Collecting may be in your blood if you're reading GoCollect blogs. All of us collect for different reasons, and all of us collect different things. I collect comic books, monster toys, popcorn buckets, pressed pennies -- the list goes on and on. In Collecting Fandom, I'll be talking to fans about their collections and why they collect them.

Barry from Georgia has been collecting his whole life.  Growing up as an avid reader, comics would become a staple for Barry throughout his life. After experiencing Star Wars when it first came out in theaters, Barry was over the moon to see that there were actual Star Wars comics as well.  This would span a lifelong love of comics -- so much so that Barry and I would eventually meet on a collector's forum, where we became fast friends!

What do you collect?

Comic Books.  Well, a few other things as well, but if we are talking real collecting, it would be comic books.

What got you interested in comics?

We traveled a lot between Atlanta and Myrtle Beach when I was growing up; we lived in the Atlanta area and my mom's family was in Myrtle Beach.  I was already a voracious reader at age 7 and, thanks to Star Wars coming out that year, a huge Star Wars fan.
Any time we stopped for gas or snacks on the six-hour drive I would hit the spinner rack in the convenience store.  One day I saw a Star Wars comic!  No way!  It was issue #6; the climactic battle against the Death Star!  Mom and Dad had no problem grabbing a couple comics for me and my brother so picking up that book along with, most likely, some DC horror books got me started.
Comics on spinner racks in convenience stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, wherever, were then sources of treasured gold for me and I continued to pick up a book or three here or there for the next 5 years or so.

What was the first item in your collection?

I'm counting Star Wars #3 as the first comic in my collection.  This was the book that kicked off my consciously collecting comic books.  I had no idea you could buy back issues of comics until I found that book in a local flea market on a summer day in 1985 and paid the crazy amount of $4 for it!
This was the start because, with that, I took a chance at an ad in it for Mile High Comics.  I mailed away for a catalog and hoped that the company still existed.  When it arrived, I was again amazed at what I had access to. However, while waiting, I took a look at the current state of comic book spinner racks.

Do you have a personal holy grail item?

I have a couple.
  • The first is Marvel Spotlight #5.   From the spinner racks of youth, I found the coolest-looking guy I had ever seen; Ghost Rider.  I read and re-read #24 and #26 countless times growing up and when I found out about back issues and comic book conventions, getting more Ghost Rider books was my primary goal.
  • I got that book at the Atlanta Fantasy Fair in 1986.  It, along with the rest of the Spotlight books and Ghost Rider 1-81, also completed within the first year of collecting, will never leave my possession.
  • The second is Amazing Spider-Man #121 and #122.   Similar story.  I had Marvel Tales #99 while growing up and was amazed that comic book characters were dying in books!  I had to have the "real" version of that book, and that and 121 were both picked up at the AFF in 1986.
  • The third is Giant-Sized X-Men #1. While waiting on the Mile High catalog to arrive, I found this blue guy I had never heard of in a first issue of a four-issue limited series (whatever that was) on the rack and picked it up.  It was a cool story and Nightcrawler was a cool character.  I then started to see his little head-on-the-corner pic of a few more books on the rack and got X-Men and Alpha Flight #1 also.  I had zero idea what was going on, but thanks to the Bullpen Bulletin page, I knew I had to get X-Men Annual #9 too.  Then I grabbed the X-Men #199 .. then I found more and .. well, anyway, that led to collecting X-Men me having to have their first appearance.
  • I don't think I got this one until the Atlanta Fantasy Fair in 1987 though and only finished up the 94-200 run in 2015 .. I was missing a few books in the 90s, and the vast majority of 101-118.

What does this collection mean to you?

A constant source of joy and anxiety.  I absolutely love my books, but I'm constantly fretting about missing issues in runs I haven't completed yet!!  I must finish the ASM 100-300 run!!

Do you have any advice for new collectors?

Collect what you like and DON'T fall for FOMO.  Example: I loved Batman and put together a nice run of Batman and Detective comics from 50 cent and dollar bins in conventions prior to the 1989 film coming out.  Something along the lines of Batman 300-400 and the corresponding Detective books.
Anyway, I "needed" to get all of the "hot books" that were coming out in the 1990-91 range and had to have the money to afford the multiple covers, the extra copies to clip coupons, the entire run of first issues from new "hot" publishers, etc .. and since Batman was now hot and valuable, I sold all those books I loved so I could afford my insanely inflated weekly pick list.
No way in the world could I afford to put together those Bat-runs now and the books I got for them are pretty much worthless both in monetary and personal value.  FOMO will kill ya.
*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.