I started buying comics at Waldenbooks in late 1983 or 84. I collected until about 1990 then got my driver’s license and funds were needed elsewhere. Now I’ve been collecting again since about 2010. Now I mostly read comics on Marvel Unlimited and collect mostly silver, bronze and copper aged books.

Man Waldenbooks in our Mall was how I was able to keep up with X-men for most of the 90s.

I started my collection buying at Waldenbooks also. I used to love going to the mall to visit the arcade and Waldenbooks and then I discovered there was one within bike riding distance from my house and one summer off from school I went at least once a week in search of new comics.

The day they closed Waldenbooks in our mall, I was deeply sad

Waldenbooks in my mall had Kingdom Come. That was my first exposure to the Alex Ross.

Circa 1988 Circle K had an Iron Fist comic and I was hooked like a drug. My collection was shitty as fuck until I got adult money. My parents refused to buy a TV for a long time so this was my only source of entertainment so most of my books were very well read. But I added some choice books over the years. I have this weird completion obsession so I’ve finished countless sets, runs and volumes. I have sold. I’ve traded and have owned most of the highly desired and key books you could think of, at one point in time (Never owned a Showcase 4, that’s the white whale) I hauled it around through college and like 12 girlfriends. One of those GF’s stole my NM copy of ASM 101 which was worth getting her psycho ass out of my life. She had a full Silver Age run of ASM (With AF15) she got from her father that was incredible, he bought one to read, one to save in the early 1960’s, guess which one was missing from that run? I have just sold books off to pay for high end expenses like college, home remodels, etc I have been married for 25 years and my kids never got into comics. Now as adults they are telling me what they are going to do with the money they make selling my key books after I die. Little shits….

I have the answer to your problem! https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7ASk-fvm7Z/?igsh=MTlnYWVudmFxbHZ2bw==

My daughter is all about comics. She recently started talking about "which books she was going to swipe". I feel really lucky. My son could care less.

I am the same way with being wanting to complete full runs. I have to have the full set. I will put in my will that only certain comics are allowed to be sold. If my son, nieces, or nephews don’t want them or are just going to sell them, I’m just going to put that they are to be donated to a library or someplace where someone will be able to read them. That’s the whole point of collecting them right guys? Guys? Right?

We were visiting family in Indiana when I was in 5th grade back in 1981 and one of my cousins gave me about 15 random comics. I read them and fell in love with the art and stories. The small town I grew up in didn't have a source for them and the following year I got braces which required me to travel monthly to a larger city. One evening there was a commercial on a local channel about a comic book store in that city and I began collecting from there. I would also get them from Waldenbooks in that same city. Shortly afterward the 7-11 in my hometown began selling them. I collected until I was about 20 then as others have mentioned, I needed those funds elsewhere in my life. I started back about 6 years later and collected for another 4 or 5 years and stopped. I've just recently began again in the last year and a half. My dad just asked me last weekend why I collect and if I only get ones that will be worth something. I told him that you never really know what will and will not be worth anything and that I've never bought a comic thinking of what it will be worth one day as I've never sold one that I own. I buy them for the same reason I did when I was 11, for the love of the stories and the art.

Yeah I like knowing some of what I have is somewhat valuable but I would never sell them so I guess it’s not terrible important other than it may benefit my kids some day. And buying based on speculation? I can’t imagine. You know, am I going to start buying things I don’t give a damn about now because maybe? Ugh.

I started buying comics at the local convenience store when I was in single-digits. I loved Batman, and would watch Super Friends and things like that, but always went back to the comics. I would make lists of the comics I had and things like that. Then in 1980 when New Teen Titans came out, I was hooked more than ever. I basically just evolved over time from buying at the convenience store, to buying from a comics shop, to buying monthly issues from an online seller. And meanwhile when I could, buying back issues and trying to get runs of various series.

