There has been no dearth of stories and comics at the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2023), and the popularity of manga, anime and everyone’s traditional favourite superhero comics have been highlighted in a big way at the event. The festival also brought to the fore a number of people who are catering fans and collections in the UAE through their passion for comics, animation and creativity.

Waleed Hmidan, who runs Waleed’s Vintage Comics, is a colourful character himself like the comics he sources. “Everyone knows comic books, but they can almost never find the older vintage ones. I source comics from the  1960s, ’70’s, ’80s, ’90s and so on, and sell them at conventions and online,” he said.

The collector focuses on sourcing comics not only because they contain great stories, but since the print format is going extinct, comics are becoming rare. “So finding a comic from the 1960s is not only a chance to relive these old stories that we love and that they make movies out of today, but also a chance to invest in something,” Hmidan said.

Revealing that there are comics that sell for thousands of dirhams, he keeps his own editions affordable. All his comics at the festival were priced Dh 200 and below, and start from Dh 35. He also takes great care in sourcing them, ensuring that the items are original and shipped with the highest level of care.

“But I have sold one with water damage and another that had detached pages, but one was from the ’60s and the other a unique Spiderman copy, so people don’t mind spending on something that will grow in value, because it is a piece of pop-culture history,” Hmidan pointed out.

“And it’s usually not the kids that buy my comics, but the parents. I’ve even had buyers in their late fifties and sixties. They often say that they had these exact comics as kids and threw it away, so getting their hands on it again is a huge trip down memory lane for them and makes them quite nostalgic.”

The oldest comic he currently has is a Daredevil from 1969 and the oldest he’s sold is one from ‘62. Eventually, the collector aims to source and move Golden Age comics too, from between the late 1930s and early to mid-1950s. “Arabic versions of old comics are rarer still. They used to come out of Egypt and Lebanon mostly in the 80s and early 90s, but I have a few.”

“I love to share my passion for pop culture with everyone”, says Hmidan, who also sells film memorabilia including rare and signed items.

Find his rare comics on the Waleed’s Vintage Comics website and Instagram @wvintagecomics.