c/comic-book-fans

Vent: A friend told me my comic book collection looked like a store display, not a personal collection. It stung, but he was right.

The vibe at my local shop changed a lot in the last year and not for the better

Honestly, I used to go to Comic Cave in Springfield every Wednesday for years. It was a chill spot where you could just talk about stories and art. But over the last 12 months, it's like a switch flipped. Now half the conversations are just people arguing about movie casting rumors or which actor is 'problematic' on social media. I was there last week and a guy spent 20 minutes yelling about how a certain director 'ruined his childhood' because of a cameo in a trailer. It feels like the actual comics are a side note now. The owner told me he's thinking of putting a TV in just to play trailer breakdowns to draw people in. Has anyone else's hangout spot gotten taken over by movie talk instead of comic talk?

My entire long box gave out on me last Tuesday

Was moving some stuff in the garage. Heard a crack. Bottom of the cardboard box just split. 80s X-Men issues everywhere. Had to scramble to grab them before they hit the damp concrete. Taped it up with way too much packing tape. Anyone have a better storage box they actually trust?

Tried to explain the X-Men timeline to my mom and it went off the rails

She asked me who the guy with the claws was, so I started with the original team from 1963. I got to the Dark Phoenix Saga, the 90s cartoon, and the movies all in about two minutes. Her eyes got really wide and she just said, 'So he's old, but also young, and sometimes from space?' I learned that trying to cover 60 years of comics in one chat is a bad idea. Has anyone found a good way to explain this stuff to family without causing total confusion?

Unpopular opinion: I tried getting my nephew into comics with a modern book, but it totally backfired.

Gave him a brand new #1 issue with a shiny variant cover, thinking the art would hook him. He looked at it for about ten seconds, said 'cool pictures,' and went right back to his phone. Anyone else find that the old 'hand them a single, complete story' method works better than the latest event comic?

My local shop had one copy left of a big crossover event, and my friend wanted it too.

This was back in 2015, and it was the final issue of 'Secret Wars' from Marvel. We both got to the store on Wednesday morning, but there was only one copy on the rack. I picked it because I'd been following the whole story from the start, and he had just jumped in. I felt bad, but I bought it. He ended up reading my copy a week later anyway. Has anyone else had to make a tough call like that with a friend over a single issue?

Remember when the local comic shop was the only place to find back issues?

Back in 2005, my shop in Tempe had maybe three longboxes of older stuff, and you just hoped they had the issue you needed. Now, with sites like MyComicShop, I can find almost any single issue from the 80s in a couple minutes. It's way easier to complete a run, but I kinda miss the hunt and the shop talk. Anyone else feel like the hobby got more convenient but lost a bit of its soul?

The '90s comic book crash wasn't just about foil covers and pouches

I keep seeing people online blame the whole market collapse on gimmick covers and overprinting, but that's only half the story. The real killer was the direct market distributors going under, which wiped out hundreds of shops overnight. My local store in Cincinnati, 'The Final Page', closed in '96 because their distributor folded and they couldn't get new books. It wasn't just that people stopped buying, the whole supply chain broke. Anyone else have a shop that vanished for that reason?

My cousin told me to skip the 90s Spider-Man comics and start with Ultimate

He said the old stuff was too slow and the new art was better, so I bought the first three Ultimate Spider-Man trades. Honestly, reading about Peter in high school again with modern problems just clicked for me way more than I thought it would. Anyone else get a piece of comic advice that totally changed what you collect?

Found my old comic box at my parents' house and it changed how I collect

Was in their attic last month looking for holiday stuff. Pulled out a cardboard box from 2010. Inside were my old single issues from high school. Some were bent, a few had rusty staples. I used to just buy whatever looked cool off the rack. Seeing them all damaged made me stop. Now I bag and board everything, even the cheap books. It's not about value, just about keeping them nice. Do you guys have a rule you stick to for protecting your collection?

I finally looked up the actual print run numbers for the first X-Men #1

Found a deep dive article on a collector's site saying only about 200,000 copies were printed in 1963. Has anyone else seen a different figure that changes how we view its rarity?

I got into a huge argument at a comic shop in Austin about variant covers

This was about six months ago at Dragon's Lair. I said the whole chase for rare covers was killing the hobby for regular readers. A guy buying three copies of the same book just for different covers got mad and said I didn't get it. He said collecting the art was the real point now, not the stories. That moment made me stop buying new books from the shop and just stick to back issues online. Has anyone else just given up on trying to keep up with new releases?

Finally got my buddy to read comics the right way

Tbh, I used to just hand him random #1 issues, but he'd get lost and quit. Last month, I gave him the whole 'Batman: The Long Halloween' trade paperback instead. He finished it in a weekend and now he's asking me for more Gotham stories. Anyone else have a go-to book for turning someone into a fan?

