c/comic-book-fans

Took my nephew to his first comic con last month.

He's 10 and only knows the movies. I bought him a classic X-Men comic, issue #137. He read the whole thing in the car on the way home. He kept asking me why Jean Grey made that choice. I had to explain 70s comic writing to a kid used to CGI fights. Anyone else had to bridge that gap for a new fan?

Vent: Dropped $300 on a 'complete' Silver Age run that was anything but

I saw an online listing for a full run of a classic Silver Age title, advertised as 'complete, VG condition' for a flat $300. The pictures looked okay, so I jumped on it. When the box showed up, half the issues were from the wrong series entirely, and the ones that were right were in rough shape, like, missing centerfold pages rough. I tried to get a refund, but the seller ghosted me after I pointed out the problems. It was a total scam, and now I'm out the cash with a box of nearly worthless books. I guess I learned the hard way to ask for way more pictures before sending money to a random seller. Has anyone else gotten burned on a big 'complete set' buy like this? How do you protect yourself?

My comic shop's 'free for all' signing event almost ruined my favorite book

I was at the big signing event at Gotham Comics in Austin, where they said it was first come, first served for a popular artist. The crowd got so pushy that someone's elbow knocked a full soda onto my signed copy of 'The Dark Knight Returns' #1, soaking the cover. I had to quickly blot it with a napkin and get the store owner to help me press it flat before the ink set, but the stain is still there. Has anyone else had a collectible damaged at a chaotic event and found a good way to fix it?

Seeing the new X-Men movie with my friend who never read the comics

We went to the theater on Friday and he kept asking me who everyone was. I tried explaining the whole Krakoa era from the last few years of comics, but it was too much. Then I just said 'think of it like a big mutant island nation' and he got it right away. Has anyone else had to find a simple way to explain a huge comic story to someone new?

Rant: I finally tracked down that missing issue of 'Strange Tales' from 1974

It took me nearly four years of checking every convention in the Midwest and online auction, but I finally found a decent copy in Cleveland last month. Has anyone else had a hunt that just dragged on forever?

Hot take: The comic shop in my town went from empty to packed after they added a coffee bar

I walked into Main Street Comics last week and the place was full of people, maybe 20 of them just hanging out. Six months ago it was just the owner and maybe one other guy. The owner told me he put in a small coffee machine and some chairs, and now people come to read books and talk. Has anyone else seen a shop change like this just from adding something simple?

Trying to find a single missing issue for my collection took me almost a year

I was trying to finish a full run of Amazing Spider-Man from the 80s and was stuck on issue #252 for ages. I checked every local shop in Phoenix, went to three big conventions, and even tried online groups. It finally showed up at a small shop in Tucson last month, and the owner had just priced it that morning. What's the longest you've had to hunt for a specific comic?

Appreciation post: I realized I was a comic snob after a kid at the local shop corrected me

I was going on about how modern comics are all style, no substance, when this 12-year-old pointed to a panel in a new Ms. Marvel and said 'but look at how the art shows her feeling split between two worlds.' That one comment, right there in Allentown Comics, flipped a switch for me. Anyone else have a moment that broke them out of a bad fan habit?

Question about picking a comic con for my first big trip

I had to choose between going to San Diego Comic-Con or a smaller local con in my state. The big one costs over $800 for tickets and a hotel, but the local one is just $40 for the weekend. I picked the local con because I could actually talk to artists without huge lines. It was amazing! I got 5 sketches in my book and met a writer I really like. Has anyone else skipped a huge event for a smaller one and been happy with it?

My comic shop's new owner just started a 'no gatekeeping' rule

Last week at Gotham Comics in Springfield, the new manager put up a sign saying 'All questions are good questions, no shaming new readers.' It was a huge relief because three years ago I felt too dumb to ask about the different Green Lanterns. Has your local shop done anything to make new fans feel more welcome?

My niece asked me why I buy the same story twice when I grabbed a new printing of 'The Dark Knight Returns'.

She's 10 and saw my shelf with the original 1986 trade and the new 30th anniversary edition, asking 'Isn't that the same Batman?' I tried explaining paper quality and extra sketches, but her simple 'But you already know what happens' stuck with me. Do you ever feel like collecting physical editions is more for us than the story itself?

Question about the old comic shop in my hometown

I visited the place I bought my first X-Men comic 20 years ago, and the whole front window is just Funko Pops now, which got me thinking about how the stuff we collect as fans has really changed (you know, from floppies to figures).

