Adventures in Comics: "Oops" or "Aaargh", the Pain of Loss...

Redartz: Over the course of this blog and our predecessor, the Bronze Age Babies, many of us have described how we have parted with some or all of our comics.  Of course, most of that has been voluntary (even if done reluctantly).  For this edition of  "Adventures in Comics", we will look at stories about the undesired and unanticipated loss of our collectibles.  This may have been accidental, say throwing them out by mistake (Oops!) or more diabolical, say by theft (Aaargh!). 


 

In my case, there have been a few such situations.  The earliest, when I was but a lad of 10, was the "Oops" type. I had been  sporadically buying comics for a couple years by then, and had a modest collection comprised of Harveys, Marvels, DCs and Gold Key comics. About that time my parents announced we were moving to a new house.  In the resulting excitement, I mostly forgot about those comics.  And whether it was through the pre-move rummage sale or just misplaced, all of those comics vanished.  I never even realized it until some years later when I returned to comics and remembered all those books.  Even today, when I am downsizing my collection, I still occasionally pick up a remembered back issue from that era just for the memories. This photo shows some of those early remembered books that I've reacquired.


Years later, I was in college, and fully into the deepest degree of my collecting days. As room was limited in my apartment, I left much of my collection at my parent's house.  In my first year, returning home for Thanksgiving break, I went to my old room to look at some comics.  To my great distress, some were gone.  There had been a break-in, and someone made off with my earliest Amazing Spider-Man issues (numbers 3-9).  A few other items were missing from the house as well, but the thief must have known me, and known about those specific books (many other nice books were nearby and untouched). I had (and still have) suspicions, but nothing concrete.  I never saw those books again.  Afterwards though, I found a way to keep my best books with me at school!

Finally, there have been several books damaged to loss by my negligence. Specifically, I left them out where the cat could get at them. The cat likes to attack comic boxes, and especially likes to claw up the handle openings. Consequently, many of the comics at the front of the boxes have tears and shreds.  I try not to leave those vulnerable any more.

So those are my 'sad tales of loss'. Any unfortunate tales (say, that sounds like a potential comic title) among you?