I sometimes get mails like “You make comics, do you read comics yourself?” or “What kind of comics would you recommend? “. Since this seems a bit of a common question, so I’d like to make a little series to present you my own comic collection, talk a bit about the books I own and what I think about them. I’m still not entirely sure if I should talk about the books by shelf compartment, or by theme, but I’ll figure it out on the way.
So how did I get into comics? Well, I have an older brother, so when I grew up I got my grabby little hands on his comics at a fairly young age, about 3 or 4. Not that I really understood them, but they had pretty pictures and my parents read me the stories, so that was always great. The comics back then were mostly Disney Comics, which were and are quite popular around here, so we can blame Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck for the life I chose. They also furthered my education; one of the first words I learned to read was “Ende” (The End in German) because almost every story ended with that word. And of course I tried to copy the art style and all the pictures ended up terrible.
As I grew older, my love for Disney Comics never vanished but kept going. And still they helped me to learn about the world. Marco Polo and his Travels? – Read about them first in Disney Comics. War of the Worlds, Gone with the Wind, Tom Sawyer – Classics I first encountered in Disney adaptations with Ducks and Mice as protagonists. These adventures were exciting, as they were entertaining. On the other hand I started reading some of my parents stuff like old issues of MAD magazine, Peanuts books or Asterix and Obelix comics. Over the years I claimed these things as mine and moved them to my room and added them to my collection.
In my teens my passion for comics cooled down a bit. I still read them, but I was at an age where Disney comics deemed childish. So when I browsed around in comic book stores, there also wasn’t that much else that peaked my interest. Still, I found a few things to keep the fires burning.
I don’t really remember when I really got “back” into comics, but I think it was around the time when I finished school and moved to Vienna. With more comic book stores around and finding some nifty online-stores my collection rapidly expanded. And this is pretty much where we are now – With an ever-growing big shelf of comics:
