Hello Again

First of all, if you haven't read it yet, scroll down and check out Ed's excellent post on the intersections between comics and hip-hop. I'm not at all knowledgeable about music, so I really appreciated Ed's examination of how comics influenced hip-hop. It even got me to check out a couple of the artists and songs he discussed.

Second, if you'd like a chance to win some free manga, head over to Love Manga where David Taylor and Immelda Alty are giving away a manga a day in a very creative way: It's the Love Manga Advent Competition, complete with interactive advent calendar! (Try peeking at a day in advance.) Having grown up Catholic, I'm a sucker for advent calendars, and adding the possibility of free manga into the mix only sweetens the deal.

Third: Yikes! It's been over a month since I posted something to the blog, and even then it was only an image post. (Sniff - you're still missed, Graeme. I know you're over at The Savage Critic(s) doing reviews and occasional linkage, but it's just not the same (even though I really enjoy your reviews): How am I supposed to keep track of the weird, wild, wacky things going on at the various comic book message boards if you're not there to guide me? (Actually, I think my co-blogging partner, Mr. Cunard, could do a fine job at providing a Fanboy Rampage-esque service judging by the hilarious message board threads he sends me in email from time to time, but I know that Ed doesn't want to be seen as stealing Graeme's schtick, which I can understand: Graeme's blog was so...huge -- I mean, really, really, hugely huge -- that I'm sure there'd be many who would resent anyone else who tried to fill that gap.))

Since my last post, I've once again re-evaluated my comic-purchasing habits and decided to (more or less) stop pre-ordering. Several factors influenced my decision: During yet another attempt to clean my office, I cursed the number of new floppies that were lying around unbagged and unboarded. And as I sat down to dutifully file away those single issues, I was struck by how few of them I had enjoyed. I strongly doubt I'll ever re-read the majority of my comics, so really all they're doing is taking up space. (And I do sell my comics on eBay -- and plan to do so again -- but that takes so much effort.) Worse, there are many comics piling up that I haven't even read yet, so why am I cluttering my room by ordering more and more comics that I either won't read or won't enjoy?

So last month, for the first time in years, I didn't submit a monthly preorder. And you know what? It felt good. It felt like I was finally taking a step toward curbing behavior I've known for a long time was unhealthy. So does this mean I'm giving up comics? Not by a long shot. All it means is that I'm modifying my purchasing patterns to be more in line with my changing schedule and interests. Probably the biggest impact will be that I'm in effect no longer collecting monthly superhero comics. Looking over the new superhero comics I've read in the past year, I'm hard-pressed to find any that I would have missed if I hadn't ordered them. (And, yes, that includes the Seven Soldiers titles.) My initial reaction to this is mostly "It's not you; it's me": I don't know if I can draw any conclusions about the relative quality of superhero comics from my decision to stop collecting them; it feels more like me getting bored with the same-old, same-old of superhero stories than superhero comics suddenly getting worse. (Although it certainly makes it much easier to go cold turkey when all the comics from Marvel and DC seem to be bogged down by line-wide "events.")

Again, this doesn't mean I'm swearing off all comics. It really boils down to me being sick of all the space eaten up in my office by these old comics that I'll never look at again. So I still plan to read comics; I just don't want to buy so many. Thankfully, I'm lucky to live in a metropolitan area with a great library system, so I plan to reserve more comics through their wonderful online system. I've just been notified that Sexy Voice & Robo is waiting for me to pick up, and I have over a dozen other requests (including The Push Man and Other Stories, Pyongyang, The Rabbi's Cat, Wimbledon Green, and Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex) waiting to be fulfilled. (Let me echo Dave Lartigue's sentiments for libraries that kick ass in their graphic novel ordering: Awesome!) I don't need to own every comic that looks interesting in order to enjoy comics. (Unless I do need to own the comic for some reason, such as (1) the library doesn't carry it (such as Uzumaki, or any of the works of Junji Ito) or (2) I plan to re-read the book multiple times (which includes Sgt. Frog and most of the manga series I'm following). (So basically this entire post is just my way of announcing what David Welsh decided almost a month ago, only in a much more tedious and long-winded fashion (I should just devote myself to living by David's words of wisdom -- "Re-readability Is The New Watchword" and "More Money for Manga" are basically the principles that inform my comic-buying habits nowadays. I wonder if David offers career counseling as well? And would it be too creepy if I started wearing a "WWDWD?" bracelet?)))

And as an apology / distraction / palate-cleanser for all of my self-absorbed rambling, here's your Strangely Sexual Silver Age Scene of the day:

[from Justice League of America #91, reprinted in Crisis on Multiple Earths Volume 3]