c/comic-book-fans

Hot take: people who call Wolverine a 'loner' are missing the whole point of his character.

I used to think he was just the cool brooding guy too, but after reading the Claremont run again I realized he's constantly trying to build a family and it's everyone else who keeps pushing him away, isn't that the real tragedy?

The thing that bugs me about how people describe Batman's no-kill rule

I keep seeing new fans say Batman doesn't kill because he's a good guy or it's a moral code. But that misses the point, he doesn't kill because he knows if he starts, he won't stop. It's a psychological wall he built for himself after his parents died. Read Year One or The Killing Joke, it's right there in the text. Has anyone else noticed this getting oversimplified online lately?

Ran into a guy at a comic shop who completely changed how I look at variants

I was at the local shop last Saturday flipping through a bin of new releases and this older guy next to me noticed I was grabbing every variant cover I could find. He asked why I was buying them and I said for the art, but he pointed out I hadn't even looked at the interior pages on half of them. It hit me that I was treating these books like trading cards instead of actually reading them. Has anyone else had a moment where you realized you were collecting for the wrong reasons?

Always thought variant covers were a scam until last Saturday

I used to roll my eyes at people paying $40 for a different drawing on the same comic. Then I found a Skottie Young variant of a book I actually loved at my local shop in Austin and now I get why folks hunt for them. Has anyone else changed their mind on something you thought was just hype?

Found a trick for sorting my back issues that actually saved me 2 hours

I've got about 400 comics stuffed in long boxes and I could never find anything. Last weekend I started sorting them by publisher first, then alphabetically by series, then by issue number. Took me a Saturday but now I can grab any book in under a minute. My old way was just by release year and it was a mess. Anyone else got a sorting system that actually works or am I overthinking this?

Took me 3 hours to find that one variant cover at my local shop in Portland

I drove all the way across town to Cosmic Comics on Saturday to grab the David Aja variant for Daredevil #12. The clerk said they had one copy left in the back but then couldn't find it for like 45 minutes. I stood there awkwardly while they dug through three different longboxes of unorganized stock. Finally they handed it to me and it had a crease right down the middle of the cover. I asked if they had another one and they said nope, that was the last. Ended up buying it anyway because I didn't want to leave empty handed after all that waiting. Has anyone else had a shop lose track of their hold pile or just me?

Shoutout to the guy at Dragon Con who spent 45 minutes explaining his homemade Batman suit

This dude in Atlanta last month walked me through every single rivet and seam on that thing, and I stood there nodding for 45 minutes because he was so passionate I didn't have the heart to tell him I just wanted to grab a slice of pizza.

Warning: That "character analysis" post missed the whole point of The Thing

I keep seeing people online saying Ben Grimm is just the strong dumb guy, but his whole arc in the original Lee/Kirby run is about accepting himself as a monster (you know, the ultimate metaphor). It drives me crazy because they're literally ignoring the panel where he says "It's clobberin' time" with tears in his eyes. Has anyone else noticed fans glossing over the emotional depth just to make memes?

That day a dude in a Deadpool shirt argued the Atomic Age was better than the Modern Age

Was at a con in Portland last March and this guy wouldn't shut up about how 1950s comics had more heart. I told him to pull up a single story from that era that holds up against Hickman's Avengers run and he just walked off. Has anyone else had to deal with fans who act like older automatically means better?

Pro tip: Watch out for signings at big cons getting way too crowded

I went to Fan Expo Chicago last weekend and man, the line for Jim Lee's booth was insane. I got there at 8am thinking I'd be early and there were already like 200 people camped out. Security kept saying they'd cap it at 250 but nobody listened. I saw a guy near me get his hardcover bent because someone pushed into him when the crowd surged. The organizers had one tiny rope barrier for a guy who draws for DC and Marvel, you'd think they'd prepare better. By noon they just closed the line and told everyone else to go home. Has anyone else dealt with getting stuck in those crazy artist alley mobs?

I watched a guy go from never reading a comic to pulling a $200 key issue in 8 months

There's this guy at my local shop who started coming in last spring. Knew nothing, just liked the movie posters. He asked a lot of questions, listened to what the regulars recommended, and read one trade paperback a week. Fast forward to last Saturday, he grabbed a first printing of a Silver Surfer issue off the wall before anyone else noticed it. Not sure if it's beginners luck or just paying attention, but has anyone else seen a newbie outpace the veterans like that?

Hot take: bagging and boarding EVERY single comic is a waste of money

I used to bag and board every issue I bought, even dollar bin filler. After my last move I realized I spent like $60 on bags and boards for comics I will never read again. Has anyone else just started bagging only key issues and leaving the rest in short boxes raw?

