CycleGirl's Bio
Hi, my name is Rhonda and this is my story...
When I was 13, my older brother had a friend, who collected comic books. He showed me his collection and got me interested in comic books. I became fascinated, at a young age, with the idea that comic books could be rare and valuable treasures. I also wondered what kind of person could afford to spend several hundred dollars on an Action #1 at an auction!. Only later, did I learn to appreciate the cultural history those key issues represented.
This wasn't, by any means, my first exposure to comics. While growing up, I had read comics of many titles, DC, Archie, Marvel, Dell and probably even Disney. My brother and I would pick up comics at secondhand shops and read them during the long summers. I still love reading comic books!
In my teens, I dabbled a bit in collecting for a few years but became inactive by the later years of High School. When I was in college, I was desperate for money at one point and sold all of my comic books to the comic shop in Seattle - including my collection of X-Men. In any case, I thought that I was done with collecting. I was in the college of engineering - where was the place in my life for funny books?
As the years went by, I occasionally thought about the comic book collection that I had given up. I thought that it would be really nice to own some key comic books - I sometimes fantasized about owning an X-Men #1 or a Fantastic Four #1. I was aware that key issues were rising ever higher in value. My financial priorities were always tied up with more domestic responsibilities - saving for my kid's college education and the like. I always thought, "when I really, really make it financially, then I can afford to buy some really key comic books." So, owning rare comic books became for me, the symbol of achievement and financial success. I can't ever forget that at the point in my life when I was the most impoverished, I had to sell my comics to pay the rent.
Finally in 2004, I started buying a few books on Ebay. I started out small, made some mistakes, but eventually started building the collection you see here.
Thanks for reading.