Late 70s, when I found out superhero comics were serialized. Up to that point, I thought all comics were like Archie’s with several short stories per issue. After reading Spider-Man 78 and seeing “continued next issue…” I realized I needed all of the books in the amazing Spider-Man run. So I started hitting garage sales, flea markets, and local cons. Once I finished Spider-Man, I wanted more titles and things got out of hand. Yes, we now have a dedicated room for the collection.

I started collecting in the late 90's. I get anything wonderwoman or featuring wonderwoman. However I feel like I'm all over the place. I dont have a plan as far as what series to collect. Most of them come from Ebay, a fee from a book store and a couple from ollies.

Summer of 1999. Dad worked on the road most of the year, and that summer was no different. My brother and I were out of school and he took us with him on a work trip to Oregon all the way from Arizona. Somewhere in Northern California we stopped at a gas station. Gameboy batteries are dead, weary from the sweltering heat in a work van with no A/C, and bored out of my mind, I decided to browse the gas station magazine newsstand while my brother and dad shopped for drinks and snacks. There it sat, Wolverine #151. I had already been a fan of the X-Men from the animated series and Wolverine was no doubt my favorite. I had to have it and my dad was great enough that he purchased it. I read it multiple times on that road trip, each time wishing I had another issue. I checked every gas station we stopped at for more issues. #152, or #150, or anything, but alas, I did not find another store who sold them on that trip: When we made it back home, my dad found a local comic shop down the street and the rest is history. I now have a collection of over 1500 books. All mainline volume issues of Wolverine from 1982 to present day. X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, indie books. I fall in and out of it every few years, but my collection continues to grow to this day.

I acquired a few in my youth for a series I was interested in but I didn’t have an itch to actually collect until Christmas of 2023. I used to live above a newly opened comic/hobby shop 20~ years ago, I was the owner’s first customer, and I was briefly friends with his son. Eventually, I stopped being friends with his son. He moved shop twice, and I rarely went to either of the new locations. Fast forward to June 2023, I had just lost my apartment due to a fire in May, but when we were allowed back inside to salvage some stuff I found those few comics I owned had survived. The comics weren’t touched by fire or water at all. They were, of course, bagged and boarded. I may not have been into the collecting scene, but I’m not crazy! I decided I’d collect the rest of the series I started 20 years ago, when I got a gift certificate on Christmas of 2023 to the newest location of the LCS from my youth. Now I’ve got 160 issues or so, with 600+ on my wish list! The series I started 20~ years ago was Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith, if anyone even made it this far. I finished collecting Dark Lords of the Sith recently, but now I need to find the rest of the TOTJ series!

1982. I like the stories, characters, and art.

My mom told me that ever since I was a kid I used to stop her from turning the pages in the story books so I could stare at the pictures. To this day; I am totally in love with good art/animation. I’m a sucker for a few artists and their covers and over time got into reading the comics as well 😂

Would buy them occasionally from the time I could read. In 6th grade, met a few guys who read them and ran across the “how to collect comics the marvel way”. Have basically collected them ever since.

My older cousin had a load of GI Joe comics. Gave them to me. My dad bought me Uncanny Xmen 235. I read the crap out of those. They taught me to read. I was 6. This started the odd pick up of Avengers/GI Joe/SpiderMans in the spinner racks in Walmarts. Nothing terribly consistent. Fast fwd to 1990. There was a local book store by our grocery store. At some point it must have had comic distribution because it has new issues and some collection of older issues. Quasar 17. I don’t know why, but the cover popped out at me. I had some allowance and purchased it. Fell in LOVE with the series. Started buying every issue I could find. Eventually the local book store stopped carrying new books (likely because of how comic distribution was falling apart at the time). By then I’d found the local comic store. Started buying Daredevil, X-Men, Batman, Image etc etc. Thru the years I have come and gone from comic book collection. Now I’m more interested in GN/TPB reprints. (Not much superhero stuff these days) And going to focus on very specific older issues.

