And THAT's the Rest of the Story...
Moderators: Daniel Jackson, greg
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David_Cody
- One of few who have a circa 1993 Valiant tattoo
- Posts: 3753
- Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 11:06:09 pm
- Valiant fan since: VH1 X-O 14
- Favorite character: Sting
- Favorite title: Harbinger
- Location: Cody, Wyoming
And THAT's the Rest of the Story...
Seeing that many of you have told your story about how you became a Valiant fanatic, I figured what the heck...here's mine.
Back in '92 of '93, I was driving home from my girlfriend's house in Chicago. On the drive home, I had a mild seizure. It wasn't the grand-mal type, but it still scared the @#$% out of me.
I ignored it and hoped it would go away, but I had another the next day at work. I called my doc and he ordered a Cat Scan and an EEG. The doc called me at my home and started the conversation with, "Well Dave, I have the results of the Cat Scan. I don't want to alarm you but..." The CS came back that I -might- have a cerebral aneurism.
Well now, you can imagine what that might do to a young man, knowing that your brain might explode and you might wake up dead.
This was about the same time the Death of Superman was going on. I called Graham Crackers in Naperville and was able to snag a copy. (Oh, I the dork that I was/am, opened the bag on the black issue to read the dumb thing.) I got hooked on comics and started re-collecting all of the Amazing Spideys that my brothers owned and that I read while growing up.
To help in my quest to own every Amazing Spidey ever published, I would go to these comics shows at the Sheritan on the first Saturday of every month. One Saturday I saw a guy selling an X-O 14 & 15. I thought the covers were cool, so I bought them and took them home with me.
OK, don't get ahead of me now...
I read both issues and was blown away by both the artwork and the storyline. I thought this Aric character was just too cool. Before you knew it, I was ordering each Valiant comic every month and scrounging around the comic stores in my area for back issues of Valiants.
Unfortunately for my pocketbook, I got into Valiant at the height of speculation frenzy. I can honestly say that I spent $125 for a mint Harbinger 1 and $125 for a mint Magnus 12. Heck, I was a stupid kid with money to burn and didn't have a clue about what was making these comics be so expensive. I just knew that I wanted a whole run of them.
As far as brain bursting goes, I had to go into the coffin (MRI) and it showed that the Cat Scan posted a false positive. Weird huh, the CS showed in five views that a carotid anerusim existed, but the MRI showed nothing of the sort.
I did end up with a run of mint Spideys going from #38-present. My pride 'n joy of the bunch was my spectactularly mint #50. I sold 38-100 to finance a mission trip to China. During my illness I had a spiritual awakening experience and decided I needed to change things in my life. I used the treasures that I had collected on earth, to make a difference in eternity.
I did stop collecting Valiant after the whole Chaos-effect storyline. The thrill was gone for me and I had new interests that were vying for my attention. I still don't have a complete run of Valiants, but I may someday.
Back in '92 of '93, I was driving home from my girlfriend's house in Chicago. On the drive home, I had a mild seizure. It wasn't the grand-mal type, but it still scared the @#$% out of me.
I ignored it and hoped it would go away, but I had another the next day at work. I called my doc and he ordered a Cat Scan and an EEG. The doc called me at my home and started the conversation with, "Well Dave, I have the results of the Cat Scan. I don't want to alarm you but..." The CS came back that I -might- have a cerebral aneurism.
Well now, you can imagine what that might do to a young man, knowing that your brain might explode and you might wake up dead.
This was about the same time the Death of Superman was going on. I called Graham Crackers in Naperville and was able to snag a copy. (Oh, I the dork that I was/am, opened the bag on the black issue to read the dumb thing.) I got hooked on comics and started re-collecting all of the Amazing Spideys that my brothers owned and that I read while growing up.
To help in my quest to own every Amazing Spidey ever published, I would go to these comics shows at the Sheritan on the first Saturday of every month. One Saturday I saw a guy selling an X-O 14 & 15. I thought the covers were cool, so I bought them and took them home with me.
OK, don't get ahead of me now...
I read both issues and was blown away by both the artwork and the storyline. I thought this Aric character was just too cool. Before you knew it, I was ordering each Valiant comic every month and scrounging around the comic stores in my area for back issues of Valiants.
Unfortunately for my pocketbook, I got into Valiant at the height of speculation frenzy. I can honestly say that I spent $125 for a mint Harbinger 1 and $125 for a mint Magnus 12. Heck, I was a stupid kid with money to burn and didn't have a clue about what was making these comics be so expensive. I just knew that I wanted a whole run of them.
As far as brain bursting goes, I had to go into the coffin (MRI) and it showed that the Cat Scan posted a false positive. Weird huh, the CS showed in five views that a carotid anerusim existed, but the MRI showed nothing of the sort.
I did end up with a run of mint Spideys going from #38-present. My pride 'n joy of the bunch was my spectactularly mint #50. I sold 38-100 to finance a mission trip to China. During my illness I had a spiritual awakening experience and decided I needed to change things in my life. I used the treasures that I had collected on earth, to make a difference in eternity.
I did stop collecting Valiant after the whole Chaos-effect storyline. The thrill was gone for me and I had new interests that were vying for my attention. I still don't have a complete run of Valiants, but I may someday.
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Daniel Jackson
- A toast to the return of Valiant!
- Posts: 38007
- Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2004 8:33:38 pm
Re: And THAT's the Rest of the Story...
Take your time, it's the thrill of the hunt that makes it fun, it's also nice to see your medical problems turned out OK. Oh, and what were you thinking opening the black bag???david_albuq wrote: I still don't have a complete run of Valiants, but I may someday.
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David_Cody
- One of few who have a circa 1993 Valiant tattoo
- Posts: 3753
- Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 11:06:09 pm
- Valiant fan since: VH1 X-O 14
- Favorite character: Sting
- Favorite title: Harbinger
- Location: Cody, Wyoming
When I bought that Superman, I had no idea about comics encased in plastic. I literally had not bought a comic since Amazing Spiderman #210. Course I soon learned the folly of my mistake. 
As far as leaving comics, I could say that as soon as Marz killed off the supporting staff of X-O, I was quickly losing interest in all things Valiant.
THAT and the whole Spidey clone thing -completely- turned me off for a good long time.
As far as leaving comics, I could say that as soon as Marz killed off the supporting staff of X-O, I was quickly losing interest in all things Valiant.
THAT and the whole Spidey clone thing -completely- turned me off for a good long time.
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slym2none
- a typical message board assassin
- Posts: 37119
- Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 12:08:46 pm
- Location: Troll- free zone.
My only thought, other than what others here have already posted (well-wishes on your health, etc.) is WHAT'S WRONG WITH OPENING THE BAG? First (and you've all heard it before,) comics are for reading, which you did. Second, that cheap poly-bag that Supes #75 (and a million more comics, like X-Force #1, the Marvel annuals one year, yaddayaddayadda,) was packaged in will actually harm the comic over time.
Oh yeah - great story!
And I surely hope you don't feel bad about being dis-appointed with the Spider-Ugh.
-slym
Oh yeah - great story!
And I surely hope you don't feel bad about being dis-appointed with the Spider-Ugh.-slym
Some people spend their whole lives believing in fairy tales, usually because they don't want to give up the fabulous prizes.