Figured I would take the time to introduce myself properly to the community.
Here is my story (Names have been changed to protect the innocent but the facts remain the same) kind of long but kind of interesting.
I am a 28 year old chemist from New Jersey. I have been collecting comics since I was 10 years old. I started reading with the help of my godfather. He knew I wasn't much of a reader so he thought reading comics would help me in improving my reading proficiency. My godfather was constantly in the hospital because he had both asthma and enphasema. When ever he would go in he would have his wife, my godmother, bring him comics to read. After reading them he would give them to me to read. The first comic he gave me to read was the Ghost Rider #1 (Danny Ketch version). I must have read that comic a hundred times. He gave spiderman, superman, batman, archie, chip and dales rescue rangers. I was hooked on them.
After seeing I was interested in reading them he strongly encourage me to find something on my own. I remember going to the newstand one sunday and was told to pick out a few comics I liked so I had some more to read. The first comics I picked out myself were Youngblood #1, Spawn #1 , Savage Dragon #1 (from mini-sseries), and ShadowHawk #1. At that point I really didn't understand there were different publishers. I didn't care I would pick up what ever I could find. I would read everything a couple times. My godfather taught me to take good care of my comics and to bag and board them after I was done reading them.
After a couple of months I found a nearby comic shop and started getting my books there. It was great because I was able to get books I missed. When the owner noticed I was coming in alot he told me that he could hold books for me so that I wouldn't miss any issues. When I started my reserve I was getting 4 marvel titles, 6 DC titles and every image title that would come out. I did this for about about 3 years, might have been more I am estimating.
After a while the owner started to take advantage of me. He would put books in my reserve box that I didn't ask for and then tell me I had to pay for it because it was in my box. After a while I got sick of it and stopped getting books altogether. I stopped collecting comics in 1995. In 1997 I went to college. In the same year I met my first girlfriend, Antonella. In 2000 I finished college a semester early. I started my first job as a chemist 2 weeks later. After getting my first paycheck I went out and bought an engagement ring and asked my girlfriend, Antonella, yes the same girl, and yes my first girlfriend, to marry me.
In 2001 I bought a fixer upper home. When I moved out of my parents house in 2001 to move into my first house to start fixing it up before I got married and my wife moved in I left my comic book collection behind for safe keeping. I left it behind also because our first home was small and I had no idea where I would put the 5000+ comics I had. Time passed. In late 2002 I left my job to go to a new company that offered me an almost double increase in my salary doing novel work in chemistry.
In late 2003, my wife and I bought a newer and much larger home since we decided that we were going to want to start a family soon. Summer 2004, Since we had the room now I decided to move my comics out of my parents home and into mine. After moving them I started to catalogue my comics alphabetically by company so they could be easy to find. During this time I started to reread some of my old comics including the 90s Ghost Rider series, Brigade, and Sin City. Also that summer I was going on a bussiness trip to Pitsburg and decided to buy some comics at my local comic book store (New Moon Comics) to read while away. I picked mostly Marvel and DC stuff but I also picked up the latest issue of Spawn. I was a little down I couldn't find any of my favorite titles anymore like Ghost Rider, Youngbloob, Shadowhawk, Brigade, Deathlok. But, I couldn't believe were some of the stories were going, I was hooked again. When I got back I stopped in at our new local comic book store, New Moon Comics (http://www.newmooncomics.com/) to pick up some more titles. While there in the independant section I saw a book Titled ANT. I originally bought it to show my wife since we all call her Ant for short.
When I read the story I was amazed, it is one of the most original characters and stories I have read since Brigade Shadowhawk. I couldn't wait for the next issue. The following week at New Moon Comics I was sad to see that issue #2 wasn't out yet but was excited to see that there were other comics out by Arcana studios, namely Kade and Ezra. Again, I was enthralled by the stories and characters. I was finding I was enjoying reading independants more than stuff from Marvel or DC.
The following week I returned to New Moon Comics with my reserve list filled out. The first line on my reserve list was:
1) Anything and Everything by Arcana Studios. (no kidding that is actually how I wrote it)
2) Anything and Everything by Liefeld. (again no kidding that is actually how I wrote it)
I have been trying to track down some issues that I have missed of various titles while I was away. I was lucky to find a nice collection of Youngblood from Awesome and Arcade, They were great. I am one of those people who would like to have every issue and cover of a comic that I really like. Some of my prized pieces of my comic collection are my Youngblood #1 signed by Rob recently at NYCC, Koni Wave issues signed by Mark, Ezra #1d Bound Cover, The Ant #1(RRP cover signed by Mario Gully), the Ant #1 Red Sox Reverse the Curse Cover, and my Ghost Rider volume 2 #15 signed my Mark Texiera.
I had been storing my books in my game/recreation room until October of 2004 when I have to give up my room. I was excited because of the reason I had to give up my room, my wife was pregnant with our first child. So I moved my books into our computer room in preparation and anticipation of our first child that was due about July 8 2005. Due to some issues, my son was born on 17 June 2005, the same day as my wife. I hope to pass this collection on to my kids for them to enjoy and pass on. I estimate that my collection has grown to about 10,000 books. My goal is to fill in the huge gaps that have grown in my collection since my hiatus in collecting. But thanks to great people like Mark, Sean ORielly, Joe Martino, Rob from New Moon Comics, and sites like ebay I have been able to fill in some of the gaps on Books like X-men, Uncanny X-men, Batman, Spawn and Ghost Rider volume 2. I was glad when they brought back a bunch of my favorites like Youngblood, Ghost Rider and Shadowhawk. I found a bunch of new favorites like Koni Waves, Kade, Helios, Infiniteens, The Super Naturals (No Not the DC comic about the Show). but also lost a couple to cancelation or limbo like Shadowhawk, Ant, Youngblood, and Intimates.
Hope this didn't put you all to sleep. Let me know what you think of my story and if it should be edited down or removed.
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