In 1992 my Dad made the ultimate mistake of telling me Superman was going to die. Superman was my hero, I watched all the cartoons, but I had never once cracked open a comic book. But with that one simple statement my life changed, much to my wife's chagrin. I went and visited the comic book store for the second time in my life. (The first time i went had nothing to do with comics, my idiot of a brother and thrown my favorite action figure against the wall and shattered it into pieces, so he had to buy me a new one, and this was the only place that had it!) I was a bit overwhelmed at first because i had never realized that so many books could exist. But when you consider that DC Comics alone has been publishing Superman since 1938, you see where all this stuff might have come from. I bought the whole story leading up to and including his death. I bought the funeral story afterwards, and the return story after that. And i was hooked. I bought everything i could, at the same time Batman had his back broken by a villain and there was a new Batman. Spiderman had a clone problem, and the X-Men didn't suck at this point. Over the years i have dramatically changed in what i read. I am a DC guy, not to fond of Marvel, other than Spiderman and X-Men, and sometimes i question those choices. I own 8,000 comics, cover dating back as far as 1975. I own every Superman and Batman comic since 1985. I picked this date as a good point of reference because this is when Crisis of Infinite Earths came out. This relaunched the entire line of DC Comics. So for the past 30 + years i have followed the exploits of the heroes of this universe. Tomorrow it all ends. It is bittersweet though, everything i have known for the past 30 years ends, but the comics don't. On August 31st, the New DCU launches. All new #1 titles for every book, including the two longest continuing running comics in History in Action Comics (home of Superman) and Detective Comics (home of Batman). Issue number 904 of Action Comics will end its run tomorrow. I am truly looking forward to the new Universe, but it is hard to believe that something i have invested so much time in will truly end tomorrow. I have sought hard to find books to finish runs, and i will continue to do the same to finish other runs, but after tomorrow, the stories meaning takes on a different meaning. The stories in back issues will be the past. They wont be as relevant anymore. But they will always be my beginning, and my love.
I love my family more than anything in the world. But my comics are tied for second in my life after them. I have already told Jess that she has to bury me with my comics when i die. She laughs. I am not really kidding. They were there long before i even knew her. I will say she does a remarkable job of not killing me and letting me keep getting my books. They are my soap opera's. And again tomorrow i close the chapter on the all i have known since i started collecting. I will always have the books to go back to and enjoy, but never again will i get to use them as reference to a current story to see what i forgot. I will miss these characters and the joy they have brought me. But as i said there is always light at the end of the tunnel. In just over a week the new Universe will be born, and i will be on even footing with everyone when i say i don't know where the heroes go from here. I am looking forward to the journey though! Just as much as the past 30 years.
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