Ben Fritzsching, a partner in the comic book show promotion group STX Shows, has a very simple explanation as to how he started collecting comic books: "My mom never made me get rid of anything. The next thing I knew, I was collecting." His parents took him to a couple of comic book shows and that moved him from the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comics he had been reading to superheroes and GI Joe. By the time he was 17, he had so many comics he decided to set up his own booth at a show, and his career as a part-time comic book dealer was born.
After selling collectables at comic book shows for about ten years, Fritzsching took a break from the business. "Everything was getting so expensive. The prices for everything were skyrocketing." Both Fritzsching and his wife were laid off and weekend comic book shows took a backseat to paying bills.
This story continues on the next page.
