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Wood wrote:I can't tell you how many mid-list books and in particular mini-series that I don't get to and then when I get back around to them, because they were tied up into the event du jour, I have almost no interest in bothering with them anyway.

Wow, Wood, my feelings EXACTLY. In going through the unread books as I made up my 4 short boxes of "to read" I ended up tossing almost a long box directly into bags in the "I no longer have any interest in reading this" category. A real indicator of the kind of stuff I can do without buying in the first place.

JC wrote:I've successfully cut back by collecting mostly oversized editions (Omnibus/Absolute/Library). This might sound more expensive, but actually it disciplines me to buy only a few books at a time.

I love my monthly books, and I grew up on collecting comics, so I'll never switch to trade-only.

In fact, I have converted exclusively to monthly books (e.g., Vertigo stuff I had been getting in trade, Fables, etc). I now get monthly.

I have cut back my double-dipping to stuff that I find particularly remarkable in quality (for instance, I'm getting the Y The Last Man HCs as they come out in addition to having the comics). I will also get absolutes of stuff that I adore.......

whew!

I always could justify the insnae number of comics I am reading by saying, hey, Bob is buying more than me!

I don't have a problem, I am not addicted

I got 126 on my July list. So I still have a 14 comic cushion.

Wow, after reading this thread I don't feel so bad about the 60-70 books I order every month! On the other hand, I'm only current on maybe 10 titles, and massively behind on the rest (years in some cases). I try to cut back by a handful of books every month, but there's always something new and interesting to drive the numbers up again. If only I had more time to read!

RadConsv wrote:I guess I follow characters more than creators.

You are not alone, my friend.

I don't order on the level many of you do - my entire monthly order wouldn't fill one of these little text boxes I'm using to type in this post right now - and my methodology for ordering is insane enough to get me booked with a window seat at Arkham.

Generally I have my "regulars" (Supergirl, Batgirl, Booster Gold, BB and the Magic of Shazam, and most recently Birds of Prey). Once those get filled, I try and vary it with things I want to try out (Morning Glories, Valkyrie, Enigma Force (the Micronauts are back yay!!!), and Honey West (because I'm old enough to know who she was). If there's money left, I try and pick out something different - this time around I nabbed the Archie gets Married hardcover. I grew up reading Archie and this collects the whole shebang.

Whatever gets me in under the $50 radar.

I had to cut back massively about two years ago when the company I was working for shut down. There were a massive number of books that were easy decisions to drop or keep. There were a number of titles I finished the current arc on and then dropped. After a couple of orders my DCBS order had dropped from $500 down to around $100 a month. So it is possible to cut back massively when you need to. Of course, once I got the new job a year ago, the order went back up to around $500.

At this point if I cut back, and I might, it will be because I am having a hard time keeping current on my reading. That having been said, I have no immediate plans to cut back on my orders. But something like a price hike could easily change that.

BobBretall wrote:

Wood wrote:I can't tell you how many mid-list books and in particular mini-series that I don't get to and then when I get back around to them, because they were tied up into the event du jour, I have almost no interest in bothering with them anyway.

Wow, Wood, my feelings EXACTLY. In going through the unread books as I made up my 4 short boxes of "to read" I ended up tossing almost a long box directly into bags in the "I no longer have any interest in reading this" category. A real indicator of the kind of stuff I can do without buying in the first place.

I got so busy this year with other things that by the time it was June I had a short box of "to read" comics. Some of those comics were the tie-in to the World War Hulks and Siege (not the main event itself). Even today, I haven't gotten to them yet. I will eventually, but the drive to read those books is no longer there. That issue along with just the feeling that I am reading too many super-hero books, made me realized that I need to cut down. Not because of money, but because of time and interest.

I dropped a lot of the 2nd Tier Marvel books although in some cases, Marvel made it easy for me because they canceled the books. Events like Shadowland, where I am interested in the main story but not every character, I will only pick up the main title. The Hulk titles are a maybe for me going forward and I will only pick up the Jason Aaron Wolverine title (I have little interest to read Wolverine-girl and Wolverine-boy comics). I also going to pretty much stop by the Astonishing line of books, except for the Jason Aaron one. That said, I am excited for the overall X-Men and Avengers line of books, even though I will not get them all.

Cutting books from DC is harder since I am an old school DC fan. I still have a weakness for the Batman family titles and a lot of DC's 2nd Tier books. However, I did stop pre-ordering Doom Patrol since I am months behind.

The one area I don't want to cut is the Vertigo books. This is one of my favorite line of books because it so different than the majority of the books that I read. I pretty much read every Vertigo book either in trade or monthly format. What I need to do is convert some of my monthly reading habit to trades, like Unwritten. Sometimes it helps to a Vertigo book in chunks.

BobBretall wrote:LOCKE & KEY KEYS TO THE KINGDOM #1 [JUN100338]

Oh the horror, I just love the art by Gabriel Rodriguez. Must not be top o' da stack for you.

BobBretall wrote:Hulk #25

I know this isn't one of your favorites Bob, but once again it's the artist Ed McGuinness, that kept me coming back for more. That and I get this series in Marvel subscription for about $1.66 an issue. Yeah it's usually one or two weeks late and in Fine/Very Fine condition but hey it's worth it. I think Loeb/McGuinness are leaving the series and Parker/Hardmen are taking over. Not sure how I feel about that yet, but it's probably time for a change.

I only get about 40 titles month, but I still feel like I should be cuttting back. I have about a short box and a half of trades that I want to read. I'll start reading some trades and then I'll get that box from DCBS and it's like oh, new comics. I sometimes feel like I'm rushing through some of my comics to finish them. But hey these are good problems to have right. Too many comics to read, how can I go on living.

IanG wrote:

BobBretall wrote:LOCKE & KEY KEYS TO THE KINGDOM #1 [JUN100338]

Oh the horror, I just love the art by Gabriel Rodriguez. Must not be top o' da stack for you.

BobBretall wrote:Hulk #25

I know this isn't one of your favorites Bob, but once again it's the artist Ed McGuinness, that kept me coming back for more.

Yeah, I like Locke & Key, but have not read single issue of the current mini & I just got #6 today. This tells me I can skip this and think about picking the story up "on the cheap" somewhere down the line, I'm just not chafing at the bit to read it as it comes out.

For Hulk, I'm the opposite of you, Ian, I'm not particularly a McGinnis fan, so this was easy for me to drop. If Art Adams or Frank Cho were doing this regularly (like those couple of issues a year or so back) I'd definitely be keeping it...... I read all the "World War Hulks" stuff and is was pretty much a *meh" for me, ESPECIALLY Hulked Out Heroes. I thought that was just stupid, as handled (though the idea seemed cool).

It is really interesting to me that I really don't notice art unless it is "bad'.

I don't mind Greg Land (some apparently everyone hates, or at least several podcasters). I do Really like Juan Jose Ryp, Luna brothers, and J.H. Williams but everyone else just kind of blends in.

I guess I am more of a words guy and as such I have really strong thoughts about writers. I think Bendis is extremely good. I harbored silent dreams that one day I would write a comic, but after seeing what Bendis did in Scarlet, I gave up the dream. I realized after reading that I could never write as brillinatly or creatively. It is the best comic I have ever read, hands down, period (Yes, that includes Watchmen).

Maleev's art is ok to me. It did not take away from the story and may have added a little bit to the overall story.

That being said, if a writer who annoys me (i.e. Grant Morrisson, Warren Ellis) jumps on a book that is not in my personal list of "core" books, I am out. I am also most likeley not going to try a mini-series written by an author I don't like no matter who the artist is.

RadConsv wrote:It is really interesting to me that I really don't notice art unless it is "bad'.

Well, as you've pointed out "bad" is often in the eye of the beholder. I actually love Greg Land's artwork, but get crap all the time because I fail to recognize the brilliance of Bill Siencevicz (sp?) or the Luna Brothers.

I think sometimes it's difficult for us as comic fanboys to recognize that not everyone views comics the same way. Ultimately, you gotta buy what you like and if people don't like it, who cares?

RadConsv wrote:It is really interesting to me that I really don't notice art unless it is "bad'.

I don't mind Greg Land (some apparently everyone hates, or at least several podcasters). I do Really like Juan Jose Ryp, Luna brothers, and J.H. Williams but everyone else just kind of blends in.

I try really hard (even though I probably slip sometimes) to not characterize art as "bad" but rather as "not to my taste".....

I like Greg Land, Ryp, Luna Bros. and more....

I'm sort of indifferent (leaning to "not to my taste") about McGinnis....

In the "not to my taste" category where I will go out of my way to avoid are Lenil Yu & tan Eng Huat, though there are others who LOVE Lenil Yu.

All this said, I will get artists that I'm not personally fond of when team with favorite writers. Similarly, I'll get writers I'm not overly fond of (lately Loeb & Claremont are on this list) when they have art by a favorite artist.

Cut back on a couple more titles today:

* Batman: The Odyssey (stop after #2)
* Astonishing Spider-Man/Wolverine (stop after #2)

Also, passing on continuing a couple of series after evaluating the #1

* Royal Historian of Oz
* Scarlet

I made some more cuts too. My final list stands at 119 comics. I dumped all the Shadowland mini series. I got all the number ones so if one series is good I'll jump back on it.

i just hope the namor series is in the x-universe or i'll be really mad at myself for not reading previews.

I read Batman: Odyssey #2 this weekend. Wow, the writing is worst than the first issue. No matter how much I love Neal Adam's art, I can't keep getting this, especially since it is a 12 issue mini-series. BTW, originally in previews it was solicited as a 6 issue mini.

I am also stopped pre-ordering the Hulk books after August. I want to see how good the Hulk series is with the new creative team and I am not sure I want to get a bi-weekly Incredible Hulk series. I like the Hulk but not enough to get three Hulk books a month.