BrentTN's Bio
I’ve been reading comics since 1979, back when spinner racks did most of the heavy lifting and nobody called it a “hobby” — it was just what you did if you were a kid in Oneida trying to get your hands on the next issue before someone bent it in half. I started collecting seriously in 1984, thanks to a grandmother who didn’t blink when her ten-year-old grandson picked out an old issue of X-Men. She bought it anyway. That book, X-Men #10, has followed me through every move and every chapter of life, and it’s still the soul of my collection.
Today I’m a lifelong collector with a full run of Uncanny X-Men Vol. 1 (#1–544), a growing lineup of Silver and Bronze Age keys, and a deep bench of symbiote, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Deadpool titles. My collection is equal parts nostalgia and investment: the books I hunted as a kid, the covers I admire now, and the slabs I’ve added more recently after decades of building a career and a life rooted right here in Oneida, Tennessee.
I slab, track, and curate with preservation in mind. Some books stay raw because they carry my own childhood history. Others are CGC Signature Series pieces, pressed, cleaned, and ready for the next generation. Collecting has been part of my recovery, my structure, and my way of honoring the people who put comics in my hands in the first place.