How, or why, did you start collecting comics? Here's my story.... 4 4

[GermanFan]

In 1974 (8 yrs old) I saw this german ASM in a newspaper shop. I was fascinated instantly. Always loved Marvel Comics as a child. In Summer 1980 I bought Overstreet Number 10 with the Timely theme. I wasnt aware of Comics costing that much then.

[sevans1979]

On 12/7/2021 at 11:27 AM, Galen130 said:

Around 2006, I started back up again for a few years because Ghost Rider had a new series (s).  I had collected the 2nd series prior to this, and purchased the 1st series as back issues.  I really wanted to see Ghost Rider reach issue #100...that didn't happen

And now a good bit of them are in my possession 

Here is my history, nothing crazy

My Dad was in the Air Force and we lived on Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Tx. My brother and I would take our allowance to the BX and they had a spinner rack back by the books and we would buy a couple of comics.  I remember mainly buying ASM, Hulk and Uncanny X-men.  We would read them and then try to draw the covers and cool panels.  Kind of a drawing contest. My dad would take us to a local comic store and I would get the latest Spawn issue and another book if it had a cool cover. My collection then wasn’t big, maybe a short box worth. 
 

Around 96-97’ I stopped with comics and got into Magic the Gathering, collecting and playing. Progressed into tournament play and obsession off and on until 2006. I got into gaming and World of Warcraft hardcore until about 2010. Around that time I got into Football Cards with the fancy pieces of jerseys, autographs in hobby packs, 1/1 chasing etc. In 2012 I got back into comics, mainly Image and independents up to now where I like it all, Key issues, cheap books, collecting runs and back issues and still getting current pull file titles, with just recently hitting 4,300 books. 

[Galen130]

On 12/8/2021 at 7:41 AM, sevans1979 said:

And now a good bit of them are in my possession 

Here is my history, nothing crazy

My Dad was in the Air Force and we lived on Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Tx. My brother and I would take our allowance to the BX and they had a spinner rack back by the books and we would buy a couple of comics.  I remember mainly buying ASM, Hulk and Uncanny X-men.  We would read them and then try to draw the covers and cool panels.  Kind of a drawing contest. My dad would take us to a local comic store and I would get the latest Spawn issue and another book if it had a cool cover. My collection then wasn’t big, maybe a short box worth. 
 

Around 96-97’ I stopped with comics and got into Magic the Gathering, collecting and playing. Progressed into tournament play and obsession off and on until 2006. I got into gaming and World of Warcraft hardcore until about 2010. Around that time I got into Football Cards with the fancy pieces of jerseys, autographs in hobby packs, 1/1 chasing etc. In 2012 I got back into comics, mainly Image and independents up to now where I like it all, Key issues, cheap books, collecting runs and back issues and still getting current pull file titles, with just recently hitting 4,300 books. 

Thanks for sharing, and I'm pleased some if my collection found a good home.  

[Galen130]

Many thanks to everyone who has shared a story so far.  I, personally, think it's interesting how folks got started with comics.  Not everyone thinks their story is exciting...I didn't.  I thought it was boring. Lol.  So keep the origin stories coming!!  I think all of them are interesting. 

[LowGradeBronze]

When I was around 5 in 1969 we lived in Worcester and there was a great bookshop where I managed to persuade my mum to buy me the Penguin Book of Comics, which covered the history of comics from hieroglyphs to Famous Funnies, the Yellow Kid and everything since. It included in a special colour section which had some fab Marvel covers and tantalising pages or panels reprinted from Spider Man and the X Men.

Then one day I was taken to a traditional newagent/tobaccanist (probably so mum could buy some ciggies,) which had a spinner rack. First colour Marvel was a Gene Colan Dracula, followed by a Sal Buscema Captain America as a consolation for when the goldfish died, then we moved to the south coast. In Hastings I soon found a seafront newsagent where a Daredevil with Jim Starlin cover was bought for me, my third colour Marvel, and by then I was hooked. 

As an older child, around 14, (the 12p days) I used to buy probably ten titles a month, maybe more and it always included Avengers and X-Men (during John Byrne's fabulous run.) Visits to London comic shops and Comic Cons in Brighton yielded more goodies. It was always about the art. A shop in Brighton had comics for 30p each which included a whole slew of remaindered Pacific comics as well as Marvel and DC. Even today that same shop has a 50p box and a £1 box in which you can find 1970s Marvels. It's the thrill of what you'll find in the wild for me!

