How long have you been collecting?

[bronzilla]

Off and on since about 1970 Took off about 15 years while raising my kids Comics got too expensive while raising my family in the early years

[gernblanston]

Since 1974 or so. My first collection was of the Joker. I also collected Iron Fist books. I still have all those books from the 1970's, but the condition is funny bad considering how I thought I was protecting the books by putting them in protective bags and boards.

[Earl Davis]

1972 or 1973.

 

Earl.

[Captain_Pike]

Since 1975 on and off. First book I bought off the stand was ASM 146. I still have the book.

[Superman1981]

i collect since 4 month:) and i love comic book collect . I collect SA asm and GA Batman

[Primetime]

started drawing from comics and comic strips when I was about 5-6, so that's when the comic reading began (1980ish)...continued to buy new comics from my local comic shop and 7-Eleven from 1982-1990. Stopped collecting in 1990. Didn't do too much comic wise in high school. Then upon graduation 1992-93, found a cool comic shop which had a slew of SA keys....started buying actively in 1993 in Silver and had most of the Keys by 1995, caught the Timely bug in 1996--first Timely was a Marvel Mystery #15---and I've been at it since---collecting mainly GA Timelys and Tecs + SA Marvels

[Seadevils]

I've been on the boards just over a week or so and just saw this thread.

 

I started my own topic ""new here 30 years collecting DC silver" in the comics general section. Thought I would expand on my introduction here.

 

Been collecting mainly DC's since 1971 when I was 9. Purchased my first GA Superman when I was 15 (1975). # 29 poor copy and it's still in the Robert Bell comic bag it came in. Remember those?

 

Ordered my first 200 comic bags around 1975 from Bell, Hunt, Rogolfsky, one of those guys. AAuurgghhhh!! Those guys and their stupid crummy credit notes! If they didn't have what you ordered they would never refund your $$.

 

Somewhere around here I purchased my first Overstreet PG at a Waldens Book Store. Believe it was #7 or 8.

 

Then about '76 or '77 a kid down the road showed me some GA books his dad had when he was a boy. Whiz, Capt. Marvel, World's Finest starting with # 20. About 25 books total. I gave him $1 each and still have most of them today.

 

Collected through the JR. High years. High School saw cool muscle cars (mine was a '67 mustang) and girlfriends. Comics were left in a wall cabinet for several years untouched. Graduated 1980. First comic shop in Arkansas opens in North Little Rock, 1982. I heard about it right as it was opening and immediately was hooked. That's when I discovered the hardback version of the OSPG, comic boxes and backing boards. Wow! What a novel idea.

 

Also the shop owner had purchased a DC collection that just so happened to be practically every DC that was published from 1977 to 1982. The years that I had quit collecting. It was amazing! I purchased the whole lot from him for $700!

 

I also purchased sweet copies of JLA #1. Green Lantern #1, Tales of Suspense 39, Daredevil #1, etc.

 

Shortly after the comic shop owner turned away a guy that wanted to sell his DC collection. I happened to be in the store at the time. He pointed over at me and told the man; "I do not have much use for DC's, most all my customers prefer Marvels. That guy there loves DC's. Talk to him". My eyes lit up as the man approached and told me he had three grocery bags (the old sturdy brown paper bags...not plastic) full of comics from when he was in college in the 60's.

 

I immediatley followed him to his house and when he brought those suckers out my jaw hit the floor. Beautiful stunning copies of vintage 1960's DC's. mostly 1964 till about '69. I mean these were all NM to M!! (by today's standards they were VF to VF+ to VF/NM and a few NM-'s). I asked the man what he wanted for them and he said a $1 each. God!! I wanted them all!! I was quite limited in funds so I asked the guy if he'd hold up trying to sell until I raised the cash. I ran home and convinced my father to loan me $200 bucks. That was all I could get. I had about $50 of my own money to add to it.

 

When I returned to the man's house it was tough trying to decide what to buy. Showcases galore from around #40 till the end , Brave and Bolds from # 50 or so till 90 something. JLA #21 up to 80 or 90.(ironic, the first JSA app. in SA). Lois Lanes (including #70), Jimmy Olsens, Action, Superman, Green Lantern's(including #40), 3 copies of Teen Titans #1. And an Aquaman #1 (about a fine copy)that he said he had to pay a collector's price for and wanted $5 for it. He had an older OSPG from the 70's there and was basing the collections values on those prices. Fortunately I left my then current '82 price guide at home.

