Since I was a kid I collected the comics I read. I started by hoarding everything I bought, but then as I got older I became more discriminating about what I kept. By the time I was in high school I was a real collector. I started bagging and boarding them and storing them in long boxes. You can tell from my collection when I started doing this, as the comics before this time suffer from “spine roll” from lying in stacks.
I have an almost complete run of Amazing Spiderman going until the early 90’s when I stopped reading for several years. I also have a complete run (again until I stopped reading) of the X-Men from #94, as well as the New Teen Titans. I attended promotions at my local comic book store when my favorite writers/artists would stop by. For example, I have several Teen Titans books signed by Wolfman and Perez. I have X-Men 137 signed by Byrne and Claremont.
When I left for college I left my collection (around 4,000 books) at my parents’ house in long boxes. When they downsized several years ago, I recovered all these boxes. My wife raised an eyebrow and consigned them to the basement in a closet. My teenage daughters thought this collection was about the geekiest thing they’d ever seen, and resisted all my attempts at indoctrinating them. My second daughter read “X-Men - God Loves, Man Kills”, but otherwise they had no interest.
The other day I returned from a business trip and went to see my 13-year-old son in his room. He was reading the large format “Superman vs Muhammad Ali” graphic novel. Strewn around his room were piles of comic books, some in their bags, some lying in naked piles. In his bed, where he had clearly slept on it, was the fourth issue of the first printing of “Dark Knight Returns” signed by Frank Miller. Digging around underneath his covers I found other books, some of which he had been rolled the cover and several pages with his left hand. At least one of my Walt Simonson Thor’s (signed) was folded completely in half lengthwise.
My son said “What’s the point of having Superman fight without his powers? Batman kicked his but at full strength!” We spent the next couple of hours talking about how hard it is to write a good group story with Superman, why Jean Grey had to die, and how Jim Shooter refused to let Wolverine kill anyone.
It was a good day.