Edited December 8, 2021 by LowGradeBronze

[Galen130]

On 12/8/2021 at 9:37 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

When I was around 5 in 1969 we lived in Worcester and there was a great bookshop where I managed to persuade my mum to buy me the Penguin Book of Comics, which covered the history of comics from hieroglyphs to Famous Funnies, the Yellow Kid and everything since. It included in a special colour section which had some fab Marvel covers and tantalising pages or panels reprinted from Spider Man and the X Men.

Then one day I was taken to a traditional newagent/tobaccanist (probably so mum could buy some ciggies,) which had a spinner rack. First colour Marvel was a Gene Colan Dracula, followed by a Sal Buscema Captain America as a consolation for when the goldfish died, then we moved to the south coast. In Hastings I soon found a seafront newsagent where a Daredevil with Jim Starlin cover was bought for me, my third colour Marvel, and by then I was hooked. 

As an older child, around 14, (the 12p days) I used to buy probably ten titles a month, maybe more and it always included Avengers and X-Men (during John Byrne's fabulous run.) Visits to London comic shops and Comic Cons in Brighton yielded more goodies. It was always about the art. A shop in Brighton had comics for 30p each which included a whole slew of remaindered Pacific comics as well as Marvel and DC. Even today that same shop has a 50p box and a £1 box in which you can find 1970s Marvels. It's the thrill of what you'll find in the wild for me!

Thank you for the story.  I love hearing from our comic collecting brethren outside the U.S. 

[Ken Aldred]

I’ve always loved the inventive stories and exciting artwork in comics, the American dialogue, ever since I was first introduced to them as a young kid and got books that were distributed to the U.K. newsstands in the 70s.
 

Looking back, I suspect that I switched on to them more and became a very focused, diehard collector in the late 70s as a means of detaching from the abuse and subsequent depression that I experienced at secondary school, as a punching bag with then undiagnosed, very detached autism. It was a medium that I was thoroughly engrossed in, anyway, and so it had a practical, counteractive, therapeutic effect during that time, which was quite hellish for me. And, through other subsequent traumas, comics have always been there, faithfully seeing me through the dark days.

I’ve posted ad nauseam about going to the bus station, comic marts, local comic shops and waxed nostalgically about those early times, but I didn’t appreciate until recently what the fundamental, supportive importance of collecting, or, more specifically, reading comics has been to me.

Perhaps a little on the dark side, but, that’s the core dynamic of it all.

[kav]

On 12/8/2021 at 3:31 AM, Ken Aldred said:

It wasn’t drawn by Curt Swan, so to you it’s most likely worthless drek now.

dang

[Icculus308win]

I grew up/reside in NW suburbs of Chicago and my introduction to funny books was via my older brother. I think I was in 3rd grade - 3rd/4th grade summer, when I started inquiring (pestering) about his various comic books. He had Groo, Archies, Batmans, G.I. Joe, Avengers, X-Men and other 80s awesomeness. After a few days of probably a pretty solid barrage of annoying and dumb questions, he eventually (begrudgingly) placed a decent stack of comics into my paws. Within 2-3 weeks (He was 6 years older and was a helluva good football player) I finally sacked up and started going into his room to “borrow” his comics. 

After a few months of borrowing, a few months of my parents letting me put a couple in the cart at checkout in Jewel/Osco and than a few weeks of my brother letting me exchange the books he so graciously “lent” me for new titles…I had an epiphany of sorts. 

I realized that Groo, Snake Eyes, (obviously Storm Shadow too) and the Ninja Turtles were all so fricken cool! But why were they so awesome I pondered. Than it hit me - they all used samurai swords!! I immediately informed my parents I must get/they must get me samurai swords. After that revelation, I was forbidden to own or even read comics until I moved out of the house. 
(That last part didn’t happen, but my affinity for comics stuck and the rest is history I guess:)

Edited December 8, 2021 by Icculus308win

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 12/8/2021 at 1:20 PM, Icculus308win said:

I grew up/reside in NW suburbs of Chicago and my introduction to funny books was via my older brother. I think I was in 3rd grade - 3rd/4th grade summer, when I started inquiring (pestering) about his various comic books. He had Groo, Archies, Batmans, G.I. Joe, Avengers, X-Men and other 80s awesomeness. After a few days of probably a pretty solid barrage of annoying and dumb questions, he eventually (begrudgingly) placed a decent stack of comics into my paws. Within 2-3 weeks (He was 6 years older and was a helluva good football player) I finally sacked up and started going into his room to “borrow” his comics. 

