My comic collecting journey

San Diego Comic-Con is on this week. So I figured I would write about how I became the comic book collector I am today.

As long as I can remember, I've always been a Batman fan. I would watch the 90s animated series religiously after school. Batman Forever was the first comic book movie I remember seeing in a cinema. I even had my own Batman costume.

I can't help my shelf

During the 90s, I watched other comic book cartoons, especially the assortment from Marvel. X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man etc. I learnt at an early age there were 2 big comic companies, DC and Marvel, and the shows made by the latter would usually have intros by some old guy with a lot of enthusiasm named Stan.

The 2000s rolled around and we were getting live action adaptations of these shows. X-Men and Spider-Man being the stand outs. But it wasn't until much later I decided to dive deeper into these stories and check out the format they originated from.

It was the Batman: Arkham Asylum game that pulled me in. I had seen some gameplay and thought it looked good. I also loved that they brought in Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, the voices for Batman and Joker from the 90s animated show. The voices of my childhood.

As I was playing I would discover little collectibles and character profiles. Each profile gave a brief run down on who they were, how they fit into the world and also mention what issue comic book they first appeared in. I was shocked to learn that Batgirl in the 80s had gone through experiences that the cartoons never touched (due to obvious guidelines for children's programming) and had become the wheelchair bound, information broker named Oracle. It made me curious to check out some of these books and find out what other stories the cartoons hadn't told.

I can't remember how popular comic books were in 1990s Australia. I remember seeing a couple of speciality stores that would sell them as well as other pop culture paraphernalia, but everything cost more than my pocket money allowance would allow.

But now we were in in the 2010s. The future was here, and comic books had gone digital. I was now a somewhat functioning young adult with a job and everything. It was time to devote my time to reading everything I could about Batman.

Sadly only a reprint

I didn't know where to start so I went where it made sense. The beginning. Batman issue number 1- wait. That wasn't the first book? You mean he first showed up in issue 27 a different book called Detective Comics? Okay, a little confusing but I guess I'll start there.

I learned very early that comic books in the late 1930s and early 1940s were written in a way that felt like a different language. And the art style? It looked very bland. Where were the cool detailed drawings of him standing on gargoyles? Where were the stories that I had seen on the cartoons? Had I made a mistake in this venture?

I realised I needed to do some homework. So I typed into a search engine "where to start with Batman comics." Luckily DC comics themselves had had this very problem in the 80s. With some near 50 years of various comic books crossing over on one way or another, they had decided to reset things to make it more accessible to new readers. 

The "Crisis on Infinite Earths" story still felt daunting so instead of reading the big event that caused the reset, I decided to just skip it and start at the new Batman origin. Simply titled "Batman: Year One." This felt right. This felt like Batman.

Helpful reading lists had been curated online with what many enthusiasts agreed were the essential modern Batman books to read. So I checked out every recommendation. 

There's the gargoyle 

I won't give detailed reviews or anything but I'll just say it was fascinating reading through 30 odd years of Batman comics and getting a handle on the entire mythology of the character. The movies often show him as a lone crusader, fighting crime alone. In the books? He's had near close to a dozen different sidekicks. Half of those named Robin.

Before I knew it, I had burned through all those stories. Along the way I had branched out and read other stories featuring the likes of Superman, Green Lantern and of course, the Justice League. 

During this journey I found some comic shops in my area and started to collect collected paperback editions of the stories I enjoyed the most. Once I was had burned through the backlog, I naturally started to buy real printed, floppy comics.

Then there's been the collector markets and conventions. I've spent more time than I care to admit looking through longboxes at an event looking for the one issue to complete a story run. The graduation to high level nerd was complete.

This Obi-Wan weirdly looks like Nic Cage

It's safe to say on the reading and collecting side I lean more to DC Comics. I've dabbled with the house of Marvel on occasion. It usually coincides with one of the movies or TV shows really grabbing my attention. There was my Daredevil phase where after the Netflix show came out I read a bunch of different stories with him.

I've also read a decent number of Star Wars comics touch back on a previous post. They've also helped flesh out that galaxy far far away when I've had to wait for the next season of The Mandalorian or Andor.

So after roughly 15 years, some near 1700 single issues and the odd bookshelf full of collected paperback and omnibuses, I don't look like I'll be slowing collecting comics anytime soon. I'll leave you with my top 5 comic stories. Now it's time for me to go watch the new Fantastic Four movie. I hope everyone has a great San Diego Comic-Con weekend. Until next time, bye for now.

My top 5 comic books:

1. Batman: The Long Halloween

2. All Star Superman

3. Kingdom Come

4. Batman: Year One

5. Batman: No Man's Land