On Collecting
I like to collect things. Maybe it's a quirk of my upbringing or perhaps it's my nerd brain performing at peak, but collecting things - curating and compiling and displaying those things - brings me comfort. My two biggest collection revolve around Aquaman and Beetlejuice. AQUAMAN --------------- Wait. What? Aquaman!? Yeah, Aquaman. That Aquaman. King of Atlantis & DC Comics superhero. Look, my first comic books were Batman related - specifically the "Batman and the Outsiders" original run in the 80s, purchased from a thrift store in late summer 1989 - but my first real exposure to superheroes and comics came from the 60s Aquaman cartoons. We had a VHS collection of them years before Tim Burton's BATMAN and that thrift store broadened my horizons. I never understood why people made fun of Aquaman. All I saw - as an evolving proto-nerd - was a hero with cool powers who tried to do right while living under the sea. That wasn't lame to me. Anyway, about 12 ...
