- Too expensive
- Distaste for modern aesthetics
- Moved to graphic novels
- Some event or storyline drove them away
It raises the question for me: How many people that read this blog actually buy and read new comics? For me the answer is in the 5-10 range a month.
To get some idea, I created the poll over in the right here --->
If you no longer read comics, why not? Is it one of the reasons I mentioned above?
G+ and Feedly readers, feel free to comment or pop over to my blog to answer the question.
- Jim
14 comments:
i dont collect new titles much mostly read compilations by writers or artists or 500 pg b&w compilation - screwing continuity and changing fine characters instead of making new ones my main beef - i quit marvel for years over rob liefeild and his creations but kept reading grant and alan and 2000 ad was reading lots of pdf and cbr collections but new dc i read all and by four issues i stopped reading modern comics and caring - i might come back - looking at new moon night despite the total look change to be like a 30s pulp hero or even like nightraven to what was my favorite hero. Im probably most ofended by changes to female characters - guys seem to not change as much
I love reading new comics because I like feeling like I'm on the forefront, the cutting edge. It's a fun feeling, makes me feel like I'm part of something exclusive. I may not have the encyclopeadic knowledge of all the characters that some people have, but it's cool jumping in whenever there's a new #1.
The price points are too high, though. Comics have gone from the 25 cent, super-accessible, all the kids are reading them era to the exclusive, only rich kids or pirates are reading them.
I haven't bought comic books on a weekly basis since I went off college over 25 years ago. Even 15 years ago, though, I still went to comic book stores from time-to-time and bought new comic books that caught my eye.
But once I hit 30 years old, I very rarely bought new comic books anymore. When new issues of series I'd liked back in the 1980s and early 1990s have been published (Astro City, The Rocketeer, and The Warlord come immediately to mind), then I usually wait for the entire run to be published and them buy them in one lot on ebay.
For me personally, I think this evolution in my purchasing patterns over the last three decades is driven primarily by me aging, and my personal tastes and lifestyle evolving away from regular comic book reading, and not as a result of the comic books themselves.
I sometimes hit a major store for older titles where I can get 10 to 15 in sequence for 30 bucks. The value on newer titles in nonexistent for a casual reader. Collectors only need apply.
I'm in the "1-5 [new] comics" a month category. I'm currently reading Prophet, Supreme: Blue Rose, and Multiversity.
So busy with my job that catching up on reading is a struggle ... I have a backlog of 60 or so old/new titles waiting to be read ... on a good month I read 20 to 30 easy, but due to a new job promotion I'm about to hit the road again ... no idea when that backlog and the new goodies that come in will be read ... by Christmas hopefully.
I picked the "none" option, though I do occasionally pick up trades and BD albums when I find them (plus I just remembered that I still get 2000AD).
I still keep up with what is going on in the comic world, and hope that something will rekindle my wanting to read/collect issues on a monthly basis, but DC's New 52 direction coupled with some things Marvel did (too-big crossover events, etc.,) just killed my fifty-year-plus love affair with monthly comics (though I still love going through my longboxes).
Do not know how or if this may figure in to your question, but I do still pick up many magazines (at least those that are left, like many of the TwoMorrows publications) that cover comics in some way when they come out. Plus I still get, and spend hours leafing through, Previews every month.
For me the reasons are all of the above plus I would add "No longer trust Marvel and DC with the characters they hold."
I usually peek in on my favorite characters from time to time when stuff comes in at work. Occasionally a trade will spark my interest enough to buy it but there's really nothing that I collect consistently let alone would spark the desire to re-start a pullbox at my LCS. I'm basically trade and digital. It would take significant shift for me to be a Wednesday-Warrior again.
I enjoy what I've read of Miles Morales. Oddly, I kinda dig the Smallville Season 11 stuff, not sure I can explain that one. The art is sadly not that great. The new Nova has a charm to it and for awhile at least had some good art. My reading is mostly random odd and ends combined with purchases of classic material. That's about it.
I don't mind continuity changes and understand why the companies have to keep doing it. I'm not collecting a lot of current comics because the books I used to like aren't that good any more. The books I used to like that are still good have more of a soap opera feel to them, like having a very large over arching story arch that you must read month in and month out (Daredevil). I stick with books though and will continue to "check in" with books like TEEN TITANS and NIGHTWING or GRAYSON to see if they get any better.
I do, but far fewer than I used to and for a variety of reasons:
1. Cost
2. Distaste of modern storytelling/events/decompression (rule of thumb, no first issue/origin stories that doesn't have the character in costume by the last page)
3. Physical space
4. Effects of events rendered characters no longer recognizable
5. Reboots/relaunches resulting in characters in name only
6. Computerized coloring/special effects. This has gotten so pervasive and obnoxious, it has actually kept me from getting comics that I was on the fence for. Such as when my list had gotten small enough I decided to check out Savage Dragon again, or Levitz' Legion of Superheroes.
I am getting 2 DC monthlies (was 3 (or 4 if you count Astro City as a DC book), but found the most recent Forever People finally tipped into reason #4 and next issue is a crossover of the most recent event #2, so a perfect reason to drop. Getting only one Marvel monthly and it only has nostalgia and the fact my list is so small that keeps me buying. From the other companies getting Captain Midnight, Brain Boy (series of minis), Magnus, and Solar (unlike most Dynamite books, there seems to be a level of quality, stability and creativity in writing and art that transcends the usual dislike of reboots). Add in one-shots and minis put out by IDW or Dark Horse like "Beasts of Burden" that is almost always better than anything put out in 6 months by every other company, the only challenger generally being Astro City.
The sad thing is that what is keeping me from getting new comics is slowly being passed on to trades. Other than Dark Horse, collected trades cost more than regular books of the same size and better production quality. Reprints are often computerized re-colored (such as the recent Simonson Thor books that look ugly compared to the originals). Got a recent Thunderstrike trade and it was non-sequential "key" issues featuring Eric Masterston and as such, other than that theme, made little sense as they were all out of context and many were parts of otherwise ongoing stories!
Although I love old comics, I buy new titles each month. Sure, I have a list of favorite authors and runs but I still find very good titles nowadays. I usually read around 12 new comics every month.
I still buy and read comics, but no monthlies, just off-beat indie stuff I find in Artists Alleys. I used to spend around $30 every week at the comic shop but dropped that considerably during Marvel's "Civil War" storyline because I grew tired of the event-driven-at-the-expense-of-good-characters-and-storytelling approach, and about a year after that I gave up monthlies altogether for financial reasons. I moved over to webcomics primarily and, once my financial situation stabilized, I returned to picking up graphic novels. Although very rarely do I pick up anything from Marvel or DC any more.
Most of the comics I buy these days are back issues of stuff from years ago, or collections of classic material from the '60s & '70s.
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