COMIC BOOK CRAZIES discussion

Has anybody here experienced comic book overload?

No

I have had to pull over when I am driving because of it.

Kaleb wrote: "No"

Heh, good answer.

Well, in the year I've been collecting, I've bought over five-hundred comics, and in the two years, I've been reading, I've read over a thousand, and I'm still exited to read comics I haven't read before.

5600 + comic books in stock and counting. So many comic books, so little time... Idon't have the time to overload!

No, quite the opposite, I can never read enough of them. I recently got into reading comics after feeling a book overload (which I never thought would ever happen to me). It is nice to read comics in between books because comics are easy to read, quick, and so entertaining.

Thats what I do also

With me not directly comics but comic related. I've only just sorted this problem out, but here goes. I was watching anime based off manga I still read or I have completed. The problem is I read a lot of shounen, I read plenty of other manga demographic types, but shounen is my manga base or heartland.

Anyway there was just too much anime to watch of stuff I have already read, so I eliminated all but 4 titles.

I did have a bit of a problem wanting to reread everything but got over that last night!

I now have a room dedicated to comics and I still have not read most of them yet. I go on Book depository and look at the new releases everyday and get at least one hardcover a month. Also I always have about 30 comics out at any time from the library.

I notice with comics, as with any hobby in my life, that if I overindulge too frequently my appreciation for what I am enjoying is diminished. Books, comics, music, video games, art, writing, etc. If I find myself becoming too critical and blowing through without taking the time to really enjoy the entertainment I am spending my time on then I usually need to take a step back. Recently it's been video games for me, I actually thought to myself today that it's time to nurture my other hobbies for a while so the "zest" can return instead of that compulsive feeling of "ok, have to get through this one and immediately onto the next since I have so many in my Steam library I haven't gotten to yet".

I think it's a Pokemon mentality. Gotta catch 'em all. Gotta read 'em all. Gotta play 'em all. You get my drift. :)

Yeah I understand that mentality totally, especially with me being a Pokémon fan. I managed to not give a crap about catching them all last gen, although I still caught and traded for all the non event ones of that generation.

It's difficult being a geek sometimes, partly because there are so many series or collections, and partly because a single series can have so much sub-series. Like you could fill a page with all the different adjectives of X-men for example.

http://www.ranker.com/list/list-of-al...

Never. Reading a comic (either in French or English) is my way of relaxing my brain between 2 books. :)

The comic humble bundles have really added to my TBR list :) Some great deals on them though like huge chunks of valiant, dynamite and top cow back catalogues ...

Sarah wrote: "I think it's a Pokemon mentality. Gotta catch 'em all. Gotta read 'em all. Gotta play 'em all..."

Exactly. Overload? Nope. I only wish I had more money to buy more comics. And I wish I had so many comics to necessitate a room.

Not so much overload as event fatigue (looking at you Marvel and DC).

Haha. Well good thing they're not all bad. I think most are a solid "good," some are bad, some are great.

I'm really thankful that my local library has a huge TPB collection because I'm not a collector anymore. It's very liberating to me to be out of the FOMO cycle and also over the idea that my comics collection would be an investment. I highly recommend a 'catch and release' book policy or starting a lending club with a few other fans in your town.

Never experienced comic book overload in quite some time. Probably because i've narrowed what i read to keeping a few things in mind past the stuff i'm currently getting and just ignoring reviews and comic sites. i end up coming across new stuff but not enough to overload me.

I'm always reading a book at the same time as well, so it's good to switch gear or genre and stops reading either becoming stale.

oh and i greatly agree with Joe's catch and release idea. I lend a lot to my friends and i regularly get rid of things that i go back to and realise after re-read i'm not bothered enough about it to keep it anymore.

my preacher collected editions aren't in the greatest condition but they are in decent enough condition and you can see they've been read and enjoyed from all the lending (plus them being 15+ years old copies). I hate that "MINT CONDITION" crud. Nothing last forever and what's the point of having something in pristine condition if nobody enjoys it? If it sits useless on a shelf a boring ornament.

I'm curious. What bothers you about modern superhero comics? I feel like they're informed by comics past and generally do a good job of entertaining. If its longevity or consistency that bother you I can see that, but I wouldn't say that's a new problem. For instance, Scott Snyder's New 52 Batman has gone downhill after 7 volumes after starting off so incredibly. Same with Jason Aaron's Thor after three volumes. I would say I read more older comics than new because they are time tested and artists had to try a lot harder.

It's the event heavy stuff, the gimmick stuff. It's all gotten out of hand they have a major crossover event every year it feels like these days. I'm cynical all this Age of Ultron/Convergence/Crisis/Secret War bulls***, just makes me think, damn if you don't just do this to make the money. I'm not saying that the writers ad artists are doing it for just the cash. But none of the licence to print money stuff that gets approved out grabs my attention. Nobody seems to want to take a chance on something a bit different. The stores I read mostly don't grab my attention. "DUDE they showed Doctor Doom's face full on, whole page deal". Don't care. They'll just retcon in whatever they want anyway. Other than the things like the recent run on She-Hulk, nothing that is described to me or i see an ad for, or like a few pages off grabs me.

seems like the same stuff churned out all the time. recycled plot and characters, all this interchangeable stuff like they've got those manatee writers you saw in south park.

I have never experienced Comic book overload. If anything, the opposite. There are always comics that I would like to read but I have to leave. So many comics, so many books, so many movies and TV shows.... and so little time. This stupid thing called job keeps getting in the way.

