Do you miss being a Pre-Internet comic book fan?

[tib2d2]

Some things I miss. Like back in the day i would not read spoilers of a comic book so easily as it hapens now with the internet. Back in the day that was rare, unless a friend of mine would spoil the stories by telling what happened in a comic book I had not read.
I started Reading comic books way back before the Wizard magazine, so information about continuity of the characters was difficult to get, one had to connect the dots while reading the stories. lol.
Thus why currently I like when I want to look up information about a character or a story I can just check it in the Marvel Wiki or search for info about it in Google.

Yeah when I got back into comics around 2005 after a 10 year hiatus, wikipedia and other wikis were lifelines to get info on stories and characters!

[comicscollector]

Yeah when I got back into comics around 2005 after a 10 year hiatus, wikipedia and other wikis were lifelines to get info on stories and characters!

I use Wikipedia and other wikis all the time to get the info.
Even recently I had to look up info about Erik Josten (Alias Atlas) because I am currently reading Spectacular Spider-Man stories from way back, and a title of issue 49 was a curve ball to me because in that comic book that character appeared with the name of Smuggler.
I was thinking if this character was a different one, but with a similar costume that Goliath.
So I was confused with that, I knew the character with the name of Goliath before he became Atlas in Thunderbolts.
So after looking for info in the Wikipedia I found out why he had a different alias in that story.
It was because Luke Cage took the alias of Power Man,so Erik changed the alias to Smuggler.But just for one story.Because in his next apearence he would get the alias of Goliath untill he changed yet again to the curent alias of Atlas.
Needless to say that without wikipedia it would had take me much more time to figure that out.

[Spike-X]

The best thing about the Internet is that everyone can make their thoughts and feelings and opinions known to the entire world. The worst thing about the Internet is also that.

I love having all the information about all the old comics readily available. I love being able to buy and read comics over the Internet.

One big thing in the minus column, however, is f***ing spoilers everywhere. I still remember how it felt seeing the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #252 at the newsagent, and losing my 14-year-old mind because I had no idea that was coming. Fans will never again know that feeling.

[Spike-X]

when the internet was not invented, fans relied on magazines like Wizard or Comic Buyer's Guide for news and information on comics.

Internet contributed to the demise of Wizard.

Yay Internet!

Wizard and its obsession with price guides and the speculator market killed the best fanzine of all time, Amazing Heroes, and came close to killing comics altogether. **** Wizard.

[numberthirty]

One reader's take...

I don't know that I believe that you could have the current version of Image Comics, along with the freedom that it provides some of it's creators, without the internet in play.

While there are aspects of the "Internet" age that I'm not the biggest fan of(which other posters have largely covered), I'm pretty sure that I would be willing to take them if I get Image Comics out of the deal.

[Scott Taylor]

The direct market and advent of the comic store changed things more than the internet. Mainly I feel it made comics less of an every day commodity and more of a boutique item.

The internet made conversations and social interaction more available, but less personal. I'm neutral about its effects, its made me feel like part of a larger comic community. Even though I realize the community was bigger in the old days, there was no way to interact with any of them other than your circle.

I had more joy about comics before those things happened. Comics are more expensive and less disposable. Which makes them seem more important than they should be. The internet does the same thing, with entire sites devoted to "making or breaking" comics and their creative staff.

[DrNewGod]

I also agree with the comments about spoilers. The joy of wondering how'd they pull it off has been lost.

[Spike-X]

Oh, and you've also got the assclowns deciding how a story is most definitely going to go based on a teaser image or a tweet, and making hour-long videos to complain about comics that haven't even been written yet based on that.

[DebkoX]

Without access to wikipedia and this forum, I wouldn't have been able to read comics.

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

I was a child and had restricted access to comic books. I don't miss that thing.

[tib2d2]

The best thing about the Internet is that everyone can make their thoughts and feelings and opinions known to the entire world. The worst thing about the Internet is also that.

I love having all the information about all the old comics readily available. I love being able to buy and read comics over the Internet.

One big thing in the minus column, however, is f***ing spoilers everywhere. I still remember how it felt seeing the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #252 at the newsagent, and losing my 14-year-old mind because I had no idea that was coming. Fans will never again know that feeling.

Oh man so much this! Seeing a cover for the FIRST time on the shelf, and being totally caught by surprise. Although at the same time, they were very good at creating covers that made it appear that if you don't pick this issue up, you're missing out on something huge! I was duped into that many times. Now we aren't surprised, and they are more focused on variant covers.

[Surf]

The internet made conversations and social interaction more available, but less personal. I'm neutral about its effects, its made me feel like part of a larger comic community. Even though I realize the community was bigger in the old days, there was no way to interact with any of them other than your circle.

I feel you but the two bolded statements kind of contradict imo. Or maybe it's that certain iterations of the interwebz have produced different effects, like multi-colored kryptonite. I wouldn't ever go back personally. I like I feel 80% of most LCS goers back in day, didn't quite find an embracing community. Same as on-line really. Back in the day if you were fortunate enough to live near more than a couple LCS then you could tailor your hobby to the quasi-community that you felt the most cool with.

Nowadays, with the socials, I'm not on Facebook but the guys who did You-Tube vids 4 or 5 years ago and the community on IG the last 3 years... Bless 'em. I've seen covers and I've seen keys and appearances and commons that I would have never seen if I just had the price guides back in the day. Something like the Lois Lane issue where she turns to a sista and rolls up on Superman like 'what'? Yea I could peruse through a price guide, and I would, reading descriptions and prices I had no other frame of reference for but for some cat to post a picture of it or a guy with a YT vid, that was something I couldn't even imagine back in the late 80s and 90s. I mean I'm speaking from more of a collector pov but even any new stuff, now I get a little preview or read what the guys in the Panther thread are rocking with. Maybe I agree or I don't but It was all sight unseen back in the day which meant that was money spent. I have to throw Ebay in the mix too even if it's nothing more than a reference.

Message board 'communities' are always a blend of things, so sometime somebody may seem cool and then say something else kinda sideways so I get that maybe the interpersonal interplay is kind of short but again that's only 1 side of it. I love IG, I flip through hundreds of comic covers and info every damn week and have for 3 years now. I've meet people that I've doled out likes to, I mean actual people, not fellas I call my potnas in a place like here (I would if I could). People also put their faces out there and that always increases the familiarity. After a while I can wonder if I haven't heard from a IG'er in a while and wonder what's up and others do too, parts of it is a real community. This is even before the commerce part. I can't imagine FB is that much different as far as the hobby goes, the rest of that **** is a clown show no doubt.

[Green Lantern wannabe]

I frequented a local comicshop during that time, and it's closing, because it didn't adapt to the times. So I have some nostalgia, but, on the whole, the 21st century is better in many ways.

[GOLGO 13]

I frequented a local comicshop during that time, and it's closing, because it didn't adapt to the times. So I have some nostalgia, but, on the whole, the 21st century is better in many ways.

My LCS closed sometime this year. I had noticed that it was always closed even on Wed. One day when driving by I noticed the awning/signs had been removed. I remember feeling...nothing.

My interaction with the owner was minimal but quite telling. I felt like I was in the presence of a true 100% mercenary.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Not really. There's a bigger community, there's far more content being made, the industry as a whole is far more mainstream.

Honestly, the more "problematic" issues are so easily ignorable that the benefits outweigh it