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This week I'm going to take a slight deviation from reviewing specific runs of comics and talk about an issue that has been preying on my mind since starting this column, a mere six weeks ago. (I say six weeks despite this being column 5, as I took a couple of weeks to write my first batch of columns and outline the next few to ensure I felt I had enough to say and enough comics to cover.)
There will still be a few capsule reviews at the end, for reasons about to be made clear.
The way I've been buying comics for the last four or five years is to make a weekly or fortnightly trip to wherever my local comics shop is, pick up a bunch of issues and a TPB or two, come home and read a couple of the issues and the TPBs. The other issues are filed away, to be read when a particular story arc is complete.
The only comics I actually read straightaway are those I like too much to leave until a story has finished. So, one of the things I've been thinking is - does this mean I don't really like the ones I save up?
The other problem I've had recently is the compression of comic-reading time - I'm 29, have a wife and some kids, and find myself wanting to and having to do things other than reading comics in my spare time. So, another one of the things I've been thinking is - am I too old to read comics now?
As I've been reading and rereading issues to write my comments in the columns that have appeared so far, and those that are upcoming, I've found myself being much more critical than I have been in years about whether I really want to buy a particular title or not. So the third thing I've been thinking is - why on earth am I buying certain comics?
All related thoughts, of course, which have led me to the conclusion that it's time to cut back what I buy, and take a real serious look at why I get what I actually get. Now, I'm fully aware that there are probably numerous titles out there that I would enjoy if I would just read an issue, but the key issue is availability. I don't like Previews, I don't like deciding what to buy three months in advance, I don't like committing my cash to a single retailer so far in advance, and I love walking around a comics shop looking at the actual available issues on the rack.
Before I move onto listing the titles I've decided to drop, and why, my final thought is that if I'm afflicted by such thoughts, about cutting down my intake and spending less, then possibly other people are doing the same - keeping the market in a downward trend until...collapse?
Anyway, onto the capsule reviews, of titles I've decided to drop. There's only nine, but it's a start.
Marvel - Iron Man, Shadows & Light
Iron Man for reasons given two weeks ago, and Shadows & Light because the stories so far just haven't done anything for me.
Dark Horse - Ghost
Read a whole batch recently, from 20 to 32 or 33, and don't intend to review them in a column. Basically every issue is the same, the background of the title character, which is supposed to be being revealed a bit at a time is tedious, the art on these issues is just obsessed with breasts and female almost-nudity - you know the type, the characters are naked, but towels and smoke and walls and stuff keep getting in the way. This becomes ludicrous after a while, and distracts from what little quality there is in the story. Stay well away.
DC - Batman, Detective Comics, Shadow of the Bat
Got into a bit of a Batman frenzy about six months ago, bought loads of back issues and read absolutely none of them. Don't know why I bought so many, I hated Batman and Robin the movie. It could be because I've enjoyed the TPBs over the last few years, and, indeed, when starting to read these issues, the Legend of the Dark Knight title has been really enjoyable. The others have varied from merely ok, to excrement. So only LotDK survives the cut.
DC Vertigo - House of Secrets
I admit it, I'm a bit of a Vertigo fan. I collect most of these titles, and have done for years, and thoroughly enjoy them too. However, no matter how I tried, I couldn't get along with House of Secrets. I just didn't care in the slightest about the characters, the storylines seemed to wander everywhere and go nowhere, there's no hook to keep me reading.
Independent - Six Degrees, Mythography
These might not be too familiar to many of you. Six Degrees I got fed up with the frequency of issues - taking months and years to produce an issue just bores me these days. As for Mythography, I haven't seen much at all to recommend in any of the last seven issues. Stories seem to be cliched,art is poor and confusing, and it's just not worth the money or the time taken to read.
Disclaimer - all of the above nonsense is purely my personal opinion. No doubt most people may well disagree with some or all of my comments, butplease feel free to e-mail me to discuss anything I write here.
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