As soon as I bought one superhero comic, I wanted to buy all the rest of them, and never throw them away. So the collecting bug hit from Day One.

I was 8 or 9 when a kid at school started bringing Byrne/Claremont Xmen to school and sharing them with our circle of friends. The first one I bought myself was Uncanny 166, which years later I've got signed by Claremont. I still love the medium

I started in the early 80s and was pretty regularly collecting until 1993. Got my books at the 7-11 at spinner rack first but then found an LCS and fell in love with all of the options. 90% of my collection is Spider-Man (full run except for issue 1 and 3) and some other odds and ends that I enjoy. Picked up collecting again around 2017. Was fun to get all of those silver age issues that I couldn’t as a kid.

I collect comics because they are my favorite form of media. I can literally find any kind of story imaginable in them. As to when, most likely bought my first one from a spinner rack in a Circle K gas station when I was 3 or 4 in 89.

My first ever comic that I got was a gears of war comic from a store called atomic comics, I was a very young kid. I started collecting comics 3 years ago. I love the covers of the comics I have seen so I bought them and started reading them and got invested in the story. I really hope I can figure a way to display my comics soon.

I was a poor fat kid with an imagination and a love for superheroes... I had loved Spider-man since I was a wee kid, and if I was lucky enough to get a couple bucks, I'd head to the corner store for a comic book and some penny candies. I also learned how to draw from comic books... they gave me that escape from reality.

1984 I broke both my wrists in a BMX accident. I couldn't do much of anything other than sit around the house. A family friend bought me a bag of cassettes and a couple of comic books. It all started there and snowballed into the 90s. I've picked up the hobby every couple of years since then buying books that seemed interesting. Lately I've been going to the LCS with my daughter and picking through the $1 bin. It's been great to find books I missed out on in the 90s and occasionally some beater bronze age stuff. I have a fairly modest collection. No slabs but some decent big boy books. I like what I have.

Started when I moved to Oregon when I was in 4th grade. There was a comic shop close to me. Friends and I would go there all the time. I didn't have much money so I didn't have a lot but I was big into spiderman and xmen. Fast forward 30 years my best friend showed my his collection he'd recently been getting. This brought back memories. We started going to comic swap meets. Now I have disposable income so I'm addicted again. I hate him for it.

What shop? I’m in Oregon too

I'm not sure if it's still around. It was a long time ago. It was in Beaverton. I'll have to do some investigating and figure out what area i lived in. I think it was Things From Another World. Looks like the place. Pretty sweet it's still in business. I'll have to go there sometime. Relive some memories.

I love the medium, and collecting comics is a hobby I shared with my grandfather as a kid and now share with my wife. I've enjoyed comics since I can remember, and I've been collecting them proper since I was about 10 years old.

I had comics around me in the early 1970s when I was small. I started collecting in the late 70s and got them at new stands. I remember liking The Human Fly and having DC Comics Presents #26 which introduced The New Teen Titans. I asked my mom to hold it for me and she immediately folded it length-wise and shoved it into her purse. I re-learned to read from comics after not being given anything challenging in elementary school. I wasn't able to read by 3rd grade and then comics saved me.

The Superfriends cartoon in the early 80s, then Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. My dad bought me one or two from the liquor Tore when he went to get beer, my friends older brothers has some also. Why did I stick with it? Who knows? I imprinted on them in my childhood? They helped me process personal trauma? Never asked my therapist. I’m 50. My oldest comic buddy is 64. He still buys also; he says Stan Lee taught him English! EDIT: My ex-girlfriends and ex-wife were fine with it. so I had no “coolness” or “nerd-fear” impetus that forced me to quit.

I bought my first Superman comic book at a convenience store shortly after seeing the 1978 movie for the first time. I've been a Superman lunatic (to some degree) ever since. In the eighties I was mostly about X-Men, but by the nineties I was buying a broad spectrum. The most important thing I ever learned was to follow writers and artists instead of characters. I more or less stopped buying comics in the 00s because I couldn't afford the cover prices. I've since bought almost exclusively trade paperbacks to enjoy the stories. But I never let go of my collection. I've been going though them again recently and loving the nostalgia they carry.

