End of My Dream

[Spe-Dog]

When I was very little, two events led me to comics and my lifelong love of them:

When I was 4, I got up very early one morning and sat with my mom as she had her coffee.  It was Saturday and the sun wasn't up yet.  This was kind of par for the course on the farm i grew up on; still is.  She sat me down with some cereal as the farm report ended and the day's cartoons were about to start.  I was about to watch the first cartoon I can remember.  It may not have actually been the first, but the moment is crystal clear in my mind, you know?  The roaring timpani's started as the theme song to "Super Friends" started.  William Woodson's voice filled my ears and I was hooked.  Forever.  Superman, Batman (and Robin), Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and (at this time) Zan and Jana-the Wonder Twins.  For a time, I lived for Saturdays to be able to watch the only show I cared about.

The second, was a little while later, when my grandmother bought me my first comic book.  It was off the spinner rack at some convenience or grocery store.  It only caught my eye because it had Superman on the cover.  It was a DC 80 page giant.  A bunch of reprints of old JLA stories.  I remember the main one was about Bizarro bringing his duplicator ray to Earth and making the Bizarro Justice League.  Yellow Lantern was voted the most powerful when his ring ran out of juice.  He had no powers anymore, therefore, he was the most powerful bizarro on their planet.  Classic.

I collected comics from then on.  Not really seriously, and I destroyed a lot of the ones that I did get.  I was a kid.  Rolled them up in my pocket, drew on them, my siblings trashed a few.  I got serious in 1986.  The market in my small town got its own spinner rack and started to carry comics and I finished Crisis on Infinite Earths.  I began again with Byrne's Man of Steel mini-series.  Maybe that is why I hold that version of Superman so close to my heart.  It was MY version and I just saw all others as pale copies compared against it for me (save for perhaps the Silver Age version I grew up with).  It was a gateway drug.  I found that Superman was in other character's books too and I bought those too.  My habit got out of control at one point and I realized I had to cutback a bit.  It was easier to maintain when books were 75 cents a piece.  I have still continued to collect.  All told, over the course of around 30 years I have large chunks of the lives of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Flashes, Green Lanterns, The Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Green Arrow, Iron Man, Daredevil, various X-Men and X-Factors, Fantastic Four, Spawn, Savage Dragon, The Crow, Judge Dredd, and the TMNT stored in cardboard boxes. I've seen them all die at some point; I went to the funerals.  I saw them return.  I watched them get married, have families, be retconned, and still endure bad writers, bad artists, and bad editors (I'm looking at you, Joe Quesada-I'm still not over One More Day, so suck it), only to still triumph in the end and continue the never-ending battle.  Earlier this year, I stopped.

I have really hit rock-bottom financially this year.  Providing 60 percent of my income to kids that my ex-wife has moved out of state and trying to care for my disabled current wife and our 2 year old son has whittled out any savings we had and I've sold my laptop, my tools, and even my clothes to try to make it work.  I couldn't do it and my wife was denied disability.  She has to get a lawyer and try again, but lord only knows if/when that will come through or when she will get a court date.  I've been evicted and am living in my sister-in-law's basement at this time and only can check this site or the internet from work now.  Despite all of this, I clung to these comics I had collected, hoping that I would open a store someday.  It was something I dreamed of down the road. 

I decided this month that I have to sell the whole collection to try to help my family.  I have sold an issue or a box here and there but its not enough.  "Everything must go" as they say.  I know it is self-indulgant, considering how much real loss people have endured in the world, but I am so very sad to see these comics go and that dream of a store too.  When I lived in my car in college I still had these books and would skip meals to buy them.   That's either crazy or dedicated.  I don't know what else to say but I had to get this off my chest in some form to try to snap this depression.  I am doing this for the ones I love and for their well-being.  These books are inanimate and need no real care, but honest to god its like tearing off my arm to get rid of them.

Watch your choices, my friends, treasure your family, and always try to do the right things so that you don't have to part with anything that means as much to you as these books have to me.  They were my last retreat from the real world...now I'm in it all the time.

[BentonGrey]

Spe...I don't know what to say.  I'm sorry man.  It sounds like this was a very hard choice for you, understandably given that the books were a symbol for something bigger than themselves.  I'm sorry you've had to face such choices.

[Randomdays]

I'm looking at something simular, but not as bad, so I feel or you. I've got about 3000+ comics at home including my favorite set  - a complete run of Marvel's Conan the barbarian and Savage Sword, with issues signed by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith. And I've got to let them go to keep a roof over my head. Most of the local stores can't handle a large sale and I don't want to let them be picked apart - I'd rather go for all or nothing. I've sold a few smaller runs on ebay a while back but I don't think I'm going that that route again unless I have no choice.

If you haven't looked at them, I suggest you check out selling to one of the big name online comic resellers and you might get the best deal possible from them. Lonestar comics in Texas (mycomicshop.com) seems to be pretty fair and if they buy they'll even pay for half the shipping cost. The other one I've dealt with is Milehigh comics in the Denver area. I'm sure they're others out there.

Maybe some of the other guys can give you selling tips that can help and I wish you good luck.

One other thing I might say is that if the stories are the only thing of value to you, not the actual comics themselves, you can always recover later by picking up things like the Marvel Essentials or DC Showcase and Archives. Marvel had a good thing going a few years back when they put out their digital collections on DVD but then they pulled the plug on that. You might be able those out there but their prices have jumped a bit.

Once again, good luck and hope things get better.

[Cyber Burn]

I'm really sorry to hear that you're having such a rough patch, I don't have any advice on selling comics, but I can and will keep you and your family in my prayers. Best of luck Spe-Dog.

[Outcast]

Sorry to hear about all the troubles you've been going thru, Spe-Dog. It's pretty hard to let go of something that you've had a lot of good memories with. But if it will help you when you need it the most.....

Maybe someday, when things turn for the better in RL, you'll be able to collect the comics you once loved and had.

Despite it all, I also want to wish you a Happy Birthday as well.