Day: June 5, 2008

I don’t know what’s stranger…the fact that Kitchener, Ontario seems to be the hotspot for comics books, or the fact that I swear this woman looks a little like Mom…

I have been hinting about some recent comic book acquisitions.  I felt that I needed some time to really think about the great gift that was given to me and how I can properly document it.

Aunt Lois and Uncle Gary’s friend was giving away their old comic books.  I really didn’t know what to expect from them but I said I would definitely take them off of their hands as a comic is a comic!  I thought I would have some entertaining reads.

But later in the day, Aunt Lois started telling me about the titles available…Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man.  My heart skipped!  Could it be that I was getting a slew of my favourite titles?  Then Uncle Gary even listed some of the Fantastic Four issues they obtained…#33, 34, 41..etc.  I couldn’t believe what I was reading.  Vintage comics!  A dream of mine was to finally read some old comic books.  In comparison, the comics nowadays pale in comparison to what was released back then.  Back then they focussed more on squashing a story into one issue.  Nowadays they gear a storyline to fill a tradepaperback in most (not all!) cases.

I received a notice that as soon as their friend realized that they were taking his comics off his hands, he now wanted to sift through them and decide which ones to get rid of.  Ah well, I realized I would be in the same position and not want to get rid of my gems.  I figured I would still get to read a few good issues though and left it at that.  Aunt Lois did phone later on and mentioned that there were about a hundred X-Men comics so my hopes soared back up again!

Fast-forward to my trip to Aunt Dinah’s, I arranged for Aunt Lana to pick up the comics for me from Aunt Lois.  I will still drop by your house in the future Aunt Lois!  You can count on it!  I didn’t want to show TOO much excitement when Aunt Lana rolled into the driveway so I never brought it up for most of the afternoon.  It wasn’t until after dinner that I figured this was a good time to meander out to the car and pick up the boxes.  I brought them downstairs and started to sift through them.

Shock went through my system as I started to sift through the comics.  Rick and Tracy were there as well and Rick went through a few and was yelling out names “Thor!  Fantastic Four!”.  Aidan (age 4) wanted to read one so I passed him a Green Arrow book.  I ended up looking through every comic after everyone went to bed.

In the end, I ended up with a slew of Silver (60s) and Bronze (70s) Age issues…something I’ve always wanted to read but never had the opportunity.  The majority of them are Marvel Comics (my fave) and I ended up with 164 Uncanny X-Men comics and the strangest (fate?) thing was that the last issue in the series was #272 and my own collection starts at #273!  I couldn’t believe how fate put these comics into my hands.  I thought it was just plain good luck but after seeing how coincidental it was for the X-Men issues to line up, I knew there was a higher power at work here.

I catalogued all the comics the night I got back into town and I ended up inheriting 621 comic books, with a slew of Uncanny X-Men, Fantastic Four, Nick Fury, Iron Man (over 100 issues), Incredible Hulk, a bunch of Spider-Man comics (even a few old Amazing Spidey!  Awesome!  That’s my fave series next to X-Men)…I even received a few older DC Comics like Justice League Europe, Action Comics…I haven’t ever really read many DC Comics but here’s an opportunity to start!  The majority of the issues come from the Bronze Age and a few touch into the Modern Age (80s+).

I have started to read a few each night before going to bed and am enjoying what they have to offer.  They are much different than the newer comics I read now.  I started reading some Iron Man (as I have never done so before), some Fantastistic Four and some Captain America.  I usually just reach my hand into the box and pull out whatever issue there is to read and have a fun time reading it.  It will take me quite awhile to get through these issues and I look forward to reading them all!

Some may marvel at the fact that I obtained quite a wealthy amount of old comic books.  While I realize that some of them fetch a few bucks due to their age, I must admit that I’m more excited to actually read the stories that shaped the comic books that we all know and love today.  I’m more excited to see Jack Kirby’s artwork and Stan Lee’s dialogue than to see how much they will eventually sell for.  I want to see Spidey’s witty banter and fighting some classic villains.  Feel free to drop on by and read a few with me on a rainy day!

A special thanks goes to Aunt Lois and Uncle Gary for thinking of me when this gift came their way.  As for the gentleman who passed these gems along, I thank you good sir and rest assured that your comics are in good hands and they are being enjoyed immensely.  You’ve brought someone’s dream come true.

Appendum: On a related note, after hearing about my love of comics again, Maureen called me and said that her friend Amy was getting rid of her old comic books!  I ended up with 350 newer comics (from the late 90s) and a few of them will definitely fill up my decade of missing X-Men issues!  I haven’t gone through them fully yet and there are a few that are in questinable shape (covers torn off, pages missing) but all in all, I came out on top and will catalogue them soon.  Thanks to Maureen and Amy!  Clearly I should just be on the lookout for comics people are giving away and not thinking of buying any!