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

[tib2d2]

Certainly the internet has changed comic-dom in an amazing way, case in point exactly how you're reading this right now. We can get so much info, talk to other fans, argue with fans, read our comics too!

But is there a part of you that misses those days before the internet being a comics fan? Or are you grateful for what we have now and would never look back?

[DrNewGod]

I enjoy these forums. The one thing I do miss is the old letters pages. I still have a copy of an issue of Micronauts featuring an enthusiastic letter from a young fan named Kurt Busiek.

[Starter Set]

It sure was cheaper back then.

[Kusanagi]

Aside from price, no.

Certainly there are some shady things the internet has bred among certain groups of comic fans but for the most part they're easy to avoid. The fact that I grew up in an area without comic stores and had to rely on subscription, or what I might find on the rack of bookstore, for any comics is something I wouldn't want to go back to after I experienced comixology.

[tib2d2]

Aside from price, no.

Certainly there are some shady things the internet has bred among certain groups of comic fans but for the most part their easy to avoid. The fact that I grew up in an area without comic stores and had to rely on subscription or what I might find on the rack of bookstore for any comics is something I wouldn't want to go back to after I experienced comixology.

Thats a good point I never considered. If you didn't have comic book stores available, those days must have really stunk.

I do miss the lack of information to an extent. We only new what was upcoming in future issues or new comics with the house ads in the comics. Sometimes I hate that we know whats happening 3-4 months out with the solicits.

[DrNewGod]

Thats a good point I never considered. If you didn't have comic book stores available, those days must have really stunk.

I do miss the lack of information to an extent. We only new what was upcoming in future issues or new comics with the house ads in the comics. Sometimes I hate that we know whats happening 3-4 months out with the solicits.

I didn't have a LCS. What titles hit your spinner rack could be inconsistent. Used to drive me nuts when the next issue of a title I was following wouldn't show up.

[CaptCleghorn]

I don't miss it. Every contact for trade was word of mouth and you always had to be careful who you were dealing with. Books and publications were huge mysteries. Title changes, cancellations, new books all were surprises and promised books sometimes never happened.

There is a lot back then I liked, but "you kids will never know the struggle". lol

[Buried Alien]

In some ways, yes. Naivete does have its charms.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[MRP]

Once I "got into" comics as a fan rather than just reading them as a kid, I was still getting a lot of information about books in the pre-internet days, I had a subscription to Comic Buyer's Guide, picked up the Amazing Heroes Preview Specials to get the scoop on upcoming books, picked up other amateur and pro zines, read the annual edition of Overstreet, etc. and kept myself fairly well informed of what was going on. It took more effort and cost a little bit, but it felt worth the effort. The information felt like it had value. Now, all that is readily available and takes little effort or cost to keep up and I can't be bothered to. Info is like any commodity-it's value lessens the more readily available it is. Comic news sites became a dime a dozen, there are hundred of amateur blogs on comics, youtube channels etc. and I really can't be arsed to check out most of them. It's not that I like comics any less or I liked the comics of back then better than the ones now, it's just that keeping up on the news doesn't feel worth the effort any more. I'm in no way advocating going back to the way it was (I suspect I couldn't be arsed to keep up any more either way), and I much prefer the availability of comics I am looking for in the internet age, but from the late 70s onwards, the information about comics and what was upcoming etc. was there to be had, internet or not, if you made the effort to get it or subscribed to a couple of key periodicals.

-M

[GOLGO 13]

No.

I spent much more money on stupid floppies back then. What we have now is glorious.

Wizard deserves everything that happened & continues to happen to whatever is left of it.

[The Darknight Detective]

While I might be nostalgic regarding how information was communicated back in the Bronze Age, I prefer the Internet truth be known.

[Rob Allen]

I dropped out of fandom in 1978 and stayed out until I got online. The internet made it possible for me to be a comics fan again.

[comicscollector]

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.

[nx01a]

I think the thing I miss most about the early internet days is Wizard Magazine.
Not having everything intentionally spoiled online 6 months in advance or on the day before an issue's release for PR purposes? I miss that, too.

[Kirby101]

Yes I miss it.The internt has been great for comics and collecting. But there was great joy in the ways I did things in the Silver and Bronze Age.