With the recent influx of comics related topics I thought... most of us seem to be pretty "into" comics, so what does your collection look like? What do you collect, why? How long have you collected? How big is the ol' collection?
I've been really into comics since the early 90s, shortly before the Death of Superman arc and then that just sorta kicked it into overdrive. Soon my collection went from a small plastic box to a long box... to many many banker's boxes full LOL
I typically collect superhero books - Iron Man, Avengers, Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, X-Men, Fantastic Four etc. A few others here and there but mostly Marvel and DC. I used to buy tons on the newstands and at comic shops during the 90s and early 2000s, but then when the price of a new issue skyrocketed (I mean some of these are now up to about $4 bucks for a regular issue - that's NUTS!) so I mostly collect back issues now. Since that's where I tend to find them at prices closer to what I paid in the 90s and heck, even cheaper yet!
I've never had a lot of money, and now with my job's hours cut way back, I have even less money so the back issues have been a great way to save some money and still have some new stuff to read. I have to admit, there's still something fun about picking up a brand new comic (even if it IS like a decade old LOL) and not really knowing what's going to happen on the inside. Some, sure I KINDA know but I've never actually read the pages, so its fun.
One thing I've always lamented is that for quite a while now, you simply cannot buy a comic at a local drug store or discount store or even a gas station anymore. You either have to find a book store, which may or may not have a very large selection OR hunt down a local comic shop, OR shop online. I think part of the problem with why sales of comics are down compared to the heyday... they just aren't as available. I remember counting every comic in my collection once in the 90s, when I was in high school, and this was before I had a lot of my own money, beyond whatever I got for my birthday, christmas, or from the times my grandparents would slip me a few dollars here and there and at that time, I had nearly 200 comics. I picked up every new Spider-Man title, every new Superman title, even a few of the X-Men titles and Ghost Rider every week for at least a few years. All from the little corner drug store down the street from my house. Then later on a comic shop opened only a few blocks away from my mom's office. and then I started really goin' nuts. And then Toys R Us and K-Mart used to sell big packs of comics, some of them not more than a few months old, for some crazy amount like 25 comics for 10 bucks or something. So that quickly added to the count.
But now, I find myself buying fewer and fewer "new" books and more and more back issues. Or I've been picking up trades lately. So I guess my point is... do you still buy single issues as much as you used to, or have you cut back and waited for the trade, which usually comes out a few months after the storyline has ended and only buy the monthly floppies if its got say, a cool cover, or its the first issue of the story?
I'm curious to see what other comics fans on this board are like...
I've been really into comics since the early 90s, shortly before the Death of Superman arc and then that just sorta kicked it into overdrive. Soon my collection went from a small plastic box to a long box... to many many banker's boxes full LOL
I typically collect superhero books - Iron Man, Avengers, Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, X-Men, Fantastic Four etc. A few others here and there but mostly Marvel and DC. I used to buy tons on the newstands and at comic shops during the 90s and early 2000s, but then when the price of a new issue skyrocketed (I mean some of these are now up to about $4 bucks for a regular issue - that's NUTS!) so I mostly collect back issues now. Since that's where I tend to find them at prices closer to what I paid in the 90s and heck, even cheaper yet!
I've never had a lot of money, and now with my job's hours cut way back, I have even less money so the back issues have been a great way to save some money and still have some new stuff to read. I have to admit, there's still something fun about picking up a brand new comic (even if it IS like a decade old LOL) and not really knowing what's going to happen on the inside. Some, sure I KINDA know but I've never actually read the pages, so its fun.
One thing I've always lamented is that for quite a while now, you simply cannot buy a comic at a local drug store or discount store or even a gas station anymore. You either have to find a book store, which may or may not have a very large selection OR hunt down a local comic shop, OR shop online. I think part of the problem with why sales of comics are down compared to the heyday... they just aren't as available. I remember counting every comic in my collection once in the 90s, when I was in high school, and this was before I had a lot of my own money, beyond whatever I got for my birthday, christmas, or from the times my grandparents would slip me a few dollars here and there and at that time, I had nearly 200 comics. I picked up every new Spider-Man title, every new Superman title, even a few of the X-Men titles and Ghost Rider every week for at least a few years. All from the little corner drug store down the street from my house. Then later on a comic shop opened only a few blocks away from my mom's office. and then I started really goin' nuts. And then Toys R Us and K-Mart used to sell big packs of comics, some of them not more than a few months old, for some crazy amount like 25 comics for 10 bucks or something. So that quickly added to the count.
But now, I find myself buying fewer and fewer "new" books and more and more back issues. Or I've been picking up trades lately. So I guess my point is... do you still buy single issues as much as you used to, or have you cut back and waited for the trade, which usually comes out a few months after the storyline has ended and only buy the monthly floppies if its got say, a cool cover, or its the first issue of the story?
I'm curious to see what other comics fans on this board are like...
My dad had a copy of Fantastic Four #48 the first Galactus that he gave me with all his other Archie comics. I was speechless when I saw it, because I had just borrowed from the library a hard cover with black and white versions of the whole Galactus saga and to have the REAL THING in my hands. Ohhh I was in heaven. I still have it in a hardshell cover too. Its not in Mint but i'd say maybe Very Fine, there are a few small creases and the cover is slightly rolled, but hey it was stored in a cardboard box for like 20 years at that point.
