Thursday, November 23, 2006

Farewell to Yesteryear

Pictured above is the entrance to our kitchen, which is where we've had my seven and a half boxes of comic books stored for the past two and a half months. If you look closely, you'll notice that the comic boxes aren't there. That's because I sold them this morning.

I feel a little like I've cut off a limb. I started reading comics with Batman #476 in 1992 and have been filling up boxes ever since. Over the past few years, I've been cutting down on my boxed collection by selling sets on eBay and then replacing them with trade paperback editions, which can be stored nicely on a bookshelf. Over the past year I've mostly stopped buying the monthly issues except about five a month (compared to the thirty a month I used to get), and have restricted my collected edition buying to when I have an Amazon.com gift certificate from our Amazon.com credit card.

Yesterday I decided to finally list the 1250 or so comic books sitting in the kitchen entrance on Craigslist (as a set, not individually--heavens no), and this morning a guy who runs an online comic shop came by and bought them. I did save a box full of my favorites, and I still have a bookcase full of graphic novels and trade paperback collections, plus I think I still have a box hidden somewhere in my mom's place in Hawaii, so it's not like I've cut myself off from comics forever. I'm even going to continue getting the five comics a month I've been getting. But still, those six boxes the man with the long black and red hair took away this morning in his station wagon had nearly fifteen years of memories in them: Superman's wedding, Green Arrow's funeral (don't worry, he got better), Robin's first date, and the time Green Lantern went crazy and destroyed the universe (it got better too). Every time the Justice League of America, the Teen Titans, and the Legion of Superheroes broke up and got back together again are now fleeting images in my mind, no longer waiting in a long white box for me to find and relive.

Sigh.

At least I can walk into my kitchen without knocking the phone off the wall. And maybe we'll use the money to get Little Dude a Jumperoo, and when I see him playing in it I can imagine he's a superhero, leaping over tall buildings in a single bound for my amusement.

7 comments:

Th. said...

.

=sniff=

Anonymous said...

Wow! That almost makes me a little sad (more for you and the senimentality of it; not so much for the comics). Yes, I noticed on your news interview - I could see them in the background. And yes, there are still 2 full boxes in Hawaii.

Anonymous said...

Make that 'sentimentality'.

Anonymous said...

Read AAKC. Please. You've got the whole weekend ahead of you.

And next time you have to get rid of comics, you should offer to sell them to me. Seems like a fun new hobby to pick up... for a week or two.

Tolkien Boy said...

Hee hee...

he got better...

Seriously, my man, it's all part of that "speaking as a child" thing. Give it seven months, you won't notice they're gone.

And if you do, still, I'll buy you one. :)

Th. said...

.

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B.G. Christensen said...

Th., if you kept up on the gay Mormon blog ring, you'd know he's referring to the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Sheesh, I bet you're embarrassed now.