Devin Berghorst was recently at a store in Grand Rapids when something on the wall caught his eye.
It was a mid-1970s Captain America-themed board game, and he had to have it.
“I had no idea this existed,” said Berghorst, senior case manager for student support services at the dean of students’ office. “It was like $60, so I grabbed it, and I have it in my basement now.”
This basement is becoming quite full of Captain America memorabilia, and although he’s only been collecting them for a few years, Berghorst has been around comic books and superheroes all his life.
His father, Douglas, was and remains an avid comic book collector, and his wares were readily available for Berghorst and his brother to enjoy as children.
“Comics were everywhere. That’s what I grew up with,” Berghorst said.
His dad’s favorite superhero is Thor, as evidenced by the Thor tattoo on his shoulder, original Thor artwork in his basement and a mountain of comic books he’s collected over many years .
“My dad has pretty much the whole Thor run all the way back to the 1960s,” Berghorst said. “We just gave him what’s called the gold record reprint of Journey into Mystery #83 when Thor debuted. It was a really cool find.
Rather than piggybacking on his father’s Thor collection, Berghorst decided to make his own and chose Captain America. While he had already amassed a vast collection of various comics over the years — gifts from his father, mostly — colleges and graduate schools took a break from doing anything more formal than carrying the books from place to place.
But five years ago he returned to the collector game, starting with the controversial “Avengers: Standoff!” run when Captain America was revealed to be a secret agent of the evil Hydra, often associated with the Nazis.
“That’s really where I started,” he said. “I walked into my local store and said, ‘I want to start with the monthly books. The guy I spoke to said Captain America was literally starting right now, so it worked.
Ever since Captain America first appeared in a comic book in 1941, you could spend a big fortune trying to collect every book. Berghorst isn’t as driven, preferring to focus primarily on comics since Captain America joined Marvel’s Avengers in the 1960s rather than the expensive Timely Comics before that time.
Timely comics are so rare and expensive that Berghorst counts among his collection only one page from one of the books, number 9 from 1943. Another member of a Facebook group tries to collect Timely comics one page at a time . and had an extra page from issue 9 which Berghorst bought for $30.
“Just holding them is a lot of fun, especially some World War II era stuff, because it feels like a piece of history,” he said. “Reading the books is fascinating because the language is different, the content is so different, it almost feels like a time capsule from the era.
“Especially with Captain America because Captain America stories have always been based on what’s happening in the country at the time.”
Berghorst estimates that of the few thousand comics he’s gotten over the years, between 400 and 500 are Captain America. An app on his phone helps him catalog books as he receives them, so he doesn’t unknowingly buy a book he already owns, which happened a few occasions.
He keeps the books in storage boxes specially designed for comics, the largest of which holds about 400 books. Berghorst said he takes advantage of trips to northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula to visit flea markets and antique shops to try to find books, but the best source is his father. At his peak, Berghorst estimates that his father’s collection contained between 10,000 and 15,000 books.
“He only has boxes and boxes of books,” Berghorst said. “He tries to focus on his Thor race and tries to make room, so every once in a while he gives me a box full of random stuff.
“A few weeks ago, he gave me a box, and I found the first appearance of Brother Voodoo, a wizard from the Marvel universe. This book is worth between $500 and $600.
Then there are the Captain America memorabilia. Berghorst has a statue of Captain America, several toys, a miniature car, Lego sets, a print from one of the original Captain America artists, a 1974 comic book convention program with Captain America on the cover, and several Funkos , which measure approximately 4 inches. figurines with big bobble heads.
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All books and items are stored in his basement, a condition agreed upon by Berghorst and his wife, Liz.
“She loves watching Marvel movies with me, but that’s all her fandom is going to be,” he said. “As long as my collection and stuff doesn’t leave the basement and spill into the rest of the house, it’s fine.”
The same cannot be said for Berghorst’s son, Grayson. The 3.5-year-old child is naturally curious about his father’s collection.
“He doesn’t care about the value of the book,” Berghorst said. “If I have a stack, he grabs one and walks away, and I’m like, ‘Oh, no. “”
Berghorst, however, does not collect to make money. He said that any books he could sell would only be used to find something else to add to the collection.
He’s keeping an eye out for a few items that would lift his collection over the top: Avengers #4, in which Captain America makes his first appearance as a member of the Avengers, and one of the older Captain America Timely Comics.
Until he finds these gems, he will continue to visit stores looking for items to add to his collection. “I like finding people who collect comics because it’s a fun conversation,” he said. “I love going to different comic shops and then starting to chat with the people who work there, because most of them also collect, and you can always strike up an interesting conversation.”