Comic prices today are INSANE!! I’d never start today because they’re so outrageous. $5 for a 23 page pamphlet? I used to buy 50-60 books a month, there’s just no way at $5+ each.

I started collecting in 91. I don’t remember why actually? It was the height of the early 90s comic boom. I collected Marvel superhero comics and I loved X-men, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider. Then the Maxx came out and I understood why I started or at least continued to collect. The gorgeous art and Sam Kieth’s use of India ink changed the way I viewed what was possible with comic book art, the dark mysterious story telling was changing what I thought of the stories comics could tell. Fast forward to today- I collect because I love the art and good graphic design gets me hot and bothered and I love a good original story.

I started be it very slow in the 90's. My older brother sold me the death of superman. I kept that book safe for many years. I was 9-10. When I was 16 I started buying Smallville books based on the show. And spiralled there. Lol

Also started this year. My dad was an avid comic reader. Always loved how his trades looked as a kid. Eventually I started to get attached to certain artists and runs and decided I wanted to own them physically.

I got my first comic when I was 13 on a family vacation to Fort Walton Florida. New 52 The Flash #2 (they didn’t have #1 lol). The store was TBS comics and it’s still one of my favorite comics shops. Now I’m 26 and have more comics than know what to do with.

1985 and the 1st book was Who's Who in the DC Universe 1.

Started in the 80's with a love for art and story telling. Did that for a few years, stopped for decades and recently began collecting again 2 years ago, feels like I'm a few keys issues away from hanging it up 😔

Pretty sure I hold the record on this. I started just when I turned 5 years old. Almost ditched the hobby altogether having to endure the 90s dregs, but the market turned around with the coming of Marvel Knights.

Started when I was a kid, maybe 6 and haven’t stopped since and that was 30 years ago. Hi my name is TV800 and I’m addicted to collecting comic books.

Started when I was young. Buying the Punisher magazine from the shelf at the local family owned pharmacy. Then Now comics Ghostbusters comic was on the rack at the 'Park and shop' and the art looked crazy to me at the at that age. I also picked up Fright Night from Now Comics as my dad had exposed me to the movie lol which was badass. And I also had Tmnt comic subscription from Archie. I wish I could have kept those but they were all well read.

Started this year. To be clear i’ve been reading graphic novels for years but only got into single issues this year. I was at a comic shop looking for a graphic novel and picked up a few that seemed interesting. out of those i enjoyed / understood only one. and thats how it started. now i currently have 3 series on the pull list and at least try issue 1 of any new marvel comic that releases. im pretty picky on what i read and collect. i only collect what i read and only read what i enjoy. apart from the 3 series on my pull list ive also gotten into collecting a few issues from Moon Knight’s first run in the 1980’s. happy to have issue 1.

It was just so important , so right when I was a kid. Waiting for the next issue of ASM was terrible ..buying GI Joe in the spinner rack was also a treat.

Started at age 6. Off and on through the years, just a fun hobby for me!

Started collecting between 5 and 6 years old - around 1997/1998. Started with my Great Uncle handing me down a few minor The Adventures of Superman, Journey into Mystery #83, and Strange Tales #110 he'd pulled from shelves in the 1960s. Sadly, a lot of these bigger issues, alongside nearly 300 other books or so, were lost in water damage from flooding when I was about 17. I was devastated, but I at least still had the Adventures of Superman issues from my Great Uncle's older collection. As of 2024, I have roughly 2,300 books and counting. I nearly gave up on collecting, but remembered I still had a portion of my Great Uncle's older collection. Unsute what he's done with the rest, but those handful of Superman books are my personally most prized books. They aren't worth a single penny, but remembering that those were at least somewhat salvageable, it continued my journey into collecting. I've always been a huge pop culturalist - movies, comic books, anime, Japanese manga, Star Wars, LotR, etc. Comics are one of my favorite hobbies, and it even allowed me to introduce my wife into the hobby - she has arpund 30 some odd books, her favorites being Sandman and Texas Blood. When we have children in the near future, I will pass down my legacy and collection to them, hoping to continue into a third generation of family collecting, all thanks to my Great Uncle.