 

I was only able to purchase about half of his books. But most of the above mentions I did buy. Along with some Seadevils, Rip Hunter, Strange Adventures, House of Mystery, Mystery in Space, etc.

 

I do not recall what was left laying on the table. Mostly Batman's and Detectives. But I had hit the mother load. Later I heard the man regretted his sale to me and actually started collecting again. So I was never able to go back after the Batman books.

 

The mid to late 80's brought a new collecting experience that I can't shake to this day. I started to collect all the cool toys and Aurora model kits that was advertised in the comics. Many I had when I was a kid. Major Matt Mason, Captain Action, Johnny West, GI Joes, Viewmasters, Zeroids, Redline Hotwheels, and more. So I was an "on again off again" toy/comic collector.

 

Anyhow I continued to collect new comics until '94 when I was just sick of all the and hipe the industry was turning out. $200 bucks a month for new comics?

I could be buying gold and silver at those prices. Went to my first real comic con in '94 as well. Actually I traveled with a dealer and helped set up at over a dozen shows coast to coast that year. NYC twice, Detroit, Oakland, St. Louis, Dallas, what an experience.

 

Haven't been to a comic con since '95. Spent all my $$ completing many SA DC runs. With "toy Shop" trade paper My toy collecting went into high gear from 1990 to about '96, then the internet came along. Then Ebay. I Created a couple web sites devoted to the toys and models that are still going today.

 

Well...sorry about the long post. Don't want to drag this out and be a boar. So many more experiences I could have filled in with. I always enjoy telling my comic collecting stories as a lot of you here I find are close to my age and have similar experiences.

 

Glad I finally joined the boards. So far I've met some very nice and helpful collectors. (thumbs u

 

Seadevils

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hepcat]

The first comics I can remember reading were the Harvey Felix's Nephews Inky & Dinky.The first comics I can recall buying were the Dell Cicero's Cat #1 and #2 in the summer of 1959.

 

The first superhero comic I distinctly remember reading was the Archie Adventures of the Fly #11 in 1961. The first DC superhero comic I can specifically remember reading was Green Lantern #11. The first superhero comic I ever bought was Justice League #14 in 1962.

 

These comics had a lifelong influence on me. But so did the bubble gum cards I collected and model kits I built as a kid.

 

Despite the fact that my boyhood treasures all went by the wayside at some point in time, I never completely lost interest in these things. Throughout high school and university I always wished I still had my comics and cards.

 

My first job after university was in 1977 and by 1979 I was back to collecting. Big time.

 

I collect comics from 1945 to 1972. My concentration is Silver Age DC like Justice League, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Atom, Hawkman, Mystery in Space, Sea Devils, Challengers of the Unknown, Metal Men, Wonder Woman, Tales of the Unexpected, Teen Titans, Fox & the Crow etc. I'm just about solid in my main titles going back to 1962. For example, I have all the Justice Leagues going back to 1960 with the exception of issues 5, 6 and 47.

 

I also collect other titles like Fly, Jaguar, Black Cat, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Space Adventures, Gorgo, Herbie, Turok, Dr. Solar, Lone Ranger, Gold Key Phantom and many Atom Age Jungle and Adventure titles like Sheena, Jumbo, Space Western and Commander Battle & the Atomic Sub. I have a few Harveys such as Casper, Wendy, Spooky, Little Dot, Little Audrey and Hot Stuff and quite a few Dell Funny Animal comics.

 

I also have a very good collection of the car humour mags like Drag Cartoons, Hot Rod Cartoons and CARtoons. I also collect the Warren horror mags and the Skywalds. I have a small collection of Mad magazines from the late fifties and early sixties but I haven't pursued either the horror or Mad magazines very aggressively though.

 

My collections of CFL cards and such from the fifties to 1972 is among the best in Canada. I also have a very nice collection of hockey cards from 1957 to 1973. I also have hundreds of baseball cards although these I've not pursued aggressively.

