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by beloved Smith

It’s all in the story.

I’m not just speaking about the comic book story that is written in the book you hold in your hands, I’m speaking about the story behind the comic book that you hold in your hands.

I started reading/collecting comic books when I was five years old. That, my friends, was a extremely long time ago. For the most part, I still have a extremely great portion of the comic books I’ve bought, traded for, as well as been given. My wife, Beth, will be much more than pleased to tell you that I still have them as well as precisely exactly how much important space they take up right here at The flying Fist Ranch.

Recently, I’ve been going with my collection, old as well as new. I’ve been re-reading a great deal of them, as well as the one thing that keeps coming up in my head as I checked out these comics is the story of where I purchased them, the day I very first checked out them, as well as the travels they have made with me with the decades.

Giant-Size X-Men #1

Yes, I delight in reading the stories Stan Lee, Robert Kanagher, as well as others wrote, the exact same stories that Jack Kirby, Don Heck, as well as numerous others drew. however practically on par with that, I delight in my own personal memories behind those comic books. When I believe of Giant-Size X-Men #1, I don’t believe so much of the new age of The X-Men as much as I believe of it being the comic book that brought me back to comics after years of letting them gather dust in their cardboard tombs in my back room. That was the comic book that brought me back on a whim. I was with my friends, as well as long time comic book collecting amigos, Clint McElroy (@macclint) as well as Chuck Minsker in Charleston, West Virginia. We had traveled the 50 minute trip to the specify funding to inspect out the comic book store, Comic World. We had never been there. Again, on a whim, I went. I believed it would be neat to step into a comic shop as well as perhaps renew some old friendships with some old four color friends.

Bringing In The New.

It was great. My old feelings for comics flooded back to me. I saw numerous problems that were in my personal collection as well as I looked with a ton of “new” comics that I had let slip by in my years out of the loop.

And Leaving In A Huff.

Through the tips of Clint as well as Chuck, I chosen up a few “new” comics to potentially reignite my old flame for comic books. The one comic book that they stressed that I should get was Giant-Size X-Men #1. It had come out in 1975 during my comic book “dark years” when I was as well hectic getting into difficulty as well as my own adventures to pick up comic books. right here we were six years later as well as I had some catching as much as do (I’ve been catching up ever sinc.). At the time, Overstreet Comic book cost guide #11 had Giant-Size X-Men #1 at $60.00 dollars in mint. with some fun negotiations with the comic store owner as well as the truth that this might be the begin of me purchasing much more new comics, he offered the problem in extremely Fine/Near Mint condition for $10.00. I believed that was a great deal of money to pay for a comic book, however as all of us understand now, that was a heck of a deal. I still have the comic as well as it is one of the crown jewels of my contemporary day collection. It has that title even much more so for being the emotional comic book that brought me back into comic books. I haven’t stopped collecting or reading because then.

Overstreet Comic book cost guide #11

There are so numerous comic books in my collection that I have stories connected to, some I can keep in mind not only where I was when I purchased it, however what I was wearing, as well as what I had for lunch as I was reading it. numerous of these memories are showed my good friends like Clint, Chuck as well as my very first as well as original comic book finest friend, Randy Watts. Together, Randy as well as I have a large amount of excellent comic book purchasing as well as reading stories; we might fill a book with them. In contemporary times, such as the last 25 years I’ve been working in comics, I share a ton of excellent comic book hunts with fellow comic creators Chuck Dixon, Tim Truman, Flint Henry, Ted Adams, as well as Dean Mullaney. count on me when I say, if somebody would fund us on an expedition to discover Bigfoot, The Yeti, or the Loch Ness Monster, me as well as my group of friends would’ve discovered those monsters decades ago.

As you continue your own search for comic books, old or new, please keep in mind to pass your stories on to others. This is exactly how history is not only made, however preserved.

Perhaps you’ll be the one to ignite the flame for four color treasures to a good friend (No, I don’t imply shed their comics up…).

Happy hunting as well as storytelling, amigos.

Beau Smith

The flying Fist Ranch

www.flyingfistranch.com