In celebration of the release of the 2015 edition today, the Guinness World Record has announced that Bob Bretall of Mission Viejo, California has the largest collection of comic books on earth. “The Guinness World Record 2015 Edition” can be found wherever wonderful books are sold and inside comic book fans can envy Mr. Bretall’s collection. It would be hard to envy where to store 94,268 comic books though, as you can see from the picture below. Bob Bretall is a private collector and claims that his collection is larger by hundreds of books more since the official verification was performed by Guinness.
His all time favorite character Spider-Man
Bob Bretall is 52 and started his collection with “The Amazing Spider-Man #88” when he was eight years old. Bretall tells Guinness that he has read 95% of his collection and he encourages everyone to read. He also says that his collection is more of a collection for a fan than it is one for inventory in a shop or stored with the pristine care of a more serious collector. When asked what his most valuable comic book was Bob declined to answer saying:
“I do not like to emphasize the monetary aspects of collecting comics. Too many stories about comics collecting focus on how many dollars everything is worth instead of the great stories and characters. I do not do it for the money and I don’t try to rationalize it as an investment and I’m not into it to make money. “
To some collectors Bob’s take on collecting comics might come as a shock. To those other collectors just like Bob though, who are passionate about the storytelling in comic books, amassing a stack of books for the stories or to share with friends and loved ones is what comic book collecting is all about.
When asked by Guinness what his favorite comic book and comic book character were, Bob said he wouldn’t want to part with a single issue, most especially his first comic book with his all time favorite character Spider-Man. As for his favorite book, it’s a testament to the maturity of the comic book industry and how long time readers taste have matured with it that Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples “Saga” is his favorite book of the moment. If you’d like to know what a favorites list looks like for the Guinness record holder for the largest collection of comic books is you can visit his site at comicspectrum.com.
Let us know how big your collection of comics is and what kind of books are in it in the comments below or on Twitter @BigShinyRobot and @MarkAvo.
Image Courtesy of Guinness World Records