It is November 1st and this is officially my anniversary in collecting comics. I have been collecting comics since I was in 5th grade, which makes this my 43rd year.

I remember the night well. I went to stay overnight at my friend, Jeff’s house. We were going to go trick or treating for Halloween. After that, Jeff and I went and hung out at his house. Jeff already collected comics and he showed me some of his books.

Jeff had what was called a “folder” at Comic World in Dubuque. The folder was basically a pull-list at the comic shop. Comic World is still the comic store that I buy my books from today. It has had different owners and lcoations, of course, but it is a cool thing.

The next morning I said that I was going to start collecting comics too. I had always been a superhero fan. I remembered being a big fan of the Batman TV series. I was always more of a Robin guy. I made my mom make me a Robin half-mask.

So November 1st became my anniversary. There were stretches where the amount of comics that I bought were down. The years after college were tough on money so I did not buy many during this period, but I never felt as if I was not a collector.

I am happy that this anniversary lands on NEW COMIC BOOK DAY and I will be heading to Comic World later today to buy my new issues. This year has starte da new push in my collecting as I have taken steps to get my collection organized and I am preparing for rebagging and reboarding the older books in my collection, hopefully next summer.

Here is to another 43 years!

PS: I spent the afternoon at Comic World and eating supper at Old Chicago with my friend Todd. He even sprung for the tax on my six dollar pizza….