Keeping Up with Comics

I had an epiphany the other month. It wasn’t anything earth-shattering. And, honestly, it’s an epiphany I’ve had before. So it’s more like a repiphany.

Here it is: I can only keep up with so many comics.

I was reminded of this following a conversation with a friend. We had taken a family vacation to Washington DC this past summer and were staying just outside of town with a college pal and his family. We had a great time, seeing the sites and shooting the breeze. Among our many topics, we talked about music and video games and television shows and comic books.

One night, we were comparing our current television favorites. He and his wife were watching season two of Leverage via Netflix. Anacoqui and I have been fans of the show from the beginning. We had a lot of fun comparing our reactions.

The discussion naturally led to comments about other favorite shows. My friend Nate recommended another show that I haven’t watched. I mulled it over for a moment. I had heard good things about the same show from other sources. But, after only a brief pause, I replied, “Honestly, Nate, I can only keep up with so many shows. Right now, it’s enough to keep up with Leverage and Mad Men.” Nate laughed and complimented me on the quality of the two shows I was watching. Not taking offense, he then proceeded to tell me why he enjoyed the show he had recommended.

I’ve thought about that conversation a few times since then. It’s true, but it’s one of those truths that we don’t always think about. I can only keep up with so many shows. During the summer, it’s enough for me to keep track of two. And, honestly, I fell a couple of episodes behind on Mad Men. During the school year, I can usually keep up with a different pair of scripted shows plus a smattering of my favorite reality shows. But even if I recorded more shows, I don’t know that I’d be able to watch them. I work a lot of evenings as a pastor. I have other interests. I can only keep up with so many TV shows.

That’s not a complaint, of course. Only an observation. A recognition of reality.

It’s also true when it comes to comic books. I can only keep track of so many titles. Even if I could afford to buy more, I don’t think that my pull list would be that much bigger than it is right now.


For a number of years, I’ve had a set limit on the number of comic books I can buy in a month. The limit was initially imposed because of financial concerns. However, one year, I allowed myself a slightly higher limit. I discovered that even though I might have been able to afford more comic books, I couldn’t actually keep track of that many. I would lose track of plot points. I wouldn’t remember what had happened in the previous issue. It wasn’t the fault of the comic or the creative team. It was simply a natural limit of my ability to pay attention.

I can only keep track of so many comics. I have my favorite titles and my favorite franchises. And it’s enough to keep up with those.

So I keep up with the X-Men. I only buy the X-titles that I enjoy, but that can still take up 20% of my pull list. I keep up with the Green Lanterns and the Captain Americas. I keep up with my indie favorites like Invincible and Dynamo 5. I sometimes keep up with the big events, but I pick and choose the ones I’ll follow. I am keeping up with Brightest Day- and enjoying it immensely. It’s great to see personal favorites like Aquaman, Firestorm and J’onn J’onnz appearing in an anthology together. And I keep up with a few non-superhero stories, too, like Fables and The Stand.

I’m happy buying the comics I’m buying. And I don’t look wistfully at the other franchises that fall outside of my pull list. At least, not too often. While I know that I may be able to add a title here or there, I also know that I can only keep track of so many comics.

That being said, I find that other fans will often assume that the thing they’re not reading or watching is bad. I don’t know why that is, but I try not to do that. I know that I’ve discovered a lot of series- both television and comic book- after the fact. For example, I didn’t start watching Buffy until after it was canceled. I joined Starman- one of my favorite comics ever- when it was already a couple of years into its run. So I know that there are good things out there that I’m not following. I’m just one guy and I can only keep up with so much.

That’s my epiphany. Like I said, it’s not earth-shattering. But it does add to my sense of contentment.

.


E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of Captain Comics to add comments!

Join Captain Comics

Comments

  • Since 2008 I've been using the library to 'go the DVD route' with a lot of comics series and whole 'lines' of comics.  In a way I've been reading the comics in the way they were produced to be read, in 6 issue collections of storylines and including most of the tie-ins of the big stories. 

     

    I'm reading Brand New Day, Fables, Bendis Avengers-centric Epic, Morrison's Batman, Walking Dead, Johns' Green Lantern, amongst others It's strange being in the middle of so many big stories, but I think after two years I'm reaching saturation point!  They lose their charm if you squeeze too many in over a short time.  There's also a lot of chaff with the wheat!  In a way, what I read is dictated by the libraries buying policies, so a lot of them are the more popular 'commercial' stuff rather than the more satisfying stuff.  Loeb's Hulk rather than Pak's Hercules for instance, or anything with Batman in it rather than Brubaker's Captain America.