 

I also collect non-sport cards from 1948 to 1972. These I find even more interesting than sport cards. Favourite sets in my collection include You'll Die Laughing, Funny Valentines, Mr. Foney's Foney Ads, Civil War News, Casper, TV Westerns, Goofy Series Postcards, Wacky Plaks, Fight the Red Menace, Round-Up and Spook Stories. I haven't yet found Mars Attacks and Battle sets in sufficiently high grade. These two sets would be excruciatingly expensive.

 

My collection of premium coins - hockey, football, baseball, cars, warships, space etc. - from potato chips and jelly desserts is among the best in the world.

 

I collect unbuilt figure model kits - the Aurora monster and other figure models, Hawk Weird-Ohs, Revell "Big Daddy" Roth, AMT Star Trek vessels etc. I have well over 100 of these including most of the ones I want. For example, the only Roth kits I need are Surfite, Scuzzfink, Boss Fink and Robin' Hood Fink and and the only Aurora monsters I need are the King Kong, Godzilla and Wolfman's Wagon. These are very tough to find.

 

I also collect unbuilt Aurora plane and ship models from the sixties and some drag and stock car model kits from the seventies. I have a few Mint in Box board games from the sixties including Casper, Terrytoons, Outer Limits, Shindig, The Deputy, Mighty Crusaders and Lost in Space. I have a couple of dozen Mint on Card Duncan Spin Tops.

 

I have a very impressive collection of unbuilt slot car kits from the sixties, primarily Monogram and AMT. As you might imagine, these are particularly difficult to find. I have nearly forty Mint in Box slot cars.

 

I also have a modest collection of other toys including a Three Keys to Treasure Bagatelle, several Kenner Presto Sparkle Paint Sets, three different Hasbro Marble Mazes and some Hamilton Invader items. The "toy" I most covet is a Mint in Box Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist Laboratory chemistry set which I had as a kid.

 

I have a small collection of Lionel HO trains. Eventually I'd like to have a 1/29 scale garden railroad outside with Aristocraft and USA Trains equipment. I'll model a 1950s scene and mix 4-8-4 Northern steam engines with GP7 and GP9 diesels in my layout.

 

I also collect refillable soda pop bottles, 16 ounces and smaller, and 1/4 pint and 1/2 pint round painted label milk bottles from the 1920s to the 1950s. I specialize in Ontario dairies. I now have several hundred bottles in a custom built kitchen pantry with glass doors to store and display the bottles.

 

I have a couple very nicely restored Beaver gumball machines from the sixties. As soon as I create the space in my kitchen, I intend to acquire one of the pop machines from the sixties where you pulled the bottle out toward you horizontally. I also really want one of the small metal Wishing Well thermometers which hung in many variety stores when I was a young boy.

 

I love music and my record collection. I'm mostly into blues, psychedelic and garage bands including some punk. My favourite bands are the Rolling Stones, Doors, Animals, Cream, Kinks, Yardbirds, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Led Zeppelin, Who, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, etc. I still have my original Gerrard SL95B turntable but I'm planning to buy a new pair of speakers, probably Paradigm Studio 200s.

 

I have more than half the picture sleeves to the singles of the Rolling Stones on London Records. A noteworthy one I lack is the sleeve to Jumping Jack Flash.

 

Collecting is a terrible compulsion to be sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[djpinkpanther67]

The first comics I can remember reading were the Harvey Felix's Nephews Inky & Dinky.The first comics I can recall buying were the Dell Cicero's Cat #1 and #2 in the summer of 1959.

 

The first superhero comic I distinctly remember reading was the Archie Adventures of the Fly #11 in 1961. The first DC superhero comic I can specifically remember reading was Green Lantern #11. The first superhero comic I ever bought was Justice League #14 in 1962.

 

These comics had a lifelong influence on me. But so did the bubble gum cards I collected and model kits I built as a kid.

 

Despite the fact that my boyhood treasures all went by the wayside at some point in time, I never completely lost interest in these things. Throughout high school and university I always wished I still had my comics and cards.

 

My first job after university was in 1977 and by 1979 I was back to collecting. Big time.

