Remembering a random chat about collecting at a con in 2012

I was at a small con in Cleveland, just looking at back issues. This older guy, maybe in his 60s, was next to me and pointed at a beat-up copy of Amazing Spider-Man #300. He said, 'I bought this off the rack for cover price. My kid read it until the staples fell out. That's better than any slab.' It wasn't about value, it was about a book being loved to death. Does anyone else miss when the hobby felt more about the stories than the grade?

3 comments

3 Comments

claire8725d ago

That's the real magic right there. I still buy cheap reader copies just to actually enjoy them.

leehall5d ago

My local library sale had paperbacks for a quarter last month. I grabbed a whole stack without worrying about keeping them perfect. That freedom to just read and not treat the book like a museum piece is everything.

murphy.tessa5d ago

Not treating it like a museum piece" changed my whole view, @claire872.