     

    5 years ago I would have been thrilled at the idea of keeping up with so many ongoing storylines, but I guess I've had to learn the lesson of too much candy all over again.

     

    BTW I've read the first 12 of Loeb's Hulks in the space of a month or two, and I haven't a clue what's going on either.  All I remember from one whole volume was the Wendigo in Las Vegas.  The whys or wherefores escape me.  Lots of Wendigoes, at that!

  • I usually don't have too much trouble keeping track, but one book flummoxed me: Jeph Loeb's Incredible Hulk. I don' t know why, but I simply could not retain any information month to month. I'd open a given issue and think "I must have missed last month, because none of this familiar," and then discover that I did have last month's, and once I saw it, remembered reading it. And it was just Loeb: Now that there's another writer, I'm remembering it better. I don't know why.

    In re: Jeff of Earth-J's comment about collections, I don't have any set limit, but I usually plow through one after another -- I don't start a new one until I've finished an old one. I developed this habit to keep me from allowing half-read but mediocre books from sinking permanently to the bottom of the pile, never to be finished. (There would always be something more interesting to read instead.)

    But just recently I've deviated from this habit because I've just got so much reprint goodness that I can't stop myself from sampling. Right now I'm rotating through Boy Commandos Vol. 1, Eerie Vol. 5 and Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 5. I read a story in one, then switch to the next, then to the next. I'm about finished with Marvel Comics, so I'll add Tarzan: The Jesse Marsh Years Vol. 7 to the mix. What fun!

  • "This is another reason why I like DVDs.  I can watch an entire season or even an entire series, without having to deal with weekly interruptions."

     

    A lot of people are doing this. Instead of following a show weekly, they wait until a whole season is collected on DVD. Then they find time to plow through the season in a few sittings. Now that so many series have continuing subplots and story arcs, it's easy to get lost if you miss an episode. Watching episodes back to back on DVD eliminate this problem.

     

    As for comics, if only you'd been around in the '60s, when it was possible to buy the entire Marvel and DC superhero lines (and many comics in other genres) on a kid's allowance. They were only 12 cents then, of course, and neither company was flooding the stands. That came in the '70s.

  • I have "repiphanies" all the time.

     

    Regarding comic books, I'm usualy in the middle of at least three different collections, often more. I try to limit myself to three, however, and when I go back to a particular series, I try to pick up where I left off the previous tume rather than starting over at the beginning for the umpteeth time.

     

    Regarding television shows, we limit ourselves to two hours a nights. We try to watch one new show plus whatever show we're interested in at a given time on DVD. We do keep a secondary DVD series in reserve, however, for nights there's nothing on broadcast TV.

  • Well, the writer, K.T. Krul, is doing fine, but the art by Nicola Scott is AMAZING.

  • You might peek at Teen Titans again...the last two issues have been pretty great.

     

    Yeah?  Who's the new writer?

     

    Trades have become the DVD sets of the comic book world...

     

    Uh-uh.  DVDs have become the trades of the television world. 

  • You might peek at Teen Titans again...the last two issues have been pretty great. 

     

    Trades have become the DVD sets of the comic book world...

  • This is another reason why I like DVDs.  I can watch an entire season or even an entire series, without having to deal with weekly interruptions.  It makes it a lot easier to follow the show and sustain momentum.  So I'm usually watching one thing on DVD, while keeping up with a few favorites via DVR.  And that's how I handle most recommendations- I file them away as something to potentially watch at my leisure later on. 

  • Going back to TV shows for a moment, I can follow a lot of different shows I just choose not to. It is more a matter of time. As I tell almost everyone who tries to recommend a show to me,"If I watched every show that was recommended to me, I would never leave my living room."

     

    Precisely. 

  • At DC and Marvel, I've pretty much decided to just follow the Batman and X-Men storylines...the rest have kinda dropped away for me due to, currently, work by creative teams I'm not crazy about.

     

    As I think I mentioned, I'm down to following mostly Green Lantern and X-Men, though I still have room for a few others.  I do occasionally find it surprising that Green Lantern, a character I didn't follow until Rebirth, made the cut while classics from my childhood like JLA, Titans and Avengers have fallen away. 

This reply was deleted.

Blog Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives