Hello,
I thought I'd tell you what brought me here before I go and ask for help (and then, in traditional messageboard style, I get one of two one-line responses from people who are sick and tired telling newbies they've missed FAQ X and failed to search for term Y).
Back in the late 80s I got my monthly copy of my favourite computer magazine and it had a free comic in it. The comic was so good that I subscribed to it, and I kept adding more and more to the pile, individual issues, annuals, and specials.
After years of working around the country, no fixed address, and everything going into the room I'd grown up in, I meet my wife-to-be and we move into a flat that has one cupboard - and she wants it for tins of soup and so on.
Kid on the way, so mum agrees that I can store my comics, music collection, football & music fanzines in the empty cupboard, in the empty room, in their big, empty house, until I've got somewhere for them. Then when the second child comes along I add in another 4 years worth.
Sadly mum passed on. A year later dad asks if I still want the stuff in the cupboard and I say yes. Another year passed and a friend sent me a link to Gumtree, free comic books. Oh Jesus. Of course they've already been snapped up - same day they were put up. Dad's number. I call him, ask if the individual issues are still there...
"Oh, I took all that worthless old sh*** to the dump. You'll never read those again."
What should be about 270 copies turns out to be about 50, so I'm in the process of trawling the net and trying to put together a digital collection. If I find the older ones in comic book reader or PDF format and they're complete, job done. If not, I have to find a complete scan or a paper copy. Sadly a lot of the online editions have chunks missing.
So I'll be on my way. Going to play with the scanner.