20 Mind-Blowing Facts You Never Knew About George RR Martin

13. He's A Huge Comics Geek...

Perhaps that's not surprising, given his appearance at the very beginning of San Diego Comic-Con, but George R.R. Martin digs comic books. A lot. At some point in his childhood he briefly gave up collecting them, meaning he had to avail himself of his huge collection: he sold them to classmates and made a tidy profit. This was in the age before superheroes, though; before Marvel even existed. He managed to time getting back into funnybooks at just the right time to take advantage of the Marvel Age. He still owns the first appearance of Spider-Man, in 1962's Amazing Fantasy #15, and the first issue of The Fantastic Four from the previous year, both of which re-sparked his love of those comics. Comics which, nowadays, are worth $407,000 and $279,000, respectively. Martin has joked that - were it not for the sizeable royalties he's no doubt getting from the Game Of Thrones TV show and A Song Of Ice And Fire book series - at this point, the comics remain in his possession and could be used to fund his retirement were he ever to sell them. Which he never will.