c/comic-book-fans

My buddy swore Deadpool was just a joke character until I showed him the Joe Kelly run

Back in 2017, my friend Dave kept saying Deadpool was nothing but a meme. I told him there's real depth in the early stuff if you look past the jokes. I loaned him the first 12 issues from Joe Kelly's run and he called me after issue 4 saying he finally got it. Has anyone else had to defend a character like that to a skeptic?

Shoutout to the guy who taught me to bag my comics at a con in Chicago

I used to just stack my issues loose in a backpack after a convention. Then last year at C2E2, this older collector saw me cramming a Silver Surfer into my bag and handed me a free bag and board. He said 'you'll thank me in 10 years when that thing's still worth something.' Now I bag everything right at the booth before I even pay. Has anyone else had a random stranger save their collection mid-con?

Stop trusting your LCS pull list like I did for 8 years

I used to just show up at my shop in Portland every Wednesday assuming my pull box was right. Then last month they forgot to pull X-Men #25 for me and it sold out before I could grab one. Now I check the shop website the night before and message them on Instagram if something is missing. Has anyone else had a shop miss a key issue and then act like it was no big deal?

Spent 6 hours tracking down a single variant cover for The Walking Dead

I was looking for this one issue of The Walking Dead from like 2012 where the cover art is by a guest artist I really like. Anyway I checked like 5 different local shops in my area and nobody had it. Finally found it on some random seller's eBay page after scrolling through 30 pages of results. Total time wasted was honestly around 6 hours spread over a weekend. Has anyone else spent way too long hunting for a specific cover that turned out to be not that rare?

I wrote off those omnibus editions for years because of the price tag

Finally caved and bought the Miller Daredevil omnibus after seeing it on sale for 40 bucks at a con in Portland and now I get why people drop 100 dollars on those things, the paper quality and extras are actually worth it, anyone else change their mind on a format they swore they'd never buy?

Buddy told me I was paneling wrong, turned out he was right

My friend Mike who collects silver age stuff said I was flipping through my comics wrong. He said I was bending the spine too much and it would split eventually. I laughed it off last summer but after 6 months of casual reading my Invincible compendium has a 3 inch crack down the middle. Now I gotta rebuy that thing for $60 because I didn't listen. Anyone else have a friend give advice that actually saved them money if they'd just listened sooner?

Collecting for years and just realized I was bagging my comics wrong

Tbh I've been collecting comics since high school, probably 15 years now. Last week my buddy Mike was over and saw me bagging up a new issue. He pointed out I was putting the tape on the flap instead of the back of the bag. I always thought the tape went on the front flap to keep it closed. He showed me how putting it on the back keeps the bag flat and stops the tape from sticking to the cover over time. Has anyone else learned a basic thing way later than they should have?

TIL comic con autograph lines are way faster if you prep your books beforehand

Was at Toronto Fan Expo last month and spent 45 minutes fumbling with bags and boards at Neal Adams' table while the guy behind me got three sigs in under 2 minutes. Has anyone else started bagging their keys in separate sleeves before walking in?

The week my local shop had a 50% off back issue sale and it was chaos

So last Saturday I walked into my LCS and they had a random 50% off sale on all back issues from 2010 to 2020. I grabbed like 15 books for under $30 which felt insane. But then I overheard two guys almost fighting over a first print of Saga #1. One guy said 'I was here first' and the other said 'I had it in my hand.' That kind of tension made the whole vibe weird for a bit. On one hand I love getting deals but on the other hand the store felt like a WWE ring. Anyone else have a sale day turn into a mess like that?

Tried reading a golden age Detective Comics run and the ads blew my mind

I finally sat down with a collected edition of Detective Comics #27-50 from the late 1930s. I was expecting the stories to feel dated, which they did, but what really got me were the full page ads. There was one promising a real working x-ray machine for just $1.50 by mail order. Another ad said you could learn to be a detective in 6 weeks through a correspondence course. It made me realize how much the comic buying audience has shifted from curious kids to adult collectors over 80 years. Has anyone else learned more about history from old comic ads than the actual stories?

Dropped $300 on a signed first issue of The Walking Dead that turned out to be a fake

Paid a dealer at a con in Cleveland for it, then a different guy at another booth told me the signature was printed on. Anyone else get burned by fake signatures at shows?

Chose the new Guardians run over the current Avengers event last Wednesday

Had $20 for comics and had to pick between the new Guardians run and the Avengers crossover. Grabbed Guardians issue #3 and honestly it's way more fun than I expected. Has anyone else found a surprise favorite run lately?