Showerthought: A guy at a con in Cleveland made me see fans differently

I was at a small comic con in Cleveland about 3 months ago, just browsing some back issue bins. This older guy next to me, maybe in his 60s, was talking to the vendor. He said, 'I'm just here to find the first issue my grandson ever read, so I can frame it for him.' He wasn't hunting for a key or an investment. He spent 45 minutes looking through every box, just for that one specific, beat-up copy of a random Spider-Man issue. It hit me that we get so wrapped up in value and speculation sometimes, we forget the simple stories that got us into this. Has anyone else had a moment like that, where another fan's reason for collecting just stopped you in your tracks?

Heard a guy at the con in Cleveland say 'real fans only read the classics' and it got me thinking about how we define being a fan.

One side says deep knowledge of the original runs is what matters, but the other says loving the characters through any medium, like the movies or games, is just as valid, so where do you all stand on that line?

Just learned the original X-Men #1 cover had a printing error that's super rare now

I was reading this old blog post from a comic historian and they pointed out something wild. In the very first print run of X-Men #1 from 1963, the word 'mutants' on the cover is spelled wrong on a bunch of copies. It says 'mutnats' instead. I always thought my eyes were just bad when I looked at scans online. The blog said maybe only a few hundred copies got out before they fixed it, and most got sent back or destroyed. Finding a real one now would be crazy. It's the kind of tiny detail you'd never notice unless someone told you. Makes you wonder what other little mistakes are hiding in plain sight on classic covers. Has anyone else stumbled on a weird printing goof like that in their own collection?

My 20 year old longbox finally gave out on me yesterday

I was moving some stuff in the garage and went to slide out a longbox full of 90s X-Men comics. The bottom just... fell out. All 300+ books hit the concrete floor in a huge mess. I spent the next two hours carefully sorting them back into order, trying not to cry over my slightly bent copy of X-Men #1 from 1991. Anyone else have a storage disaster with their collection?

I spent $80 on a graded slab for a comic I thought was special. Some say it's smart, others say it's a waste. What's your take?

I spent $80 on a 'complete' digital collection of a 90s comic run, only to find half the issues were low-res scans you can barely read.

Warning: I thought reading comics digitally was the future, but my local shop changed my mind

I was all in on digital for a long time... reading everything on a tablet. It was cheap and easy. But then my friend dragged me to a shop in Cincinnati called Queen City Comics, and I picked up a physical copy of a new indie book. Holding it, smelling the paper, seeing the colors on the actual page... it was a totally different thing. The digital version felt like looking at a picture of food, but the physical book was like eating the meal. The art just popped in a way the screen couldn't match, and I actually talked to the shop owner about the story. Has anyone else gone back to physical after being digital-first? What made you switch?

Hot take: My local comic shop in Spokane just started a 'no spoilers' rule for new releases

They put up a sign last week saying you can't talk about plot points from books that came out that Wednesday. Saw a guy get asked to leave for blabbing about the new Batman ending. Do other shops do this, or is it just mine?

Found a surprising number about comic book readers while looking up something else

I was reading an article from the Pew Research Center last week, looking up data on reading habits for a project. I was not even thinking about comics. Buried in the report was a fact that really caught me off guard. It said that about 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. have read a comic book in the past year. That is a much bigger number than I ever would have guessed. I always figured comic fans were a smaller, more specific group. It made me realize our community is way more common than it seems, just maybe quieter about it in daily life. It has me wondering, do you find that people are often surprised when they learn you are into comics?

My signed copy of The Dark Knight Returns got ruined at a con in Chicago

Honestly, I was at a comic con in Chicago last fall and this guy bumped my elbow while I was holding my signed Frank Miller book. My coffee went all over the cover. I just stood there frozen for a second. I ended up carefully blotting it with a napkin and letting it dry flat in my hotel room, but the stain is still there. Has anyone else had a disaster with a prized book and found a good way to fix it?

My uncle told me to buy Amazing Spider-Man #300 back in 1988...

He said it was the first full Venom and would be a big deal someday. I was ten and spent my whole $2.50 allowance on it, which felt like a lot. Now I see what he meant, seeing those prices online... Did anyone else get a tip like that from an older collector that actually paid off?

I used to think gatekeeping was just part of being a fan

I mean, I'd get annoyed when someone only knew the movies and called themselves a fan. But then my cousin, who only saw the Spider-Man films, asked me to explain the whole Clone Saga to her over coffee last month. Seeing how excited she got about the weird details totally changed my view. Has anyone else had a moment like that that made them chill out?

Just found out the first comic book sold for 10 cents in 1933, but a copy went for over 3 million dollars in 2021.

I was reading an old article from the library about Action Comics #1 and saw that crazy price jump. It makes me wonder how many people just threw those away back in the day. What's the most you've ever spent on a single issue?