PSA: That moment at my LCS when a kid spilled soda on a Silver Age book

So I was at my local shop, Cosmic Comics on 3rd Street, sorting through the dollar bins last Saturday. A kid, maybe 10 years old, was running around near the back wall and knocked over a whole can of Mountain Dew right onto a display of early X-Men issues. The owner rushed over and picked up this beat-up copy of X-Men #12 that was now sticky and warping. I actually helped him blot the pages with paper towels, feeling super awkward because I'm just a customer and not staff. He was cool about it, told the kid's mom not to worry and just gave them a free bag of chips, but he told me later that book was worth maybe $150 before the spill. Has anyone else dealt with accidental damage in a shop and how did they handle it without making a huge scene?

Hit 1,000 issues in my collection last weekend and didn't even realize it

I was reorganizing my long boxes to make room for the new Teen Titans run and decided to actually count everything. Turned out I crossed the 1,000 mark about 50 comics ago without noticing. Most of them are random 90s X-Men and random indie books I grabbed for a buck at a flea market in Portland. Has anyone else lost track of their total count and then got surprised by a big round number?

Pulled out my 30 year old Amazing Spider-Man #300 last night

I dug out my copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300 from 1988 that I bought off a spinner rack for like a dollar fifty. The corners are soft and there's a crease down the middle from where I shoved it in my backpack in 7th grade. Anyone else got a beat up key issue they just can't bring themselves to replace?

Finally tried reading digital vs floppy and one won by a mile

I spent years buying single issues from my local shop, but after my 3-month backlog got out of hand I grabbed a tablet and read a run of Saga on it. The convenience of having 40 issues in one place without bagging and boarding anything just felt better to me. Has anyone else switched formats and found one side works way better for their habits?

Rant: That comic book fan at the convention in Chicago last weekend really got under my skin

I was just browsing the back issue bins at a booth in Rosemont and this guy next to me started lecturing a kid about how he was holding his bagged comics wrong, like it was some kind of sacred ritual, has anyone else run into these gatekeepers at shows who make new fans feel unwelcome?

Comic book snob at my local shop tried to tell me I was reading comics wrong

I was at Cosmic Cat Comics in Omaha last Saturday picking up the latest issue of Shazam and this guy in his 40s in a vintage X-Men shirt starts lecturing me about how DC is for kids and I need to read real comics like Saga. I told him I've been reading since I was 10 and I like what I like, and he just rolled his eyes and walked away. Has anyone else had a fellow fan try to shame them for their taste like that?

Debate time: the right way to store your long boxes

I spent 3 hours last Saturday reorganizing my long boxes in my garage here in Phoenix. One guy I know swears by plastic bins with silica gel packs to keep out humidity. Another old timer says just stack cardboard boxes on pallets and let them breathe. I went with the plastic route but it cost me $120 for six bins and now I'm second guessing. Which side are you on for long term storage? Has anyone had mold issues with one method over the other?

DAE think reading the comic before the movie ruins the film?

I always heard you gotta read the source material first to appreciate it. But I tried that with Watchmen back in 2009 and the movie felt like a letdown the whole time. Anybody else find they enjoy adaptations more when they go in blind?

Spent 45 minutes arguing about whether Marvel counts as comics or not

The comic shop owner in Portland told me I was reading graphic novels wrong

I walked into this small shop on Hawthorne last month looking for a new series. The owner saw me flip through a book and stop at the action scenes. He asked if I ever read the dialogue first before looking at the art. I told him no, I just scan the pictures. He said I was missing half the story because the words and images work together in ways you don't see at first. He pulled out a copy of Maus and made me read a page slowly, looking at the panels in order. I had always treated comics like movies in my head, just fast and visual. Now I spend about 10 minutes on a single page and catch things I never noticed before. Has anyone else had a shop owner change how they read comics?

Okay so I went to my usual shop's midnight release for a big #1 last month and again last night. The vibe was totally different, like way more aggressive. Saw two guys almost get into it over a variant cover. What happened in like six weeks?

Showerthought: My $200 custom frame for a first print comic was a total lifesaver

Found a mint copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 at a garage sale for cheap. Spent more on the UV glass and acid free backing than the book itself. Did I go overboard or is that just smart collecting?

Honestly, the best comic con I ever had was when I skipped the big panels

Tbh, everyone at the Chicago con last year was rushing to see the Marvel movie preview. I spent the whole Friday just talking to a few artists in the small press section. One guy, Mike, showed me his sketchbook from 2012 and we talked for like an hour about his process. I got three amazing signed prints for about $80 total and had real conversations, while my friends waited in line for four hours. Does anyone else find the smaller, quieter parts of cons more rewarding than the main events?