The Great Comics Conflagration of 1991
(In small homage to my Better Half, who is currently guest-blogging over at Glitter For Brains, and his posting of today).
Once upon a time, I owned at least a couple of thousand US comics. Mostly Marvel, some DC and a bunch of 'independents'. These were painstakingly sorted and boxed (though not bagged and boarded - exactly how sad do you think I am?).
In amongst that rather fine collection were a complete run of New X-Men, including Giant-Sized #1, Frank Miller's first run on Daredevil and his Dark Knight Returns and Ronin (first printings), a complete run of Spider-Woman, all of John Byrne's Fantastic Four and Walt Simonson's Thor, Legion of Super-Heroes from the start of Levitz and Giffen's run onwards (plus various earlier issues), complete runs of GrimJack, Maze Agency, and the wondrous Zot!, and a whole lot more besides, much of it of course slightly less worthy of note...
When I moved from Manchester to London, I started out living in a single room in someone else's flat, and I had to put much of my life, including the comics, in storgae with various friends. The comics went into the attic of a friend of mine, whence I swore to recover them as soon as I was living somewhere with the space to support them.
Alas, before that day could arrive, the dread phone call came. There had been a fire, the house was gutted, and all of the boxes of comics had gone the way of the furniture, books, electrical goods and clothes that, you know, actually belonged there. And so happened the event I've since referred to by the title of this posting.
I've bought a few of the lost items over the years, but I always think that if I start in on an attempt to recreate one of the serious runs I'll be tempting frustration. I just know that if the time comes when I've managed to get all but one issue, it'll be the one that I have the fondest memories of, or the critical final part of a major storyline.
Better perhaps to leave the past to the past and try to focus on the current. After all, it's not like I'm not spending too much money on current comics as it is, and I am managing to pick up collected editions here and there (like IDW's lovely reprints of The Maze Agency).
But reading about my loved one's loss put me in mind of my own similar bereavement.
So I thought I'd spread the misery.