Random bits on 2008 planning.
In this prequel to the "2008: Year without Superhero Comics" (When you change some approach to a hobby or interest of yours, you can call it whatever the fuck you want) I get to take a massive infodump onto the collective blogosphere.
Turned in the new Previews last week? dropped all the superbooks, sorta. These are the January shipping titles so it was only fair that I give my comic guy a heads up. It hurts to do some of these cuts.
A great deal of the books I cut were poor reads. I was doing myself a favor to break the cycle of addiction.
Batman... How can I cut Morrison? But I did.
I did decide to keep BUYING All Star Superman, because I am not going to figure out the trades later. I cannot READ these books all year however. I just have made arraignments with the_anti_hero to keep me from even peeking in those issues until January 1,2009.
The Boys will also be a buy and not read title. I was on the fence on this one. It made me feel like a hypocrite. I figured the back issues would be too hard to fill in later so I compromised.
Some titles she picks up are still going to be bought, cause she reads them, duh! But I love sneaking into her copies of Black Panther and Fantastic Four. This will be off limits.
I feel relieved to not feel forced to read the event books. No 52 issue megacrossovers! No continuity messes to complain about! I already feel a great weight being lifted off my shoulders.
I picked up the new Wonder Woman for Gail Simone (and Etta Candy!) and I am going to hate not being able to follow up on where she is taking the book next year. If I was not doing my experiment, I would totally add this comic.
I have to avoid any and all internet news, rumors, commentary, previews, reviews, snark, etc. At least things dealing with superheroes. One of the big reasons I decided to do this unscientific experiment was the feeling that the various superhero comics are emotionally draining to fandom. We love to hate to love to hate to love them. I want to see if it is the genre or the fandom that seems to induce anger and stress. Or is it the insider mentality of the fan? Will I make myself happier or will my fan instincts follow me over to the other books I get in different genres.
I forget all the blogs and news/link sites I read, but most will have to go on hiatus with me. I have figured out that I cannot look at scans_daily next year. No Newsarama either. Comics Should be Good will have to be taken off my reading list. I haven't decided if I am going to stop reading Journalista. I might just read it with selective mental editing. When Fangirls Attack! has given me fresh and new perspectives on comics, but I think I might stop reading it next year too. It is a one-two punch in the majority of the links, either involving mostly the superhero genre and the fact that I seem to only click the negative ones.
I cannot blame any of these blogs for being what they are. It really is no fault of the bloggers. The nature of the industry is such that the majority of the books published in the "mainstream" are superheroes. The nature of fandom is to be rabid in both love and hate. So you cannot throw a brick in the comic blogospherenutcrunch without hitting spandex or spewing flames most of the time.
The guilty pleasure books I read seem to mostly be saved from the cull. I can still enjoy Pirates vs Ninjas. Atomik Mike, and most importantly, The Goon.
I might try a few Vertigo trades to get the feel of the books I have skipped over (Crossing Midnight looks interesting to me right now) I will try to read more manga too. I used to read quite a bit back in the days when Viz only published floppies and full sized trades... I just need to find some good titles.
Turned in the new Previews last week? dropped all the superbooks, sorta. These are the January shipping titles so it was only fair that I give my comic guy a heads up. It hurts to do some of these cuts.
A great deal of the books I cut were poor reads. I was doing myself a favor to break the cycle of addiction.
Batman... How can I cut Morrison? But I did.
I did decide to keep BUYING All Star Superman, because I am not going to figure out the trades later. I cannot READ these books all year however. I just have made arraignments with the_anti_hero to keep me from even peeking in those issues until January 1,2009.
The Boys will also be a buy and not read title. I was on the fence on this one. It made me feel like a hypocrite. I figured the back issues would be too hard to fill in later so I compromised.
Some titles she picks up are still going to be bought, cause she reads them, duh! But I love sneaking into her copies of Black Panther and Fantastic Four. This will be off limits.
I feel relieved to not feel forced to read the event books. No 52 issue megacrossovers! No continuity messes to complain about! I already feel a great weight being lifted off my shoulders.
I picked up the new Wonder Woman for Gail Simone (and Etta Candy!) and I am going to hate not being able to follow up on where she is taking the book next year. If I was not doing my experiment, I would totally add this comic.
I have to avoid any and all internet news, rumors, commentary, previews, reviews, snark, etc. At least things dealing with superheroes. One of the big reasons I decided to do this unscientific experiment was the feeling that the various superhero comics are emotionally draining to fandom. We love to hate to love to hate to love them. I want to see if it is the genre or the fandom that seems to induce anger and stress. Or is it the insider mentality of the fan? Will I make myself happier or will my fan instincts follow me over to the other books I get in different genres.
I forget all the blogs and news/link sites I read, but most will have to go on hiatus with me. I have figured out that I cannot look at scans_daily next year. No Newsarama either. Comics Should be Good will have to be taken off my reading list. I haven't decided if I am going to stop reading Journalista. I might just read it with selective mental editing. When Fangirls Attack! has given me fresh and new perspectives on comics, but I think I might stop reading it next year too. It is a one-two punch in the majority of the links, either involving mostly the superhero genre and the fact that I seem to only click the negative ones.
I cannot blame any of these blogs for being what they are. It really is no fault of the bloggers. The nature of the industry is such that the majority of the books published in the "mainstream" are superheroes. The nature of fandom is to be rabid in both love and hate. So you cannot throw a brick in the comic blogospherenutcrunch without hitting spandex or spewing flames most of the time.
The guilty pleasure books I read seem to mostly be saved from the cull. I can still enjoy Pirates vs Ninjas. Atomik Mike, and most importantly, The Goon.
I might try a few Vertigo trades to get the feel of the books I have skipped over (Crossing Midnight looks interesting to me right now) I will try to read more manga too. I used to read quite a bit back in the days when Viz only published floppies and full sized trades... I just need to find some good titles.