 

I collect comics from 1945 to 1972. My concentration is Silver Age DC like Justice League, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Atom, Hawkman, Mystery in Space, Sea Devils, Challengers of the Unknown, Metal Men, Wonder Woman, Tales of the Unexpected, Teen Titans, Fox & the Crow etc. I'm just about solid in my main titles going back to 1962. For example, I have all the Justice Leagues going back to 1960 with the exception of issues 5, 6 and 47.

 

I also collect other titles like Fly, Jaguar, Black Cat, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Space Adventures, Gorgo, Herbie, Turok, Dr. Solar, Lone Ranger, Gold Key Phantom and many Atom Age Jungle and Adventure titles like Sheena, Jumbo, Space Western and Commander Battle & the Atomic Sub. I have a few Harveys such as Casper, Wendy, Spooky, Little Dot, Little Audrey and Hot Stuff and quite a few Dell Funny Animal comics.

 

I also have a very good collection of the car humour mags like Drag Cartoons, Hot Rod Cartoons and CARtoons. I also collect the Warren horror mags and the Skywalds. I have a small collection of Mad magazines from the late fifties and early sixties but I haven't pursued either the horror or Mad magazines very aggressively though.

 

My collections of CFL cards and such from the fifties to 1972 is among the best in Canada. I also have a very nice collection of hockey cards from 1957 to 1973. I also have hundreds of baseball cards although these I've not pursued aggressively.

 

I also collect non-sport cards from 1948 to 1972. These I find even more interesting than sport cards. Favourite sets in my collection include You'll Die Laughing, Funny Valentines, Mr. Foney's Foney Ads, Civil War News, Casper, TV Westerns, Goofy Series Postcards, Wacky Plaks, Fight the Red Menace, Round-Up and Spook Stories. I haven't yet found Mars Attacks and Battle sets in sufficiently high grade. These two sets would be excruciatingly expensive.

 

My collection of premium coins - hockey, football, baseball, cars, warships, space etc. - from potato chips and jelly desserts is among the best in the world.

 

I collect unbuilt figure model kits - the Aurora monster and other figure models, Hawk Weird-Ohs, Revell "Big Daddy" Roth, AMT Star Trek vessels etc. I have well over 100 of these including most of the ones I want. For example, the only Roth kits I need are Surfite, Scuzzfink, Boss Fink and Robin' Hood Fink and and the only Aurora monsters I need are the King Kong, Godzilla and Wolfman's Wagon. These are very tough to find.

 

I also collect unbuilt Aurora plane and ship models from the sixties and some drag and stock car model kits from the seventies. I have a few Mint in Box board games from the sixties including Casper, Terrytoons, Outer Limits, Shindig, The Deputy, Mighty Crusaders and Lost in Space. I have a couple of dozen Mint on Card Duncan Spin Tops.

 

I have a very impressive collection of unbuilt slot car kits from the sixties, primarily Monogram and AMT. As you might imagine, these are particularly difficult to find. I have nearly forty Mint in Box slot cars.

 

I also have a modest collection of other toys including a Three Keys to Treasure Bagatelle, several Kenner Presto Sparkle Paint Sets, three different Hasbro Marble Mazes and some Hamilton Invader items. The "toy" I most covet is a Mint in Box Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist Laboratory chemistry set which I had as a kid.

 

I have a small collection of Lionel HO trains. Eventually I'd like to have a 1/29 scale garden railroad outside with Aristocraft and USA Trains equipment. I'll model a 1950s scene and mix 4-8-4 Northern steam engines with GP7 and GP9 diesels in my layout.

 

I also collect refillable soda pop bottles, 16 ounces and smaller, and 1/4 pint and 1/2 pint round painted label milk bottles from the 1920s to the 1950s. I specialize in Ontario dairies. I now have several hundred bottles in a custom built kitchen pantry with glass doors to store and display the bottles.

 

I have a couple very nicely restored Beaver gumball machines from the sixties. As soon as I create the space in my kitchen, I intend to acquire one of the pop machines from the sixties where you pulled the bottle out toward you horizontally. I also really want one of the small metal Wishing Well thermometers which hung in many variety stores when I was a young boy.