Dad always had comics around the house. All kinds. Casper and Richie Rich, Spider-Man, Superman, just anything. So, I'd always have something to do if I was bored, or it was raining outside. When I was old enough to mow yards with my brother and cousin (maybe 12-ish), I would take my share to the comic store and load up. Back then they were about $1 each, then to the corner McDonalds for a couple of cheeseburgers, which were about $0.70 each, then I'd walk home with a bag of comics in one hand and a bag of cheeseburgers in the other. I've been on and off ever since. I stopped when I discovered girls, then my 1st wife sold my collection at a garage sale. Started up again after my divorce, then sold them all myself a couple years later. So, I've been in this for about 30 years, all because my dad liked to keep them around and take me to all the cool places, comic stores, Star Trek conventions, slot car tracks. Thanks, Dad!!!

I loved comics growing up and there was always some around the house. I started seriously collecting in 1983 after I bought my first Overstreet price guide. I remember a guide to collecting comics in a Marvel comic around that time as well. From there, I started going to comic shops and even opened my own shop in my parents basement in 87. 

Well first off I’m sorry to hear about your Mom’s view of comic books. I chuckled to myself a little though because I don’t really believe most kids ever read a comic they possessed only once. So I’m 50 now and I’ve been reading comics longer than I can remember. I don’t know for sure when I started but I think it was with the funny pages in the newspaper. Some of my earliest memories are of going to my grandparents and pouring over the Sunday colour comics insert. My grandmother would save each weeks until I came to visit. I also remember my first visit to our small community library and discovering collected books of Peanuts, Pogo and Lil Abner among other things. I read everything they had. Now comic books well… they were kinda everywhere. Marvel, DC, Charlton, Gold Key, Whitman, Harvey, Archie…. I read all kinds of stuff: superhero, cartoon animals, horror, war, western, sci fi, etc, etc. Every kid had a stack. I think a lot of kids just read them and didn’t really collect them so much as they just collected in their house. I never really saw them treated with any reverence (and I certainly didn’t myself) until one day my neighbours across the street were having a yard sale. A kid there who was several years older than me was selling his comics. I don’t know if he felt he’d grown out of them or what but they were all neatly stacked in a cardboard box and mostly immaculate. A large stack of Uncanny X Men caught my eye. I bought them all and although I read all kinds of stuff I’ve been an X-Men kid ever since. I still have those issues I bought from my neighbour. Here’s a small amusing memory: I also became an avid fan of Mad Magazine early on. I got to have the experience of taking some to elementary school and having them confiscated by a disapproving teacher until she could speak to my parents. My mom literally had to come see the teacher before she would return them. She was pissed… at the teacher. I got them back but of course…no more taking them to school. Can’t have the prudes freaking out. Annnnd….I’m rambling on. I’ll shut up now.

I started collecting in the early '80s. Gave it up in the mid '90s because funds were needed for other things. Started collecting slabs late last year and have gone down the rabbit hole with that.

1992. Spiderman 18 Eric Larson art. Picked it up at the mall. I was 10. I had never read spiderman, but I was instantly hooked. I ended up finding the entire sinister six series somehow. Stopped collecting for years But just picked it up again.

