These were the comic books my father made me throw out in 1969

[no_hypocrisy]

because he believed Readers' Digest or whatever about how comic books led to juvenile delinquency:

Superman
Batman
Archie comics
Binky
Dennis the Menace

No violence. Throwbacks to the Fifties. Superheroes. White bread.

My father never looked at what I was reading but just saw comic books and knew my mind was being polluted.

And no, I have not forgiven him for making me throw them away. I paid for them. They belonged to me.

Postscript: Dad struck again in 1972. He made me throw out the sheet music for Don MacLean's "American Pie." But this time, I waited for him to go to bed and retrieved it from the garbage. I still have it.

[Joinfortmill]

1. Smart move. Must be worth something today

[CommonHumanity]

2. Your father sounds like a dick

Your father sounds like a dick.

I say that understanding that over time you may have come to understand and love him as a person created by his times, his beliefs and the circumstances that shaped him. You may have come to see and appreciate the goodness and love he gave to you despite his limitations and shortcomings.

I get that it sometimes takes time to understand our parents as just people with their own circumstances, rather than the loving caretakers we wanted. I say that knowing that it took some time for me to understand my dad as a 26 year-old guy who had a kid, made mistakes and had love in his heart. I'm just saying that, at least in the contexts cited, your dad sounds like a dick.

[Goonch]

3. My father busted up my air rifle when

the kid who lived across the street shot up a neighbor's window with his rifle. I earned my rifle as a prize for signing up new customers on my paper route.

[exboyfil]

4. My dad lost his EC comic collection

when he moved out of his family's house. Grandma decided to clean up the attic. As a 10 year newly minted comic fan consuming Warren Magazine horror comics I was so excited about going into the attic to find and read those EC comics my dad told me about (this was before reproductions became popular).

It was a sad day when we discovered Grandma's vandalism.

I recently handed down my dad and mine combined collection of comics to my nephew. I admit that I did poach some valuable ones out of it to sell and retained some that still have great sentimental value, but, for someone willing to put in the effort, it could represent a couple of thousand dollars even quickly sold (maybe even more but you always have to have a buyer on the other end).

I had a great dad. I miss him everyday. I don't think Grandma was malicious just didn't understand the value (which was both monetary and sentimental).

I hope my nephew thinks of me fondly someday knowing that I continued the legacy.

A lifetime of consuming horror as well as science fiction and fantasy. I have a great marriage of 35+ years, two wonderful and accomplished daughters, and I have never gone on a mass killing spree.

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. I credit comic books with getting me to read.

I told that to my kids, yesterday. That and the Hardy Boys,,,,,I think I read every one of them, in the series. Thanks Franklin W. Dixon! I was so into the Hardy Boys, I kept a list of each book I read so I didn't re-check out the same book Ifrom the Library.

My favorite comics-

Spiderman
Fantastic Four
Haunted Tank (Jeb Stuart)

[exboyfil]

18. Me too

I started reading comics towards the end of 2nd grade. I was supposed to be held back in 1st grade, but my parents moved to California so the records never made it (I was young for my class and graduated HS at 17 so holding back, especially in a new school, wouldn't have been a big deal).

By the time I was halfway through 3rd grade, I was reading everything especially science books (and of course my beloved comics). Discovered juvenile SF around then and adult SF in 6th grade. Only regret is that I stayed too much in the SF ghetto. I did read some of the classics and non-genre literature, but most of my time was invested with science fiction and horror.

[PatrickforB]

21. I wasn't a big comic book guy - I did read Mad sometimes.

But the Hardy Boys? I read every single one of those, and a huge amount of juvenile historical fiction and historical biographies. I loved learning, but it wasn't public schools that started me off - it was books.

[exboyfil]

23. Public school was just there to crush you

Got in trouble lots of times sneaking a peak at my latest book while the teacher was droning on about boring topics in a boring fashion.

[PatrickforB]

29. Yeah, I sure didn't learn my history from public school, that's for sure.

I did have some decent civics coursework - some in high school and some in college.

But civil rights? Women's contributions and rights? Mistakes like Prohibition? The Depression? I learned about these reading historical fiction.

