What was the one comic that brought you back to collecting?

[justin]

For me, after about 18 years of not reading a single comic, I started to feel nostalgic for an ASM 300. Went to an LCS in 2006 to get one and stumbled upon Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk #1 and was blown away by the art style and grittiness of the story. Things really changed a lot since the 90's. From there is was Civil War and Marvel Zombies. I was hooked again.

 

So what brought you back?

[romanheart]

Much like my first ever comic.... I honestly can't remember now.

 

I know I wanted the McFarlane/ASM and Miller/DD sets.

[Dr Chaos]

For me it wasn't a comic but the Kick- Movie.

 

Well, that and all of my 1980s comic collection moving in with me when my Mom moved.

[spidrvacc]

Black Costume Spiderman issues. I was out of comics for years. maybe a decade and was in my early 20's . Went in to sell my comics at Jim Haneys in Staten Island . Had a few hundred from when I was a kid. (70' Marvels) but they were commons and beat up. Guy told me they were worthless and would give me $20 . I said no but saw these comics with spiderman but his costume was black. They told me it was his new costume and told me about Venom. and also there were these Spiderman hologram issues . I was hooked. Instead of leaving with hundreds for my books I spent almost $100 on black costume / Venom back issues and the 4 hologram issues. I was back to collecting comics. I decided to collect every 1st app and #1 issue from the silver and bronze age. Would buy the comic new paper every week and order from them (no internet) and spent every lunch at Midtown comics in Manhattan going through all there back issues . spent a fortune.

[jools&jim]

 

I gave up comics (reading and collecting) in 1980, for a succession of things which were a much greater strain on my limited financial resources -- mostly records, Rock mags, gas for my POS car, junk food, etc., followed later by guitars, amps, beer, and weed!

 

Then, in college, I read a Rolling Stone article on Frank Miller (whom I remembered from Daredevil) and "The Dark Knight Returns". Sounded cool, so I tracked it down at a comic book store not far from campus. That eventually led me to Watchmen...and I was hooked again.

 

A few years later, I'd be working in the industry, and was even offered a job at DC Comics as Archie Goodwin's assistant (which, sadly, I turned down). So I guess I "got back in" in a big way.

 

Other than a stray issue here and there, I gave up new comic books completely about 15 years ago. But I've been back in the hobby to stay, with varying degrees of intensity, since the mid/late '80s, all thanks to Frank Miller and Alan Moore...

 

 

[1Cool]

I'd say Y: Last Man #1 and Fables #1 brought me back into the fold of reading and collecting books. I was blown away by the stories so I picked up a Walking Dead trade paperback a bit later and the madness started up again.

[thunsicker]

I gave up comics in the late seventies for being a teenager. Then got back mid eighties and even opened my own store. Sold the store in the late eighties and got out until the early 2000's. Found some of the comics that I didn't sell with the store and got nostalgic. Bought a bunch from eBay over the next 10 years until I got tired of getting burned and looked up the grading companies. CGC prevented me from getting out again and brought me here.

[zuulioso]

Planet Hulk!

[chewy106]

Hadn't collected or read anything since around 1993, but last year saw the news that Marvel was coming out with a new official Star Wars series (and related titles) and being a Star Wars geek I jumped back in and been hooked again since.

[Andahaion]

I was out of the hobby around 1996. What brought me back in was the death of Captain America. I found symbolism and what I thought relevant commentary on current events.

 

I must have looked like an insufficiently_thoughtful_person when I went into my LCS (after the book had released) and said something to the effect of "I heard they killed Cap." It's funny how when you're not in the hobby, you're really not in the hobby. I didn't learn about it until it was on CNN or similar channel. Ever since then I've been regularly subscribing to a small handful of titles, but I primarily collect the books I never dreamed I'd be able to afford.

[Chadwick]

Stopped in 97 before getting very many SA books, came back in 2012 after reading sons of origins. Right away, I had to have a copy of Ironman 1(found it here!), and other SA marvels. Now I have books that my 14 year old self would drool over, and some I still drool over

[revat]

kevin smith green arrow

[Dick Pontoon]

I had already started poking around in my LCS and picking up books here and there on ebay, but the Jack Kirby Collector #41 really got me fired up.

 

[Brian48]

My Batman 232 (CGC 9.4 OW/W), which I bought off eBay back in 2010. Prior to that, I think the last comic I bought was back in 1981, excluding 3 or 4 trades I might have picked up over the course of 30 years.

 

It was probably my favorite book back in the day even though I was a Marvel fan. It had it all, great art, great cover, great story, intro of a major villian, and set precedence for many stories to come later. I had an absolutely beautiful copy that would have probably graded 9.4/9.6 today if I held onto it.

