c/comic-book-fans

Had to choose between my wallet or my pride at a con this weekend

I was at a small comic con in Portland on Saturday and a vendor had a signed first printing of a huge 90s X-Men issue for $250. I stood there for a solid 10 minutes trying to decide if I should buy it or pretend I didn't see it because my rent check was due Tuesday. My friend dared me to flip a coin, and when it landed on buy, I chickened out and walked away. An hour later I came back and it was gone, obviously. I ended up spending $40 on a stack of random back issues from a dollar bin instead, so I guess that's a win for my wallet? Has anyone else totally folded on a big purchase at a con and regretted it later?

Guy at the comic shop told me I was reading superhero comics wrong for 10 years straight

Last Tuesday at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, this older collector looked at my pull list and said 'you're just reading for the fights, not the dialogue,' and honestly it shook me because I realized he was right after I went back and reread that first Walking Dead arc without skipping the talking parts.

Which is better for preserving old comics, Mylar bags or regular poly bags after I tested both on a 1973 issue of Spider-Man?

I left a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #125 in a Mylar bag and another in a regular poly bag on my shelf for 6 months, and the Mylar one stayed perfectly flat while the poly one started yellowing at the edges, so has anyone else seen a clear winner like that or is it just my luck?

Rant: A veteran collector told me to stop bagging my key issues in Mylar

I used to put every semi-valuable comic in a Mylar bag with a full back board, thinking I was protecting them. Then a guy at a convention in Chicago last month pulled out a Silver Age book that was perfectly flat and told me my Mylar was actually warping the spines on some of my moderns because I was using boards too thick for the bags. He said the combo was making the covers curl inward near the staples. So I switched to standard polypropylene bags with half-back boards for most stuff, and only use Mylar for heavy hitters like my first appearance of Wolverine. Now my newer books lay flatter in the short box and don't look like they're fighting to get out. Has anyone else noticed their books getting bent from premium bags?

Shoutout to that guy at the Denver Comicon who ruined the big reveal for everyone

I was at the Denver Comicon last March, sitting in the main hall waiting for the Marvel panel to start. Some guy in the front row yells out the ending of the new Spider-Man run before the moderator even introduced the guest. Security walked him out in under 2 minutes, but the damage was done. Has anyone else had a key moment spoiled like that at a con?

Went to a comic shop in Denver and overheard a guy arguing that reading comics on a tablet 'doesn't count'

I was just browsing the back issues and this dude was going off at the register for like 10 minutes about how digital readers aren't real fans. He kept saying if you can't smell the paper you're missing the whole point. I read on my iPad half the time because my apartment is tiny and I ran out of shelf space after issue 200. The cashier just nodded and rang him up. It got me thinking, do people actually care how others read comics or is it just gatekeeping nonsense? Has anyone else run into this kind of attitude at a shop?

That time a dude at a comic con gatekept me for not knowing the exact issue number of a variant cover

I was at the Portland Comic Expo last year flipping through a longbox and this guy next to me goes 'you dont even know what that is do you' about a Batman #423 variant. I just looked at him and said 'nope, but I know it cost me $3 and thats all that matters' and walked off. Anyone else get tired of fans acting like you need a photographic memory just to browse?

Wasted $200 on a 'collector's edition' comic box set that was basically a scam

I grabbed this limited run box set from a small online shop last month, paid $200 for what they said was rare variant covers and exclusive art prints. When it showed up, the comics were just cheap reprints with bad coloring and the prints were on this flimsy paper that ripped when I opened it. The seller won't respond to my emails and now their site is gone. Has anyone else gotten burned by those flashy indie comic bundles?

Saw a guy at a con in Chicago last weekend arguing about whether Batman should kill or not

He was going back and forth with like 5 people and it got super heated, but I'm curious - do you think a Batman who never kills is more interesting or just frustrating at this point? What side are you on?

Spent $400 on a custom-framed comic page and honestly, it feels like the best money I've ever spent on this hobby (even my non-collector friends get it now).

Having that single, perfect piece of art from my favorite story up on the wall completely changed how I think about collecting, shifting it from just accumulating stuff in boxes to actually enjoying the art every day, so has anyone else made a similar switch from buying lots of books to focusing on a few display pieces?

My friend keeps calling the MCU 'Marvel Universe' and it drives me nuts

I was at a party last month and my friend was talking about the 'Marvel Universe' movies. He meant the MCU, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It matters because the 'Marvel Universe' is the whole comics world, not just the movies. I had to pull up a wiki page on my phone to show him the difference. Does anyone else have friends who mix up comic and movie terms?