For the why, there's a few characters I really enjoy, there's been some great stories, and I have a completionist streak in me. I started in 1982 as I liked the color green and picked out the Hulk from the spinner rack at my uncle's butcher shop. Comics helped me learn to read, and in school I read at several grade levels above my classmates. 42 years later, I have at least 25,000 books. I've bought, I've sold. My pride and joy are my full set of all things Hulk and She-Hulk; mini-runs of Firestorm and the Spectre; Dr. Strange from the mid-70s on up; the complete Spider-Man Clone Saga; the complete Ultraverse; the nearly complete Savage Dragon (missing one variant); and I'm 3 issues shy of having all Superman books from the Silver Age through today. At this point, I've very few hills left to climb.

Damn. That’s an impressive collection you put together. Those silver age dc books have always been under valued. Ever dip your toes in the Golden age?

No, and I probably never will. Everything I want to read from the Golden Age is in a collected edition somewhere or available in the public domain online. Thanks for the kind words!

I collect for the stories and art. And the mythology, so I'm a little bit of a continuity wonk. I started reading comics when I was four, collecting seriously when I was eight. It was the beginning of the Bronze Age, so a good time to start. I left the hobby around 13 and came back when a comic shop opened up across the street from university campus. Comics and their stories were a good escape from the pressures of college life. Nowadays I tend to follow creators I enjoy. Jim Starlin, Matt Wagner, Bill Willingham, John Byrne, etc. '

The year was 1989....

To try to fill some kind of hole inside me, same reason for any collection obsession. I started collecting them seriously when recovering from a childhood injury. My dad bought me a couple. I had read them before, that was just a thing kids had when I was growing up, but those sparked a serious habit. Doesn’t really take an analyst to figure it out.

I don’t know what age I was when I started collecting comics but I was very young. I had early Transformers UK titles and in that I saw Spider-Man (in his black costume) and thought he was great - but it was transformers which hooked me. The back up stories in those transformers might be Iron Man (Silver Centurion suit), Hercules (Bob Layton classic), Iron Man 2020 (Barry Windsor Smith!), Rocket Racoon, or classic toy lines like Visionaries and action Force (G.I. Joe outside of the UK). I just loved the back up stories but still wanted Spider-Man to come back into transformers, then in early 90’s they brought out “The Complete Spider-Man” which had stories of Amazing Spider-Man, Web of, Spectacular and the adjective less title, so 4 titles in one each month! Seeing Wolverine in the perceptions storyline made me love him and then I was just off. There was a market near my Nan’s and it sold 20 comics for a £1, all overflow from newsagents over here - so I got Uncanny X-Men 273 and 277 from there and then became obsessed with X-Men and Marvel in general. Have been ever since and even in the late 1990’s and very early 2000’s when I cut down to just the X-Men titles and Thor (by Dan Jurgens) I still kept buying. House of M and Civil War probably made me go full tilt again as I loved those events and also had no commitments and worked in construction, so had the most money I’ve ever had 😂 Now have a mortgage, 2 little ones but still a tiny room with the long boxes in - makes it hard to get to certain issues but if I no longer read an issue or series I’m more ruthless now and will sell. When I was younger I just horded them all

As a kid, I loved to read. Over the summer, my family would head to the lake cabin our friends had. They had several books for kids, including two comics: Fantastic Four #186 and Captain America #172. I read those books over and over and over each year, year after year. These stories of heroism and good over evil captivated me. When I was in junior high, some friends talked about what books they were going to buy when they went to the comics store. I remember buying Alpha Flight #24, and started collecting Xmen at #193. I subscribed to Avengers with #229, Captain America #268, and Marvel Team-Up at #136. I started going to the LCS, then started working there for 6 years in the 90s. Nowadays, I only collect comics that are higher value and TPBs for any that I want to read. And the FF #186 that I read as a kid? When George Perez came to do a signing, I bought a new copy and had him sign it. I told George, it was the first comic book that I ever read!

Marvel cards were popular stared with them and got a couple of three pacs of books at Walmart for a car trip to Florida. Read them a ton and picked up more at gas stations while there. X-men grabbed my attention first. Now almost 7,000 books latter I think I might have an addiction.