I agree with the previous post. What bothers me the most is all the events, tie-ins and specials. I have the feeling they want to make it bigger and faster and more epic each time and at the end of it, the consistency is gone. The stories try to be so big that they sink because of their own weight.
I have been a comic book collector for the past 30 years and, for the first time I have stopped buying Avengers and Spider-Man. In the first case, I stopped right before Infinity because I didn't like at all the direction that Jonathan Hickman was taking with the series and characters.
In the case of Spider-Man, it has more to do with the Spanish edition, since I am only interested in "Amazing Spider-Man" and they insist in selling every monthly Spider-Man related comic in a single monthly book, and the quality f this tittle is not enough to justify the expense. In case you are wondering: no, I did not like Superior Foes of Spider-Man and it sucks to pay for it when I don't enjoy it at all.
I have the feeling that the writers just sit down together and say: "let's see, how can we make things a little different so they can stay the same after making it unnecessarily complicated. We also need to include as much characters as possible, so the event can spread over as many titles as possible and sell as many tie-ins as they can afford"

What Capullo has done with Batman is unbearable. Until Endgame he was doing a good job, but this Convergence crap is killing me.
Justice League was never up to the hype and expectations, so that was a let go right before Trinity Wars.

All these have shown me that the "Satellite collections" (Hawkeye, Daredevil, Deadpool, Ghost Rider, Injustice, Wonder Woman, Earth 2) have way more quality and are more fun to read that the main tittles and events.

Pryder wrote: "It's the event heavy stuff, the gimmick stuff. It's all gotten out of hand they have a major crossover event every year it feels like these days. I'm cynical all this Age of Ultron/Convergence/Cris..."

Dude, you killed me with the manatee line. I agree with you 100%

I haven't read hardly any new event stuff but yes, generally there is an excess of crossovers and it confuses and ruins continuity. But new readership, selling tons of Volume 1s to unsuspecting readers, and the volume of new crossover titles equal big profits. Grow or die capitalism definitely overwhelms the artistry these days, and to stay in business they have to grow like crazy.

But it's not all bad. I've enjoyed New 52 Flash and the Flashpoint event. I mean, isn't it a logical given that writers would seek to improve upon old events and escalate them even further? Crisis for DC started it all. Infinite worlds, dimensions and characters. Could it be bigger? No, but it could be more complex, more twisted, more dramatic. I'll admit that the whole point of Crisis or events in general was to solve continuity issues by killing off characters or compartmentalizing storylines. But now it's about big stories and more of them, and how they each affect different characters. So while that doesn't exactly produce the most deep or riveting storylines at all times I can see where they're coming from as far as marketing goes. It's just something you have to accept and limit your exposure to if you want to read new superhero comics. Honestly, it doesn't bother me except that I sometimes have to investigate the order in which I have to read titles.

The big two are mostly about taking the stale and finding ways to make it seem new and fresh.

Keyword "seem"? I think there's something for everyone from DC and Marvel, but I generally lean toward DC, always have. Most of the newer Batman titles (Snyder, Tomasi, NOT Morrison) and all of Flash have been awesome. I'm excited/nervous for Flash changing writers and artists but so it goes, I'll keep buying and reading. Aaron's Thor is very good for Vol 1 & 2, didn't love 3, and now there's Thor Goddess. Slott's Spider-Man is supposed to be amazing. I don't know, I can't imagine not reading ANY new superhero comics. There are too many to not like something.

As far as indie goes, Snyder (again) has Wake, Wytches, Robert Kirkman's Outcast is mind blowing. But I'm mostly working my way through old classics and events, DC crisis, Batman, Flash. Any suggestions?

Green Lantern

Thanks! He's next. But Hal Jordan has a long history, and I typically like to go way back. I'll be starting with Zero Hour.

Also try Justice League International. It is better than Justice League.

Haven't heard of that. Thanks!

Swamp Thing and Hellblazer.
They started as Vertigo titles but are now part of the DC universe with the Justice League Dark.
As for Green Lantern, Donovan, if you want to go way back, start with the Emerald Dawn mini series and work from there and all the way to Geoff Johns's run of the title.

Emerald Dawn is out of print unfortunately. So I'll have to hunt for it. Johns is on my radar, just trying to go in order : )

Have you tried libraries ? You might be surprised.

Haven't to be honest. My 7 month old gives me absolutely no free time. Been trying to get there for months.

Donovan wrote: "Haven't to be honest. My 7 month old gives me absolutely no free time. Been trying to get there for months."

Congrats by the way !!! :) If's ED is out of print then Zero Hour is a good start on the story of fall and rebirth of Hal Jordan. After that there's The Final Night with the redemption of HJ. If you can get your hands on the series of HJ as The Spectre if not you can skip it and start with Geoff Johns's run starting with Rebirth.

Yep, I have Zero Hour on order. Final Night is also out of print : ) But there are plenty of other titles in between.

And thanks! She loves books.

Donovan wrote: "Yep, I have Zero Hour on order. Final Night is also out of print : ) But there are plenty of other titles in between.

And thanks! She loves books." I'm sure you know about chewable books for babies. They are so cool. And when, she is a bit older try that one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnZr0...

Yes, I actually work at an indie bookstore. We have Indestructibles, essentially plastic books, that are tear proof and waterproof. But they're like six pages long. So we've got a big collections of board books which are nearly as tough. She loves rhymes. Also, that book is awesome.

Is anyone here a part of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund?
They actually have lots of great autographed comics and posters for sale.
http://cbldf.org/

Nice. Thanks, Danielle!

also I should add you don't need to be a member to buy any of the autographed comics or posters!