Trashed, traded, lost or sold - I was thinking of items I have collected through the years that for one reason or another are no longer in my possession but wish they were -
- a nearly complete set of Batman and Detective Comics 1964 - 1966, covering the first two years of the New Look.
- a complete set of Ian Fleming James Bond thrillers published by Signet paperbacks.
- the first eight books in the Man From UNCLE series.
- a variety of DC comics - superhero, humor and war from 1964-67.
- a dozen or so ERB Tarzan novels.
- a whole bunch of Epic Illustrated and Heavy Metal magazines from the '80's.
- three or four years worth of The Comics Journal - late 70's/early 80's, when it was still focused on mainstream comics.
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In an ill-considered bit of purging, I got rid of all my Dave Cockrum and John Byrne Uncanny X-Men comics. I had the whole run straight from Giant Size X-Men #1 through the early '80s and Cockrum's second stint on the title.
It's especially ill-considered because that was the only time I enjoyed reading the title.
I have two collections that I wish I could get back:
Wolverine: Origins: I sold it off because I hadn't enjoyed the story as much as I wanted and I knew I could get money for it; but now I wish I still had it because of its place in the character's mythos and the incredible Kubert art
The Walking Dead: I sold this because I had lost interest in the series and didn't expect to re-read it, but now with the television series out, I've had friends want to read it; unfortunately, I don't have any left to lend to them and have therefore missed out on an opportunity to promote comics
I am lucky that I have been able to keep pretty much everything I wanted to from my youth. I still have a select few G.I. Joe and Star Wars action figures. All of my Hot Wheels cars, baseball cards, etc.
The one regret I do recall was a nice run of Unknown Soldier I bought a number of years ago, and sold before I ever had a chance to read them.
Conan paperbacks from Lancer Books. Burroughs paperbacks from Ace and Ballantine. A pile of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazines. All things I used to have, and sold, gave away or threw away when I decided I'd outgrown them.
And a copy of Gerard Jones' "The Comic Book Heroes" (revised edition), which I literally read to rags.
Doc Savage paperbacks from Bantam, with those great James Bama cover paintings. I doubt I'd get much out of the formulaic, repetitious stories today (and the racial and ethnic stereotypes would probably make me cringe), but it would be nice to have the books as physical objects.
I also wish I'd kept my Comics Journals from the late '70s and early '80s. It was an excellent magazine then, ran in-depth interviews with mainstream comics creators, and hadn't yet decreed that everything from Marvel and DC was garbage.
Lots of rare Godzilla and movie toys, sold to buy food whilst laid off. Pretty much every Marvel comic (excluding Epic and Star books) published between 1984-1988, sold to raise money to buy my first car. Uncanny X-Men 94-180 went during that comic purge too.
A roughly 10-year run of the National Lampoon, from about 1974 to 1984. If you want to know what a dirty mind John Hughes had, before he became the bard of teen angst, check out his stories in some of those issues.
Gone from the Comics Cave, mostly for forgotten or unknown reasons:
* A complete run of The Monster Times
* A complete three-year (at least) run of all Archie Comics from the early 1970s.
* A (nearly) complete run of Amazing Heroes
* A complete run of Amazing World of DC Comics (and apparently several issues of FOOM).
* A complete run of Marvelmania magazine.
* The first two Super Powers action figures series.
* Three 12-inch G.I. Joes
There's probably more, if I think about it.
monstermagazinegalleries.blogspot.com/2010/03/monster-times.html
Cap, I was also a Monster Times fan, and my collection is likewise long gone. I especially remember the "worst issue," which looked at the worst horror movies, worst comic books, etc. The above link will show you a cover gallery.