Are you a Comic Book addict? I know I am. But when I say addict, I don't mean: Do you read a lot of comics? No, this is more about the rabbit holes we find ourselves falling into when we start buying a mere handful of comic books. It is very easy for things to quickly get out of hand in this collecting hobby. I should know - because it happened to me!

My Comic Book Struggle

Over my years of collecting (regardless of the items in question), I have noticed certain behavioural patterns emerge.
The strongest and most common being my desire to hunt down and complete a set or run. 

This is exactly what happened to me during my recent three years of collecting comics when I became interested in the E.C Hardcover Library.

You see, at first, I just wanted the Tales from the Crypt set. I was a huge fan of these stories as a kid, having watched the hit HBO television series. But then I remembered some of the episodes I had watched were based on two other E.C titles and so I decided to get both Haunt of Fear and Vault of Horror too.

This was perfect. This was a “Full Set,” and who wouldn't want all three of these amazing horror sets in their collection, right?

I thought I was done. But then I thought to myself; Well, Shock Suspenstories has some horror tales in it, so why not buy that one too? And of course, then I must also get Crime Suspenstories because it too (as with Shock Suspenstories) also has some horror-related themes. 

It makes sense to me. I can Justify this.

I continue to look over the other available hardcover books on offer and I start to contemplate to myself; if the horror books look and read so great, then surely so must the Weird Science and the Weird Fantasy books, right? After all, what is Science Fiction if not Horror Tales set in the Future?

But it doesn't stop there...

One night, whilst sitting at home with my wife, we take a break from our usual TV watching schedule and decide to watch a Pirate movie from a rather popular Disney franchise and I can’t help but think to myself; 'Man, That E.C Piracy volume would be a great edition to the collection'. So I look online, find a copy, and buy it.

- We then return to our usual evening entertainment, which at this time happened to be a House M.D DVD boxset and this, in turn, reminds me of the EC series: M.D

Is this becoming a problem?

Whilst online searching for the Piracy and M.D sets, I notice that the War volumes are actually not all that expensive compared to the others I have already purchased, and so I decide to go all in on the three (I actually buy Four sets because I bought both Combat and Aces High)

What is wrong with me?

By this point, my wallet is screaming and shelves bulging under the weight of these heavy hardback comics but honestly, I am extremely proud of my collection. 

These comics are beautiful and having them in hardback form on a shelf looks super impressive.

Yep this is definitely a problem now…

I then see another rabbit hole open before me: How could I forget the Mad Magazine set?! Did they even release Hardbacks of these? (Of course they did.) And if I’m going to get Mad, why wouldn't I get Panic whilst it's here?!

So, it's at this final point that I look upon my collection of E.C books, now spread across multiple well-strengthened shelves, and figure "what the hell."

...And buy whatever titles remain

You see guys, in this hobby we often hear the praise: "Buy what you love". But when you love something so completely, like I do these E.C books, things can still very easily become problematic and get out of hand.

Want more?

Check out Luke from HydraCollectables on YouTube!

*Any perceived investment advice is that of the freelance blogger and does not represent advice on behalf of GoCollect.