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When Tim Hill first began reading, he wasn't weaned on the typical childhood literature of Dr. Seuss.
Instead, the adventures of Superman and Batman enthralled Hill at the tender age of 4. By the time he was 9, he began collecting comics.
Now, decades later, Hill still collects the adventures of his childhood heroes.
"It's like following a damn soap opera," Hill said.
Hill was just one of hundreds of comic book fans gathered at the Greater Omaha Comic Book Convention, which took place Sunday afternoon at the Best Western, 2216 27th Ave., in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The convention comes through roughly every three months, with the next one set for April 18.
The room was small, but boxes upon boxes of comic books sat on tables against the walls, intermingling with toys, DVDs and other fan memorabilia. Additional dealer tables stood in the center of the room.
Alan Morton, one of the event organizers with Midwest Comic Book Conventions, estimated that by noon, 150 to 200 collectors already had been through the convention.
Brendan Williams, an undeclared sophomore at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, was one of the attendees.
Williams said this was the first time he'd been to a comic book convention.
"I go to the shop every week, but I've never been here (the Greater Omaha Comic book Convention) before," Williams said.
As Williams scanned the many boxes of comic books, he eyed issues to add to his own collection.
Much like Hill, Williams said he enjoys reading comic books because of the continuing storylines from month to month.
"When you read a novel, it ends. But when you read a comic book, it goes on," Williams said.
Many people like Williams and Hill have been drawn in by the allure of comic books throughout the years.
Since the comic book's debut in the 1930s, characters such as Spider-Man and Batman have become cultural icons.
The form even has crossed into other cultures, with large pockets of fans in Japan and Britain.
Hill, who was stationed in England while he was in the U.S. Air Force, said comic book collecting was a much more accepted venture there.
"It's a lot more mainstream (in England)," Hill said. "It's looked on like collecting stamps or coins."
Morton said even if comic books may not currently have the mainstream appeal in America as it does abroad, many people who currently read them are devoted to the form, whether collectors or just avid readers.
"Most of the people buying them now are actually interested in them," he said.
"Some people like reading them, some people put them in a box."
For Morton, comic books were at first something he collected.
"It's a hobby that sort of turned into a business," he said.
This business is part of what became Midwest Comic Book Conventions, which organized this convention, and many others across the Midwest region.
Dealers from as far as Illinois and as near as Omaha, and places in between like Mason City, Iowa, were present at the event.
David Dinsmore, manager of Ground Zero Comics, 4228 S. 50th St., Omaha, said he came to the convention to "keep a local face at the show."
Dinsmore said he doesn't concentrate as much on sales at the convention as getting the word out about his store.
"It reminds them there's a local shop just across the bridge," Dinsmore said.
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