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What Makes A Collector? A Tale From My Comic Shop History

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By Anthony Desiato @DesiWestside

For years, I identified the start of my collecting career as the 1992 release of "The Death of Superman" when I was five years old. However, there is actually an earlier, untold chapter in my origin story: a Superman action figure from Kenner's beloved "Super Powers" line. My memory of this is hazy at best—in truth, I remember my mother telling me the story more than I can actually recall it myself—but at some point in the late 80s/early 90s, I picked out that beautiful red and blue piece of plastic during a visit to the now-defunct KB Toys.

As I now realize, it was largely because of that Super Powers toy that the Death of Superman grabbed my attention the way it did. It registered in my young mind that Superman was dead because I knew him. I had his action figure. Sadly, I am no longer in possession of the original figure I grabbed off the shelf at the toy store; it has been lost to time and the destructive habits of a child who played with his toys (sound effects and all). The one I own today is a mint-in-package replacement I nabbed on eBay during a bout of nostalgia in law school. Still, it remains incredibly important to me: a symbol of the beginning of my career as a collector—a passion that has been present throughout my life in one form or another.

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In the years since that first Superman figure, I have collected Power Rangers trading cards, basketball cards, comic books, graphic novels, statues, original art, DVDs, and, most recently, pop vinyl figures.

One particularly memorable back issue hunt of mine—a sacred quest any true collector must undertake at some point—targeted the infamous Spider-Man Clone Saga. A few years after that controversial storyline ended, I tracked down nearly every issue through various comic shops in and around my hometown. Only one issue ever eluded me in-store (Maximum Clonage: Omega, of all things), which I obtained by "cheating" on my hunt and purchasing through online giant Mile High Comics.

As a collector, I have obsessed over having every issue in a series; debated whether to bag my trade paperbacks or shelve them naked; ordered statues I did not really want simply because they were part of a particular line I was following; and collected titles I stopped enjoying purely for the sake of that coveted "complete run" we all strive to achieve. I have rearranged every aspect of my collection (comics, trades, statues, figures, & artwork) more times than I can count. I have also parted with many of the aforementioned items when my interest waned—fearing, but thankfully not yet experiencing, the seller's remorse that can accompany the culling of a collection.

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A few months back, my fiancée and I visited Midtown Comics in New York City, where the Gotham pop vinyl figures had just arrived. Midtown had them all in stock, including Fish Mooney, one of my least favorite characters from the television series. As I put Fish back on the shelf before heading to the register to purchase the others, my fiancée said, "But we won't have the full set!" As it turned out—and much to my pleasant surprise—I was actually fine with that. The completist in me had reformed. It was okay to only buy the figures I truly wanted to display and enjoy, not the ones I thought I needed to have "for the collection."

As I reflected on the arc of my collecting career, the question emerged: What makes a collector? Is it that mysterious quality, the one that manifests as passion on a good day and obsession on a bad one? Perhaps it is a mix of pleasure and possessiveness, a need to "own" a piece of the characters whose adventures we follow and enjoy every month. It could be pride, a sense of accomplishment in the conquering of a run of comics or a set of action figures—and the rarer, the better. Or, could it be simpler than that? Could it just be a love of the hobby, a never-ending sense of wonder and curiosity that originally caused my young self to gravitate toward a Superman action figure hanging on a wall?

These questions drive the new season of the My Comic Shop History podcast. Over 12 episodes, my guests and I will discuss what it means to be a collector, including all of the emotional, financial, physical, social, and psychological components that go along with it.

Like the Facebook page, subscribe on iTunes and listen to the Season 2 Premiere ("My Kind of Nuts") now…


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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