That time I met a guy who owns 40,000 comics and it was overwhelming

Last weekend I went to a garage sale in my neighborhood here in Austin and this older guy had a whole table of old comics for like a dollar each. I started talking to him and he told me he has been collecting since 1975 and now has over 40,000 issues stored in his garage and a spare bedroom. He said he hasn't read half of them in 20 years but can't bring himself to sell them off because each one has some memory attached. I asked if he ever cataloged them or kept a list and he just laughed and said he has a rough idea in his head. It got me thinking about how much is too much when it comes to a collection. Has anyone else run into a collector like that where the stuff almost owns them instead of the other way around?

3 comments

3 Comments

xena_hernandez986h ago

Honestly, that hit me hard. I get where he's coming from but it sounds like he's trapped in his own collection. I've seen this happen to people before and it's genuinely sad. At some point the stuff stops being fun and starts being a burden you carry around. I hope he finds a way to let go of some of it without losing the memories.

finleym3710h ago

That 40,000 is just stuff holding him hostage at this point.

the_cameron2h ago

Exactly this. 40,000 items is not a collection anymore, it's a storage unit he happens to sleep in.