After a few months of borrowing, a few months of my parents letting me put a couple in the cart at checkout in Jewel/Osco and than a few weeks of my brother letting me exchange the books he so graciously “lent” me for new titles…I had an epiphany of sorts. 

I realized that Groo, Snake Eyes, (obviously Storm Shadow too) and the Ninja Turtles were all so fricken cool! But why were they so awesome I pondered. Than it hit me - they all used samurai swords!! I immediately informed my parents I must get/they must get me samurai swords. After that revelation, I was forbidden to own or even read comics until I moved out of the house. 
(That last part didn’t happen, but my affinity for comics stuck and the rest is history I guess:)

Classic!!! 

[Galen130]

On 12/8/2021 at 12:20 PM, Icculus308win said:

I grew up/reside in NW suburbs of Chicago and my introduction to funny books was via my older brother. I think I was in 3rd grade - 3rd/4th grade summer, when I started inquiring (pestering) about his various comic books. He had Groo, Archies, Batmans, G.I. Joe, Avengers, X-Men and other 80s awesomeness. After a few days of probably a pretty solid barrage of annoying and dumb questions, he eventually (begrudgingly) placed a decent stack of comics into my paws. Within 2-3 weeks (He was 6 years older and was a helluva good football player) I finally sacked up and started going into his room to “borrow” his comics. 

After a few months of borrowing, a few months of my parents letting me put a couple in the cart at checkout in Jewel/Osco and than a few weeks of my brother letting me exchange the books he so graciously “lent” me for new titles…I had an epiphany of sorts. 

I realized that Groo, Snake Eyes, (obviously Storm Shadow too) and the Ninja Turtles were all so fricken cool! But why were they so awesome I pondered. Than it hit me - they all used samurai swords!! I immediately informed my parents I must get/they must get me samurai swords. After that revelation, I was forbidden to own or even read comics until I moved out of the house. 
(That last part didn’t happen, but my affinity for comics stuck and the rest is history I guess:)

Very cool!!  What kid didn’t love Samurai swords, or swords in general??!! 🤣

[Terry JSA]

I remember being in a Marshalls and seeing a comic book grab-bag. Not sure if they still sell those or not, but what drew me to value pack of comics was the cover for Batman #531. I asked my dad if he could buy the grab-bag for me and he ended up doing that. 

Fast forward to 2017, 16-year-old me rediscovered the comics I had gotten from that grab-bag and I developed an interest in comic book collecting. 

[Skylath]

So circa 2012 13 year old me was in a Barnes and Noble and had my curiosity piqued when I saw an issue of Superior Spider-Man issue 8 and Avenging Spider-Man issue #19. Reading those developed my interest and made me catch the bug but I always wanted to read the original source material but never had enough funds for omnibuses and finding digital issues online was still a bit of an enigma. I eventually got bored of Marvel's bland writing style and (even then) horrible artwork, and discovered Spawn in 2015 and was a devoted fan til 2020, then Witchblade toward the end of it's original run in November of 2015. My passion for collecting issues has plummeted significantly due to the economic troubles brought on by the virus, but now I've finally been buying the omnibuses I've always wanted (i.e. Sandman, V for Vendetta, Preacher, etc.) and still stick around here to remind me of my time in the hobby.

[batman_fan]

I would snag comics from time to time in the early 70s but seriously started collecting in 1976.  The bug hit me when a friend of my brothers showed up at our house with a box of comics.  Some of the stuff in it included Daredevil 33 and Submariner 31 (still have them).  I lived in a small town in Indiana and the only place that sold comic was a small drugstore but he dropped them so I had to beg my mom to drive me to Osgood to their drugstore to buy books.  What you got depended on the day you went.  Sometimes I could score a Spiderman but other times I had to settle for an X-men.

Stuff I snagged back then included Spiderman's in the 160s, X-men 99 and 100, Jungle Action 23 (one of my favorite covers).

We would go to Madison, IN to a used bookstore that had used comics.  I picked up older Batman's, Daredevils, Marvel Feature, Avengers, etc.  Most 0.20 cover price but some 0.15 books.

[universal soldier]

There were a few moments in my life that really defined the comic collector I am now. I've always been a voracious reader. Anytime we went to a department store when I was a kid, if I disappeared, my mom knew she would simply need to find the book section and there I would be. 

