I finally got my cousin into comics and now he's going too deep

Three years ago, I gave him a copy of Ultimate Spider-Man for his birthday, just to see if he'd like it. Last month, he texted me a picture of a long box he bought at a con in Chicago, full of 90s X-Men books. Now he's calling me every other day asking about price variants and newsstand editions for stuff like X-Force #1. I'm happy he's into it, but I just wanted him to enjoy the stories, not turn into a speculator overnight. Has anyone else had a new fan you introduced get totally fixated on the collector side right away?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_charles2mo agoMost Upvoted

That part about him calling for price variants on X-Force #1 is the real tell. You gotta shut that down fast. Next time he calls, just ask him if he actually read the book and what he thought of the story. Steer him back to the actual comics on his shelf, not the price guide. He'll either get bored of the money talk or he won't, but you can at least show him there's another way to enjoy it.

black.beth2mo ago

Totally get that, had a guy only talk about polybag values once.

blake_smith1mo ago

Had a buddy who got his little brother into Saga and within a month the kid was asking about first print prices on every issue. He just kept saying "read it first, then we can worry about the money stuff" until the kid finally sat down and actually binged the whole series. Now they just talk about how crazy the plot gets instead of what slabbed copies are going for.