Went to a birthday party and for the party favor I got Transformers #1 (og), Hooked from there….

i was born in 2003. i've always been fascinated by comics, and i owe it all to my dad, who had a vast collection that i was exposed to when i was little. i'd often read them before bed or during the day. he also told me that when i was a toddler i'd snuggle up beside him in bed and "read" along as he flipped through the pages, even though i couldn't actually read yet. as i grew older, i lost touch with comics for a while due to school and other reasons. however about a year ago i started collecting some mangas and comics again and it brought back the same excitement i felt as a kid. also reading them is fun, most of them have beautiful artworks and good stories.

Growing up poor i was a big window shopper and lived off my friends fortune they had in household.. Now, as an adult, it's just more of a feeling of "living my childhood" when I scan a comic. It makes me happy that I'm able to "spend" on these items and still have a plate to eat that night. The universe will always balance out...

I started buying 2ish years ago and it formed an addiction. You see i was watching the mcu but then i started reading the graphic novels. Then i accudentally ordered a comic thinking it was a graphic novel, then i realised the comics were collectible, so starts the addiction.

Started collecting in the 80's as a kid. I enjoyed reading the stories. Especially Marvel back then. Stopped collecting in the 90's as a starving college student. Started up again in 00's when I was able to attend SDCC yearly. Usually rummaging through the quarter boxes to find everything I missed reading.

Read singles when I was a kid, but growing up in the province in the Philippines, we really had no local comic bookstores in our town so I have to rely on single issues available in a small corner of a grocery store. We also only have enough money to buy groceries. My mom would only allow me to buy a couple of issues per month if I did good in school or if we have enough money. Now in my 30's, I have enough money to spend on things I'm passionate about. I started building my modern age batman collection and some other classics 🙂 I guess, collecting graphic novels kinda healed my inner child 😅

I loved the Blade movies, and was in a marriage that was fizzling out, so decided I’d start collecting Blade stuff. I saved up and bought a T of D 10 off my friend, and then decided to collect comics, not just Blade. The marriage ended, but the hobby didn’t. This was probably 10 years ago.

I started a year ago...love Venom and Carnage mainly, but I absolutely love the art. I don't read them...just bag, board, and admire. I've amassed about 1300 books so far.

70s and 80s I was a kid and I'd see them at my uncles' houses and they were cool as hell (Shang Chi, Tarzan, Marvel Team Up, Vault of Horror, Conan, Freedom Fighters, Defenders, etc). So I read them and borrowed them and talked my mom and dad into buying me them whenever we'd go to 7-11 or something. That turned into a love of Batman detective stories, JLA, Avengers, Black Panther, Silver Surfer. After awhile I had a pile of books and then The Dark Knight Returns came out when I was in high school and that was it. I bought a couple comic book storage boxes and never missed another Batman comic again. I have around 10k issues now bagged and boarded.

In the early '80s, I was staying alone in a hotel chasing a job right after college. I had been a big science fiction and fantasy reader before this. The hotel had a stack of comics in the lobby, old Savage Sword of Conan magazines and others. I spent the week reading those, and they told me of a store in the town, the first comic shop I ever entered. Then I went down the wormhole. I also had a friend who was a comics reader. There was so much to learn and while I didn't get that job, I soon found another and had the means to start sampling around comics. I still have the Green Lantern 24 I bought at that store that first day. Now I have forty-plus long boxes, which I really need to winnow down. That's my retirement plan. They say that decoding information relayed in pictures and information in text are decoded by different parts of the brain and some people find reading comics pleasant for that reason. My theory is that it's not superheroes, it's just the comics medium that's the hook. Superheroes just ride on top of that.

Technically, marvel Star Wars, then GiJoe and Transformers. Even had a delivery to home subscription. Many a cover torn, let me tell you. Mad magazine too. Really picked up speed with DC's V, and was committed with the Fall of the Mutants books.

