It's weird. I've never been one to write a bunch of stuff on the internet. It takes too much time and at the same time I think about what I write too much - which means it takes
even more time. I never thought I'd have a blog. I'm fine and happy with periodic updates on facebook.
I don't tell a whole lot of people that I collect comic books. For a little history, I started collecting comics during December 1993. I was 14 and in 8th grade. Most boys at my school were into hunting and fishing - and while I found that interesting I wanted a hobby that was more substantial. That Christmas I received money instead of gifts and used some of it to buy my first comic books. I know I had comics when I was younger, but they were long gone and forgotten, so in my mind the comic books I bought in December of 93 are my "first" comics because I still cherish them. I bought my first comics from Wal-Mart of all places - they came in 3 pack collector's kits. My first kit came with an uncanny x-men, an x-force, and darker image #1. I also bought a copy of Comics Buyers Guide so I'd have a price guide. The CBG was substantial because an ad for a comic book show in Fayetteville put me on the true path of collecting.
My father carried me to my first comic book show in Fayetteville. In fact, he carried me to every comic book show I ever went to. He even carried me to Heroescon in Charlotte during the summer of 94. My father really supported my comic book collecting. He never said it, but I think he knew there was something inherently right in the fact that his young adolescent son had a hobby where he was learning to invest and care for something. He'd pay my way into the shows and give me $20 to spend on whatever I wanted. The only stipulation was that once I was out of money it was time to come home.
I learned to stretch that $20 like a champ because at my very first comic book show I discovered the "Dollar bin." For those not up on comic book jargon the "dollar bin" is basically a box of comics and each comic is sold by the dealer for $1 each. There are several variants of this - I've seen $.25 boxes all the way up to $5.00 bins. The sweet spot was always the $1 bin for me though. I'd spend hours sifting through bins upon bins of comics. I distinctly remember the smells - comics in storage give off a unique musty odor as the pages age. Most comics in the cheap bins are not bagged and boarded so the smell permeated every show I attended. I'd stretch that $20, which was sometimes more if my mother gave me a few extra dollars before we left or I hoarded my lunch money for awhile, and buy as many comics as I could. Sadly, the stories in the comics of the early 90's were terrible (hello clone saga Spider-man!) so I really was attracted to the art more than anything else. Comic speculation was high during this time due to Superman's "death" and Batman's back being broke by Bane, so the comic industry was inflated with large print runs and gimmicky covers. This made "dollar bin diving" all the more interesting for me. My father never cared as to how many comic books I got - he once said that I could spend all money on just one comic book and we could come right back home. It was nice having that first taste of freedom to spend my money the way I wanted to.
Heroescon 94 was my last comic book show. I started high school that fall and discovered a new hobby - girls. Long story short, I never seriously picked up another comic book for 10 years.
Fast forward to 2010 - I'm married to a wonderful woman and I have a 2 year old son that's been running around in a vintage Spider-man t-shirt tonight. I started back collecting comics seriously when my wife and I met in 2004. By seriously, I mean a $70+ a month habit at my peak of collecting in 2007. After my son was born I stopped reading and following comics because of the sheer cost to stay abreast on the titles I read. A recent trip to the Raleigh State Fair Flea Market sparked my comic book interest again as I picked up two key Silver Age titles in very good+ condition for next to nothing. I decided to start collecting back issues again and after two comic book shop visits this week I decided to blog about my experiences in back issue collecting.
So why back issues? It's simple really. New comics cost anywhere from $2.99 to $3.99. Today I bought a copy of Amazing Spider-Man, a giant-size Dr. Strange comic, and a copy of Comics Buyers Guide for the grand total of $14. Three books for $14. Compare that to my trip to Comics Envy in Asheville, where I perused the $.50 bins and bought 12 comics for $6. I'm not talking trash comics published by Charlton or anything like that - I'm talking really good, fairly current stuff. Justice Society of America #21 and #22, a Spider-man issue from the early 90's in the Maximum Carnage storyline, and a copy of Strange #1 which was the first issue of a Dr. Strange mini-series that came out about four months ago. I also picked up some older Peter Parker Spectacular's, a couple of post Frank Miller Daredevil issues, and some Batman Year 3 issues. All good reads - for next to nothing.
So, every month I'm going to collect comics the way I did when I was 14. $20 give or take, and I will blog about my results. My goal is to buy all backissues and keep as many of them as I can under the cost of current comics. I plan on trying to fill holes in storylines and runs of some of my favorite comics - namely Amazing Spidey, Daredevil (particularly the Frank Miller run of the early 80's), the Maxx, and the Geoff Johns run on Justice Society of America. Plus other comics here and there that I might find interesting. That's the great thing about dollar bin diving - you can try a comic and you're only out $1.
Plan on doing my first "dollar bin" run on Thursday, April 1st. Between now and then I plan on blogging a bit more on my father and his influence on my comic collecting, as well as pulling out some comics from my long boxes and reminiscing.
Until next time - Cheers!
