c/comic-book-fans

Thought Superman Returns was boring until I reread it last week at 2am

I picked up that 2003 omnibus from a used bin for $10 six months ago and it just sat there. Finally cracked it open during a rough night and Joe Kelly's dialogue actually hit different. The scene where he talks to that kid on the rooftop made me stop and put the book down for a minute. Anyone else have a run they wrote off early and then came back to later?

Hit my 500th issue of Uncanny X-Men last night and it felt like a weird milestone.

I started collecting singles back in 2019 and never thought I'd actually stack that many. Has anyone else just randomly counted their long boxes and got surprised at the number?

Am I the only one who thinks Miller's Dark Knight Returns is overrated?

Everyone calls it the best Batman story, but the art is ugly and the politics are heavy-handed. Anyone else think other books like Year One or The Long Halloween hold up way better?

Just had a dude at the shop tell me he's got every issue of Amazing Spider-Man from #1 because his dad left him the collection, then he said he stopped reading in the 90s and has no idea what's happening now

My apprentice was pulling wire for a panel change last week and some customer walked in bragging about 850 issues and then admitted he hasn't picked one up since the clone saga, why would you even keep them at that point if you don't care anymore?

The normies have completely taken over comic conventions since 2015

I started going to cons back in 2006 and it used to be mostly hardcore fans and dealers talking about runs and artists, now it feels like 60% of the floor is just people in cosplay for Instagram photos. Has anyone else seen the vibe shift that hard or am I just getting old?

Talked to a collector at my local shop who made me rethink my whole pull list

I was at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis last Saturday grabbing the new Ultimate Spider-Man run, and this older guy next to me said he only reads indie titles from small presses now because big two comics feel like homework. He showed me a few issues from a publisher I never heard of, and the art and story were way more creative than anything I've been reading. Has anyone else had a random conversation at a shop change how you look at what you buy?

Rant: Finally got why longboxes are the worst

Last month I moved my collection to a new place. 3 longboxes broke at the bottom because they can't handle weight. Why do we still use these things? Anyone else switch to something better?

Changed my mind about reading older comic runs

I always skipped pre-2000s stuff because the art looked dated and the dialogue felt clunky. Then I tried 80s X-Men after a friend said the Dark Phoenix saga had better pacing than the movie. Has anyone else found an old run that actually held up better than they expected?

I finally gave in and read a Deadpool run after years of rolling my eyes

For like 5 years I was that guy who thought Deadpool was just memes and annoying jokes. My buddy kept pushing the Joe Kelly run from the 90s and I kept ignoring him. Last month I was stuck at a laundromat in Baltimore for 3 hours with nothing but my phone and comics on Hoopla. I figured why not try issue #1 and see how bad it is. By issue #4 I was laughing out loud and the old lady next to me gave me a weird look. The humor actually has heart underneath it and the fourth wall stuff felt fresh not gimmicky. Has anyone else been forced to eat crow about a character they thought was overrated?

Fell for a $150 variant cover just because the foil looked cool

I grabbed a House of X #1 foil variant from a shop in Austin and now it's worth maybe $15, so who else has bought a comic based purely on the cover art and regretted it after?

That guy at my local shop who claimed he read every issue of X-Men since 1963

I was at Jetpack Comics in Portland last month and this guy in his 50s starts telling me he's got a complete run of Uncanny X-Men from issue 1. He said he read them all twice and could name every villain from the first 100 issues. I asked him who the Hellfire Club's inner circle was in issue 129 and he totally froze. He stumbled through a vague answer about Sebastian Shaw but couldn't name Emma Frost or the White Queen. I felt bad but geez, don't brag like that unless you actually know your stuff. Has anyone else run into fans who oversell their knowledge?

Why does nobody talk about how awkward conventions get after 3 days

I went to Boston Comic Con last month and by Sunday everyone was just shuffling around with that stale smell and red eyes, nobody even buying comics anymore. Has anyone else noticed the vibe totally shifts after Saturday or is it just me?

