The Re-Collector!

I’ve loved comics since before I could read them on my own. Growing up, I had a filing cabinet full of comics.

One of the drawbacks of having comics as a kid is that kids aren’t good at taking care of things and I read my comics until many of them fell apart. But just because they were ripped and cover-less doesn’t mean that I didn’t love those books. When my family moved from the Bronx to Miami, I threw many of my old beat up comics away and only a handful survived the move.

Since, that move I’ve established a new collection, long boxes full of comics are piled up in my home-office and dozens of trade paperbacks line the shelves. Nowadays, I find myself reading each comic and filing it away and maybe reading it once or twice more, if I’m particularly wowed by it. But the comics from that filing cabinet the Bronx, I read over-and-over again, the panels are burned into my brain. Where they better comics than what currently comes out or do I remember them fondly the same way a girl in her late 20’s remembers the Backstreet Boys, not because they were good but because they were popular during her formative years?

I’m determined to find the answer. None of my comics were particularly special, most were single issues, not worth much money. I decided to find as many as I can on Amazon, Ebay and conventions and pick them up, not to send them away to get graded but to read them and see if they hold up to my childhood memories.

I am Matt Masdeu and I am the Re-Collector!

Dawn of Justice! (Justice League #1 [1987])

This is still one of my favorite comics of all time. This book shows humor that you don't often see in superhero comics and most of it comes from the interaction between the heroes. Every character has a distinct personality that doesn’t mesh with the group, Batman is the frustrated leader, Guy Gardner is the 80s action star, Black Canary is the feminist, Captain Marvel is the innocent child, Martian Manhunter is a former leader with survivor’s guilt, Blue Beetle just wants to be taken seriously, Dr. Fate acts as Batman’s right hand, and Dr. Light is the diplomat.