about a year ago, in preparation to move to TX from NYC i too sold off a hefty portion of comic books. my situation was a lot different because my small collection in comparison was cobbled together since i started collecting again around
02. but you know… one day i pulled out all the long boxes from under the bed and i went through everything and it was hard to really pull the trigger. faced with all of the floppies i found myself struggling to add things to the “to-go” pile. a large portion of these comics was even given to me by a friend, and so i really had no rational attachment to it. i remember sitting there on the floor surrounded by piles of books and bargaining with myself. i was trying to rationalize keeping comics that i already had trade paperback collections for because i could someday give them to a potential offspring.

comics to me are definitely an odd beast. they have such a strong bond with nostalgia and memory. it is as if they are permanently bonded to this collective history, this “continuity” of themselves and their fans. i think they hold this odd place with their fans and/or collectors more so than some other forms of memorabilia.

i too have cut back on my purchasing, realizing i was often buying books out of some weird impulse to have “the entire story” rather than something i was really riveted to read. i used to go to the shop weekly, post on the messageboards, and go to the cons. this was of course a deep shame for my wife as she likes to joke. now i go to a shop once every couple of weeks and pick up a couple issues here and there.

being a comic book reader and fan is definitely a strange place for me, since i never really felt any sort of bond with some of the hardcore fanboys, of which the majority of the comics reading market tends to be nowadays. but every so often there is someone like yourself, me, or a handful of guys i know out there who maintain that love of comics, but it doesn’t take over their life.

this is really long. i will stop.

anyway, glad you made it through, and it only gets easier as you go along.

michael: 26 out of 1000 sounds about right. the nice thing i’ve found is that there are always people on craig’s list or ebay who are more than happy to absorb your stuff.

adam: i think the timing is just right for you with the remodel. you’ll probably find that even once you have more room, your perception of the space won’t accomodate all of your collections. and really, do you need another darth vader light saber variant, anyway?! by the way, anna’s got a friend who is more than happy to take any donated action figures for his collection.

anthony: chin up, man. it gets easier the more you do it. would you believe that at one point i had 5 years worth of bmx plus magazine?

z: there are plenty of places to order comic boxes online (look at http://tcbulk.com). better yet, support a local comics retailer (http://csls.diamondcomics.com) as i’m sure he or she could really use your help. i’m never happy with the boxes i order online, and my preference is for boxes that have tape on the corners rather than glue. they’re stronger and last longer.

jen: the first picture is a before shot, but only a portion of the original collection. i went from 39 small comic boxes to 8.