Over the past couple weeks, while on break from school, I've thought multiple times as I've looked on the stack of unread books on the shelf in office, the piles on my nightstand and next to my bed, and the digital downloads that have been on my iPad for more than a year.
The thing is, at this point in my life, I have the money to buy whatever I want to read. I'm single and yes, while I am a teacher, I am a sixteenth year teacher, and I have a very lucrative tutoring side job.
However, with that tutoring job, and with doing karate (although I quit coaching last year for the travel team...the time got to be too much a strain), I just don't have the time to read my books anymore, and if I'm honest, I haven't for years.
As I said in the "Chopping Block" thread, I have decided to cut out a of good books from my list. There just isn't time to enjoy them. I will keep getting certain comics that I have really enjoyed and read consistently, but they are going to be far fewer.
Namely, I can think off the top of my head that I will continue picking up Flintstones, Brigg's Land, The Warlords of Appalachia, Archie, Betty & Veronica, Doom Patrol, Amazing Spider-Man, Mother Panic, Batman, Shade the Changing Girl, Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye, and a few others. I will keep on getting trades of stuff that sounds good--I have found that it's a great way to read the Valiant books, for instance. Of course, I'm sure I will backslide after hearing good things about some ongoing titles, but I may just go ahead and tradewait those too. I have to remind myself that just because I buy something, it doesn't mean I'm going to read it.
I'm looking forward to Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's big epic fun story coming up in the DCU, just because they are saying that it will not feature heroes fighting heroes and is going to have a very "celebratory" feel to it.
I have loved so much of what has come out of Marvel since Marvel Now back in 2012. I just feel like it has really floundered in the last couple years. They don't seem to be sure what to do with the Avengers or the X-Men, and without the Fantastic Four, there is nothing to really hold onto for right now. Certainly not the Inhumans. I'm just not getting any enjoyment out of it anymore, and that's why I'm going to stop reading them for the time being (except for Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man). Even though Miles Morales has no personality that I have been able to see, it's still on my pull list and I don't want to take it off for now.
And don't even get me started on the end of Civil War II. That was the biggest load of nothing that I have ever seen. It's like Bendis was about to do something, but then stopped at the last minute and wrote around whatever the ending was going to be.
As for DC, I'm only sticking with a few of those too. It's not because they are floundering, but because it's just moving too fast for me to keep up. I'm glad that they are taking this direction, and I hope one day to catch up through trades or digital issues, but for now, I am just declaring bankruptcy on my reading, because I can't get caught up.
Over the past year, I have really enjoyed some books like The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye and This One Summer, and I'm hoping to read more stuff like that in the next year as well.
That's all. I'll keep reading comics, I'm just not going to try to read so many of them.
Replies
I have piles of piles of books to read as well, mostly pre-Code horror from PS Artbooks. But I'm going the opposite way -- by dropping the Comics Guide, I'll have more time to read and review, so I may be expanding my reading parameters. At the very least, I hope to read the first issues of new titles that sound interesting while keeping up with the titles I like. I don't know if I'll ever have the sort of time that allows me to catch up on books everyone seems to like but I missed or fell behind on (Saga, Lazarus, Nailbiter, etc.), but hope springs eternal.
I do have an advantage in that I get a lot of digital review copies for free, which means I'm not risking a dime. But I've felt guilty for years for getting those review copies and doing so few reviews! Hopefully in the new year I can read more, review more and relieve my conscience.
As to Marvel, they stopped sending me print review copies years ago and have never sent digital, and I have discovered that I can live without them. I miss the days when I read every Marvel and DC every month, but that's no longer feasible -- and, as you note, Marvel's kinda floundering and I'm tired of reading the same heroes-fight-heroes story over and over. I have been picking up the "event" collections (except for Axis) the last few years in lieu of line-wide reading, so my perspective may be skewed. I'll get around to the stuff everyone's recommending -- Silver Surfer, Ms. Marvel, Vision, etc. -- but I'm in no hurry.
I think it's true of all us adults that we realize time is short and we must focus on what matters. That applies to comics as well as every other aspect of our lives.
