A little personal history. posted by Matharis

[CSJournals-migration]

A short bio about my history collecting comics and the books I love most.

 

As a man 30 years in age I started collecting comics when I was about 7 years old. My mother bought me my first books to encourage me to engage in reading more often. The first book I received was the 1990 X-Men series with the cover art by Jim Lee, and the basis of the designs and stories of the wildly popular X-Men animated series. My mother and I spent a lot of time reading X-Men. I ventured next into Spider-Man and he instantly became on of my favorite characters being a socially awkward kinda geeky kid myself I related to him more than any of the X-Men (although I always thought I had a lot in common with Forge). Not long after that my cousins got me into Batman right around the time Knightfall began, and that story launched me into my now avid love affair for all things Bat. The darkness of the story, and the triumph of Bruce Wayne over coming such a serious injury was not only inspiring, but badass as well. After years obsessing in Batman and reading any Bat book I could get my hands on I turned to other DC titles and went even deeper into the rabbit hole. I mostly collect vintage books, but I do love modern comics as well. Currently I am rebuilding my collection after losing most of it to a house fire. Nearly 30 long boxes completely destroyed, and a few just badly damaged. I was able to salvage a small bit of my former collection, but most were lost to the flames. I joined here because I have never graded my books, and I decided that if I'm going to rebuild my collection I would do it the right way.

 

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[surfer99]

Thanks for writing Matharis and I look forward to checking out your first graded books! I think it's great that someone who got into comics at an early age in the 90s is a collector of vintage books...to me that means Silver (60s) and Bronze (70s). That's horrible about the fire, how long ago was that? What are you focusing on first in your rebuilding efforts? Best of luck!

 

[SW3D]

When I was a kid and teenager reading comics, I identified with a number of heroes that were strange and different, such as Nightcrawler, Silver Surfer, and Adam Warlock. Although I wanted to fit in and be cool, like Tony Stark, that never happened, so I continued to identify with those unsual heroes that just never seemed to fit in. Sometime later I discovered Tales of the Zombie and Swamp Thing and their Frankenstein-like stories made them favorites with me.

 

As an adult, I still feel like an outsider looking in... so I continue to buy comics of heroes and fantasy characters that are more misfits than anything... case in point my recent obsession with Angela, and my continued obsession with Warlock and Swamp Thing.

 

I'm very sorry to read you lost your collection in a fire. That's very tragic, but you seem very strong and even-keeled that you can cope. One positive that can be said... you are alive and well and whatever you lost you can eventually rebuild. And towards that endeavor I wish you all the best and hope you rebuild an even better collection. And as you do so, please share your stories with all of us.

 

SW3D

[Hibou]

Very nice 'origin' story, Matharis... I like stories like that!