 

In 2010, I picked up a copy of Batman Arkham Asylum for PC after a lot of positive reviews. Was completely floored by how well this game was executed and how great the story was. What was most interesting, is that I didn't know half the characters referenced in the game. Never heard of Killer Croc, Victor Zsasz, Firebug, Zeus, etc.., and only passing knowledge of Harley Quinn and Bane. Clearly, I missed a lot of what's been happening over the last 30 years.

 

This really got me interested in Batman again and led to me buying a few trades like Dark Knight Returns, Hush, Long Halloween, Dark Victory, etc.. Yet, I still wasn't necessarily back into collecting. I didn't want to introduce yet another expensive hobby into my life at that point. Then, I finally decided that I just wanted *ONE* comic book from my past and that was going to be it as far as collecting goes.

 

Of course, it didn't work out that way. After I finally got my copy of Batman 232, the bug caught on and I wounded up chasing down all the Adams Bats, and then the Smith Conans, and now the Miller DDs.

[Dark Knight]

The book that first got me into collecting/buying vintage comics was DD #1. I can never forget how much I wanted to buy the book at this antique store, but parents said it was too pricey

[JazzMan]

Marvel Civil War and the death of Captain America brought me back to collecting. Picked up a TPB at the airport and got hooked. That whole Captain America Vol 5 run was spectacular. Followed moderns for a little while but really dug into what I knew back in the 70s and earlier.

[MagnusX]

[font:Book Antiqua]

I stopped reading in the early 90's and came back with Identity Crisis in 2004

I was greatly surprised with the quality of the paper and the colors, and of course the quality of the art and writing...[/font]

 

[kav]

For me it was Watchmen. I had stopped buying comics about 1978 and my buddy gave me #1 and I was hooked again. I have a huge copper age collection as a result. Then my brother's collection in my closet got hit with termites. I pulled them out to salvage what I could and got hooked on SA DC again so I started scooping them up. About a year ago my LCS buddy sold me a box of books and there were about 10 Kirby Thors. I got hooked and bought every Kirby Thor I could get, plus anything else Kirby. I can't afford the FFs except for a few so I bought all the Marvel's Greatest Comics.

[miraclemet]

Civil War from Marvel brought me back in, and within a few years I had Event Fatigue and started paying more attention to indie/image books...

[loadstone]

It wasnt a comic. I had a happy and content life and larger bank account until that fateful day back in the spring of 2010. My girlfriend wanted to buy me a gift and knew I was into superheroes. She surprised me with an Amazing Spiderman pint glass. It was a great gift but had I known what would follow I would never have asked her where she had found it. She told me about a shop not too far from my house that sold comics, figures, books and cards. I was intrigued and would pass by it but business kept me from following up on locating it.

A few weeks later I was back in town and we were having lunch at a nearby restaurant. When we leaving I noticed a busy crowd gathered around outside a nearby storefront. when I wondered out loud what was going on over there my girlfriend told me that's the same place she bought my pint glass from. Curious we drove closer and as soon as my eyes recognized the unmistakable size and shape of comic longboxes, my heart skipped a beat and memories flooded in of countless hours of joy and anticipation digging through comics at shows and shops as a kid. I could even smell that wonderful distinctive musty odor of aging recycled newsprint, paper and ink. Then I felt it. That old familiar flame burning in the pit of my chest. And it wasn't just burrito heartburn.

I tried to fight it and told myself no, I'm too old for this stuff, but internally I knew I would lose this struggle. Fighting the urge to run ahead leaving my girlfriend barely exiting the car and dive into the nearest long box I faked my casual interest until I began to see old and new comics from the last 30 years. For a while I reassured my girlfriend I was just browsing but it wasn't long before I was elbow deep into long box after long box walking down memory lane. I didn't realize when I had completely forgotten all about my girlfriend as nostalgia overcame me but about an hour and a stack of comics later I recognized the irritation in her voice: are you done yet? It was Free Comic Book day and i was hooked. I knew I was from that day on.

 

A month later I had a pull list, was raiding yard and estate sales and acquiring and selling collections off craigslist. Soon I was buying off ebay, heritage and comic link spending thousands. By the end of 2010 I had nearly a full run of ASM and UXM in decent grade and a part time ebay and shipping operation run out of my basement.

In 2011 and 2012 I had to pull back and refocus. My hobby had turned into a part time business and was eating up too much time. 5 years later I'm still recovering from the hangover of my binge collecting but snagged some great deals back then. All because of a damn ed spider pint glass.