It's interesting to look back at how I've grown as a Batman collector. When I was in my teens, I spent a couple of dollars here and there on Batman magnets, stickers, etc. As I started to make my own money, I went on to buy Batman stationery, dolls, t-shirts, some action figures, DVDs, a few graphic novels. Then came the Funko Pop wave which I've since grown out of (thank goodness). As I've grown financially and mentally, I now found myself investing more in Batman art. This includes prints, original art (which I would have never dreamed of affording as a teenager), and even more comic books based on the artist.
I almost never bought individual comic book issues growing up because I didn't want to have to follow release schedules. I thought the entire comic book collecting experience was overwhelming and didn't want to be sucked in. I stuck with tradebacks because they were easy one-and-done experiences. This means that I would miss out on a lot of cover art on the individual issues. To be honest, I still primarily buy tradebacks, but now I find myself buying individual issues mostly to support my favorite artists or, very specifically in this case, Dustin Nguyen. As a Batman fan today, it feels like more and more the best use of my nerd money is on those people who create the content.
All that to say is that I bought a lot of comic books this weekend, all featuring Dustin Nguyen art, across 1 trip to Half Price Books, and 2 to Austin Books and Comics.
We dropped by Half Price Books right before lunch just to browse and I ended up with some great finds, Batman Beyond #39 and Batman: Streets of Gotham #5-6. I'm late to the game on both of these runs, but since I knew Dustin Nguyen worked on them and we were just a block from Austin Books and Comics, we decided to drop by to see what else we could find. At the end of the day, I ended up with Batman: Streets of Gotham #1-16, #20-21, Batman Beyond #39, and Dustin's variant of Super Sons #6. The Super Sons variant was a nice find since I already started buying some, but I'm missing a few. Check out photos of the full haul below and let me know which is your favorite cover.
