For some really hard to find issues (Like a lot of JLA) I’ve unfortunately resorted to *ahem* downloading them. But whenever I see a copy (even if I have it on my computer) I’ll buy it. I prefer having hard copies.

I’m going to go crazy if I ever go on holiday to America.

I also moved from a small coastal town to the city of Sydney, which I was astonished to discover had a comic book store right near my new house! While their back issues are limited, and (in my opinion) expensive ($7.50 US for a copy of pre-52 Blue Beetle) I’m really excited to be able to buy the 52 Flash, Teen Titans and Justice League runs.

Considering I’ve only been buying comics for a couple of years now, I’ve only ever had to chance to buy online, and Ive been extremely lucky in my finds.

At that time, I couldn’t get into the Justice League lineup, so I passed over them in favor of stories about their sidekicks: Robin, Nightwing, Impulse, Superboy (and the Ravers, for the short time it was printed), Legion of Superheroes, Legionnaires, Teen Titans, The Titans, and eventually, Young Justice, which still remains my favorite comic of all time.

(Keep in mind, I was under the age of ten when I started collecting, and my parents had no interest in taking me to any of the South Florida conventions, so a bimonthly trip to Tate’s Comics was how I got my fix.)

In 2004, my mom and I got into a huge fight. During that fight, she grabbed one of my longboxes and dragged it out of the room. She then proceeded to turn on the hose and drench my poor comics into oblivion. I don’t bag things, it’s too much of a hassle and the boards take up too much space. After checking my other boxes, I realized that the only series’ that had been destroyed were some Flash comics, some issues of Birds of Prey, and my entire run of Young Justice.

Flash forward to January 2010. I’ve grown a lot and moved down to Miami, but I still make that ocasional journey to Tate’s. This time, I’m leaving with Young Justice #55, the last issue I needed to re-complete my collection.

I mean, yeah, I probably could have found it on eBay, but where’s the fun in that?

I live in Australia and we don’t have the conventions or shows that America seems to. Nobody around me was collecting, so I allowed myself to stop.

I had still kept an interest in comics for my art through Highschool when in 1994 I found an issue of Flash #93 in the local newsagent.

That was it, I was back into comics in a big way trying to track down issue #92 for Bart’s first appearance. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I searched every comic book shop in Sydney (no ebay back then, and no comic conventions), any relatives or friends going to America I begged to track me down a copy, but to no avail.

Eventually I did find an Australian comic convention in sydney, I just happened upon it whilst I was out shopping in the city (It was about the time X-force was relaunched by Milligan and Allred). I think at the time the convention was known as Ozcon, I not only found a copy of Flash #92, I found 2 copies I was over the moon.

The thing that annoyed me at the time, was that my local comic shop hadn’t told me it was even on, and they had a store at the show!

Anyway, then CGC came along and I had to have Flash #92 slabbed. I sent my prized comics away, damn, 9.4 and 9.6, not good enough, and I was not going to pay for a 9.8, there was no fun in that.

This time around they had got ebay up and running, so it was a lot easier to track down a copy. I tracked down and bought about 30 or so copies from all over the USA, England, Israel, Australia, Germany and Spain, not even Bart’s death would stop my quest. The condition was varied, so some I kept for sending to CGC, some I onsold.

After about four submissions I finally got Flash #92 back from CGC graded at 9.8 this Monday.

In Australia that has been no mean feat, postage is a killer and I can only say I know one other collector outside of my local.

Anyway, for me back issue searching went something like the following:

Pre 2000
Local comic store

Post 2000
Ebay

After 2000 it seemed like the back issues were allways locked out the back or kept off site. I have to say though, it was allways more fun looking through old boxes then staring at numbers ticking on a screen.

A few years passed in boredom after I’d finally completed all the back issues I was looking for. Then I developed an interest in the Flash Rogues, and also decided to collect all their appearances (reprints count, though I like to get originals when it’s economically feasible). I started going to the local comic shops, but wasn’t finding nearly as much stuff as I would have liked and was getting supremely impatient. So I, um, started downloading what I was looking for. However, I’m also still buying all those back issues at comic shops and conventions, and have a fairly hefty chunk of them so far. I keep looking every time I go to a con (the shops around here are pretty much tapped out, I think). Occasionally I buy stuff on Ebay.

One day I’ll have a complete collection of the physical books, but I’m enjoying the hunt AND not pulling out my hair because I don’t know what happened in such-and-such an issue (since I have it downloaded). It works for me.