

anyway-- bottom line is that I never had to deal with losing a bunch of stuff. I kind of regret letting my mom sell off all my old AFX, Sizzler, Tyco, matchbox, hot wheels, and assorted car racing sets I had over the years. I was in college and simply did not care if she made a few bucks off the stuff at one of her garage sales. Before we moved to Florida though-- she did sell off a ton of cool older toys (some broken) like an original Rock'em Sock'em Robots or the shooting gallery (the one that fired small ball bearings)-- even good old Kerplunk wasn't immune to that sale. Funny the stuff you remember having and the times you had playing with the stuff. I never give anybody any grief over trying to relive those times.

[comicjack]

I started buying comics at age eight and still have a few thousand from back then.My father built a case above my clothes closet away from the reach of mom,She would have most likely tossed them if she could of reached them.I remember she would buy you a gift and give it away the following year.She still haunts me in a dream now and then.

[spidrvacc]

My parents threw away alot of our (brother and I ) sports cards , star wars toys etc. Some of those cards were worth alot as they were 60s and 70,s and ofcourse all the star wars toys. But they did not throw away any of our comics. I went back yeas later and retrived them.

[The-Collector]

Not my mother and not my comics. It was my grandmother and a giant set of G1 transformers. All sold for a lazy $20, grandma thought she had done such a great job of selling them all at the garage sale in a lot until I burst into tears.

[Vikingreed]

I can't read this thread anymore....

Too depressing!

Yeesh...

[mrwoogieman]

A co-worker was describing a mentality of those who grew up in small apts in NYC to want to clean up/throw away and that it was almost praiseworthy for adolescents to get rid of some of the clutter (which included comics and toys of course).

[ThreeSeas]

The Sad.

My Brother and I originally had quite a few comics from the early 60’s, maybe 200 or so. At our family’ first garage sale in 1970 or 1971, we sold them all for a dime each. I was a little too young to remember any title in particular, but my brother said he had many early Marvel’s, the first Spider-Man he often tells me.

 

The Happy.

When I got into collecting comics when I turned ten in the early 70’s, my mother would take me to the flea market book store she used to frequent. I remember one table being piled high with comics from various years, all for ten cents each. But I do not remember picking up anything of any great value at that time.

 

After I graduated in 1981, my parents knew my interest in comics would never wane, so in one of their auction excursions they bought me an Archie’s collection for about $60 I think. They ranged from the early 50’s, possible 1949, until 1961 or so. Also among them I remember some DC Pogo the Possum and others, but no super heroes, unless you count the Archie versions. Somewhere amongst my stuff I have an inventory list of what I got there. My parents never did come across any more comics at the farm auctions they went to, but they would always keep an eye out for them.

 

[Darkowl]

Try coming home to find out that your mom didn't give away your comics, but your dog.

[Robot Man]

When my kids were growing up I kept the packaging for many of their toys stashed in the garage. They took care of them and when they grew tired of them, I would have them get the toy and all the parts together and I would put them back in the boxes. My older daughter had all the original Star Wars toys. When she turned 16, I sold them all for her and bought her a 1969 VW Karmen Ghia convertable. She of course forgot to put oil in it and froze the motor. Grrrrr! I did keep her laser pistol and a couple other things for her future kids. I also have her very extensive collection of Baseball, Basketball cards in my garage still. I think she has several Michael Jordan, Kobie Bryant rookie cards. All of my younger daughters Turtles, Ghostbusters, Spawn, Simpsons, Power Rangers ect toys are still in their boxes put away for her...

[Vikingreed]

Try coming home to find out that your mom didn't give away your comics, but your dog.

 

[Mutant Manatee]

I was one of the lucky ones.

 

My mom was also a collector, which made her appreciate my obsession. She collected stamps and carnival glass since before I was born, and my dad collected coins.

 

Here's a picture of me from 1978 with my collection in its entirety. Thanks to my understanding parents I still have all of these comics. (X-Men #9 on top of the stack.)

 

[Darjis_]

I was raised Jehovah's Witness. My parents divorced when I was 5 then remarried when I was about 12(ish). All 4 of them were JW's.

 

Around the age of 10 I discovered comics, Spider-man, Infinity Gauntlet, etc and fell in love and started collecting them. My dad, before remarrying, had more disposable income then my mom so would fuel my collection when I visited him.

 

My mom was a hardcore JW. To a T person. When she found out I was reading comics, she lost it. Violence, demonism and so on. She tried to persuade my dad to throw them out but he refused.

 

Around a year after they both remarried was the time when I started questioning the nonsense the JW's teach and explored other religions (by reading up on them basically) and eventually (around 13 years old) came to the conclusion that all religion was just nonsense and declared my atheism. Of course, coming out to my over protective mom was step one. She blamed the comics and my artwork (I was working on a portfolio to get into art school following high school because I wanted to eventually draw comics for a living) and sat down with my dad and step mom and the 4 of them decided the best thing to do would be to burn all my art, music and comics.

 

And that was that. One full long box and one half box burned. An entire portfolio of art and a bunch of tapes and CDs.

 

I ended up in foster care for the next 2 years, then eventually moved to another city, on my own. That's a whole 'nother chapter though.

 

 

[Larryw7]

I never had a problem with my parents regarding comics. My dad read them as a kid(he loved Batman, Superman, Captain Marvel, and especially the EC horror books). He always got me a comic or two a week on his way home from work on Friday(usually a Batman or Spider-Man title). He even bought the EC Horror Library hardback for me as a Christmas gift when I was eleven years old.

The reason a lot of my early comics were thrown out was because I read them until they literally fell apart. When I was a little older and became condition conscious, they still would only be around Fine copies because I read those to death too, just more carefully. I eventually traded them for a couple of GA books at my local comic shop. So I have very few of my original comics.

[Phicks]

My Mom brought me a copy of Iron Man 55 when I was in hospital once. I read it until the cover fell off, and I still have it, along with a much nicer copy I bought a few years ago. Thanks Mom!

[Darkowl]

I was one of the lucky ones.

 

My mom was also a collector, which made her appreciate my obsession. She collected stamps and carnival glass since before I was born, and my dad collected coins.

 

Here's a picture of me from 1978 with my collection in its entirety. Thanks to my understanding parents I still have all of these comics. (X-Men #9 on top of the stack.)

 

 

Possibly the coolest picture I've seen on these boards.

[Robot Man]

I was one of the lucky ones.

 

My mom was also a collector, which made her appreciate my obsession. She collected stamps and carnival glass since before I was born, and my dad collected coins.

 

Here's a picture of me from 1978 with my collection in its entirety. Thanks to my understanding parents I still have all of these comics. (X-Men #9 on top of the stack.)

 

 

Man, that is a killer photo!!! Great you still have it. Thanks for showing it. Still got the books?

[Mutant Manatee]

Man, that is a killer photo!!! Great you still have it. Thanks for showing it. Still got the books?

 

Yes, I still have those books plus about 20,000 more. I now have a lot of those early books from my collection displayed in a spinner rack in my man cave.