My life with comics

Like I said in my previous entry, I got into comic books back in 1984, when I was 7 years old. Since you only learn how to read at 6 years old, I hadn’t done a lot of other reading yet. It was mostly European comic strips like Suske & Wiske, Lucky Luke and Asterix. And of course Dutch Donald Duck magazines. But then my big sister went to high school and made a new friend. And that friend also had a little brother, who was two years older than me, and he had a bunch of superhero comics. I saw those and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. The next day I went to the grocerie store with my mom and she bought me my very first Marvel comic book, a Dutch version of Defenders #124, published by Junior Press. I didn’t understand everything that was going on yet, but I loved it and must have read it a hundred times. From there on I was hooked.

Soon a lot of other titles followed. Spider-Man (who just came back from the first Secret Wars, wearing his black costume), the Avengers (called “de Vergelders” over here), Batman, Star Wars, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Superman and even Tarzan. And I couldn’t get enough. Homework? Playing outside? Screw that, I’m reading comics!

This didn’t change much as I got older and went to high school. By this time I was still reading the Dutch versions pulished by Junoir Press and Baldakijn, but a local news stand was now also selling American comics and I discovered an actual comic book store in Eindhoven, a city about 25 km from where I lived. All my allowence and money I got from weekend jobs was spent on comics. And of course the comic book industry had a huge boom in the 90’s with some artists becoming “rock stars” and starting Image Comics. I still have every single one of those early Image titles.

You have to keep in mind that I live in the Netherlands and during the 90’s, nobody here knew who Captain America, Thor or Iron Man were. You couldn’t get comic related toys or merchandise anywhere and it certainly wasn’t “cool” to be into that kind of stuff. Trust me, getting a date was pretty hard when you were seen reading Spider-Man or Punisher comics during your lunch break, while wearing an X-Force sweatshirt, which actually took two months to arrive at the comic book store after I ordered it. Yeah, life was pretty tough as a geek back in those days.

As I got to my late teens / early twenties, comics didn’t play such a big part anymore. I partied a lot and went to rock concerts with my friends and that didn’t leave a lot of time or money for comic books. And I was getting kind of bored with a lot of the stuff that was coming out in those days. Those of you that were around in the 90’s probably know what I mean. Luckily I did hold on to all my comics and kept them safe, bagged and boxed.

After finishing school and getting a job (and a steady girlfriend), we bought a house, moved in together and tried to be “normal” for a couple of years. During this time, my girlfriend’s brother had my comic book collection. He was reading and collecting himself at the time and I told him he could read them. But when he got his own place and didn’t have enough space to store all those boxes, my comics came home. And I even got a whole crate of extra books from him, which he had bought himself, because I helped him out around the house. Of course I started reading the books he gave me and I got hooked once again.

I started visiting the comic book store again regularly and mostly bought trade paperbacks. A lot had changed and I had a lot of catching up to do, but I loved every second of it. I realized how much I had missed reading these wonderful books and how they had (obviously) always been my way of “escaping reality”. It was also around this time that Fox’s X-Men and Sony’s Spider-Man movies came out and the Dutch people were finally finding out who these characters were.

In the meantime I was back into it all the way. I bought mostly paperbacks and hardcovers, but I also started a pull list at the comic book store and even started reading digital comics on my iPad. And not just superhero stuff by Marvel and DC, but also books by Vertigo, Image, Dark Horse etc. Comic books were once again my “go to place” when life got a little overwhelming at times.

And now I’m 41, turning 42 in august, and I still love reading comics. A lot has happened these last five years, and it has been pretty rough at times. During those periods, it was often hard to find the time and quiet moments to sit down and read, but somehow I always get back to my favorite pastime. Nothing beats getting on the couch with my dogs and reading about the adventures of my favorite heroes. And after 34 years, I don’t think that will ever change.

Author: comicgeek76

Dutch comic book fan/collector since 1984 View all posts by comicgeek76