What Lurks in the Longbox? #1

Hi.

My name is Chris Galvan, and this is the first installment of my new column: What Lurks in the Longbox?  I have been reading, collecting and enjoying comic books for over 35 years, starting with the Charlton, Harvey and Gold Key comics my mother bought for me in the early 1970’s.  As I grew older, I quickly moved up to Marvel and DC titles, and then eventually discovered the world of independent comics in college, enjoying titles from some of the early independent publishers like Eclipse and First.  As a husband and parent, I now attend comic conventions with my family, and also write reviews for Comics Buyer’s Guide, the longest running publication about comic books.  It has been a thrill to be a member of “The Review Crew,” and write for the magazine that I have been reading since I was a teenager.  A veteran comic book writer recently gave me some advice on also establishing an online presence, so here I am.

The name of my column comes from the many interesting and often unusual items my wife and I have discovered in the long boxes of private collections we’ve acquired over the years.  In addition to the comics themselves, these boxes have contained everything from convention programs and animation laser cells, to amateur art and UFO enthusiast magazines.  We even once found a long handwritten list of a person’s medical symptoms (hope they made it to the doctor!).

In future columns I will be discussing a variety of subjects: conventions I’ve attended, comic industry announcements, my own personal experiences from decades of collecting, and of course reviewing comics, both old and new.  Talk to you soon!