Brag Books: Fifty-One (and a half) Years of Superman

You know, since I've been reading and collecting comic books for most of my life, I guess that entitles me to a little bragging about my collection from time to time. 

Not in a snotty "Ha, ha!  I've got something you don't!" way, but rather from that sense of pride I get when talking about my collection with people who at least have a prayer of knowing what I'm talking about. 

If talking "old comic books" isn't your thing, there are at least 500 other blogs that discuss this week's new comics, Manga and/or Joe Quesada, so off you go. 

As for the rest of you...to the Geek Cave!

I've been reading comics since about the age of five, and collecting them since I was eight.  Over the decades, I've put together some pretty comprehensive runs on a variety of titles, but none of them more comprehensive...or quite as satisfying...as my fifty-one (and a half) year run of consecutive Superman comics.  In other words, every issue of Superman published from October of 1955 to the present.

First, a little clarification on the "Fifty-One (and a half) years" claim.

The Superman title made its debut in 1939, following the Man of Steel's debut and instant success in the pages of Action Comics.  The title's numbering continued until 1986, when then-hot creator John Byrne was signed up to revamp the Superman mythos.  As part of all the hoopla, the Superman title was rechristened The Adventures of Superman, though it still retained its 400+ numbering.  A second volume of Superman was then launched, starting with issue #1.  This numbering system continued until 2006, when Adventures of Superman once again became just Superman, now numbering 660 issues strong.  So, despite the twenty-year title switch, the run between issues #100 through #660 remains unbroken.

With that said, as fun as the sheer numbers can be, I think the aspect of my Superman collection that pleases me the most is how it's encompassed all of the various eras and methods of comic book collecting.

Back in the day, I started out like most casual fans-turned-collectors did...by regularly buying comics at the newsstand or the spinner rack at the local 7-11, and then "saving them"...diverging from the standard custom of either tossing them aside or, worse yet, letting a kid brother obliterate them.

Later on, as the late 70's and early 80's rolled around, comic book specialty shops entered the picture, offering both new comics and boxes of older comics, which gave young collectors like me the opportunity to pick up issues from the 60's and early 70's for shockingly cheap prices (by today's standards, that is).

By that point, I realized I was in this for the long haul and created The List, a handwritten "laundry list" of the issues I needed to complete my run of Superman comics.  I (rather arbitrarily) chose Superman #100 as a logical and reasonably attainable starting point, since issues earlier than that seemed beyond the reach of an allowance or a summer job's salary.

Another good source for picking up back issues were the modest comic book conventions of that time...essentially just glorified swap meets compared to today's sprawling multimedia circuses.  Still, they were a fantastic place to nab hard-to-find back issues, as well as the occasional good deals on high-demand "key" issues.

Toward the end of the decade, I started reading The Comics Buyer's Guide, a weekly newspaper devoted to comic books and comic collecting...and pretty much the definitive source for industry buzz and information.  In the pre-internet age, CBG was the heartbeat of both the comics biz and fan community.  The CBG was also packed with dealer ads, as well as extensive classified ads, selling anything and everything related to comic books.

These advertisers (from all over the country) were invaluable when looking for those really hard to find issues.  A great example of that was when I was searching for Superman #202 (1967), a perplexingly rare "All-Bizarro" 80 pg. Giant.  I needed the issue to connect two major "train cars" of consecutive issues...and it was simply nowhere to be found until I came across an ad in CBG featuring the issue.  Not wanting it to slip away before I could get my money to the guy, I actually called him long distance in Georgia to hold the issue.  After a little arm-twisting, he agreed and I had my coveted "linchpin" issue on the way.

Well, through the first half of the 1990's, comic shops, conventions and dealer ads remained the primary sources for filling in the few remaining gaps in my Superman run (approximately issues #100 through #109)....most of which were either impossible to find or far too expensive.

Enter the Internet.

After taking my first wobbly steps onto the Internet in late 1996, I soon discovered a burgeoning  "virtual community" of comic book fan and dealers, with information and want lists exchanging at unprecedented speed.  A few years later, I came across (and was immediately hooked by) the online auction powerhouse eBay, which finally broke the pricing monopoly enjoyed by the "syndicate" of traditional comic book dealers for far too long.  Sure, most comics still sold for close to the "official" price guide numbers...and the tendency of auctions to drive the values higher was definitely in effect...but there were also deals to be had by bidders cunning and patient enough to find them, giving little guys like me at least a fighting chance to get what we were looking for.