Maybe that is why, when I answer a question too quickly or seem too sure of myself, my wife will ask, "Do you really KNOW, or are you just making shit up?"

I will say, though, that much of the fiction I read was a bit slanted toward American Exceptionalism for sure, but Vietnam, Hunter Thompson, Howard Zinn and some good professors in undergrad turned me around to a truer viewpoint. I became a Democrat in college, and when I went to work in the publicly funded workforce system, I learned even more.

Remember the old Charlie Brown? Your comment about teachers droning reminds me of how Charles Schultz depicted the Peanuts gang's school experience.

[RobertDevereaux]

6. And my mom . .

Threw out my collection of Famous Monsters magazine.

Unforgivable.

[exboyfil]

20. Such iconic covers

Forrest Ackerman was a genius. I was more on the Creepy/Eerie side of Warren publications, but I did have an appreciation for Famous Monsters (probably more later as I became a bigger fan of Universal/Hammer horror movies).

I am hoping they eventually do hard cover editions of those magazines like they did with Creepy/Eerie/Vamperilla. Might not work as well given they will feel a bit more dated.

[RobertDevereaux]

34. That would be amazing.

[rurallib]

7. I came home one day to find my collection had been donated to

the local children's hospital. What a surprise to me. Most of them bought with my own money.

[CrispyQ]

8. My husband's mother did the same with his comic book & baseball card collection.

My mom offered to store some of my childhood belongings (scrapbooks, mementos, etc.) in her spare bedroom upstairs when I went away to college. Big mistake. She tossed it all.

What a sad thread that so many parents were so disrespectful of their children's childhood belongings.

[Submariner]

9. Just after enlisting in Navy

in ‘65 my folks moved, and unknowingly tossed my Ted Williams and 2 Mickey Mantle baseball cards. This past August a Mantle card went for over $12 million.

[secondwind]

25. Ouch!!!

[Midnight Writer]

10. I had Number Ones and complete original runs of Fantastic Four, X-Men, Daredevil, Avengers,

Luke Cage (Hero For Hire), and lots of issues of other Marvel Comics. I got a job as a kid with a local guy who distributed magazines and newspapers in my hometown, and I could get these titles cheap, along with paperback books. Spent most of the money I made on books and comics.

When I turned 18, I rented a trailer with a couple of my buddies and moved out. My folks threw out everything.

[Otto_Harper]

11. My mom made me give away the big box of 1930's SciFi pulp magazines

that my aunt had given to me when she moved across country. When we ended up moving, that box, plus all of my Spacemen magazines (Forrest J. Ackerman's lesser known magazine) ended up among the lost.

[3Hotdogs]

12. There were congressional hearings about the dangers of horror comic books.The damage done

to the minds of congressmen for having had to read that filth, is still genetically passed on to members of today's Congress.

[AllaN01Bear]

31. hiwhodi

its the same nonsense that the catholic church said about d and d. and harry potter .

https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/10/the-senate-comic-book-hearings-of-1954/

[Ziggysmom]

13. Mom could have retired in luxury if she had not tossed dads awesome baseball card collection.

Yet she hoarded closets full of fabric remnants she never used. Said she was gonna make patchwork quilts. No room for his valuable stuff, but her junk gathered dust for years.

Respect people's belongings. You don't need to like it, just respect ownership.

[hurple]

14. I just picked up my collection from my parents

They have dutifully been storing them under their pool table in their game room for the past 30 years.

I am starting to sell them off on eBay, some are easier than others. So far I have gotten $100 for the Infinity Gauntlet mini-series. That's the book that big two-part Avengers movie came from.

Now trying to sell every Lobo book, but without any luck so far. Next up will be the Captain America and Avengers. Still trying to decide how to break them up into sellable chunks. And don't have a clue how I am going to divide up the Superman books, since most of them are from the "triangle" period (each book had a triangle on the cover with a number in it that told the reader what order to read the books) and covers the death of Superman, the reign of the Supermen and Superman's resurrection. And that continues directly into the fall of Green Lantern...

