[This is a post I wrote in late 2020 that was forgotten about in my drafts. The thing was it just turned out kinda boring and some of the photos suck, so I wasn't compelled to post it. But what the heck, I already typed up the thing, so why not just publish it.]
For a couple years when I was a kid in the early 90s, I was an avid comic book collector, with most of my allowance money being split between cards and comics. Then I lost interest in both hobbies and boxed up everything in the garage. Jump to 2008 when I'm whittling down my possessions in anticipation of a move out of state, I pulled out my best/favorite 10% or so from each collection-- basically a shoebox and a binder of cards and one box of comics-- and jettisoned the rest on Craigslist for a few bucks.
Those keepers from my childhood comic collection had been missing for several years and I was starting to worry they disappeared somewhere along the line. But one happy moment during the otherwise exhausting recent move was that the box of comics turned up, tucked away out of sight in the back recesses of a big desk.
For this post I'm going to open up the box for the first time in over a decade and take a look at my treasure trove. I've got a rough idea of what's in there, but I don't doubt there will be a few surprises I forgot about.
Ok, ready? Let's open up the box!
Over half the contents are Spider-man comics. I think I'm going to split this into a couple posts. Today will cover the webslinger, and I'll do the non-Spidey comics in a future post.
Amazing Spider-Man #59, my oldest Spider-man (1968). Not a super notable issue, but it's the 1st cover appearances of Mary Jane. And though the Brainwasher might be a nobody of a villian, there's also a Kingpin cameo in there. Tried to get an idea of what this goes for on eBay and it looks like you can probably score it for twenty-something bucks, but if it's in solid condition it could creep into triple digits.
The Amazing Spider-Man #177 (Feb 1978). Green Goblin was probably my favorite villain. It's funny that I was a Spiderman collector as a kid, but "got over it" and these days while I like him fine, I never bother to watch any of the movies. I saw much of one of the Tobey Maguire flicks once because somebody put it on at a party I was at, and we watched that Into the Spider-Verse animated one last year, but I think that's it. Maybe someday I'll crank them out, but I'm just not that into superhero movies. [2024 Update: I've been watching through the X-Men/Wolverine films with just a couple left until I wrap things up with Deadpool and Wolverine. After that, I'll likely hit the Avengers series.]
Now we're into the early/mid 80s. I thought the black suit was pretty cool. I was also a fan of the Hobgoblin as a bad guy. Looks like these issues aren't worth much today.
Got a little run of Amazing Spider-Man #298 thru 300, which are notable for being the start of Todd McFarlane's run, plus the earliest appearances of Venom.
And here are a few Amazing Spider-Man comics from the early 90s. I had a subscription for a year or two, though didn't keep all of them.
Nice run of 30th Anniversary hologram covers.
Love the shiny foil covers.
Spectacular Spider-Man highlights.
And this pair closes out the post. I likely kept these issues because, again, I found Green Goblin and Hobgoblin to be among the more interesting villains.
Thanks for checking out my little collection of Spider-Man comics. Maybe I'll do a post on my non-Spider-man comics one of these days. Have a great week, guys.
Always hard to downsize, and it seems that years later we always want that stuff back. Some really nice covers in there.
ReplyDeleteHad to have been a blast (back in 2020) to sort through those. And then bring back those childhood memories and that of the 2020 again here at the end of 2024. Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI collected in the early 1990s for a few years - hard to believe it is the 60th anniversary of the Spiderman
ReplyDeleteI collected comics during the junk wax card era. They've redone the DC and Marvel Universes twice since then. I'm typically confused when there are big differences between present day movies and the 70's thru 90's comics that I read. I still have them - 8 long boxes worth. Spidey is the most common, along with Iron Man, Hulk, and some of the other major Marvel heroes. I went over to Batman later, and quit a little while after Secret Wars and Crisis OIE.
ReplyDeleteI remember the hologram covers being such a big deal to me and my peers when they came out. They were basically a must-own at that time. Of course, I also remember that because a gillion copies were produced for everyone to horde away, that the ones that weren't ended up in the quarter boxes within just a couple of years.
ReplyDeleteLove comic book posts. I don't have a huge collection of comics... but I'll pick a few up each year. I have a few of the gimmicky ones from this post like the hologram covers. I can't pass that kind of stuff up at the flea market when they're a buck or two.
ReplyDeleteAs for the movies... I liked the X-Men/Wolverine films more than the Tobey Maguire films. But I'm a huge fan of the new Marvel movies... especially the Avengers related ones.