In short order, I nabbed the final issues I needed to complete the run...saving issue #100 for the final "prize" in my Big Game Safari.

Is "Big Game Safari" too strong a term?

Actually, no.

In fact, I would think most collectors (of anything) would agree that the real fun of finding that elusive "Holy Grail" item  isn't so much displaying it in your "trophy hall" as it is the "hunt" to track it down.

In the age of internet sales and eBay, I have to admit that some of this "hunting" aspect has diminished (if not completely disappeared), as comics that once might have taken months, if not years to track down can now be instantly located and purchased with literally the click of a button.

It's for this reason that I'm grateful my Superman collection has encompassed all eras and methods of "The Hunt"...as I still remember what it was like to search hard for something, locate it, and cross it off The List.

So...there you go.  Fifty-One (and a half) years and 560 consecutive issues of Superman comics...and it only took me thirty years to do it!

Comments

[Tom Richmond]

Congrats, Mark. That is an impressive pile of comic book history, greatness and occasionally embarrassment. I remember the pre-eBay days well, and the hours going through boxes looking for those elusive issues on "The List". Good times.... good times.....

[Mark Engblom]

Good times, indeed! Like I said, as easy as eBay has made collecting, I still miss all the "sleuthing" we had to do back in the pre-Internet age. But, the good thing about finishing off a huge run of books is having the opportunity to start on another huge run of books. I'm currently working my way through Action Comics, though I probably won't make it all the way back to issue #100 like I did with the Superman title.

If I remember right, you've got one heck of a Detective Comics run. Do you still have it around?

[Tom Richmond]

I still have the Detectives. I've got a complete run from #250 on until about 10 years ago when the books got so bad I couldn't stand to pay money for them anymore. If I remember correctly there was a year or so where the main antagonist for Batman was "The Ventriloquist", one of the all time dumbest villians in comic's history, and that did me in. Detective is up to over 800 issues now, but I am sure if I wanted to I could get 'up to date' for pennies on the dollar.

I have assorted issues older than #250 as well. Tommy and I are buying Detective again now, so maybe I need to dust off "The List"...

[Brainster]

I remember how blown away I was when I realized I had 100 consecitive issues of Batman (#148-247). One of the tough ones for me was an oddball one--#192, in the middle of the Batman TV series; most of the issues around then I had 3-4 copies of. I did have your Bizarro Giant thought. Those DC reprint giants were my favorites; it was when they stopped putting them out that I lost interest in the hobby. Of course, thanks to scans I now have the entire set of 67 years or so (including a few archive versions).

Thanks for blogrolling Silver Age Comics. I like your blog and will add it to the roll.

[Mark Engblom]

Tom-

Good to hear you've still got the run of Detective. It would have been a shame if you'd sold it. I'll have to take a look at it some time.

Brainster-

Hey, thanks...glad you like the blog. I've enjoyed yours for some time, since you cover the kinds of things I like to read about.

Explain the "thanks to scans" comment. Are you referring to scans of actual issues? If so, from where? The internet...someone else's collection" Just curious.

[Brainster]

Mark, there are quite a few active scanning groups; probably the oldest is on usenet called alt.binaries.pictures.comics. People there have scanned and posted something like 70,000 different comic books, including virtually all of the 1960s comics that I had given up on ever affording (that is, the ones I didn't have). I know that this is controversial, but we have tried to encourage scanning of older material so as not to be harmful to the industry. Comics under a year old (going by the cover date) are not allowed to be posted there. To give you an idea, today there was posted about 6-7 Comic Cavalcades (from the funny animal era), a Rangers #61 (Fiction House) and a whole slew of 1950s westerns like Lone Ranger, Great Western, Durango Kid, Apache Trail... stuff that you're not likely to find in a long box at the local shop.

There are many other scanning groups on Yahoo and using Bit Torrent and other file-sharing services.

[Mark Engblom]

Thanks for the info, Brainster. I had no idea there was such an extensive network of scanning groups.

For stuff that doesn't have much of a chance of ever being reprinted (or even found), I guess I'm not as uncomfortable about it as I would be with higher profile stuff with active copyrights. It's kind of a grey area for me.