Where did they go? (not what you think) 1 1

[B2D327]

Your first impression was probably, “where did these former members go?”’

Well, you’d be WRONG

Anyway, it occurred to me this morning that many of us who’ve collected comics since we were kids more than likely have either lost, traded, sold, etc. books from our collections over the years. Maybe some were major keys or other books that held a special place. Maybe an undercopy that we upgraded from but have since had slabbed but you now miss opening those old pages and seeing the artwork and ads, filled in coupons that were never sent, doodles we may have scribbled in the margins or defacing of the “why is this man smiling” ad from the back cover (at least I know I did on occasion).

   My question to you, my fellow collectors is: Have you ever wondered where these lost treasures wound up? Who may be enjoying them now. If they ended up in someone else’s collection or are sitting in a humid basement waiting to be rediscovered. Where is that run of Superboy that I wrote my name on the splash page of each issue. Maybe the reverse is true and you have a silver age Spidey in your shortbox with a name childishly scrawled on the cover as “property of…”

   As someone who’s replaced lost books constantly over the years, I’d like to think some other collector is happy to own one of those lost treasures and vice versa. I ended up with some oo copies that belonged to “Martin” and posted some examples below. Share your stories/thoughts if you have them. It’ll be nice to read some good memories since the Hero Restoration soap opera seems to be winding down. 

[THE_BEYONDER]

I still own all my childhood books, and currently only collect upgrades of those specific books....

 

[B2D327]

On 6/29/2023 at 4:36 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

I still own all my childhood books, and currently only collect upgrades of those specific books....

 

That’s pretty cool, those being books from the mid 70s we’re talking close to 50 years that you were able to hold on to them for so long. I wish I could say the same coming from that era myself but unfortunately, I had one sibling in particular that would raid my stash and give away books for whatever she got in return along with my family moving constantly made for a lot of lost issues. I’m pretty fortunate that none of what I lost was a major book that’s unaffordable these days and even if I can’t remember specific issue numbers, the internet has made it pretty easy to track down most of the books with a simple image search, this being one of my favorites:

took me awhile to hunt a nice copy down as I’m pretty sure my well loved original is nowhere near as nice but I’d have loved holding on to that copy for so many years

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 6/29/2023 at 5:09 PM, B2D327 said:

That’s pretty cool, those being books from the mid 70s we’re talking close to 50 years that you were able to hold on to them for so long. I wish I could say the same coming from that era myself but unfortunately, I had one sibling in particular that would raid my stash and give away books for whatever she got in return along with my family moving constantly made for a lot of lost issues. I’m pretty fortunate that none of what I lost was a major book that’s unaffordable these days and even if I can’t remember specific issue numbers, the internet has made it pretty easy to track down most of the books with a simple image search, this being one of my favorites:

took me awhile to hunt a nice copy down as I’m pretty sure my well loved original is nowhere near as nice but I’d have loved holding on to that copy for so many years

Thankfully none of my childhood books were keys, so they’ve always been worth more to me than anyone else. This also allows me to upgrade them all on a budget.

[ADAMANTIUM]

Tbh

This is what I thought

 

[B2D327]

On 6/29/2023 at 5:13 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

Tbh

This is what I thought

 

A ha! Told you so!

[ADAMANTIUM]

Tbh I didn't know what would happen to my collection upon moving out in early 2000zs but I didn't really have much.

When getting back in to collecting I eventually went to check, only confirmed that they weren't much.

Anything of note was Campbell gen 13, deadpool circle chase 1, and a Wolverine run including the issue that was being pumped as x23 in a test tube. Idk other than my death of Superman unopened idk that anyone would have wanted it while I was gone

 

[ADAMANTIUM]

I think spidey 1 2099 was there ghost rider glow in the dark, and other things I used to use to draw and practice shading. There wasn't anything I was proud of enough to write my name on

Depends on the age of collecting though I guess, but if death of Superman meant anything it was to not crack a book unless you have doubles.

Edited June 29, 2023 by ADAMANTIUM

[MattTheDuck]

I still have every Marvel book I bought between 1968 and 1978, but one of the things I've noticed is that there are a lot of DC books I recognize when they are posted in the various threads here - one example is the first Creeper cover or the Batman cover where Robin's supposedly dead.  A couple of the Metal Men covers, Dial H for Hero which I think a relative or friend of mine had.  What I don't know/remember is whether I actually had any those books, or whether I'm just remembering seeing them on the rack or at someone's house. 

[B2D327]

On 6/29/2023 at 6:17 PM, MattTheDuck said:

What I don't know/remember is whether I actually had any those books, or whether I'm just remembering seeing them on the rack or at someone's house. 

Strange as it seems, I can remember just about every book I owned from the many times I looked through (you could even say devoured) them even before I could read. When I would draw, even up til high school, a few of my friends would ask me how do I remember what the characters look like without having the book in front of me.

[KCOComics]

The former owner of my local comic shop grew up as a big reader. He wrote his name on every issue and collected heavily in the 60s and 70s.  

Somewhere along the way someone found a later issue JIM with his name on it.  It was right before the title changed to Thor. They found him online and saw he owned the comic shop, then mailed him his comic.

He was so happy. He proudly displayed it behind the counter with a big NFS sign and gleefully told every customer the story. 

Edited June 30, 2023 by KCOComics
Many many typos

[B2D327]

On 6/29/2023 at 7:34 PM, KCOComics said:

The further owner of my local comic shop grew up as a big reader. He wrote his name on every issue and collected heavily in the 60s and 70s.  

Somewhere along the way someone found his old copy of a JIM with his name on it.  It was right before the title changed to Thor. They looked him up online and saw he owned the comic shop, them mailed him the comic.

He was so happy. He probably displayed it behind the counter with a big NFS sign and gleefully told every customer the story. 

That’s the type of story I like to hear.

Happy endings ain’t just for massage parlors 

[AJD]

I sold my childhood collection for text book money when I was about 18. I bought this one back on eBay 35 years years later - my dad's old store stamp that I used to ID my books made it easy to recognise.