Old Days - Back when you couldn't find back issues

[caj]

A lot of us grew up reading comics before comic book stores were around. With the exception of an occasional flea market or garage sale, back issues were nearly impossible to find.

Do you remember the first back issue or set of back issues that you finally managed to track down and purchase?

What book(s) was it - and was it as great as you expected or a complete disappointment?

[DrNewGod]

My answer is complex.

I did manage come across (not track down) a copy of Avengers #100. Which to me was a miracle. Every last (then 14) Avengers in one awesome adventure (with #10 cleverly concealed on the cover). I had copies on either side, but didn't hit the Mother-load until wandering thru a random comic shop.

As to completing my collection, that didn't happen until digital became a thing. I'd read X-Men, but the vagaries of my grocery store ensured that I got 2 out of every three issues. I didn't get the entire "Deadly Genesis"-"Cyclops Leaves The X-Men" run (which I consider to be the X-Magnum Opus) until it all went digital.

So, about three years ago, I discovered the whole run was on digital. I wondered: "where have you been all my life?!?"

Been in that mode about digital ever since.

[Stingo]

A lot of us grew up reading comics before comic book stores were around. With the exception of an occasional flea market or garage sale, back issues were nearly impossible to find.

Do you remember the first back issue or set of back issues that you finally managed to track down and purchase?

What book(s) was it - and was it as great as you expected or a complete disappointment?

I really became a rabid comic book fan when I purchased brand new off the newsstand All-Star Squadron issues 19-20. I was ten years old and I instantly became infatuated with the Golden Age characters, specifically Earth Two and the Justice Society of America.

I knew that comic book stores existed by this time, but they could have been on the moon for this kid who grew up in a very rural enviroment. My family and I only got into town once a week and our tiny town had no comic book shop and my father was not about to drive his kid two hours into the "big city" to locate such a shop.

Around this time, Roy Thomas came out with his four issue mini-series, America Versus the JSA and I was lucky enough to trade these with my cousin as they came out. He lived pretty close to an excellent comics shop and he was my salvation that summer as I traded him for the aforementioned mini and his Infinity issues. Where am I going with this?

America Versus the JSA contained a thorough indexing of every DC Golden Age adventure that had ever been reprinted up to 1984, 1985. I grabbed a sheet of notebook paper and hand wrote all of these onto the sheet (actually it was probably more like two or three sheets) and proceeded to carry this reference with me anytime I went to a flea market, garage sale or when trading with friends. I would produce my "cheat sheet" in every one of those instances and furtively look around for the Golden Age goodies listed. After about a year I had marked off about half of my list and enjoyed the challenge in doing so.

[j9ac9k]

I started buying "X-Men" the second I discovered comic book shops. But in terms of DC, I hunted down as many issues of The Legion of Superheroes as I could when I started reading the "5YL series" because I knew there was a lot of backstory and Legion lore that I was totally missing and I needed to find out what the characters were all talking about!

[MajorHoy]

I started buying "X-Men" the second I discovered comic book shops. But in terms of DC, I hunted down as many issues of The Legion of Superheroes as I could when I started reading the "5YL series" because I knew there was a lot of backstory and Legion lore that I was totally missing and I needed to find out what the characters were all talking about!

The first issue of X-Men I bought new off of a spinner rack was issue #80.


The story inside was a reprint of issue #32.

Bought Giant-Size X-Men #1 new off the stand, too.

I read the hell out of that sucker, and traced those figures on the cover so much you could see and feel the imprint of the pencil tip .

[boltmonster]

Born in 1975. Randomly got comics till summer of 1989 when I went to the comic shop for the first time. Over the last 30 years it has been a little hit and miss when having complete runs.

Example: Took ten years to complete Volume One of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, took thirty years to complete The New Adventures of Superboy.

[MajorHoy]

. . . Example: Took ten years to complete Volume One of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, took thirty years to complete The New Adventures of Superboy.

When you say "Volume One of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", do you mean things like the original first print of issue #1 from 1994, or are you counting later, more widely available printings (like the full color, wrap-around cover 4th printing that came out about a year later?)

[CaptCleghorn]

This was my back issue holy grail. Now considering the first issue of FF I bought was 85 and I had collected it from issue 110 on, not having 108 until I was down to needing 5 issues was extremely frustrating.

I gathered a lot of back issues through networking and trading. My parents had impressed upon me that buying a back issue for cash was bad but trading was cool. Parents just don't understand, amirite?

[Phoenixx9]

A lot of us grew up reading comics before comic book stores were around. With the exception of an occasional flea market or garage sale, back issues were nearly impossible to find.

Do you remember the first back issue or set of back issues that you finally managed to track down and purchase?

What book(s) was it - and was it as great as you expected or a complete disappointment?

Never tracked down "the issues" per see... But I did get some here and there.

But back then, unless at flea marts or discount bins, when the stores popped up, they often wanted exorbitant prices. For instance, New X-Men 94-100 ranged from $25 to $100 per issue, even after only a few months when the issues came out. Keep in mind, those books cost about 25 cents new.

[The Darknight Detective]

A lot of us grew up reading comics before comic book stores were around. With the exception of an occasional flea market or garage sale, back issues were nearly impossible to find.

Do you remember the first back issue or set of back issues that you finally managed to track down and purchase?

What book(s) was it - and was it as great as you expected or a complete disappointment?

I guess the first back issues I sought (instead of purchasing because it looked interesting) were the Famous 1st Edition books from DC that I hadn't owned already. This would have been around 1978 when we got our first LCS within walking distance.

My best friend had them already, so I knew what to expect perusing his copies before I obtained mine. In many ways, they were (and still are) my favorite comics.

The first two I bought were Action Comics #1 and Detective Comics #27, FWIW.