I'm soon to be confronted with a situation nearly unique in my life -- I will not be getting any regularly published comic books. Slowly but steadily the books I follow are getting cancelled. Admittedly I walked away from getting many books years and years ago, but no matter how tiny the buy was, I always was getting a few. But with the end of IDW's outstanding Popeye reprints, the transformation of Astro City into a trade only publication, and now the news that Future Quest Presents will end with its twelfth issue all of my current comic book buys are coming to an end. Maybe something will rear up to attract my attention. I still get Twomorrow's Alter Ego and The Jack Kirby Collector regularly and Anthony Tollin's The Shadow reprints, but these are not comic books. It's a sign of the times that no modern comic book really shouts out to me and demands that I buy it now, none have the craft or gravitas to really make me yearn to keep up them month in and month out. Sad but true. God knows I have tons of comic collections yet to read, so I won't stop but not having something regular to seek week in and week out is new territory indeed. But there is one new addition to my monthly reading schedule -- more later today, but here's a hint.
P.S. Went out into the world and attempted to participate in Free Comic Book Day. It was a fail simply because this new-age "holiday" has become so amazingly popular. I drove by my local comic book shop soon after it opened (an hour earlier than normal), and was flabbergasted that the line of folks waiting to get into the front door was at least one hundred deep. It's a small shop and there was no way that many folks were ever going to fit into it, and I can only imagine it was already full inside. I drove on by without stopping as there's no way in hell I'd stand in a line like that for the frivolous offerings of FCBD or even more satisfying fare. But I'm glad for the industry that someone will. I might not have any comics I want to follow regularly anymore, but clearly that's not the case with everyone.
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I failed too. I ended up having to go into work. But I had gotten some of the free comics ahead of time for my library so my son got a Sponge Bob comic, other kids in the neighborhood got the joy of a free comic, and maybe I'll get a left over or two :)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a plan. I've had the dealer put a few select ones back when I know I want one, but this year there wasn't much for the vintage fan.
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For me there was a line of demarcation, when I sold more than half my comics, and realized I wasn't really interested in refilling the empty space. Partly it's economics, but a big factor is just how many of the best comics in history are available in archival reprint form. I'm probably spending more than ever, but there's less of a thrill to checking In Stock Trades every week than there once was riding my bike to the drugstore every week with lawnmower money burning a hole in my pocket.
ReplyDeleteThat's what happened to me. I have boxes of collected stories I'm aching to read but haven't yet done. New stuff, even the best of it falls short of vintage tales by Carmine Infantino, Joe Maneely, Nick Cardy, Dick Dillin, and other top pros of yesteryear.
DeleteI used to love walking around town in the years just before comic shops were common and digging up the comics I wanted. You had to visit several stores to find them all and even then it didn't always work. Shops made it way easier to collect, but stole a bit of thrill of discovery.
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