Category: comics

For the last few years, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with my rather large comic book collection. I’ve amassed 25 long boxes of the things, neatly sorted and filed, plus assorted short boxes of books that I never got around to sorting and filing into the long boxes. All told, around 8000 books.

I was buying 20 to 40 books per month for about 20 years, mostly via Westfield Comics. At some point in 2008, I realized that my reading had slowed down enough that I was developing a bit of a backlog of unread books. I cut down on the number of titles I was buying, then discontinued my regular Westfield orders entirely at some point in 2009. Since then, I’ve occasionally bought a few books at a con or at a comic store, but not much. (And I’m still working my way through my backlog, though it’s down to less than 100 comics now.)

I started seriously thinking about either selling or donating my entire collection (or at least most of it) a few years ago. I’d looked into a few possible donation opportunities, but none of them panned out. And I called a few people who might have been interested in buying the entire collection, but never managed to close a deal with any of them.

Through this process, I discovered that getting rid of a sizable comic book collection is actually a bit of a challenge, if you want to do something other than toss the books in a dumpster and send them off to a landfill. There are folks who will buy entire collections, but they won’t pay much for them, and they usually won’t go too far out of their way to get them. And there are a few charitible organizations that will take comics, but they’re usually not looking for very large collections. And selling the collection off a bit at a time via eBay is way too much work, for a big collection like mine.

I hadn’t really put any effort into getting rid of the comics in 2014, but I decided to get serious about it again near the end of the year. So I dug out my old notes, reviewed a few possibilities, and did some more Googling. I stumbled across this article about Superheroes for Hospice, a charity comic show benefiting Barnabas Health Hospice. I contacted the guy in charge of the event, and this turned out to be a perfect opportunity. Stopping off in Somerville on his way home from work doesn’t take him too far out of his way, and he can easily fit a dozen long boxes in his car. So I gave him most of my Marvel books last week, and most of the independents this week. Next week, I’m going to try handing off the DC books. And that will take care of the 25 long boxes that are cluttering up my dining room.

After that, I want to go through all the unsorted books that are cluttering up my bedroom, get them into long boxes, and hand those off too. I hadn’t quite realized how much unsorted stuff had built up. In my mind, I thought I had enough to fill maybe 2 or 3 long boxes. But, after looking at it all more closely, I think it’s going to be more like 5 or 6 long boxes. So I’ve had to order more long boxes. (I ordered them from Westfield, conveniently using up the remaining credit I had with them, which I’d completely forgotten about.)

I’ve pulled out some stuff I want to keep, and I hope to limit that to about five short boxes. That’s few enough that I can keep them in my closet, out of the way. And maybe I’ll talk myself into letting go of those at some point too.

While I’ve worked my way through most of my backlog of regular ink-on-paper comics, I’ve managed to build up a new backlog of digital comics. I’ve bought a lot of stuff from Comixology, Dark Horse Digital, and various Humble Bundle sales over the last few years. The nice thing about this new accumulation is that it doesn’t take up any real space in my apartment! And I’m thinking about re-purchasing new digital copies of some of the stuff I’m selling off. Or, in some cases, maybe re-purchasing those books in trade paperback or hardcover reprints. But really I shouldn’t get ahead of myself on that, since I still have so much new stuff to read. (And I haven’t even mentioned my backlog of trade paperback and hardcover collections that I haven’t gotten around to reading yet.)

Well, I had hoped that I’d feel better this weekend, and would be able to get out and enjoy the nice weather, but I’m still a bit sick. I’m on antibiotics now, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be over this thing by next weekend. Meanwhile, I think this is going to be another weekend of reading comics, watching TV, drinking herbal tea, and making lentil soup.

I finished all the single issues of Usagi Yojimbo I had, so I’ve read through to issue #125 now. I will likely continue reading the series in trade paperback form from here on. And I may be buying those collections via Dark Horse’s digital store, rather than in physical form. The digital collections are $10 each, which is a little cheaper than the physical books. I also want to pick up 47 Ronin and Yokai.

I’m not sure what I want to read to while away the rest of this afternoon, but I think maybe it’ll be Classic Usagi Yojimbo, which was probably the first thing I bought via the Dark Horse digital store, a few years ago. I realized recently that I’d bought quite a few things from the Dark Horse digital store, but hadn’t actually read any of them yet!

I’ve been sick for the last two weeks, so I’ve had a chance to catch up on some comic book reading this weekend and last. I finished Essential Avengers, Vol. 3 last weekend, and started Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., collecting Jim Steranko’s work on SHIELD. This weekend, I read the beginning of Mark Millar’s run on Fantastic Four and I’m starting into my backlog of Usagi Yojimbo comics.