Rant: My local shop's 'fan appreciation day' was just a clearance sale for old action figures

Last Saturday, they advertised a big event with signings and new releases. I drove 45 minutes to get there at opening, only to find a single artist I didn't know and a table full of dusty Marvel Legends from 2018 marked down 10%. The owner just shrugged and said 'times are tough, man' when I asked about the promised writers. How do you get a whole crowd excited for that? Has your shop ever pulled a bait and switch like this?

Had a total meltdown trying to explain the X-Men timeline to my mom at a family dinner

We were at my aunt's house in Phoenix last Sunday, and my mom asked why there were so many different Wolverines. I started with the original comics, then the 90s cartoon, then the Fox movies, and tried to mention the Krakoa stuff. Her eyes just glazed over and she said, 'So it's all made up as they go?' I mean, I guess she's not wrong, but I felt like I failed as a fan. How do you guys explain this stuff to non-readers without sounding crazy?

I was buying every single variant cover for my favorite series for like 2 years straight, and then my friend pointed out I didn't even know the artist's names.

Just realized that reading a new comic in a quiet coffee shop is way better than trying to read it at a crowded convention.

I finished and understood the entire first issue of 'The Department of Truth' in 45 minutes at a cafe, but at Emerald City Comic Con last year, I barely got through 10 pages with all the noise and people bumping into me, so what's your best spot for actually focusing on a new book?

Spent $300 on a graded comic slab and I'm not sure it was smart

I bought a graded copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300 for about three hundred bucks. The slab keeps it safe and it looks great on my shelf, which is a win. But some of my friends say slabbing is just a cash grab that takes the fun out of reading and sharing the book. They think I should have bought a cheaper, raw copy to actually enjoy. I see their point, but I also like having a verified, protected piece. What do you all think, is paying for a graded book worth it for a fan, or does it miss the point?

My $200 gamble on a full run of 'The Question' back issues totally paid off after I finally read them.

I was hesitant to drop that much on a character I only knew from JLU, but the writing completely changed how I view street-level heroes and now I'm hunting for more 80s Denny O'Neil stuff, what are some other underrated runs from that era?

My cousin told me to skip the '90s X-Men cartoon and just read Claremont's run

I finally watched the cartoon after 20 years and it's actually a great intro, especially for the Phoenix Saga. Has anyone else gotten weirdly specific comic advice that missed the mark?

Appreciation post: I used to think collecting variant covers was a waste of money, but a guy at my local shop in Akron changed my mind.

My entire long box of 90s comics got soaked in a basement flood last month

I was moving some stuff around in my basement and found a big puddle under my main comic storage area. The plastic bin I thought was waterproof had a tiny crack along the bottom seam. It must have been there for a while, but a small leak from our water heater finally found it. About 300 books were in there, mostly from the 'Death of Superman' era and the early Image launch. The bottom third were stuck together, and the colors were running on the covers. I panicked, but then I remembered a tip from a forum. I carefully pulled the worst ones apart, slid wax paper between every single page, and laid them flat with fans on low. It took three full days, but I saved about 80 percent of them. The ones that were a total loss were mostly duplicates, thankfully. Has anyone else had to do major comic rescue work? What's your method for drying them out without making the pages wavy?

Question about cleaning old comic pages

I keep seeing people at the shop try to wipe dust off silver age books with a dry cloth, which can scratch the ink, so I always tell them to use a soft brush instead, like the one I got from a kit in Chicago last year.

Got called out for gatekeeping at my local shop in Portland

Honestly, I was at Bridge City Comics last week and this new guy asked me about a modern X-Men run. I basically told him he should start with Claremont's stuff from the 80s or it doesn't count. Another regular, Sarah, pulled me aside later and said, 'Look, you made him feel stupid for liking what he likes. That's how you kill a hobby.' Tbh, it hit me hard. I didn't even realize I was doing it. For the last month, I've stopped correcting people's reading orders or telling them the 'right' way to get into a character. If someone is excited about a new #1, I just talk about that with them instead of listing 50 back issues they 'need' to read first. It's actually way more fun. Has anyone else had to check themselves on this kind of thing?

The day my local shop's new owner tried to 'fix' the back issue bins

So the old guy who ran The Panel Page in Oakridge for twenty years sold the place, and the new owner decided to 'streamline' the store by putting all the back issues in alphabetical order by character, not title. I walked in on a Tuesday to find a guy trying to find Amazing Spider-Man #300 in the 'P' section under 'Peter Parker'. He gave up and left. Has anyone else's shop tried something like this and had it blow up in their face?