The subject this time is Greg Holland, Overstreet Advisor, collector, and founder of ValiantFans.com.

It all started with baseball cards in 1988 during junior high school. I bought and traded baseball cards with friends and read just about every guide I could find about sportscards. A couple of years later, the sportscard shops that I frequented started selling comic books. Soon I was reading as much as I could about comic books and collecting those, too.

In about 1992-93, Valiant comics were all the rage in terms of the industry publications, so I tried to jump on to that bandwagon. It didn’t work out very well. I was buying the new issues, but my collection wasn’t complete because I couldn’t find the early Valiant comics that I really wanted. 

Move forward to 1997-98, when I finished college and found eBay. Soon I was collecting comic books again by buying them online, and this time I was able to find all those early Valiant comics that I wanted.

Once my Valiant collection was complete, I looked for other comics from about the same timeframe that were once on my wishlist. Most of these books were very cheap, and many times the cost of shipping was equal to the price I paid for them.

Thinking that Valiant might return someday, I also bought extra copies of a lot of the early Valiant books. I also started my website for Valiant collectors in 1999, which now includes a messageboard with more than 2,000 Valiant fan members. The stories, art, continuity, and growing nostalgia has convinced me that the early days of Valiant are a very good representation of the best comics of my generation. Being known as “that crazy Valiant guy” is becoming a badge of honor.

While I have always admired collections of Golden Age and Silver Age key issues, they were always out of reach for financial reasons. I knew a lot of the history of the hobby, but couldn’t really participate in collecting from those eras. I recently purchased my first copy of Amazing Fantasy #15, a CGC 2.0. It’s exciting to see such an iconic book in my hands, and it just may be the start of a new (though more expensive) chapter in my collection.

In addition to being an Overstreet Advisor and the administrator of ValiantFans.com, Greg Holland does data research for public schools and educational agencies in the state of Arkansas.

If you’d like to share your origin issue, drop us a line with “Origin Issue” in the subject line. We’re looking for a maximum of 200 words addressing why you collect (and it doesn’t have to be comic books).