I had bought the first few Essential Avengers books at half-price at a con several years ago, on a lark. I wanted to read the first couple of volumes just for the sake of reading some classic Lee/Kirby stuff and just general early Marvel oddball stuff. The first volume, indeed, had some classic Lee/Kirby stuff in it. In the second volume, though, the title settled into a pretty mediocre run, with Lee handing off to Roy Thomas, and with some pretty average and less-than-memorable art and stories. I wasn’t really expecting much from the third volume, but the series really picked up some steam here, with Thomas doing some goofy stuff at the beginning, but getting into some interesting stuff near the end. The earlier issues had some great John Buscema art, and later in the volume, we get a few issues each from Gene Colan and Barry Smith. So now, looking at what’s ahead in volumes 4 and 5, I think I’d like to pick them up and read them. I’m not going to buy them real soon, but they’re on my wish list, once I catch up on some of the other stuff in my backlog.

I stopped buying monthly books partway through Mark Millar’s FF run, so I don’t have the whole thing, but I enjoyed the first part of it enough to order a copy of the second trade, Fantastic Four: The Masters of Doom, so I can complete the run. I’m not quite sure If I’m going to like how it ends, since this trade has gotten some mixed reviews, to say the least. But I’ll give it a chance.

Well, I’ve got a whole Sunday to kill, drinking herbal tea and reading comics, so it’s back to Usagi for me!

This weekend, I’ve been reading random stuff on Comixology. Mostly stuff I got for free some time ago, and never got around to reading.

A bunch of the stuff I read would fall into the “chaff” category, but a few things might qualify as “wheat,” or were at least interesting enough for me to look into maybe reading more.

I enjoyed Multiple Warheads: Alphabet to Infinity #1, by Brandon Graham. It was a weird story, with very imaginative art. It reminded me a bit of some of Paul Pope’s work. There’s a good review of it on CBR.

I also enjoyed Elephantmen #1. I may buy more of that series on Comixology, since it’s currently on sale. When this series (and the related “Hip Flask”) first came out, I avoided them, thinking that they were probably just a gimmick, and not really something that would have any substance. This issue, though, was actually quite engaging. It introduces the (somewhat monstrous) main character and his world and history via the trope of having him engage in a conversation with an innocent little girl. (I’m calling this a trope, since I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it used before, but I can’t remember specifically where.) It’s done effectively, with nice art and good storytelling.

I also read a number of the free Marvel #1s that they gave away as part of a promotion some time ago. Today, I read through a bunch of Ultimate Universe stuff. Some of it was pretty good, and some of it I’d read before, in TPB format. Nothing in particular stood out enough for me to want to buy any back issues or new TPBs though. The last thing I read was the first issue of Ultimatum. I was curious about it, as it was a really big event, basically doing a “reset” on the Ultimate Universe, if I understand correctly. The first issue was interesting, with some really nice art from David Finch, but when I sought out reviews of the series, I decided that I definitely didn’t want to buy the rest of it. The reviews were almost universally bad, with Comics Alliance putting it in the “Worst of the Worst” category, and a couple of bloggers (here and here) writing interesting but not exactly positive reviews. So, in a nutshell, it really doesn’t sound like the kind of thing I’d enjoy.

In general, lately, when I dip my toes into any recent Marvel or DC stuff, I’m usually not finding it to be terribly interesting. I’ve stumbled on some good independent stuff though, like the Brandon Graham and Elephantmen stuff.

[Edit: When I was trying to remember an example of the “monster and innocent little girl” trope, clearly I was thinking about Frankenstein. Or maybe Young Frankenstein. Though in this case, the girl doesn’t get thrown in a pond. Or launched through a window.]

One more comics-related post for today, this time on Sebastian O, another Grant Morrison mini-series. I’ve posted a short review on Goodreads. This one goes back to 1993, so it was probably one of his earliest works for Vertigo.

It’s also got me wondering about Morrison and Yeowell’s earlier collaboration, Zenith, which is apparently going to be reprinted later this year.

One more comic book post for today. (Probably the last, but maybe not.) I just finished reading Vimanarama, by Grant Morrison and Philip Bond. This is one of two Morrison mini-series that I picked up at a con a few years back. I posted a short review on Goodreads. There’s one more thing I wanted to post though: I just found Philip Bond’s Flickr page. Wow. Lots of cool stuff!

I’m trying to heal up after getting a bit too much sun last weekend, so, even though it’s very nice out, I’m spending the weekend indoors. So I’m catching up on some comic book reading! I’ve also been experimenting with posting reviews over on Goodreads. It’s fairly easy to re-post the reviews here, but rather than do that, I’ll just link to them. I posted short reviews of Criminal, Superman: Kryptonite and Flash: The Wild Wests this weekend. I’m gradually working my way through the last of my slush pile of regular-format comics. I stopped buying them in 2008, so they’re all over five years old now. Eventually, I will reach the bottom of this pile. 🙂