How long have you been collecting?

[Rip]

First books I got were from Star Wars. Issue 4 was the first. Started seriously in around 82. Haven't stopped since. My first big golden age purchase was done when I was around 16. It was Batman 23.

[goldust40]

Started collecting at 13 (1968); bought my first collection of SA back issues at 14 (650-700 books for $150).

 

Actively collected through college (1974) then light for a couple of years. Except for that one purchase, I only bought off the newsstand rack. Never went to a "comics store" in my life before 2002. Did not buy a single comic from 1977-2002.

 

My books were in storage at my parents' house for those 25 years without disturbance, until I shipped them to the West Coast.

 

That has to be the biggest gap in collecting comics I've heard of. Dammit Divad, if you'd got the bug back in 1982 rather than 20 years later who knows what your collection would be like now...

[divad]

Started collecting at 13 (1968); bought my first collection of SA back issues at 14 (650-700 books for $150).

 

Actively collected through college (1974) then light for a couple of years. Except for that one purchase, I only bought off the newsstand rack. Never went to a "comics store" in my life before 2002. Did not buy a single comic from 1977-2002.

 

My books were in storage at my parents' house for those 25 years without disturbance, until I shipped them to the West Coast.

 

That has to be the biggest gap in collecting comics I've heard of. Dammit Divad, if you'd got the bug back in 1982 rather than 20 years later who knows what your collection would be like now...

 

Lord knows I was pissin' my money away on other things less enchanting . . .

[goldust40]

Started collecting at 13 (1968); bought my first collection of SA back issues at 14 (650-700 books for $150).

 

Actively collected through college (1974) then light for a couple of years. Except for that one purchase, I only bought off the newsstand rack. Never went to a "comics store" in my life before 2002. Did not buy a single comic from 1977-2002.

 

My books were in storage at my parents' house for those 25 years without disturbance, until I shipped them to the West Coast.

 

That has to be the biggest gap in collecting comics I've heard of. Dammit Divad, if you'd got the bug back in 1982 rather than 20 years later who knows what your collection would be like now...

 

Lord knows I was pissin' my money away on other things less enchanting . . .

 

Probably booze, loose women, and wild partyin'.

 

What the hell were you thinking???!!??

[ronm3-migration]

I started collecting in 73/74 but not of my doing. my mother and father started buying me comics. Then whenever I would do well in school my parents would buy me comics.

[Timulty]

I started collecting in 73/74 but not of my doing. my mother and father started buying me comics. Then whenever I would do well in school my parents would buy me comics.

 

So they corrupted your fragile little mind, eh? Bad, parents man. Sorry.

[nearmint]

Started buying Archie and Richie Riches in 1970. Didn't seek out back issues, but actively traded with friends. Switched to DC and Marvel in Late '75, and started buying back issues at the local swap meet. I really miss that...getting up early on a Saturday morning to walk to the swap meet and have first crack at whatever comics were there that week.

 

Didn't see a comic shop until the early 80s, when I started buying my new books at "The Land of Oohs and Ahs" in Fountain Valley, then switched to "Fantasy Illustrated" in Garden Grove, the latter of which was a cool store that I wish was still open.

 

Took a two-year break during high school, but have been buying ever since.

[esquirecomics]

Not sure exactly when I first started but I do remember buying $0.20 Detectives in 1974, when I was about seven. I started selling comics to classmates during 5th and 6th grade. I used to stuff my knapsack full of books every day. Collected big time during those years. I had subscriptions to several titles in the early 1980s. Sold as a dealer in 1984/85 during my senior year of HS. Backed away from comics most of my college years. Got back in briefly during law school and sold at a convention in 1990. Then dropped out again throughout most of the 1990s except for some sporadic e-bay purchase. Came back full force in present form in 2003.

[batman_fan]

I started to seriously collect in 1974 when my older brother's friend came to the house and gave me a box of his old comics. First book I pulled out was Daredevil 33 (still have it!). I was hooked from that day on. I had a few years every now and then where I didn't pick up a lot of books, but never quit. Went to my first comic store in Ft Collins, CO (Mile High Comics). Spent all of my roofing money in about 10 minutes.

[action1kid]

Started in 1964 inspired by the Adventures of Superman television series on wpix channel 11 in NYC.I remember those early nyc t.v days.Officer Joe Bolton and the Three Stooges.Capt [jack] Joe Mcarthy and Popeye the sailor,Bozo the clown, and of course Superman.Than i got my 1965 Schwinn stingray bike.I lived on that for the next 4 years and forgot about cards and comics for a while.But thats how it started.

[Red Hook]

We must have been tuned in at the same time......I remember all those guys on WPIX.

[otherworldcomics]

Well, I use to pick up an issue here and there in high school in the late 80's but didn't start seriously collecting until '91-92 when a friend in college took me to a LCS and I found out how much I could sell them for. I started collecting as "investments" at that time but gave that up pretty quickly to collecting the books I enjoyed reading. Been going ever since.

[Rodey]

I collected from 1985-1997ish. Didn't get back into the game until several months ago when my coworker started talking about Infinite Crisis. So I read it, and got hooked on the comic wagon again. Now I stick to collecting 1st appearances of my favorite characters. Well, the ones I can afford.

 

So, I'm learning to collect all over again. Luckily, you guys and gals on here are really cool and informative. My experience is even better than my younger days.

 

Kudos to all of you for furthering my pastime!

 

*group hug*

[Scheradon]

I had some comics back in the late 70's as a kid, but wouldn't call myself a collector yet. I guess when I bought my first Mad magazine around 1980 or so, I began collecting for the first time. (I still collect them to this day). Pretty soon, I began collecting Groo comics because of Sergio Aragones who also drew for Mad. While looking for these at LCSs and comic shows, I began to get other books I liked, such as Conans, Planet of the Apes and so on. By the late 80's however, I was busy collecting other things for awhile and only kept up with the Mads. I didn't get back into the hobby hardcore until 4 or 5 years ago which started with fine or better raw issues and then HG slabs.

[joeypost]

First comic I remember buying was Thor #210 (1973). Have been collecting since then and have a second generation collector now in my son who started at age 5.

 

Joeypost

[mar-vell]

most of my early collecting was 1983-85, got out for years came back in 1999!

[EJR]

I have been collecting for 40 plus years and still going strong! It's just too bad that there weren't any used bookstores close to me which sold any old comics so the only comics which I collected were the ones that I bought at the Rexall drugstore! In those days there were no comic book stores or even any ads in the comic books listing old comics for sale so I assumed that the older comic books were just thrown away after being read to death!

[Darrell F]

I started collecting in the early 90's but then stopped around 2000 and just picked it up again 6 months ago.

[Karma23]

I've been collecting for about 35 years. I only read war and westerns back then, but one fateful day, on vacation, in 1977 I bought a sealed bag with 3 comics in it(some of you may remember those, they repackaged comics and sold them in sets of three). I was shocked that there was a super-hero book in with my war books! That comic was Avengers #156, and I have to say that was when my true days of collecting began.

[-cryptkeeper-]

i've bought my first american comic in 1986( thanks to french fanzine Scarce ), but was buying super heroes comics in french since 1982