the pursuit of nostalgia vs. living in the present 6 6

[marvelmaniac]

For me, getting back into collecting in 79 was all about relieving my childhood memories from the 60's.

I stopped buying/reading newer comics with the Onslaught series, you had to buy 10 books a month to keep up and it got complicated, I much prefer the simplistic art and storytelling of the early Silver Age, today's books have too much blood and gore for me, not interested in any of that in TV, Movies or Comic Books, so basically for me, it is all about Nostalgia.

[aardvark88]

Present day seems to be immersed with pop culture nostalgia from 10 to 30 years ago. e.g. Mission Impossible part 7(?), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds tv based on singular ST: the original series episodes rather than long story (Picard) arcs, Top Gun: Maverick released 3 decades after Top Gun 1, Fast and Furious part X, too many weekly variant covers or shiny chromium/nude comic covers each week a la 1991-93.

[LowGradeBronze]

I live in the present insofar as I still brush my teeth and use the toilet when I need to (occasionally even when someone else tells me I need to,) but for the rest, I live in the past where comics are still on newsprint.

[WolverineX]

On 8/7/2023 at 11:04 AM, AC Skywalker said:

Very interesting read.

I started my comic adventure in the early 90s as did a lot of others.  Collected for about 10 years then took a break.  That break lasted 20 years, only returning at the start of this year.

The landscape has changed dramatically.  One thing I find interesting when I watch comic videos or go to local cons, is that the people buying comics are my age or older.

Younger gen (I have a 13 yr old son) are all into online gaming, youtube, twitch etc.  I have a solid vintage video game and comic collection, and I often wonder as years go on will anyone care about this stuff?  Or will it be cyclical like so many other things in history and become popular again?

Nice to see everyone kind of thinking the same things.

Are 30 or 20 year olds buying comics?  If not, we should be figuring out when to sell when the last comic collecting generation dies off

[davidtere]

Only a certain amount of nostalgia is the driver to my comic book collecting and reading. 

I consider comic books to be the perfect medium for my entertainment. I started reading comics slightly after Robot Man and my first comic that I can remember was Batman # 161 (1963) and my first Marvel was Marvel Tales # 1. (1964). I enjoy good art and good stories, which is why the medium is perfect for me. I spent my wonder years reading Marvels (after my first one) until Kirby went to DC. My collecting interests mostly lie in the Golden (Fiction House and Fox and other GGA esoteric titles) and Silver age (Superman Family titles) and my favorite reading is DC late 50's to mid 60's), none of that for the most part were comics I read / collected when I was a kid. I love most everything produced by Simon & Kirby, no matter the genre. 

I read a comic story every day. I'm currently engaged with the Superman Omnibus Vol. 7 with the latest Barks reprint from Fantagraphics on deck. None of that is nostalgia driven. I just love comic books and comic book stories. Oh, yeah...and a bit of original comic book art strikes my fancy. 

I lead a fairly balanced life...married 40 years, adult children and the youngest grandchild just graduated H.S. and will be attending SDSU in the fall. As a retired guy, I keep busy with my home life, my dogs, golf, and I just received my author's copies of my first book that will be out sometime late fall, early winter. Very exciting times for a boomer. 

I like to check in on the boards to see what you all are doing. I'm appreciative of all of you who contribute regularly. You guys are a lot of fun and always give me a lot to think about regarding our hobby. Collect what you love, read what is fun. Enjoy what you do. 

[Stefan_W]

On 8/7/2023 at 1:08 AM, factory sealed said:

I have friends that have spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on vintage comics or toys all in the pursuit to experience or relive moments that have been permanently lost in time.

Admittedly I will say unequivocally my "best" days are behind me and everyone from their own respective generation will have their particular specific favorites. I feel very fortunate to have grown up between the 70s/80s. What an incredible time period this was ranging from comics, cartoons, music, non-sports trading cards, movies, toys, and video games.  

That immense and incredible build up of anticipation before holidays and birthdays or riding your bike to a 7-11 in hopes that the new comic issues had been put out on the rack or walking into an arcade to hear that loud thunderous echoing of five different Defender and Centipede machines being played simultaneously etc.

These core memories and moments are so very special to all of us. I am just curious; especially for folks with OCD type personalities such as myself, how do you balance your own pursuits of nostalgic bliss and collecting goals vs. an appreciation for living and enjoying in the present moment. 

Great topic - thank you for this.

I collected comics through the mid-70s into the late 80s and most of my initial collection was made up of Star Wars and Fantastic Four. The comic market crashed right when I was starting university so I left the hobby aside and just kept my books in boxes that were hidden away. This changed 8 or 9 years ago when my daughter found my comics and was interested in them. I found a local comic shop, took her there, and she started collecting My Little Pony and TMNT series. Being around comics got me going again, and I started to buy books that I was never able to afford as a kid to fill out my runs.

