Teens

My earliest memory of comics is finding a small pile of them in my basement when I was kid (about 5/6). There were a couple of issues of Avengers (around #173), a Strange Tales, and X-Factor #4. Aside from those, although I didn't really think of it at the time, there were always comics in the house, and I always seemed to get new ones. My mum collected the 2nd Vision and the Scarlet Witch limited series (Oct 85 - Sep 86), which I used to read all the time, and I had heaps of STAR comics (a subsidiary of Marvel): Madballs (which was one of my favourites), Masters of the Universe, Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham, Muppet Babies, Popples, Care Bears, Top Dog; and comics based on cartoons/toy lines like Transformers and G.I.Joe.

In 1989 (when I was 6) I went to a comic specialty store for the first time. It was called Comics Compulsion and it was situated at 158 Cuba St (it's now called Graphic and is at 105 Cuba St, although it's still called Comics Compulsion in the phone book). The only things I remember about the visit are the comics in the window (Pistake), the guy that worked there, and what my mum bought for me. It was a pack of X-Men trading cards that featured different covers from Uncanny X-Men on each card. I would spend a LOT of time at that shop over the next few years.

Also in 1989 was when I starting collecting my first comic book series. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, which was published by Archie Comics. Now this was the series based on the cartoon, not the original series, but I didn't know that at the time. I really loved that series, and haven't found an enjoyable Turtles one since (I've now read the original series and didn't like it very much, and the new series which has just started has changed too much stuff which ruins it). I used to get it from the dairy down the road on my way home from school, and when I went to Taupo for a year I kept buying it from a fruit and vegetable store, and then resumed buying it at the dairy down the road when I came back. I also collected the spin-off series The Mighty Mutanimals, which featured all the other creatures from the series (like Man Ray...).

I also had a vivid memory of being up north with my grandparents in 1991 and going to a supermarket and buying Guardians of the Galaxy #14 and an issue of Power Pack. I really liked Guardians of the Galaxy, and so started collecting it about a year later. Power Pack didn't do it for me though.

Then around 1992 I started spending unhealthy amounts of time at Comics Compulsion. I'd spend my whole Saturday's there, sitting at the back of the store reading comics all day. Around that time was when I first really got into "proper" comics. As with a lot of kids I started reading X-Men and I remember getting issue #16, and reading it so many times (I know it doesn't really seem like it, but I didn't actually get to buy that many comics). It was also really great around then 'cause there was lots of free stuff for poor kids; we had CSN, which was a lot better than it is now, Dark Horse published a free preview comic every week, and there were always special previews being published by all the companies. You could also find good stuff in the $1 bins back then.

In 1993 Sabretooth #1 came out. It was about $7 and I saved up for weeks to get it. I don't know why I wanted it so much, maybe it was the die-cut cover, it can't have been the art (by Mark Texeira) 'cause it was real grim and gritty, real dirty, which even now I don't particularly like. Anyway, I cherished that comic for a really long time, I think 'cause I had to save up for it I felt like I had really earned it. I never got the rest of the limited series though.

Then a month later I got X-Men #25. Now I don't actually know how I got it, 'cause I don't remember buying it but I know I didn't steal it. Anyway, it was the issue where Wolverine got his adamantium ripped out by Magneto. I don't think the story impressed me too much, but I loved the cover with its Gambit hologram on the front (I don't particularly like Gambit, but I do like holograms). That was kind of the beginning of what would become a collecting trend for me: enhanced covers. There were lots of comics that I bought just because of the cover (like Wolverine #100, the hologram on the cover was very cool so I bought it even though I hate Wolverine), which unfortunately doesn't happen anymore since enhanced covers went out with the '90s (although the next issues of the comics on the Tsunami line by Marvel are going to be enhanced).

You may have noticed that my history so far has been largely made up of Marvel comics. Marvel has always, and probably will always, be my favourite publisher, I just find the characters a lot more fun to read about than others. So aside from the occasional issue of Outsiders or Firestorm, 1994 is when I first got into DC Comics.

I think the main thing that got me reading DC was a guy I went to school with who really liked DC and got me to buy his comics for him (with his money of course), which I then got to read as well as grab a few for myself. I really liked Hal Jordon's Green lantern and so enjoyed reading Green Lantern, but unfortunately for me 1994 was when they decided to make Hal crazy, kill off the Green Lantern Corps and introduce a new Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner.

So around that same time DC had a storyline called Zero Hour where a villain called Parallax (who turned out to be Hal Jordan) tried to rewrite history. Rewriting history is something DC seems to like to do when continuity starts to get too confusing (see also: Crisis on Infinite Earths). The thing about Zero Hour that stood out, for me, was the enhanced covers. All of DC's regular titles had a "zero" issue, and they all used silver as a "fifth" ink (comics use four colours in the printing process green, yellow, cyan, and magenta), which of course made me buy as many as I could afford (which wasn't many) and read the ones I couldn't.

Another crossover event that appeared around the same time was the Phalanx Covenant, which ran across Marvel's X-books and spawned the series Generation X. Like Zero Hour it also featured enhanced covers (holographic strips) that made me buy as many as I could (which I think was only about three).

Then in 1995 I started collecting comics in a big way. It was my first year at high school and there I met someone who sold me two shoeboxes full of Spider Man comics for $20. So of course I began collecting Spider Man comics. Being the poor young boy I was I couldn't afford to get every issue of every title so I had to be content buying what I could when I could. Also around this time the lovely staff at Comics Compulsion starting finding work for me to do in the shop giving me free comics in return. Then in August, as happens all too often when I collect a series, the Spider-line was ruined by the infamous clone saga. To cut a long story short I stopped buying any Spider-titles (even the enhanced covers couldn't draw me in), and ended up selling all of my Spider Man related comics (which would turn into a trend of me selling all my issues from a series when I stopped collecting it, something I wish I'd never done).

