How I Got Back Into Comics

I just recently got back into collecting comics. I had previously collected when I was in high school. I remember my best friend and I going to Collector's Corner in Springdale, Arkansas and we would spend our McDonald's paycheck and way too much time pestering the guy behind the counter. Todd McFarlane had rebooted Spiderman (before rebooting was really a term) and the comics industry was booming.  Polybags were in and comics were selling a million copies.

                        

Then I got out.  Dating kicked in and my comics gathered dust.  That was OK though because the industry was mass produced crap.  There were bright shining moments, but for the most part it was bad.  Image was created, and while it was a cool concept, it was totally derivative of the tired concepts Marvel and DC had been overusing for years.

Fast forward 20 years.  Its literally a new landscape.  Iron Man, Cap, Hulk, even Thor had movies and some even sequels.  Marvel was a Disney property and an Avengers movie was eminent.  While I was still not buying comics, I had to admit they were back.  Then it happened, The Walking Dead debuted as a a show and it was popular.  I was intrigued and started looking into reading the comics.  I literally read 100 issues in a week.  It was like nothing I had ever seen.  I learned that both Marvel and DC were less than 24 issues into new runs of their books and Image was legit.  I found a comic store within 10 minutes of my house, now in Philadelphia, PA.  It was a great store, Showcase Comics and Games, and they had a subscription service.  I frequented that store for a few weeks until I found The Comic Book Shop in Wilmington, DE.  Tax free and the people were outstanding.  I spent an hour talking to the owner one day and left with free comics and a sense that they cared whether I was a customer or not.  They won me over and my pull list was moved, even though they are 25 minutes from my house.  You can see my pull list as it will stand tomorrow.  I got carried away and had built it up to 33 titles I think with a very aggressive stance on buying variants.  Next week I'll attend the Philly Comic Con.  Can't wait.