So, I’ve been on a bit of an X-Men kick lately. This has been mostly regarding toys and collectibles, which I’m going to cover in an Out of the Package post, but it’s got me thinking back on the comics, too. But first, I’m going to start out with a little backstory on myself.
According to my mother, I’ve had a comic in my hands since I could hold one on my own. I am 44 years old, so that’s been quite a while. As far as my own memories, I recall having a few comics here and there, but didn’t really start collecting until I was about 6. I think. I believe I was in the first grade when I caught chicken pox and had to stay home for several days. During this time, my mom went and got me a couple issues of the G.I. Joe comic. And this was when the series first started. Like first 3 or 4 issues. Since the Joes’ were my thing at point in my life, I was immediately hooked! Then I discovered the Transformers comics. And being a child of the 80s, these were essentially my sole collections for quite some time, walking to the drug store on a regular basis, looking for new issues. And I had nearly every issue of G.I. Joe up to 100. And I’m still kicking myself for selling them off.
Then one fateful day, I believe I was around 13, the family was gearing up for a road trip to Florida. We stopped at the drug store for some road trip essentials. I decided to grab a couple non-Joe comics. I grabbed two comics, the first being either Part 1 or 2 of Kraven’s Last Hunt, which jump-started my Spider-Man love, and introduced me to one of my all-time favorite comic stories (but that’s a tale for another time). But the other comic was Uncanny X-Men #212, which featured the team reeling from the Mutant Massacre. This issue also featured the first published battle between Wolverine and Sabretooth. As you can see, I still have that issue. The rest was history. I collected the X-Men religiously from that day forward.
Eventually, I started hunting down back issues to fill out my collection, and I have a straight run from #190 to #527. The oldest issue I snagged was #28, the first appearance of Banshee for about $10 on eBay. Sure, it's pretty beat up, but he's one of my favorites and I got it! In most cases, I just picked up random issue, but there were specific story-lines I sought out. The Proteus Saga, the Hellfire Club/Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past are the main stories I went after. And I found them. I had backed off my hunt for a while, but I'm feeling the urge creep in again. I still have a large chunk of the first 189 issues to add, along with Giant Size X-Men #1. Although I'm sure I'll never find that at a price I'll be willing to pay. But, you never know.
One day, I may finish the piece I've planned to outline my personal X squad. But for now, just now that some of my favorite characters are Wolverine (of course!), Havok, Nightcrawler, Storm (especially the punk mohawk look), X-23, Magick, and Banshee. And Deadpool. Does he really count, though? Favorite villains would include Magneto (again, of course!), Mr. Sinister, the Marauders, and Proteus. Favorite writer is, without a doubt, Chris Claremont. Favorite artists would be Jim Lee and Marc Silvestri. And favorite era would be the 90s. And there's a lot of 90s era toys headed our way over the next few months to year. And that's what I'll be covering in my Out of the Package blog.
There you have it. Just a little bit of my love for things of X.
Everyone has issues. Mine are mostly comics.
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