Category: Comic I’ve Had The Longest In My Collection Is…

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #011: The Comic I’ve Had the Longest

So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #011: The Comic I’ve Had the Longest

Seems we’re getting sentimental this week, kiddos. As I read our illustrious HBIC’s column this week, I couldn’t help but join in the fun. No, seriously. She’s holding me at gunpoint. Help! Ahem. I mean… that is to say… What comic have I had in my collection the longest? Much as I’d love to tell you it was the aforementioned X-Men Adventures book that ignited my original passion for pulp. Or perhaps the sentimental favorite pair of Malibu books that I still maintain are more than mere homage. But no. Most of my original set of comics were lost to a flood long ago. But not my graphic novels.

The comic — nay, the graphic novel— that has remained in my possession the longest is Art Spiegelman’s Maus.

And it’s time for a true confession. Well, a pair of them, if I must. First? I didn’t buy my copy. I stole it. That is to say, I borrowed it from the Hebrew School library, and refrained from ever returning it. No late fees or fines ever were sent home. So, there it stayed in my desk drawer for the better part of two and a half decades. And my second confession? It’s been so long since I’ve read it, I honestly remember nothing about the book.

Despite my larceny and lame memory, there are a multitude of reasons it remains one of my most cherished tomes.  Continue reading “So Long and Thanks for the Fish, Man #011: The Comic I’ve Had the Longest”

Continued After the Next Page #002: The Comic I Have Owned the Longest

Continued After the Next Page #002: The Comic I Have Owned the Longest

I began reading and collecting comic books when I was 8 years old in 1981.  I would get comics from my Aunt’s convenience store in Seaside Heights, NJ.  For the next few years, I would pick up comics from local convenience stores with spinner racks. For those who are from New Jersey or the Northeast, names like Krausers and Cumberland Farms were havens of comic goodness. One day, I found out that there was such a thing as a comic book store. A whole store devoted to comic books. I was in awe. By this time, at about 12 years old, I had started working in my Aunt’s store on Sunday mornings. I would put the Sunday newspapers together for $5 bucks per hour.  I had found that there was a Comic Shop in Lakewood, NJ. It was only in the next town. I somehow managed to convince my mother to take me to this magical place so that I could spend my hard-earned dollars on comic goodness.  I am sure I spent way longer than my mom would have liked perusing the stacks and boxes to find a few bits of awesomeness. Most likely, I picked up some New Teen Titans that I had not read or old copies of the Legion of Super-Heroes.  At one point, I saw a flyer on the counter for a “Comic Convention” in Toms River, NJ. That is when my fandom for comics hit the accelerator and stayed glued to the floor.

Continue reading “Continued After the Next Page #002: The Comic I Have Owned the Longest”