I started a weekly comic swap at my library and the turnout tripled in two months

Back in April, I set up a small table at my local branch in Springfield with a sign that just said 'Trade a Comic, Take a Comic'. The first week, maybe five people stopped by and I went home with most of my own books. I kept at it every Saturday morning, and I started talking to the librarians about putting it in their newsletter. By early June, we had a regular group of about fifteen people showing up, from kids to older collectors. The big change came when a couple of high school art students started bringing their own mini-comics to trade, which got a whole different crowd interested. Now we're filling three long tables and the head librarian is talking about making it a monthly event with a theme. Has anyone else tried setting up something like this in their town, and what got people to come back?

My entire comic box collapsed in the garage last night

I was just trying to pull out a few books to show a friend, and the whole thing gave way. It was one of those long white cardboard boxes, you know the kind, and I guess the bottom just got weak after sitting for years. About 300 books, mostly 90s X-Men stuff, hit the concrete floor in a huge mess. I spent over an hour just sorting them back into piles, and now I've got a bunch with bent corners and a few spines that look rough. I feel like an idiot for not putting it on a shelf. What's the best way you guys store your long boxes to keep this from happening? I need a better system before my wife finds out.

Serious question, I heard a guy at my local shop in Akron say 'real fans only read the classics' and it got me thinking about gatekeeping.

It made me realize how often we judge someone's fandom based on what they've read instead of just being happy they're here, you know?

A chat with my barber changed how I see comic shop talk

I was getting a haircut yesterday and my barber, Mike, saw my Flash t-shirt. He said he used to collect comics in the 90s but stopped because the other guys at his shop made him feel dumb for liking the 'wrong' books. He told me, 'They'd look at my stack of X-Force and just shake their heads like I was a kid.' That hit me hard because I've seen that gatekeeping attitude too, where some fans act like there's a right and wrong way to be into this stuff. It made me think about the new readers I've met at my local shop in Springfield who seem nervous to join conversations. Mike's story was a good reminder that being a fan should be about sharing joy, not passing tests. Have you ever seen someone get pushed out of the hobby by that kind of attitude?

I bought a $40 ticket to a con just to get a specific variant cover signed

The line was four hours long, and the artist was so rushed he just scribbled his initials. Felt like a real waste. Anyone else ever feel like the signature hunt isn't worth the hassle?

My entire longbox of 90s comics collapsed in the closet last night

The bottom just gave out, and now my X-Force #1 is bent under a pile of polybags. I had to carefully sort through about 300 books to save what I could. Has anyone found a better storage solution that won't fail after a few years?

PSA: I spent $200 on a 'complete' digital comic collection that was just pirated scans

I saw an ad for a huge digital bundle of a classic X-Men run, over 100 issues for a flat price. It looked legit, so I paid for it. Turns out the files were just low quality scans from sketchy websites, and the seller vanished after the sale. I'm out the cash and the files are basically unreadable. Has anyone found a good, honest place to buy old comics digitally?

Can we talk about how my local comic shop went from dead quiet to packed after they started hosting a weekly 'new reader' night

I walked in last Wednesday and the owner said they went from maybe 5 people on a weeknight to over 40 after they began the event 3 months ago, which is a huge win for getting new people into the hobby.

Stopped by the old comic shop in Akron and it was just empty shelves

Went in looking for back issues and the whole wall was bare, just a few new releases. Felt like a ghost town compared to the packed racks from ten years ago. Does anyone still have a good local shop that feels like it used to?

I thought the new Spider-Man run was just a cash grab, but the first issue won me over

I saw the previews for the new Amazing Spider-Man #1 and rolled my eyes, thinking it was just another reboot. My friend at the comic shop in Springfield said to give it a shot, so I picked it up last week. The way they handled Peter's new job at Oscorp and the mystery with the missing tech actually felt fresh. Has anyone else been surprised by a book they thought they'd hate?

Had a talk with my sister about gatekeeping in comics and it really stuck with me

TIL my old comic book storage plan was a total waste of money

Back in 2018, I bought a bunch of those cheap cardboard long boxes from a convention, thinking they were fine for my collection. I spent about $60 on them. After a few years in my basement, the bottom of one gave out and bent a stack of my older X-Men books. The corners got wrecked. I should have just saved up for proper plastic bins from the start. Anyone else have a storage fail that hurt their books?

Why does nobody talk about the scalper bots at the local con?

I saw the line for the exclusive variant cover at the Chicago con last month, and it was 90% resellers with ticket printers. The actual fans who camped out got nothing because the system was flooded in under a minute. How do we even fight this?

The line for the new X-Men comic at my local shop was all people over 40

I went to Galaxy Comics in Pasadena this morning for the new issue. The line was about fifteen people long, and I was the youngest one there by at least a decade. It felt more like a reunion for people who read comics in the 90s than a new release day. Is this just how it is now, or was my shop an odd case?