Rant: A guy at a con in Atlanta said collecting is for kids

I was at Dragon Con last year, showing a friend my graded first appearance of Moon Knight. A guy next to us, maybe in his 40s, looked over and said, "You know, real fans read the stories, they don't just buy plastic slabs." He said it like it was a fact. It happened right by the artist alley near the Westin. I've been collecting for 15 years and that one comment still gets under my skin. Does anyone else get this kind of gatekeeping over how to be a fan?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryanburns2d ago

That "real fans read the stories" line is such a tired take. I just tell people my graded books are how I preserve the art I love, and I have a whole long box of readers for actually enjoying the stories. It usually shuts them up.

sarah5312d ago

But what if he had a point though? Grading feels like turning art into a stock, and it prices real fans out of the hobby. Maybe the guy was just tired of watching comics become an investment portfolio.

ryanh561d ago

Keep your readers and your slabs separate, solves both problems.