Spent 8 years reading comics the wrong way until a shop owner in Cleveland set me straight

I used to fly through issues, focusing on big action panels and ignoring the small background details. Then a shop owner in Cleveland asked me what I thought of the street signs in issue 47 of a Daredevil run. I had no clue what he meant because I never looked. He showed me how they matched real Cleveland intersections and told a side story about city corruption. That moment made me realize I was treating comics like a movie instead of reading every inch of the page. How long did it take you guys to start paying attention to the small stuff?

I finally tracked down a complete 90s X-Men run for $200

Turns out 17 issues were reprints from a Canadian distributor and now I'm stuck with a stack of useless paper - has anyone else gotten burned by fake collectibles at convention dealers?

Spent $450 on a graded copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300 and got burned

I bought a CGC 9.6 copy off eBay last March from a seller with good feedback. When it arrived the case was cracked and the book had visible spine ticks that weren't in the listing photos. Has anyone else dealt with a shipper who refuses to refund for damage during transit?

That $60 omnibus that fell apart before I finished reading it

Bought a DC omnibus for $60 last month and the spine split on page 100. Glue job was terrible right out of the factory. Has anyone else had bad luck with recent oversized hardcovers?

That day at the flea market when a seller laughed at my beat-up comics

I used to bag every single issue I owned, even crappy 90s variants, but after that guy told me nobody wants to dig through a pile of polybags, I switched to only bagging stuff worth over $10 and now I actually enjoy flipping through my boxes.

Rant: My longbox collapsed and now I gotta sort 500 loose comics

Why does nobody talk about silver age comics being harder to read than collect

I spent last Saturday going through a stack of 1960s Fantastic Four issues at a shop in Denver, and man the dialogue is rough. The characters explain every single plot point out loud like the reader is five years old. But the covers are amazing and the condition is usually better than 90s books. Is it just me or do other people buy silver age stuff for the art and not bother reading it much?

I finally stopped buying polybagged comics for the gamble

Spent $60 on a box of those mystery polybagged comics from a seller on eBay thinking I'd find hidden gems, but every single one was a common issue from the 90s worth maybe 50 cents total. The hype around 'what's inside' made me overlook the fact that most of those bags are just clearing out dollar bin stock. Anyone else fall for this trap or am I the only one who got burned?

Shelled out $60 for a slab variant and now I get why people buy them

I used to think paying extra for a blank cover or a foil was dumb until I picked up a virgin Mary Jane variant last month. That art just pops in person and it actually got me talking to other collectors at my shop. Anybody else have a pricey cover that made them rethink their whole stance on variants?

Vent: A guy at the LCS told me my pull list was 'too safe' and it stung at first

He said I only grabbed the same 5 Big Two books every month and was missing out on some smaller indie stuff. Swapped out two of my regular pulls for something called 'Something is Killing the Children' and now I actually look forward to Wednesdays more.

Wasted $60 on those 'rare' variant covers from the 90s at a con last week

I was at a small comic con in Des Moines and saw a booth selling some 90s X-Men variant covers. The guy told me they were ultra rare and would be worth a fortune. I dropped $60 on three of them, thinking I got a steal. Got home and looked them up online, turns out they sell for like $5 each on eBay. I learned my lesson about impulse buying from sketchy vendors. Has anyone else gotten burned on overpriced variants at a show?

Walked into a comic shop downtown and felt like a time traveler.

Stopped by Cosmic Comics on 5th last weekend, the same place I used to go as a kid in the 90s. They still have the same squeaky floorboards and that smell of old paper and plastic, but now there's a whole wall of Funko Pops where the back issue bins used to be. Does anyone else miss digging through those random boxes for hours?

Rant: Tried the 'pull list approach' at my local shop and got burned bad

Honestly I thought putting in a pull list for 12 comics a month would make life easier. But after 3 months at Cosmic Comics in Austin, I showed up last Saturday and they had only held 4 of my books. The other 8 were sold to walk-ins because 'the system glitched.' Learned my lesson though - now I pay in advance for the whole month upfront. Has anyone else had a shop just randomly drop your pulls like that?