Recently, I have been successful in getting myself a new
job. Now, whilst this is cause for mucho celebration, and with it comes a
higher salary, it does mean, that for the next 2-3 months, my finances will be
stretched like never before.
Sadly this has meant I have looked at my monthly comic list
in the hope I can reduce the number to something a bit more acceptable.
Before this attempted cull, my monthly list was around 35
however this doesn’t take into account that several of these were Marvel titles
that are released every 2-3 weeks. With that in mind, I was probably nearer 40
a month. Nevertheless, some had to go and here is where tough decisions had to
be made. Looking through my list, I realised I was hanging on to titles out of
habit and had no real reason to hold on to them.
When I first started collecting comics, I only looked at DC
titles. Thankfully, I eventually opened my eyes and now pick up many others,
mainly from Marvel and Image. With my selection range widening, it does mean I
have to be more selective in which ones I hold on to. For example, my intention
is to hold on to only the mainstream DC / Marvel titles in order to keep up to
speed on their top-level story arcs. With that in mind, there were some titles
that were easier than others to cut.
Each of my comics made good arguments however the following
are now gone.
X-Men Legacy – this has probably been one of the better
Marvel NOW titles and has benefited from doing its own thing, not being too
involved with the rest of the Marvel universe. However, that has also been its
downfall in that it doesn’t feel like an ‘important’ title.
Detective Comics – maybe more experienced readers could
clear this up for me however I get the impression Detective is not held in as
high regards as perhaps it once was. Whilst Snyder’s Batman has received
deserved praise, it has resulted in Detective becoming almost insignificant in
the grand scheme of things. In the New 52, none of the arcs have felt
compelling and these have had to be paused for tie-in issues to Snyder’s Court
of Owl / Joker storylines. Even with Snyder leaving present day Batman to
concentrate on Zero Year, I’ve decided Justice League can fill the hole now
left by Detective.
Green Lantern: New Guardians – this was dropped a couple of
weeks ago however it is back on my list after reading positive reviews of #21,
the first issue under new writer Justin Jordan. It is still on shaky ground as
the title has struggled to maintain any form of consistency with its direction.
Team members come and go, the reason for their formation changing, it makes me
forget how they all got together in the first place.
Batman & Robin – this is the second time B&R has
been dropped. With Robin’s death, I thought the constant changing of companion
would create interesting pairings I hadn’t seen before, creating some
intriguing new dynamics. Whilst this has been the case, I can only take so much
of Batman moping around, acting depressed over his son’s death. Because of his
loss, the tone of the title has been dragged down for too long. The ‘silent’
issue after Robin’s death was fantastic but it has gone on for too long.
World’s Finest – again, the second time this has been
dropped. I have held on to this title waiting for the eventual coming together
of Earth 1 & 2, expecting a great pay-off. Sadly, this has still to happen
and I will hang on to Earth 2 to keep this part of the DC Universe in my
collection. Plus, is it me or is Earth 2’s Supergirl far too arrogant and cocky
to be a title character?
Suicide Risk – I bought #1 of this title purely of its
premise of police fighting a losing battle against super-powered villains. It
was unlike anything else in my collection and all was going well until the last
few pages reveal the lead cop be infused with super powers. In my opinion, this
contradicted the basic selling point of the comic. The good guys were not
supposed to have powers. It may seem like a minor complaint but I lost interest
after that.
Jirni – I can’t remember why I selected this in the first
place. #1 was the re-telling of a generic fantasy story told a hundred times
before. See ya!
Whilst I was quite happy with getting my list into the 20’s,
the past few weeks have seen new additions in Image’s Sheltered and Lazarus.
Image have an annoying habit of releasing a steady flow of new titles of high quality
and, even though some people have criticised them given how many dystopian
titles they have, this doesn’t concern me at all.
Yes, the likes of Walking Dead, East of West, Sheltered, and
Lazarus have similarities however that has not prevented them from being highly
creative titles that are of better quality than the majority of generic DC /
Marvel titles.
Thankfully, some of my titles are mini-series (Thanos Rising
/ Storm Dogs) and they are due to end soon.
It was only with this recent financial clamp-down that I
have seen the hard part of comic reading as the likes of crossovers and new
titles make it extremely difficult to keep a lid on things.
The person I feel worst for is my comic book guy as I send
him revised lists every few weeks which probably makes his life a living hell!
