Origin Story

As far back as I can remember I've had comics around.  There were always a couple Richie Rich's, Archie's, or Looney Tunes laying around the house.  But I wouldn't say I was a collector.  I didn't officially, at least in my mind, become a collector until about 1985.  And there was one book.  One single issue that I can say started it all.

Justice League of America Annual #1.  I can't remember where I picked this issue up, probably at a flea market or garage sale, but the scan is the actual issue. I've had that book over 30 years!  And to be honest it's not in the best shape.

This book was my radioactive spider bite, it was the catalyst to my obsession.  It also led me to trading cards, but that is another story for another blog.  While I can't remember where I picked this issue up, I can vividly remember the first time I read it and the catharsis that followed.  I had been aware of super heroes, both Marvel and DC, but it wasn't until I read this magnificent story that it  all came together and clicked in my adolescent mind.  Here were all of DC's greatest superheroes all in one book, all in one super sized story.  It hooked me, and never really left.  The medium of visual storytelling with sequential art became an obsession.  

I was living in El Paso at the time.  My father a career military man was stationed at Ft. Bliss.  One weekend I remember heading over to one of the many flea markets that popped up all over the city in the 80's and coming across a table with piles of comics.  Now we would call these bronze age, but at the time most were less than 10 years old and everything in the stack was a quarter.  I pulled every JLA out of that stack.  And there began my comic collection.  Had I been more savey I would have also grabbed every X-men and Amazing Spider-man I could have found.  But I started off a DC guy.

As luck would have it there were two comic shops within walking distance from our housing unit.  The aptly named Comic Book Shop owned by Brad Wilson, who still owns and operates a comic store in El Paso called All-Star Comics, just down the road from where his old shop use to be.  Brad's shop would be where I would spend most of my time and money it was closer than the other comic shop, Rita's Fantasy Shop.  As far as I know Rita's is long gone, but there is collectibles shop in the same shopping center that could be it's descendant. 

From there it was all down hill.  And too be honest my attention has ebbed and flowed with the collection over the years.  I would never say I left the hobby, but there were definitely times where I was not buying a lot of books or any for that matter, but I still have all the comics I had as a kid.  I can thank my mother for not being one of those who cleans out the closets regularly.   

I recently came off of a 4 years hiatus of not buying any single issues.  Well to be honest that's not true, I just stopped buying new issues. Prices had just gotten out of hand.  But recently I've started to dip my toes back in.  This blog for instance is a direct result of my renewed interest in the hobby.  Coupled with the fact that my waning interest in my trading card hobby due to general boredom that exclusivity has brought to the market.

So here's to the old and the new and exploring the collection that has been sitting in storage for years.

Cheers

CB out