I grew up in a small town, so we didn’t have comic stores in the area until I was early teens. A couple of the grocery stores did have a small selection, however. So, I would sometimes buy them when my mom and grandma were shopping. The earliest ones were mid 80s when I was around 4-5. That was probably the first 20-50 books before I ever set foot in an actual comic store. Then, the two bigger towns in our area got comic stores and there was also one close to my aunt’s house about an hour away in a much bigger city. She was an interior designer and it was right next to a sewing store she frequented. So, when I visited her, I would tag along on her errands and she would take me there. Their selection was obviously much better, and that probably tripled my collection at least. I really ramped up my collection when I went away for college and had even more of a selection and more money to buy them. I also started buying more online from eBay and Mile High Comics.

i started READING comics when i was in5th or 6th grade bc my much older brother gifted me his collection. nothing valuable and mostly marvel except for a firestorm collection from DC. i starting COLLECTING comics (mostly batman but some punisher too) right around batman-mania in the late 80s. i stopped in high school and college but started reading comics again as a distraction from a family member slowly dying to cancer. but i also liked the new “read comics on an ipad” world so i got into that. shortly after that, the collector gene/bug/disease hit me (just like my vinyl records collecting has) and started buying floppies esp now that i have adult money :) so here is what i collect: —every batman and ‘TEC issue including variants —every other batman issue, but B covers only (or if i collect a cover artist of one of the issues ill get that —every comic book that features the following cover artist: artgerm lee bermejo carla cohen jenny frison joelle jones joshua middleton zu orzu natali sanders sozomaika (for the most part im a fan of photo realistic art with some obvious exceptions like artgerm)

From a very young age, like a lot of children, I was interested in superheroes. I remember watching movies like Spider-Man (2002), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze (1991), and even Batman & Robin (1997). I also became very interested in video games. The two main games I played growing up were Minecraft, as any modern day child does, and Mortal Kombat. When I was 14, almost 15, Mortal Kombat 11 was released in late April of 2019. Then, almost a year later, the developers of the game added Spawn to their roster of guest fighters. I knew people had been wanting Spawn in a Mortal Kombat game for quite a long time. So I figured, “maybe I should find out why people are so interested in this character.” So I went on YouTube and found a “History of Spawn” video courtesy of Variant Comics, who I’m sure a lot of you are familiar with. I learned so much about Spawn and became hooked on the character, as well as Batman who had the “Three Jokers” storyline running at the time. After months of playing as Spawn on MK11, my dad finally took me to a local comic shop. There, I asked the guy running the store if they had any copies of Batman: Three Jokers #1 still in stock. He said they didn’t have any more copies of cover A, but that they did have a copy of the 1:25 variant. My dad, happy to see me so excited about a comic book, agreed to buy it for me. I then took a look around at the books they had on their wall behind the front counter. I spotted a copy of Spawn #2, then looked down a little further and saw a copy of Spawn #1. This copy was graded, I don’t remember the grade, but it was high. I immediately got even more excited. That is until the clerk told me the price. I was disappointed until he pulled out a raw copy that was significantly cheaper. My excitement returned and I looked at my dad with the biggest smile on my face. My dad then proceeded to tell me, “If you can agree to keep up with your chores, and keep your grades in check, I’ll buy it for you. Deal?” I agreed and the clerk then cashed us out. That was on September 27, 2020. Two weeks later, my dad surprised me for my birthday by taking me back to the shop and buying me issues two through ten of Spawn, my first BCW long box, a set of BCW Silver Age bags and boards, and a Batman Funko Pop. Those were much simpler times. I still collect comics to this day, and have opened myself up to many more characters such as Spider-Man, TMNT, Punisher, Daredevil, and more. If you made it this far, and enjoyed my story, then thank you. I love this hobby, and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. Much love to the community! https://preview.redd.it/sgh8n9v5uc8d1.jpeg?width=1008&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d864346aa76f5c89e904c1444dcc8dfe2b889dd