Are you a collector, or just a fan?

[JoshLamb93]

After reading a great comic, do you feel compelled to go back through time and purchase as much as the back catalogue as you can? I've just bought #1 of The Terminator: Enemy of my Enemy series, and have felt the urge to start collecting earlier series' after being hooked by this issue. What are your thoughts?

[tony ingram]

Collector. Lifelong collector, and not just of comics (my other major obsession is Doctor Who, though I'll collect pretty much anything I develop an interest in, to one degree or another; records, old Mego action figures, Star Wars bubblegum cards...). Comics are the big one, though.

[SID]

Collector definitely.

The first thing I started collecting was stamps since a friend was interested in it too. But I then realised I was collecting the wrong thing and quickly switched to comics. First, just collecting as many different comics I could get my hands on (and afford) then moving onto annuals and summer specials.

2000AD was the first comic I collected regularly. Before that all the comics I read were thrown away (actually it was my mum that did the throwing out).

Like Tony, I am also into Doctor Who - both the old series and the new. I am not into collecting as such - just the DVDs. In fact I just finished getting all of Jon Pertwee's episodes. I am also into James Bond but only the films - particularly Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. I also like Star Trek - TOS and Enterprise & got all their DVDs. Then there's Legend of the Seeker...blah...blah...

[dishes]

Just a fan. Thought I was a collector when I was a kid until I found out it wasn't enough to buy the comics, you had to keep them immaculate. That was never going to happen with me and my collection I'm afraid. And I've only bought comics with the intent to read them, or at least look at the art.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I'm a fan definitely......I have discovered that collecting just for the sake of it ---whether it's comics, cds, dvds or toy cars-----does not bring true happiness: it's a hollow pseudo-satisfaction that does not last long, and requires an endless 'fix', not to mention all the expense and clutter...also, what eventually happens to all the ammassed material?----you can't take it with you!

The pool of interested parties interested in BIMBO 1965 for example is sadly ever-diminishing, the further away from the time that we 'survivors' who remember this material get------what will happen to our collections, come time?

Will some of our collections simply end up in a futuristic skip?

In the meantime though, it does feel comforting being surrounded by vintage comics/annuals.

[Phoenix]

what will happen to our collections, come time?

They will undoubtedly be recycled, Rab. Via eBay. Fear not, very few items will fail to find a buyer if the price is right. But there will be no point your looking down from on high, screaming Oh no, don't sell that Sparky for a tenner. Oh, you idiot. That was easily worth £70.

[SID]

Hmmm. After reading the last couple of posts, I feel that I have failed as a collector.

I always read what I bought. Even The Magic Comic Issue One.

So even though I collect comics, I have never lost sight of their true function - for them to be read.

Does that make me a collector AND a fan?

[AndyB]

I'm a fan by that definition. I don't buy other than to enjoy, although I try to keep them in reasonable condition.

[George Shiers]

I buy as many comics as I can afford but I don't care about condition - I just buy them to read and enjoy. But doe that mean I'm not a collector? After all, Denis Gifford had, as mentioned recenly on a different post, comics piling up so that he couldn't even open his oven, so he can't have been too fussed about condition either - so was he not a collector? I'd say he was.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

what will happen to our collections, come time?

They will undoubtedly be recycled, Rab. Via eBay. Fear not, very few items will fail to find a buyer if the price is right. But there will be no point your looking down from on high, screaming Oh no, don't sell that Sparky for a tenner. Oh, you idiot. That was easily worth £70.

[tony ingram]

Hmmm. After reading the last couple of posts, I feel that I have failed as a collector.

I always read what I bought. Even The Magic Comic Issue One.

So even though I collect comics, I have never lost sight of their true function - for them to be read.

Does that make me a collector AND a fan?

It does indeed, and I am much the same. I do look after my comics (most are bagged and many are boarded) but I'll never understand the bizarre practice some people are now adopting of sealing them permanently in plastic so that they can't even be opened.

[dandy mad]

I'm a fan more than collector I don't put my comics in bags I read them even the early Dandy monster comics

[tony ingram]

I'm a fan more than collector I don't put my comics in bags I read them even the early Dandy monster comics

Bagging comics and reading them are not mutually exclusive.

[dandy mad]

I know you can take the comic out of the bag but it's too much fuss for me personally

[tony ingram]

I know you can take the comic out of the bag but it's too much fuss for me personally

Umm. Okay.
But...it does protect the comics.