my grade three teacher brought a bunch of harvey comics to the classroom back in 1977... we were allowed to take the comics home to read. comic books were only 30 cents a piece and new comics arrived at our local drug store every friday afternoon. i bought everything from harvey comics to marvel to DC to gold key to archie and even charlton comics... 1977-1987 were my wonder years.

some comic book memories:
-first comic book i ever bought: probably a richie rich comic book
-first back issue i ever bought at a comic book store: what if #1 volume 1 for $5 (it was the most i'd ever spent, at the time)
-first overstreet price guide i ever bought: #13
-favorite series: john byrne's uncanny x-men, frank miller's daredevil, george perez's new teen titans, and shogun warriors
-favorite story: richie rich success #88... chef pierre was in a cooking competition (i consider chef pierre the bronze-age iron chef)
-most memorable cover: plastic man #18 july 1977
-most expensive comic i ever bought: midnight auction at a comic book store sale in 1987... dark knight returns signed h/c numbered edition

my grandpa would used to stand outside the comic book store and wait for an hour or two while i went through the back issues. after a while, he would just leave me there and i would take the bus home by myself. i was probably only 12 or 13 years old at the time.

on a junior-high class field trip to the museum, my best friend and i made a detour to the comic book store, bought some uncanny x-men back issues (i bought the wendigo cover and the cover introducing kitty pryde), and got back to the school bus without anyone noticing that we were missing. if we'd have missed the bus, we would have had to hitch-hike 90 miles.

i used clear plastic bags from the fruit and vegetable section at the grocery store for my "expensive" comics (i.e. shogun warriors) and stored my comics in cheezies cardboard boxes.

back in 1988-1989, i sold all my comics because it was getting to be an expensive hobby and i thought that i outgrew them. i began collecting again in 2003... starting with harvey comics for sentimental reasons. i worked at a used book store for 6 months to build up my comic book collection. currently, i advertise to buy comics, and i also sell comics at local comic book conventions... in the past three years, i've purchased over 12 thousand comics but i'd say only a dozen were worth over $50 but under $100.

nowadays, i read richie rich, daredevil, new avengers, justice, fell, strangers in paradise, and the marvel essentials line. i also borrow trade paperbacks (fables, astro-city, marvel, DC, etc.) from my local library.

i'm happily married and i have a baby boy whose middle name is casper. i plan on introducing my wife to comics... so i'm thinking to maybe start her off with warren ellis and ben templesmith's fell (i won't panic if she mangles my fifth printing of the first issue of fell).