Table of Contents
How a man built a manga collection spanning 30,000 books.
FOR Muhammad Firdaus Abd Halim, collecting manga started with a single Doraemon book when he was around seven or eight years old. Decades later, that childhood interest has grown into a collection of more than 30,000 comics and a place in the Malaysia Book of Records.
The 41-year-old senior port operations manager said his interest in comics began after his father bought him Doraemon. His reading later expanded into titles such as Dragon Ball during what he described as the “golden age” of comics.
“That was my first comic. From there, I just kept reading,” he told theSun.
What began as a single cabinet of comics in his family home in Ipoh slowly expanded over the years, although many of those earlier books are now worn from repeated reading during childhood.
The hobby took a more serious turn in 2017 after Firdaus joined online comic buying and selling groups around the same time several publishers were shutting down, causing older titles to become harder to find.
“People suddenly started looking for old comics again, so I slowly began collecting more seriously,” he said.
His collection was officially recorded at 29,922 comics when it was verified by the Malaysia Book of Records three years ago. Since then, the number has continued to grow past 30,000.
Firdaus said the recognition was never about turning the hobby into a competition, but more about reaching a personal milestone.
“When I saw how big the collection had become, I thought maybe I should try to achieve something personal from it.
“There are other people who collect comics too, but not many at this scale,” he said.
Built around manga, memories
While his collection includes English-language manga, Malay-translated manga and locally published comics, Firdaus said manga makes up the majority.
He estimates the number of English and Malay manga volumes are roughly equal, although many Malay-translated releases and older local comics have become increasingly difficult to find following the closure of several publishers over the years.
“Malay comics are rarer because the market is mostly only in Malaysia,” he said.
Among the titles closest to him is Doraemon, which remains the one series he would struggle to part with.
“If I ever had to sell everything, Doraemon would probably be the last one I let go,” he said.
He owns multiple full sets across different publication eras, including some of the earliest releases that shaped his childhood reading habits.
Another major part of the collection is One Piece, which he described as the largest ongoing series in his library. Even after more than 100 volumes, he continues following the manga and buying new releases.
The scale of the collection has also changed how Firdaus stores his books. Shelving around the room was custom-built specifically for the comics, with some sections stacked up to four layers deep to fit everything.
He estimates the overall value of the collection is close to RM500,000, especially with imported English-language comics becoming more expensive in recent years.
Other long-running collection
Before comics became the centre of his collecting life, Firdaus was already drawn to turtles and tortoises. His interest began in childhood after finding a turtle in a drain near his home in Pahang. Then, in his university days, this became a proper and dedicated hobby.
His collection now includes several species, including Aldabra tortoises, leopard tortoises and others kept at his home. The Aldabra, he said, is the largest tortoise species in the world, after the Galapagos tortoise.
Chasing the next book
Firdaus said collecting is now less about reading every title and more about the satisfaction of completing sets or finding difficult books.
“When you finally get the book you have been searching for, there is a feeling of satisfaction even before you start reading it,” he said.
At the height of his collecting phase, he even made day trips to Singapore purely to pick up comics from sellers he found online.
“There were times I went in the morning and came back at midnight with the car full of comics,” he said.
Despite the size of his collection, Firdaus believes interest in physical comics has slowed among younger generations, including his own children, who spend more time on social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube than reading printed comics.
Still, he hopes the culture of collecting and reading comics continues.
“I encourage people to start collecting comics because it helps keep the industry alive,” he said.
READ MORE:
Making small wonders with Eddie Putera
Gunpla: A creative hobby built to last
Real life lightsaber duels: Where sci-fi meets everyday fitness
Furniture trends: Goodbye minimalism, hello maximalism
Why succulents fit so easily into modern urban homes
