The subject this time is Tom Heintjes, Publisher of Hogan’s Alley.

Why do I collect? Wow, that’s like being asked “Why do you breathe?” Because I have to—I’ve never known another way to live. When I was a boy, I was a complete Marvel zombie, and I had no greater hero than Spider-Man. So of course, I set out to assemble a complete collection. I did pretty well until I the holes in my Spidey collection extended into the earliest issues. Even in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, when back issues were a great deal cheaper than they are now, I couldn’t afford them. So I started buying reprints and eventually “completed” my collection, even if they weren’t all the original comic books. I didn’t care—I just wanted to read the material! Sure, I missed the letters, ads and Stan’s Soapbox (all of which I loved) from the originals, but life is full of compromises, right? Besides, I never minded reprints; to me, reading the Warren reprints of The Spirit was just as satisfying as the Sunday sections (and a lot more affordable).

I’ll be honest: As an industry observer, I’ve come to believe that the fetishization of back issues—entombing them in plastic and such—is not healthy for the art form. It commodifies the book and renders it merely a financial asset. Once a year, I go through my collection and cull out a small stack of issues that I can’t believe I ever had in the first place—Dazzler #11, anyone?—and I give them out with candy on Halloween. (I figure there’s a chance I’ll hook a young person on our medium. And if I don’t, my wife likes having more space in the house, so everyone wins.) And I love the smell of the old books as I go through them; it takes me back to lying on my bed decades ago and being completely enthralled by the notions of the Negative Zone and astral projection.

And now, what a wonderful time to be a comics fan! All the reprints of great, classic material in all genres…who could have ever imagined a volume of Hot Stuff stories, the same ones I devoured as a beginning comics reader? (Yes, Casper was the ghost, presumably, of a dead boy, but Hot Stuff was the ghost of a boy who died and went to hell! It blew the minds of me and my brother.) Reprints of Dell’s Nancy comic books! Golden Age! Silver Age! And don’t even get me started on all the collections of newspaper strips…it’s a cartoon cornucopia, the likes of which I never could have dreamed of when I began collecting.

So now I don’t collect back issues any more. My collecting interests have become more eclectic, and now I’m in pursuit of a complete set of the Peanuts ceramic figurines. The only one I’m lacking is Schroeder, and I understand that getting Schroeder and his piano is the Holy Grail of this collection. So they’re out there waiting for me, somewhere. And when I find them, I can only hope I can afford them. If I can’t, I’ll try to remember that there were lots of back issues I couldn’t afford when I was a kid, and it all turned out all right.

The Publisher of Hogan’s Alley (if you love comics history, you should definitely get to know this publication), Tom Heintjes is a dedicate comics historian.

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).