All Things Geek: Tennessee comptroller shares his passion for comics

KINGSPORT — I've been reading and collecting comic books, off and on, for more than 40 years.Like many of my generation, I was introduced to them through the convenience store. In this case, the spinner rack in the 7-11 on East Center Street. I still remember the first comics I bought: an issue of Avengers and another of Action Comics.Though I have parted with the bulk of my collection in recent years, I still own both of those original books to this day. They hold little financial value, but a multiverse of sentimental value and fond memories.I recently chatted with another longtime comic book collector who told me a similar story about how he discovered comic books, his collection, and his passion for the hobby.The collector in question is Bristol native Jason Mumpower. Most folks probably know him from his time as a state representative (1997 to 2011), but following his time as a legislator Mumpower served as state deputy comptroller for 10 years and the last 10 months as the comptroller of the treasury.Mumpower, 48, sat down with me last week in his hometown comic shop — Mountain Empire Comics in Bristol, Tenn. — to talk about his extensive collection (36,000 titles and growing), some of the books he's currently reading, and how he loves to see the look on people's faces when he tells them he collects comic books.WHEN DID YOU START COLLECTING?"When I was younger, I was a Boy Scout and we met at the First Baptist Church. One night my parents dropped me off a little bit early to the Scout meeting and I walked across State Street to the old Hurt's grocery store. I don't know why, but I was browsing through there and came upon a rack of comics and bought an issue of Batman."I took it home and read it and it sparked an interest in me when I was 12 years old. I then started collecting and reading comics. Now I'm 48 and own about 36,000 comics — about 1,000 comics a year for 36 years."WHAT TITLES ARE YOU READING NOW?"I would say I'm more Marvel than anything, but I collect and read Marvel, DC, Image and even other independent books today. I always read the Batman books, the Department of Truth from Image, Immortal Hulk has been a great book lately. Spider-man and the Avengers offer regular mainstream entertainment that I like."Lately, in the last five to 10 years ,the top name creators who got their start on mainstream books in Marvel and DC, they've gone out and produced their own independent stuff. I have a tendency to follow writers and artists I've enjoyed on mainstream books to their independent work."WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BOOK RESTARTS?"I disagree with the many restarts and I would rather a series keep its sequential numbering. But if the renumbering and restarting is what it takes to keep the sales going, then OK. I'm more interested in having the book produced. If it takes getting an occasional sales bump by having a new No. 1, then OK. I see it as a necessary evil."WHAT ABOUT POLITICS IN COMICS?"I do think comics have had a political aspect. Look back at WWII and Captain America fighting Hitler. That's political to keep up with the times. Today, companies pick these political issues and use them as sales gimmicks, which is very disingenuous. I'd rather it not be there."HOW DO YOU STORE YOUR COLLECTION?"I am a very meticulous person in about everything I do, particularly with my comics. All of my comics are bagged and boarded, alphabetized in boxes. I even have a computer program where I log all of my comics, and the program has a weekly download with the secondary market value of the books."Today, serving as comptroller, one thing I like about the reading and collecting of comic books is also being able to take care of them, keep up with them and accounting for them. I find that parallel in my life that I love taking care and accounting for things, which is of course what I do in my professional life."HOW HAVE COMIC BOOKS HELPED YOU?"When my family would go on vacation, I would take some comics in a box in the car, read them and re-read them as we were going to the beach. My valuable stuff is what is meaningful to me, not necessarily the value on the book."I genuinely think that comic books did a lot to improve my reading and my vocabulary. It was very helpful to me. I always liked reading, but I found in comics something I really liked to read. The dialogue is generally sophisticated and I think that helped me."WHAT DO OTHERS THINK OF YOUR HOBBY?"In my office in Nashville, in order to show the full aspect of my personality, I have in my conference room a full-sized Spider-man bust. I love it because what I want to happen regularly happens. People walk in and say why do you have a Spider-man bust in your office? The governor walked in the other day and said, 'What is that?'"I say I own 36,000 comic books and it's a great part of my life. Then they want to hear about my comic book collecting. It's so amazing how comic books have become the mainstream popular culture. It has gone from geek squad to mainstream pop culture and I'm glad I was in on it."DO THEY TREAT YOU DIFFERENTLY?"I have never found anybody that wasn't genuinely interested in learning more about it. In the professional world, I come across as very business-oriented, so when I have an opportunity to share with people another aspect of my personality, I like doing that and I find they like it too."Not only do I not think (comic book collecting) is silly, I'm proud of it. I want to talk about the fact I've done this consistently for 36 years and kept up with them and took care of them. It's something I love to do, I'm proud to do and I try to recruit new people into it. I love that aspect of my life."