Speak to me of beautiful monthly comics.

I just can't shake this comics funk I'm in. I think this may, in part, be due to spending so much time thinking about comics, whether here, or Comic World News, or visiting the blogs and forums of the internet. It also may have something to do with skipping out on SPX, which is always a revitalizing trip. Of course, other things are impacting it as well - I'm still stressed about graduate school applications, including the portfolio I've barely started working on, and I've been depressed about other real-life concerns as well.

I'm on the verge of switching to trades entirely, but I'm not happy about it. It's been at least three weeks since I've set foot inside a direct market shop. There's probably a ton of stuff waiting for me, and I can't say I really care about it. Off the top of my head, I can think of exactly three semi-regular books I really look forward to, and one of them isn't even a comic. If it wasn't for Street Angel, True Story, Swear To God and The Comics Journal, I'd probably go to just buying trades and graphic novels direct from the publisher, or from Amazon or some other on-line dealer. New Frontier has finished, so that's a little less joy in my inbox.

What am I missing? What's knocking your socks of on a regular or semi-regular basis? I admit, I do prefer the sturdier, bookshelf-friendly format of trades and graphic novels to monthly comic, but my inner fanboy still craves getting some of my fiction serialized. My tastes swing towards the independent side of the comics spectrum, whether those comics are "art comix", "alternative" comics, genre fiction, or what, but that doesn't mean I'll entirely write off any superhero suggestions offered in good faith.