I went ot the comic shop Thursday. It was the first time I had been there in ten weeks, judging by the number of copies of 52 that were waiting for me. I didn’t touch the pile of comics until this afternoon, when I pulled out two issues of Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes, enjoyed the Barry Kitson art, and found myself mildly irritated that the storyline in question would continue for at least one more issue.
I think the lesson has finally cracked my thick skull. I’m just not enjoying comic magazines anymore. I think they’re too short a reading experience, I hate having to organize them in a bunch of boxes in my basement, and the hassle of the aforementioned boxes means I almost never reread them. For the amount of money I’ve been spending on these things I ought to be racing to read them, and I’m just not anymore.
This is part of a larger problem I’ve identified with myself, that I’ve started collecting media more than enjoying it – a backlog of books, DVDs, and stuff on my DVR. But the comics are really the worst example. So I’m culling just about all of the issues. If I care enough about the series to buy a shelf copy, I’ll buy the trade. If not, oh well.
I really hope this isn’t the beginning of the end for comics and me. They’ve given me a lot of happiness over the last eighteen years. (Good Lord.) But something’s gotta change.
I have a HUGE stack of comics that i haven’t been able to catch up on. I’m on WEEK ONE of 52, probably a year behind on New Avengers, and there are at least 3 or 4 books that I just stick in the pile and can’t even remember how far behind I am. I’m only caught up on Fables, Jack of Fables, and Eternals. I’m even 2 issues behind on Desolation Jones.
I’ve got the EXACT same worry as you - I’ve quit comics once before, and regretted it (since I wound up missing some great stories) but it’s getting close to happening again. I’ve started sending my husband to check my box at the store because I’m so far behind I can’t even remember what should be in there.
I quit comics toward the end of my undergrad years. Then I started working around the corner from a comics shop in Manhattan, and every Wednesday I spent my lunch break over there. It’s been downhill from there.
The next couple of months should be interesting while I wait for the trades to catch up with and pass the points I was at with single issues. Of course, there’s plenty of backlog material to dive into. And maybe I can read some of those trades on the bus and the train while I shuttle between adjunct jobs.