Ain't that the truth!
I think Civil War II's non-ending has finally convinced me to just stop reading any Marvel events for awhile. The Vision is definitely worth reading, I must say.
Captain Comics said:
My approach to "keeping up" has changed dramatically over the last couple of years. I stopped buying monthly comics years ago, and I rarely actually buy anything anymore--I'm getting collections from the library in both print and digital form. But even without reading Marvel and DC superheroes there's still way too much to read! This weekend I'm reading a Dark Horse Abe Sapien collection from 2013. The Mignolaverse has become so voluminous that it's like keeping up with the Bat books from DC.
And I get what Cap is saying about digital review copies. I was sent five digital music albums this weekend. I almost certainly won't review them all, but it's hard to find time just to listen to them.
I am in the midst of a “purge” myself. This past weekend I went through the list of comics (excluding mini-series) I’m currently reading, and divided them into “IN DANGER” and “SAFE” piles. I like all of these titles (or I wouldn’t be buying them in the first place), but I foresee re-reading few of them in the future. My desire to “keep current” often derails my desire to read things I enjoy even more than new monthly comics. If this all the comics I currently read, it’s most of them.
Some of the “safe” ones surprise me.
The “in danger” ones have until the next issue of the current storyline is concluded to convince me otherwise.
SAFE:
Avengers “Point One” (#1.1, #2.1, #3.1, etc.)*
Black Widow
Captain America**
Silver Surfer
All of the “Archie” titles***
Papergirls
Stray Bullets
Astro City
Future Quest
Flintstones
Star Trek: New Visions
IN DANGER:
All DC titles****
Avengers (the Mark Waid one)
Thunderbolts
Squadron Supreme
Captain Kid
Kiss
Three Stooges
Mirconauts
Rom
Scooby Apocalypse
*Immediately became my new favorite title; recently found out it’s only a 5-isue mini-series.
**Both of them. The “Captain Hydra” storyline has dragged on for too long, but I’m in this far; I want to see how it comes out.
***For the record, Archie, Betty & Veronica, Josie and the Pussycats, Jughead, Reggie
****For the record, Flash, Titans, Supergirl, Blue Beetle, Doom Patrol, Action Comics. With so many being cut, I may decide to save one or two of these. Doom Patrol is off to a good start, but it’s not “my” Doom Patrol. I’m following Titans and Action because Wally West and Superman are my only links to the pre-Flashpoint DCU. "Rebirth" showed potential, but it’s been several months now and DC is not really doing anything with the concept that Dr. Manhattan may have created the post-Flashpoint DCU. The artwork on Titans is really hard on the eyes. Action has been good, but it and Superman are heading into a crossover titled “Reborn.” What, again? Already? Enough!
***For the record, Archie, Betty & Veronica, Josie and the Pussycats, Jughead, Reggie
None of the Archie horror or superhero titles?
I guess I've got to draw the line somewhere. I've heard so much good about zombie Archie one I may buy a collected edition some day.
I don't expect zombie Archie to be ongoing indefinitely.
D'oh! I forgot about those. I will definitely keep reading Afterlife With Archie and Sabrina, but they come out, what, twice a year?
Captain Comics said:
Being someone who is still suffering from crossover fatigue contracted way back when DC published Millennium, I did not read "Civil Wars II." So I am baffled by the complaints about the ending. Since you guys so helpfully read it so I didn't have to, please tell me: What's wrong with it?
Nothing happened in it, and nothing was resolved. Carol Danvers's punch "killed" Iron Man, but actually just kind of put him into a coma where his consciousness is still active in a computer until his body fixes itself. In the meantime, not a single character changed their minds about anything, and no one learned any lessons at all.
I would not have taken it so seriously if the story itself didn't take itself so seriously. I can easily write off a story as being "just funnybooks", but this one was so self-important but left nothing of importance. It's just bad. I'm happy to be done with it, and honestly, happy that I won't be reading the next big thing coming out of Marvel for awhile.
I've done with with DC before and come back when things looked like they were righting themselves, and I fully expect to do the same with Marvel one day. Just not in the foreseeable future.
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