What’s your passion? What sparks your imagination? For many, intense interest in a time period, locale, avocation or other subject matter spills over into a personal collection. Some of the more common include vinyl records, vintage/antique furniture, Route 66 signs and other paraphernalia, the American West (from weapons to barbed wire), wine, coins/currency, art, stamps, trading cards, license plates; and action figurines/toys/dolls.
Collections may be launched with the expectation that the collection will ultimately yield a nice monetary return on the investment, or simply for the fun.
Here, you’ll learn about two area men who have built fun collections, one comic books, the other pigs.
TIM BENNET
A native of Edmond, Tim Bennet moved to Norman to attend OU in 2005, where he completed bachelor's and master's degrees in professional writing. He is the author of the comic book mini-series Trouble Stream, published by Vybinart in 2020, which was illustrated by his college friends Jeff Zhang and Wil Whalen. They sold the comic to VybinArt in 2014. Tim has also worked on other comic projects for the publisher, and they have expressed interest in a sequel to the Trouble Stream miniseries.
01. Size of your collection?
My collection is a combination of what my dad, Mark, collected since he was a kid starting in the 1960s, and my own collection. In total I have 24 "long boxes" of comics, each of which holds about 200 comics. A quick calculation tells me that this is somewhere in the vicinity of 4,800 comics. This part of the collection is all single-issue "floppies," usually about 22-30 pages long. I also collect graphic novels and comic book collections and have around 200 bound collections on bookshelves.
02. What types of comic books?
My dad mostly collected Marvel Comics, specifically Spider-Man. He started collecting Spider-Man in 1964, two years after Spider-Man's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15. The first Spider-Man issue in his collection chronologically is The Amazing Spider-Man #17. Starting with that issue, my dad collected every appearance of Spider-Man in a comic book until I was in high school, when I started collecting and took over the Spider-Man collection. This includes not only comic books in which Spider-Man was the main feature, but every guest appearance or team feature that included the character as well. In addition to Spider-Man, I collect other superhero comic books from Marvel and DC Comics, and independent comics with a variety of subjects and themes. My dad's collection is almost entirely Marvel superhero comics, while mine is probably half superhero comics and half independent comics.
03. When did you start collecting?
I started collecting when I was in college. My dad had collected his whole life and introduced me to reading his comics at a young age, so I continued subscribing to all of his Spider-Man comics once I moved out of the house.
04. Where do you find comics for the collection?
All of my older or rare items come from my dad's collection. I typically collect for utilitarian reasons—I read the comics I buy, so I'm not usually looking for the rarest version printed of them and am usually happy to buy in mass-printed collections. Many comic collectors will have older books "graded" by collecting companies and then seal the books in plastic slabs for protection. I prefer to keep all of my comics available to read, and usually consider it a mark of honor for one of them if it begins to look frayed. Where is the collection displayed?
I wish I had a better space to display the collection right now, but, due to its size, it's mostly underneath my bed.
05. Any other hobbies?
I also collect action figures (many of them either from comic books or movies).
TYLER SERGEANT
Tyler Sergeant was born in Roswell, New Mexico, and lived there until he was about 8. His family moved to Edmond when his father got relocated for work; the family also lived for a time in Guthrie. He attended Edmond North High School and graduated from Guthrie Job Corps. He then earned his culinary arts degree from Platt Culinary Institute and worked in the restaurant industry for about eight years before moving into insurance processing. He currently is enrolled at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City, where he is working on his business degree while also working to get his adjuster's license.
01. Size of your collection?
I have about half of my collection at home (40 pieces) and another 30 or so in storage.
02. Types of objects?
Figurines (metal, glass, clay, stone), paintings, piggy banks, lawn decorations/birdhouses, T-shirts, stuffed animals, Christmas ornaments and kitchen appliances, as well as a few games.
03. When did you start your collection?
I started my collection in high school when I was taking agricultural sciences. I thought they were the cutest of the animals we got to work with and found that they are highly intelligent and emotional animals. I will have been collecting them for about 14 years now. I would love to own a pig or two once we have enough space for them and are in our forever home. My favorite piece would have to be Pearl, a painting of pig with pearl earrings.
04. Where do you find items for the collection?
I’ve gotten most of them as gifts from friends, family and coworkers. I do try to purchase from local artists as well.
05. Where is the collection displayed?
I like to have them displayed all through the house.
06. Any other hobbies?
That's a big question. I love most things crafting. I sow, crochet and knit. I love gardening, both indoor and out. I also like to paint and draw when the inspiration hits me. When I'm not working on a hobby or tending the garden, I do like to play video games and board games to pass the time. We also have a weekly Dungeons and Dragons game with our friends in Colorado via webcam.