Fortunately though, earlier that year I had started buying the Flash, and more importantly its spin-off Impulse. Impulse was the first series since TMNTA that I'd seriously collected for an extended period of time. However after a couple of years I couldn't afford as many comics (and wasn't getting as many free ones), so I had to cut back on what I was getting and Impulse was one of the titles that got the cut (my last issue was #42 in late '98).

1996. My main title of this year was the Avengers. I can't remember what issue I started with, or why I started, but I ended up buying lots of back issues, as well as old issues of West Coast Avengers. I also started collecting Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man (being the completist that I am). Then, not long after I'd started collecting it, Marvel decided to mess with another title I was collecting. Around this time there was a storyline which ran through all the X-books (and a bunch of non-X-books) called Onslaught (which I actually bought a number of parts from). Again to cut things short, the Avengers and a few other characters sacrificed their lives to stop Onslaught, thus being transported to an alternative dimension and starting the Heroes Reborn series of comics (Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, and Fantastic Four) which fortunately only lasted for a year.

After that I sold off all my back issues, which I really regretted because when the characters returned I began collecting Avengers again (only for a couple of years though).

Also around the end of '96/beginning of '97 a bunch of DC titles came out that I found really interesting. The first was Supergirl in September (which I bought for about 9 months) followed by Nightwing and Teen Titans in October (although I only bought a few issues of each), the Final Night mini-series (and company wide crossover) in November, and finally JLA in January (which I got for a couple of years, and wish I hadn't stopped collecting).

As a side note, since I can't remember exactly when I started collecting it, I bought a series called Usagi Yojimbo for a few years which was really great. It's another one I wish I hadn't stopped collecting. We've got most of the Darkhorse series here in TPB form and its well worth checking out.

Then in January 1997 a new monthly series called Deadpool started being published by Marvel. I read the first issue when it came out, but even though I liked it I didn't buy it. I kept thinking about it over the next few months though, and then one day decided that if I found a copy of the first issue I'd start collecting it. As luck would have it a few days later as I was going through the Iron Man (?!?!) back issues I came across a copy of Deadpool #1. So I got that as well as the latest issue (#6), and over the months got the ones I had missed (it took me about a year to get #4), and in a roundabout way I've been collecting it ever since. Why do I say a roundabout way? Well, Deadpool ended in September last year, and was replaced by Agent X. Since it was almost the same title I kept collecting it. It started off alright (though not as good as DP) but once Gail Simone stopped writing it it got worse and worse each issue. It got so bad in fact that I started to dread reading it each month. Marvel though, seem to be able to spot their mistakes these days and so instead of ending the series with issue 12, they decided to give it an extra 3 issues and have Gail Simone come back and wrap up the series properly. And what happens at the end? Deadpool comes back. As I write this the final issue hasn't come out yet so I don't know how it's going to end, but fortunately Deadpool's getting another ongoing series; unfortunately he has to share it with Cable, and even worse the covers are being drawn by Rob Leifeld. But anyway, Deadpool is the title and character that I've most enjoyed over the years and it's the longest time I've ever spent collecting a title (almost seven years).

Also around then I started to stop buying comics so willy-nilly, the only other notable things I've collected since are Tellos (May 1999), X-Statix (formerly X-Force, May 2001), and Fables (started last year sometime). What made me stop buying so much stuff? I don't know. At first it was lack of income, but then when I did have money I didn't get back into buying as much as before. I still love comics as much as I always have, and get to read heaps thanks to the relatively large (and growing) collection of TPBs here at the library.

At the moment I'm collecting: X-Statix, Fables, Agent X (until the end then I'll be getting Cable/Deadpool), Runaways, Voltron, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter, Supreme Power, Human Target, New X-Men (only until Grant Morrison leaves), Love and Rockets (when it comes out), Ghost In The Shell 2, Teen Titans, 1602, New Mutants, and whatever random things I pick up each week.

So now that we're roughly at the end we ask "what's the point of this?" Good question, let's work it out. I think it's good to read peoples experiences of things, whatever they may be, to help you understand things better or find out more about them. Or maybe to show that comic collecting isn't such a hard thing to get into, and you may be thinking "well duh", but it's amazing how many people don't want to get into it because of continuity, and their ignorance of it, but most continuity is irrelevant to the stories that are being written.

I think it's interesting to see how tastes develop and how what you look for in a comic changes. For example, when I was younger I used to choose my comics based on what characters were featured in them (which I still do, but to a lesser extent), whereas as now I look out for writers and artists who I like and try stuff that I usually wouldn't because I trust them to deliver an interesting story. Also, apart from the TV/toy tie-ins, almost all the comics I used to read were superhero books, but then in the mid-'90s I started reading more "alternative" comics like Love and Rockets and Hepcats.

Or maybe there's no point. Maybe I just wanted to get my thoughts onto "paper", I've certainly remembered heaps of stuff I'd forgotten while writing this. So is this a vanity project? Possibly, though that's not the way I feel about it. I'd like to think that some of you reading this will find it interesting; maybe it'll make you want to check out some of these titles. And if not at least I got to take a trip down memory lane.

Shane

Recommended:
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Batman: No Man's Land
Ghost World
The Invisibles
Madman
The Sandman
Tellos
Usagi Yojimbo
New X-Men: E is for Extinction
X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills

Links:
Marvel Comics Official Site
DC Comics Official Site
Image Comics Official Site
Dark Horse Official Site
Fantagraphics Books Official Site
Comic Book Database
Comix Fan
Comics Resources