Anyway, do I chunk it out to "all Action Comics" and "all Adventures of Superman" etc... or mix 'n' match according to the numbers to get complete stories.. like the death of Superman?

Only 11 more long boxes to go... sigh.

[czarjak]

15. My CCR 'Down on the Corner' album got smashed because...

[no_hypocrisy]

16. Another thing:

The money that paid for those comic books came from the allowance my father paid me. I worked for those comics. My work was delegitimized by making me throw out what I bought with my allowance.

[Squaredeal]

17. Comic books were part of growing up in the 50s and 60s.

We baby boomers loved our comics. Some hot summer days we would sit together for hours reading them outside under the trees’ shade, sharing our collections with one another.
There were so many titles to choose from at the news dealer’s store down at the train station, given the little spending money that we had. EC comics were the best
Those were simpler but often fun times growing up in that era.

[DFW]

19. When I see what some old comic books are worth today, I stare in disbelief.

Last edited Fri Nov 25, 2022, 06:57 PM - Edit history (1)

If you go to HA.com and look at the prices some old comic books bring today, you will inevitably ask yourself if your mom or dad didn't toss out a couple of thousand dollars' worth of collectibles? Indeed, the reason I got to meet Stan Lee in the first place was because I told the CEO of HA.com that I would be out in LA to visit my elder daughter, who was living there at the time. He asked if I would like to have lunch with Stan Lee? I said who wouldn't? He said OK, he'd arrange it. I said suuuuuure you will. But he knew Stan, and he DID arrange it.

Afterward, Stan referred to my family (minus me) as "your fabulous females."

[Duppers]

35. Too cool!

Always love your pics.

[DFW]

36. Memory Lane

For me, it is one long and winding road.

[Susan Calvin]

22. My mom didn't throw mine away.

She gave them away because quote I was getting too old for them. I hate to think what they're worth now.

[no_hypocrisy]

24. It would have been bad enough if my father thrown

away the comic books. But he made me throw them away.

[Orrex]

27. I never owned any comics of any real monetary worth

At least, not in their condition after I'd lovingly read them 10,000 times.

Eventually they were lost when a storm damaged my mother's garage where they were stored. I don't blame her, and I don't lament their loss beyond sentimental reasons, since their trade value was minimal, but you have my full sympathy even so!

[Atticus]

28. A kid I played ball with had an uncle who actually subscribed him to "Superman" comics

as soon as he was born in 1948. I think he received either 10 or 11 new comics each year. Roy saved every one of them and stored each year in it's own shirt box under his bed for 18 years.

When he got home from Navy boot camp, he found that his mother had cleaned his room and thrown away "all that junk under your bed".

She could not understand why he cried.

[localroger]

30. My grandmother threw out my father's Captain Marvel collection

...while he was away at college. He had every issue from Vol. 1 #1 and in pristine condition. He figures it would be worth around half a million dollars today.

The presumption of parental super-ownership extends to other things though. I had a car given to my by my grandparents when they upgraded their ride. They signed it over to me and I paid the taxes -- it was completely my property and my name was the only one on the title and registration. One night the water pump went out and I left it parked at a shopping mall with a covered parking lot, well lit and in walking distance of an auto parts store. I made arrangements with one of my friends to bring his tool and pick me up the next day to fix it. Made the mistake of telling my parents what was going on though. When I got up the next day it was parked in front of my house.

They hadn't had it towed, though, no, that would be too expensive. They used the spare key I had stupidly given them to drive it five minutes at a time, overheating, nearly 15 miles through the city to get it back in front of my rental house. When I confronted them about it they were completely unrepentant. By the morning it would no longer run at all so I had to pay to have it towed and fixed by a mechanic. To this day I cannot make them comprehend that they committed a fucking felony to make their point.

[Jeebo]

32. I used to have a T-shirt that said ...

Once I was a MILLIONAIRE.
Then my mom threw away my
BASEBALL CARDS.

If I could go back in time, I would go back to June 1938 and buy a couple dozen copies of that first issue of DC Comics.

-- Ron

[JudyM]

33. My folks took away my Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Album.

They never told me why. I wondered if it was because of “All the Young Girls Love Alice.”