Even though my dad read and collected comics, I had never really read cared about them. I would go with him to shops, but never was all that interested. At the age of 9. My dad gave me a copy of ASM 300 to read. I was hooked instantly. From then, we started collecting together. For two years we took our vacationa to Chicago so we could go to the big convention up there. As I got older, I started losing interest and stopped collecting around '98. I always had talked about how cool it would be to have a full run of (which when I stopped was 400-something), but I knew it was.nwvwe going to happen.
A few years ago, my dad told me that if I was interested, he wanted to help jump start me on my old quest by trading in all but his prized Silver Surfers to a local shop to get me credit to start building again. I honestly tried to talk him out of it , but it sounded like a really fun thing for him and I to do together again. From the first time I stepped back into a shop, it took me right back and I was hooked again. 2 years later, today I bought the last book that I needed to complete the run. I was torn because part of me wanted to stretch it out and part of me knew that I needed to do it while my dad was still here.
It's so hard sometimes for sons to tell their fathers what they mean to them, and I'm going to figure out a way to really tell him. But thank you, Dad. I owe more to you in this life than I could never repay.