Took me 3 years to figure out why I hated the local comic shop meetups

I kept going to these Wednesday night gatherings at my LCS and just felt bored the whole time. Turns out the crowd was mostly people who only collect variant covers and never actually read the stories. I spent maybe 2 years trying to force myself to fit in before I found a different shop across town that has actual discussion groups about what happens in the panels. The first shop had good deals on back issues but the vibe was all about resale value. Has anyone else found a big difference in the type of fans one shop attracts versus another?

Blew a whole Saturday at a con in Chicago last summer

The convention floor was a zoo. Parents just let their kids run wild. One kid knocked over a stack of long boxes and nobody helped the seller. I saw an older guy trying to sell a raw Amazing Spider-man 300 for cover price and three people laughed at him. Has anyone else stopped going to big cons because the vibe is just off now?

Started reading the actual letters pages in old comics and it's wild

I picked up a stack of 80s X-Men issues at a flea market last weekend and spent more time on the fan letters than the actual stories. There was this one guy who wrote a two-page rant about how Storm's costume change ruined the character, and the editor actually wrote back defending it. Has anyone else fallen down the rabbit hole of old letter columns?

Met a guy at a con who said reading comics was a waste of time

So I was at a small convention in Columbus last fall, just flipping through a longbox at a dealer table. This guy maybe 50 years old walks up, looks at what I'm holding (a beat up copy of Swamp Thing #37), and goes 'You know that stuff rots your brain, right? Should be reading real books.' I just stared at him for a second and then said 'I read like 20 books a year too, but this is fun.' He scoffed and walked off. Has anyone else had random strangers try to lecture them about comics at a show?

Five years of thinking Kraven's Last Hunt was overrated

I used to roll my eyes every time someone called it a top 10 Spider-Man story. The premise felt too grim for a character I grew up reading. But last month I finally sat down and read the full 6-issue arc from 1987 without skipping around. The way J.M. DeMatteis wrote Peter Parker's internal struggle during those weeks in the grave actually hit hard. That panel where he claws out of the dirt and says "I have to live" got me good. Has anyone else had a classic story they dismissed for years until they gave it a real chance?

Blew a deadline on my custom Wolverine sketch commission

I was drawing at my kitchen table last Saturday when my hand cramped up so bad I couldn't hold the pencil for an hour. Had to message the buyer and ask for an extra two days, but they were cool about it and even tipped me $10 for the honesty. Anyone else ever mess up a commission deadline and have the collector surprise you with patience?

Guy at the shop told me to ditch the poly bags for backing boards

Back in 2017 I had this older collector at Heroes Aren't Hard To Find in Charlotte tell me poly bags trap moisture and ruin comics over time. I ignored him for about 3 years until I pulled out some early 2000s issues and saw foxing spots on 6 of them. Switched everything over to backing boards and now I check them twice a year. Anybody else had long term storage issues with just bags?

Overheard a guy at the comic shop say 'real fans don't read trades' and it got under my skin

I was flipping through the new issue rack last Saturday and this dude in his 40s tells the kid working the counter that anyone who reads the collected editions isn't a true fan. He said it so loud too, like he wanted everyone to hear. I buy both floppies and trades because I commute 45 minutes to work and can't haul single issues around. What is it with some people gatekeeping how we consume these stories anyway? Has anyone else run into this kind of talk at their local shop?

Finally caved and bought the full Hickman Avengers run for $60.

I always said Marvel omnibuses were overpriced paperweights, but after borrowing the first volume from a friend I couldn't stop thinking about it. Anyone else find one run that just hooks you against your will?

Bought a $200 'golden age' comic lot on eBay and half were reprints

I thought I scored big with a lot of old Superman and Batman issues from the 40s. Turns out the seller hid small reprint stamps on the inside covers that I missed in the photos. I mean, maybe it's just me but I feel like that should be in the title or description. Has anyone else gotten burned by reprint lots on eBay?

Chose a $3 beat-up Silver Age issue over a mint copy from the 90s and feel great about it

Went to a local comic convention thinking I knew everything about indie comics

I walked into a small con last month in a hotel ballroom, figured I'd breeze through the artist alley in 20 minutes. Three hours later I was still there talking to a guy who does his own risograph prints of horror comics based on local ghost stories. I learned that a lot of these creators are just one person running a table with 50 bucks worth of paper and a dream, and their stuff is way more interesting than the big publishers. Has anyone else been caught off guard by an artist they'd never heard of before?

Why does nobody talk about how many times Spider-Man has actually died?

I was just reading through a wiki list of Marvel deaths last night and I couldn't believe it. Spider-Man has died like 15 times in different stories. Alternate universes, clones, resurrections. But in the main 616 universe he's only officially died once and got brought back. It just feels weird that a character who dies so much in comics people barely mention it. Has anyone else been surprised by how many times a character has kicked it?