I bought up old comics for a couple of years. After a purchase I would sit at my table, crack open a beer, and savour ever moment of reading these books that I was previously only able to see up on walls in comic stores that I frequented in my youth. It carried on this this for a bit. 

Then something odd happened. I picked up an X-Men 94, which was one of my grails when I was younger (it shot up in price a lot in a short time after it was released). When I cracked it open and read it I was shocked to discover the writing and story sucked royally. I had similar experiences with a lot of the single digit Avengers comics.

This shocked me away from being stuck in the past and I started buying up more recent comics as well, which I never thought would happen. Another big change is that I used to focus on filling out runs, and now I am ok with buying a comic because I love the cover. For example, I do not know what happens in Tec 880 and I dont care - I just love that Jock cover. 

TL;DR - Although I got back into it for nostalgia, and to share my love of comics with my daughter, the way I collect really evolved quickly over the past few years. I still OCD over completing runs more than a lot of younger collectors do, but mixed in with all of that I am far more eclectic about what I buy and why I buy it. Makes sense to me when I think about it since I am a very different person now than I was 40 years ago. 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Stefan_W

[Cat]

I'm really conscious of stamps. I don't want what I collect to be the next stamps. Except for Transformers. I'm too into that to care. All that'd mean for me would be cheaper prices and a complete collection a lot sooner, albeit no new releases, no new media. So still horrible. 

It's stamps we have to beware of. 

[Ryan.]

On 8/7/2023 at 12:46 PM, WolverineX said:

Are 30 or 20 year olds buying comics?  If not, we should be figuring out when to sell when the last comic collecting generation dies off

The comic industry was teetering on death in the late 50s and the late 70s and it was a real wasteland in the late 90s. Like most things in life, it has its ebbs and flows.

[seanlinc]

Very interesting topic, I originally collected comics as a kid in the early 80s then again in the mid 90s. I only got back into them in 2021 when i started poking through my 2 totes of comics in the attic. I find now i'm only interested in the titles and charecters that i had originally collected and have been having a great time working on my books getting them graded keeping the ones that grade well and selling the others. As well as buying raw comics and doing the same with them. Other then some random books that came in lots I don't think i have hardly any books published later then say 1996 

[themagicrobot]

In the 1960s I collected anything that was free or very cheap. Matchboxes, coins, stamps, comics. I used to cut out the comic strips from newspapers. I got into a routine of visiting relatives and neighbours for the Daily Mirror (for Garth and Andy Cap and the Perishers), the Daily Sketch (for Peanuts) and Evening papers for Modesty Blaze and many others. These were pasted into scrapbooks. Pre 1971 you could still get Victorian coins in your small change and it was relatively easy to get a collection of pennies from 1890 to 1967. I collected stamps because that was completely free. People still wrote letters. My mother worked in an office and they got parcels delivered with exotic £2 stamps. I had one of these albums and didn't think anything odd about what it was called. Now you can buy one of these on eBay full of stamps for peanuts. That desire to acquire stuff has been lost in the more recent generations. Most of my friends that are a decade younger than me pride themselves on their perfect minimalist living and are aghast at my heaps of boxes of comics and my shelves of books. My garage is full of stuff. They have knocked a wall between house and garage to extend the kitchen and utility room. Different generations have different priorities. As soon as I was old enough I wanted a bike/car. I know people now in their thirties that have never bothered or needed to take a driving test. Today you don't need to own a mountain of LPs to listen to your favourite music whenever you want to. Different strokes etc etc.

[Robot Man]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:50 AM, factory sealed said:

Any thoughts on this in comparison to your era? For me personally a large distinction of what drives my own personal obsession for nostalgia was the very deep rooted connection we had with a specific character(s) that spanned many different product channels between the comics first but also really well made cartoons, non-trading cards, aisle and aisles of action figures at different toy stores that were stacked to the ceilings, brilliant cinema movies, and allot of younger folks forget but in the 70s and early 80s there were even several super hero prime timeTV shows i.e. Spider-man, Captain America, Incredible Hulk etc. 

So what I'm driving at is there were so many different platforms back in this time frame to consume incredible quality content. It was just everywhere. And obviously when Star Wars came out and then the early 80s cycle of super hero cartoons i.e. MOTU, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Thundercats etc. this just took everything to a whole different level.

Funny you mention Batman; before it was syndicated more broadly speaking so you could watch it week days after school in the early 80s, back in mid/late 70s it was only shown once a week and super early on Saturday mornings either 6AM or 7AM. Never missed an episode, Those cliffhangers were just simply awesome.