When I was 5, I fell and broke a previously fractured arm that had a bone cyst in it. Initially it was diagnosed at the age of 2+ but my arm needed to grow and develop so they held off until I officially broke it.  Anyways, I remember a boy in a neighboring bed at Children's Hospital in Boston had lost a leg. He always had comic books and can recall being fascinated and wanting to read my own. At this age, my parents would only allow the cartoon books but you take what you can get.

Fast forward to around 9 years old at summer camp. One of the older kids had a suitcase full of older ASM. I specifically remember ASM #73 and wanting soooo bad to be able to read them. Being a little kid, they wanted nothing to do with me. This was the key point led me to really start buying books off the rack. We would go on camp trips to the Cape Cod mall and there was a grocery store that I would buy books off the spinner rack . For years after this, I would write (yes write) letters to a kid I collected with about what books we had bought recently. I can even recall picking up Iron Man 100 at Penn Station on a family trip and reading it multiple times on the train ride.

The third noteworthy part of my collecting story came around the age of 19/20. During high school I stopped collecting. I was more interested in the party and girls so comics got put on the back burner. I would still pick up the occasional comic but it was random. In college I met a great friend that is the owner of my current LCS. When he put the Perez run of the New Teen Titans in front of me, I was hooked again. I've been mostly non stop since 1985 with the exception of 88/89 -93 where I needed to choose paying rent over comics .

 

[Galen130]

On 12/8/2021 at 7:51 PM, universal soldier said:

There were a few moments in my life that really defined the comic collector I am now. I've always been a voracious reader. Anytime we went to a department store when I was a kid, if I disappeared, my mom knew she would simply need to find the book section and there I would be. 

When I was 5, I fell and broke a previously fractured arm that had a bone cyst in it. Initially it was diagnosed at the age of 2+ but my arm needed to grow and develop so they held off until I officially broke it.  Anyways, I remember a boy in a neighboring bed at Children's Hospital in Boston had lost a leg. He always had comic books and can recall being fascinated and wanting to read my own. At this age, my parents would only allow the cartoon books but you take what you can get.

Fast forward to around 9 years old at summer camp. One of the older kids had a suitcase full of older ASM. I specifically remember ASM #73 and wanting soooo bad to be able to read them. Being a little kid, they wanted nothing to do with me. This was the key point led me to really start buying books off the rack. We would go on camp trips to the Cape Cod mall and there was a grocery store that I would buy books off the spinner rack . For years after this, I would write (yes write) letters to a kid I collected with about what books we had bought recently. I can even recall picking up Iron Man 100 at Penn Station on a family trip and reading it multiple times on the train ride.

The third noteworthy part of my collecting story came around the age of 19/20. During high school I stopped collecting. I was more interested in the party and girls so comics got put on the back burner. I would still pick up the occasional comic but it was random. In college I met a great friend that is the owner of my current LCS. When he put the Perez run of the New Teen Titans in front of me, I was hooked again. I've been mostly non stop since 1985 with the exception of 88/89 -93 where I needed to choose paying rent over comics .

 

Yeah...paying rent and mortgage tends to interfere. 

Thanks for your origin story!! 

[marvelmaniac]

I did not start reading Marvel until 1965, we moved, I found a new friend that collected and he had an F.F. 25 which made me...  and that was the start, my weekly 25 cent allowance was split between comic books and baseball cards.

In 1969 we moved and due to circumstances I had to leave them behind.

Fast Forward 10 years and for whatever reason I started buying/reading new issues again, (to the (ex) wife's dismay) in 1980 I found my first LCS and started with back issues, I still remember buying ASM 14, 20 and Avengers 4 for about $15.00 each, and the rest is history.

In the last 40 years I have for the most part completed my Superhero and Pre-Hero runs, on a budget, lots of "Well Loved" copies.

The book that started it all...

 

[Namtak]

On 12/7/2021 at 10:59 PM, kav said:

I was at a news stand and saw this comic of a guy in like a trapeze costume lifting a green car.  I was mesmerized.  Bought every copy they had-15.
I wonder if they worth anything today.

Nope not worth a thing.want 2 bucks for each comics??

[Namtak]

A convention when i was 5!i will always remember that day!

[kav]

On 12/9/2021 at 9:23 AM, Namtak said:

Nope not worth a thing.want 2 bucks for each comics??