 

I love music and my record collection. I'm mostly into blues, psychedelic and garage bands including some punk. My favourite bands are the Rolling Stones, Doors, Animals, Cream, Kinks, Yardbirds, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Led Zeppelin, Who, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, etc. I still have my original Gerrard SL95B turntable but I'm planning to buy a new pair of speakers, probably Paradigm Studio 200s.

 

I have more than half the picture sleeves to the singles of the Rolling Stones on London Records. A noteworthy one I lack is the sleeve to Jumping Jack Flash.

 

Collecting is a terrible compulsion to be sure.

 

 

 

 

 

God I bet your house is cluttered!

[Jo Seph]

One Month

[Earl Davis]

1972

[gilbertotorres]

7 years. since 2001

[samurai007]

I started in about 1979 when I was 8 yrs old, so I've been collecting for 29 years now...

[Dollarbill]

1988

[jerome34]

Well kids, I got most of you beat.

 

I started my first comic collection with All Star 13 in late

September 1942. I collected heavily until about 1950. At

that point, I sold off most of my collection (about 1000

comics, mostly super-heroes, for $100.00) to support my

collection of Science Fiction pulps.

 

I do not regret the sale since my kid brothers sold the few

books I kept (Action 6 & All Star 6 –54/57

issue>) to get booze and cigarettes.

 

I then took a short break from comics while collecting

Science Fiction where I had at least 80 % of all SF pulps

and digests published before 1965. They went to the MIT

Science Fiction Society.

 

Another collection begun in 1953 of books and records

of Folk Music, which I still have and enjoy.

 

I finished the short break from comics in spring of 1983

and have been collecting ever since. Yes, I completely

missed the Silver Age and much of the Bronze Age.

 

I am trying to complete a collection of DC comics from

1935 to date. Once it is complete, I plan to sit down and

read it in chronological order. Then, assuming I have any

working brain cells left, I think I will sell it.

 

Jerome

 

[thecollectron]

Well kids, I got most of you beat.

 

I started my first comic collection with All Star 13 in late

September 1942. I collected heavily until about 1950. At

that point, I sold off most of my collection (about 1000

comics, mostly super-heroes, for $100.00) to support my

collection of Science Fiction pulps.

 

I do not regret the sale since my kid brothers sold the few

books I kept (Action 6 & All Star 6 –54/57

issue>) to get booze and cigarettes.

 

I then took a short break from comics while collecting

Science Fiction where I had at least 80 % of all SF pulps

and digests published before 1965. They went to the MIT

Science Fiction Society.

 

Another collection begun in 1953 of books and records

of Folk Music, which I still have and enjoy.

 

I finished the short break from comics in spring of 1983

and have been collecting ever since. Yes, I completely

missed the Silver Age and much of the Bronze Age.

 

I am trying to complete a collection of DC comics from

1935 to date. Once it is complete, I plan to sit down and

read it in chronological order. Then, assuming I have any

working brain cells left, I think I will sell it.

 

Jerome

 

and welcome to the boards! I would have liked to see some scans of the SF pulps but it looks like they went to a good home.

[djpinkpanther67]

I was reading them at age 6 (1973), started being a serious grade conscious collector in 1975, when I was 8... I completed every Marvel superhero title by the time I hit 13...A great deal of you know what happened to them so I won't get into that

[Unca Ben]

since 1964-65

[jools&jim]

Reading & accumulating 'em since '72, collecting (completing runs, conscious of grade, etc.) since the mid '70s...

[Fazybones]

I know I've definitely told this story via PM to some members and

I don't think I've told it to the boards. I was selling clothes on e-bay

and my Mother-in-law gave me a box of late 50's early sixties books

and asked will these sell on e-bay.

 

I thought we were rich until I put in some research into the grades

and realized condition of the books actually meant something. There

were 118 books in the box and I would say they ranged from VG- to

VG/FN with the odd book better. Half way through selling them as I

was packaging up each shipment I stopped to read a few books and

admired the art work and the bright colorful covers amazed me.Out

of the 118 comics there was one coverless book and it was JLA #1.

 

I immediately stopped selling those books and started searching e-bay

for books to buy and went from a NOOB seller to a NOOB collector

overnight and that was five and half years ago and I've never looked back.

 

I just love this hobby and plan on never leaving.