[updated 2008/02/21]

Been collecting seriously for the last 16 months. Prior to that I hadn't really collected comics since I was a teenager some 18 years ago. MY COMIC COLLECTION JUST BROKE *2500* BOOKS! 2/20/2008

I started adding posts about comic books on my blog. Check out my blog here: Virtual Adept

WEBSITES I VISIT
ComiXtreme
ComicBloc
ComicBookDB

Check out my collection on ComicBookDB!

MY RECENT READS

Been really enjoying Justice Society, Green Lantern, and the Batman and related books on DC. Fables is also amazing. On the Marvel side still following and enjoying World War Hulk After Smash stuff, and really liking the new Amazing Spider-Man Brand New Day stuff. Brubaker's Daredevil is just incredible. I finished the TPB for Anita Blake Guilty Pleasures Vol 1 and liked it (see my blog for mini-review). Star Wars Legacy from Dark Horse is amazing. B.P.R.D. 1946 is great also. The Twelve from Marvel about golden-age heroes transported to the modern world is really good. Also recently read Punisher Beginning and Ending HC and liked it quite a bit.


MY IMPRESSIONS ABOUT MODERN COMICS
Artwork has improved dramatically between comics of today and the 80’s. Each comic is literally a feast for the eyes now it seems. I went back to read some very old Spider-Man issues after having read some modern issues and it’s just not even in the same ballpark. I think this is great, because it means that comics as an art form is making a lot of progress. Writing seems to be better too, in some cases.

One thing is missing that I used to really like but I haven’t seen this in any recent comics (almost all Marvel the ones I’ve been reading) – footnotes. The comics of the 80’s and earlier had footnotes where if something was mentioned it would refer back to another issue or even another title and issue so that the reader could go back and read those if they wanted more information about whatever was being said. That’s completely missing now as far as I can tell - kind of a bummer. I have noticed that footnotes have fallen out of style in many forms of print media, and I can see where they do break the flow if you stop to read them, but they were so damn useful. They should at least put a page at the back of the comic where they reference other related issues. If comics were digital they could embed web links into the text bubbles, so you could click them to go to a reference site with information about other issues or something.

ELECTRONIC COMICS - A PLEA FOR SANITY

EDIT 02/20/2008: I wrote this piece in 2006, and since that time both Marvel and DC now have electronic comics offerings, with Marvel taking the route of putting a lot of older back-issues in a PDF-style format and DC having an online site for new material with an indie feel to it called Zuda. I think a lot of work could be done on both sites to improve the usability and interfaces of these sites. Reading comics on a screen is FUNDAMENTALLY different from reading on a book, and so far neither Marvel nor DC have done anything to take advantage of the interactive nature of the medium.

ORIGINAL DIATRIBE:
I wish comic vendors would publish electronic versions of their titles, even if they waited a year or two later or something after print media. Or some kind of bundled deal where you got the print comic and some kind of code that unlocked a digital copy of the book online that you could access. They could use the same security technique that modern PC games use – a unique “cd key” code that is slipped into each comic book by the seller when the comic is purchased, and that code ties in with an online service where you can read your comics in digital form. The software for viewing the comic would not allow printing or copying. Of course, screen capture utilities could be used, but that would always be an inferior copy so there would still be incentives for people to buy the actual book and/or e-book.

Comic book publishers are missing an opportunity here. I think they could hit a much wider audience if they had digital issues for sale. There are a lot of people downloading the digital versions now (pirate scans), who would actually pay if the option were available. I just picked up the electronic collection of Ultimate X-Men which looks pretty sweet. Definitely going to snag the big Spider-Man collection and probably the Avengers too. They need to do something about current issues, however.

At $3 an issue, it’s not like most kids can afford to be comic book fans. If they offered digital-only issues that you could snag for $1 to $1.50 an issue, over a service like iTunes except for comic books, they’d make a fortune. I don’t think Marvel "gets" just how averse to print kids these days are. All print media is facing this problem, not just comic books.

In the RPG book industry most publishers have embraced online publishing and are making a lot of money selling their books online now. I’ve seen a few indie comics being published that way, so maybe one day the big players will wake up and see which way the wind is blowing. They are still trying to charge too much, though, I think the indie online books I’ve seen were $4-8 an issue, which may be fine for an adult-market but isn’t going to win over teens.

Of course, comics publishers need to keep offering the print versions and they need to somehow make it attractive for adults / rich teens to collect the books in print form. They have to do this because a lot of their advertising and fan community is through local comic retail shops, and e-book-only sales are going to cut heavily into the profits of those stores. But they must do this, because as it is now, the comic stores are already getting cut-out (pirate comics) and the publishers are still not getting a cut. That’s why I think it’s a good idea to offer free e-books with the print version so that collectors can read the issues online and still get the books in print form saved for collecting purposes. Sure, there will always be people who won’t pay, period, but as the music industry has learned, they can still make a lot of money because a lot of people when given the option will pay.


MY COLLECTION
I now have a somewhat sizable collection, around 2500 issues. Ton of 2004 and up from Marvel and DC. A few older things when I can find them cheap.

I'm spending about $80-100 a week on new issues now. My pull list has most of the DC big-name characters and a few odd ones, and most of the Marvel popular characters and pretty much all the X-related books. I also get quite a few from Dark Horse, Image, IDW, Boom!, and Dynamite, and a few other indies.

Space is a growing concern for me now. I am going to have to start getting rid of lesser-want books just to make room for new books in titles I really want to collect. I am looking at maybe starting up an eBay storefront or something. If you're interested in acquiring barely-used newish comics check out my collection on ComicBookDB and send me an email.

I entered most of the books in my collection in an online database called ComicBookDB, check it out, it's pretty nice and free!