3000

On Tuesday I hit a milestone nearly sixteen years in the making. I purchased my 3000th comic book at Midtown Comics in Manhattan. More on that issue later, but first, of course, I have to write about the sixteen year journey that has lead me to this purchase. You know, so when I reveal what issue I bought it can be a total let down.

I remember owning comics throughout my childhood before the obsession started. A Kool-Aid Man comic my mom got through Kool-Aid points (the provider of some of the most anticipated yet crappy artifacts of my youth), random Muppet Babies comics bought in Knoxville before I had to suffer through a University of Tennessee football game, and a whole mess of Marvel's Star Wars comics given to me foolishly by my sister's then-boyfriend when I was in the first grade (for real, these issues are from 1977-1983 and are worth anywhere from $250-400. Kicking yourself any, Kevin?). My interest in these issues unknowingly laid the foundation.

The real obsession, the real collecting, didn't begin until nearly halfway through my second grade year. I would often go to the mall with my parents (understatement, I would go to the mall with my parents on a weekly basis until the end of 8th grade) and on one particular outing, I convinced them to buy me a comic at Waldenbooks in Rivergate Mall. G.I. Joe #119. Somehow, G.I. Joe was the one mainstay in my childhood. Robin Hood, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Super Mario, Chip & Dale's Rescue Rangers, Peter Pan, Zelda, COPS, these all came and went leaving dozens upon dozens of packed away toys in their wake. G.I. Joe, on the other hand, stuck with me through all this and even survived the arrival of Star Wars into my wee little brain. That's why I bought this comic (or asked my mom to, the start of a tradition that would last way too long). Plus the cover had Snake Eyes vs. Snake Eyes! Obviously a gimmick to jaded 23 year old me, but this was important to a 7 year old!

Truth be told, Captain Planet & The Planeteers #1 was acquired two months prior to this at a Wal-Mart. I don't count this as the start, though, since issues of Captain Planet past the third issue weren't easily found. G.I. Joe would stick with me until the series' cancellation in 1994 and, honestly, I'm too embarrassed to say that Captain Planet & The Planeteers got me into comic books. I continued buying only issues of G.I. Joe, along with a handful of Batman comics, for a little over a year.

Then it happened.

February 1993. X-Men Adventures #5. I had been watching the X-Men cartoon on Fox on Saturday mornings and was somewhat intrigued. Wolverine was cool, Gambit was cooler, the cartoon itself was pretty exceptional. I could grasp at that young age that the show was telling stories just a tad bit more advanced than the G.I. Joe cartoon and the rest of the other Saturday morning fare. So when I saw X-Men Adventures at a Kroger's grocery store, a comic book based on the cartoon that I was maybe/sorta enjoying, I asked mom to buy it for me. She had no idea what she was doing. From there a classic snowball effect happened and within a month, I had my first issues of Uncanny X-Men (#299) and X-Men (#17). Before third grade was over, I was collecting Wolverine (starting with #69), X-Men Classic (#83), and X-Factor (#91). X-Force, what would go on to become my favorite overall series, followed the next month (#24).

Nothing has topped these first few months of collecting. I would spend Saturdays at Box Seat Cards & Comics, rummaging through all the comic book cards and back issues (my first back issue being Uncanny X-Men #188). I bought the updated Official Marvel Index to the X-Men and devoured every synopsis. I had goals, like buying Uncanny X-Men #266 after I chose to buy the entire fourth series of Marvel Universe trading cards instead of it (I swear, that decision haunted me for a while). Every bit of knowledge I could absorb, I would, and everything I read was the best ever. Finding comics was like a game. I wasn't aware that comics came out on Wednesday, I was just aware that if I kept looking in Wal-Mart, Waldenbooks, and Kroger's, I wouldn't miss an issue. And yes, my completest tendencies starting showing at this young age. I had to have every issue of the Fatal Attractions and Child's Play crossovers, which introduced me to the New Warriors and caused me to start buying Excalibur. I got pre-packaged assortments of comics for every holiday, it seemed, which is where I got more exposure to the second tier x-books. I only bought comic cards and back issues at comic stores, rarely a new issue even though I'd always note that they had them before all my beloved grocery/book stores.

Eventually the excitement wore off and I became used to it all. I reached a point where I knew everything about the X-Men and I had no more cards to collect and I started going to a comic shop every Wednesday. I consider this the moment I grew up as a comic fan, when I started going to a shop. It became a routine, a schedule, no longer the free-form kiddie-splosion of finding issue willy-nilly. This was 1997. X-Factor started being mediocre and Generation X and Excalibur started being unbearable. Thankfully, Joe Kelly's Deadpool and brief run on X-Men, alongside X-Force, kept my love for comics going strong.

Then I hit the dark ages. My mom had a falling out with the owner of my comic store regarding him not purchasing an ad for my high school yearbook (yep) and I became comic shop-less. We tried subscriptions but they were always late or didn't come, leading to many angry phone calls to whatever number was printed on the shipping board. On top of this, I was completely disinterested in both X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, something that had never happened before. This was 1999 and I was over it.

The first X-Men film in 2000 changed most all of that and, eventually, I got back to my routine and started collecting again. Over the last seven years, comics have become an integral part of my life. I may have stopped buying Uncanny X-Men or X-Men at various points over this period, but I've discovered other (Marvel) comics to become interested in. The rush I felt that disappeared once I learned everything and collected nearly everything X-Men has been replaced with new rushes for Spider-Man and the Avengers. I've started branching out, buying milestone runs on Fantastic Four and Daredevil. Non-mutant comic Runaways has stolen my heart and, for a brief while, I was actually buying an indie-ish comic (Walking Dead).

Yes, the next step for me to take is indie comics. That's what the cool kids read, that's what kids my age (23, actually not a kid) read. For some reason I can't get out of the superhero genre, specifically Marvel. I find DC too stodgy and dodgy with it's continuity; I feel like any rush I'd get from trying to learn everything about Supergirl's origin would actually make my head explode. No, I'm content on devouring everything there is to devour about the Marvel universe and catch all that indie stuff in trades every now and then. Y: The Last Man is pulse-pounding fun, and maybe one day I'll actually buy all the trades. For now, I have Mike Carey's excellent run on X-Men to read.

So now to what I deemed worthy to be called my 3000th comic (I know what number it is, by the way, because of my Excel spreadsheet). Since all of my reasonable holy grails have been purchased (Spider-Woman #37, Uncanny X-Men #266), there wasn't an issue that immediately sprang to mind. Uncanny X-Men #94 is the only one, but its $800 value kinda put a stop to that. I decided that if it was going to be an issue of Uncanny X-Men, it would be one with a cool cover that had mild importance (John Byrne's first issue, Magneto's return, etc.). Then I got to thinking nostalgically. The copy of Star Wars #1 I have is a reprint (from 1977, but still) and pretty tattered. I could replace it. Or, honoring what I've deemed as my first real comic experience, I could buy G.I. Joe #1. Yes! Those sounded like good ideas! But Midtown didn't have them. They actually only had two issues of Uncanny X-Men on my list, both of which were in mediocre to poor shape. So I bought Uncanny X-Men #103! Not on my list, but a classic issue for a decent price ($40).

And that's some of it. I didn't tell you the fate of my first copy of Wolverine #75, or which issue of Astonishing X-Men made me cry, or how Spider-Woman #37 ruined my nephew's first Christmas. All stories for when I buy my 4000th comic.