As a kid, comics wern’t “collected” as they are now. Just stuff we picked up off the drug store rack, read and enjoyed. All the kids in the neighborhood did it. Along with monster cards and the like. If you missed one, there was always creative trading with your friends. I did actively seek out MAD magazines. Trying to get them all. Hitting garage sales and used book stores. When you found a “ten center” it was a big deal and highly prized no matter what it was.

I watched Batman, The Munsters ect during prime time as it came out. But only if my dad wasn’t home. If it conflicted with Bonanza or Wagon Train, I was out of luck. My dad thought these shows were stupid and often remarked “in my day, monsters were scarey”. As an adult now, I would agree. He also would berate us when The Kinks or Rolling Stones came on Ed Sullivan.

As much as I have nostalgia for my childhood, even then I was seeking out the “old stuff”. A lot of my nostalgia comes from seeking it out. 

[Robot Man]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:38 AM, themagicrobot said:

In the 1960s I collected anything that was free or very cheap. Matchboxes, coins, stamps, comics. I used to cut out the comic strips from newspapers. I got into a routine of visiting relatives and neighbours for the Daily Mirror (for Garth and Andy Cap and the Perishers), the Daily Sketch (for Peanuts) and Evening papers for Modesty Blaze and many others. These were pasted into scrapbooks. Pre 1971 you could still get Victorian coins in your small change and it was relatively easy to get a collection of pennies from 1890 to 1967. I collected stamps because that was completely free. People still wrote letters. My mother worked in an office and they got parcels delivered with exotic £2 stamps. I had one of these albums and didn't think anything odd about what it was called. Now you can buy one of these on eBay full of stamps for peanuts. That desire to acquire stuff has been lost in the more recent generations. Most of my friends that are a decade younger than me pride themselves on their perfect minimalist living and are aghast at my heaps of boxes of comics and my shelves of books. My garage is full of stuff. They have knocked a wall between house and garage to extend the kitchen and utility room. Different generations have different priorities. As soon as I was old enough I wanted a bike/car. I know people now in their thirties that have never bothered or needed to take a driving test. Today you don't need to own a mountain of LPs to listen to your favourite music whenever you want to. Different strokes etc etc.

Yeah, and getting stuff out of cereal boxes as well as sending away for stuff.

[shadroch]

On 8/7/2023 at 6:51 AM, WolverineX said:

Yeah, it seems like manga, fortnite, pokemon have all supplanted comics.  Does that mean we should try to sell off our books in the next 20 years?  

Why wait?

[Gonzimodo]

On 8/7/2023 at 8:41 AM, lizards2 said:

...when I was a twelve year old Marvel zuvembie...

Nice.  

[lizards2]

On 8/7/2023 at 10:48 AM, Gonzimodo said:

On 8/7/2023 at 5:41 AM, lizards2 said:

...when I was a twelve year old Marvel zuvembie...

Nice.  

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/7/2023 at 6:42 PM, Robot Man said:

Yeah, and getting stuff out of cereal boxes as well as sending away for stuff.

+1

Finding Doctor Who cards down the side of the Weetabix box was thrilling beyond measure 

[themagicrobot]

I guess we have to blame the Interweb for making everything available on demand and virtually free. If I didn't get the latest Superman comic when it appeared on the spinner rack I might never see another copy unless I was lucky a year or so later at the second-hand book stall. If I wasn't in front of the TV at 7.30pm on a Sunday for Batman I wouldn't get another chance until the following week. The scarcity of everything made them both important and valuable. Once you could download every Spider-Man comic or CD for free on the Pirate Bay the world shifted on its axis.

Edited August 7, 2023 by themagicrobot

[WolverineX]

On 8/7/2023 at 1:44 PM, shadroch said:

Why wait?

I still like looking at them and not planning on retiring anytime soon... but maybe I should...

[themagicrobot]

That is the biggest difference between myself and many people here. As a child old comics were valued at half the price of new comics. Even when I first went to Comic Marts and had to pay a slight premium to get ND Marvels I still didn't see my collection as having a monetary value greater than its cost price. I still see things that way and may end up giving stuff away if I find someone deserving rather than selling it further down the line. My advice to the people with collections/individual comics that they think someone else will buy at top price today like a Ponzi scheme is SELL SELL SELL. When the world ends/Martians invade they won't care less about Incredible Hulk 181.

[Gonzimodo]

I'm pretty driven by nostalgia in my buying and collecting, but I also have a wife, kids, friends, job, and church to keep me busy and not wallowing in the past too much.  I definitely buy way more new stuff than I should, though. 

However, I'm getting to the point where I think I need to start selling off a lot of it.  It's kind of morbid, but I really don't want my wife and kids to have to deal with all this stuff when I'm gone.  I used to have grand designs of being a big hero and passing off an amazing collection of comics and toys to my appreciative kids when I go, but they don't seem to have any interest in any of it.