How long does it take you to 'give up' on a title

[MattyHaydock]

When do you decide to drop a title? How long do you give it? Do you sometimes carry on buying it until the end of the arc? What happens to the comics afterwards? Do you try and sell them? Do they go in a loft only to be forgotten about forever?

Reason I ask is that I sometimes find myself slogging through a title that I don't really enjoy - just out of some sort of stubbornness / denial

[CSTowle]

3 issues. One issue is going to happen, 2 is annoying but even the best titles have slumps, but if you give me 3 crappy issues in a row then at $3-4 a pop and with so many good titles out there that I just can't afford to get because I need to cut the list off somewhere then I'm moving on. If there's a writer change and I'm not familiar with the writer I take it off my pull list and buy the first issue off the shelf. I only give that the first issue to hook me, though.

[just another user]

1 bad issue generally. If there is an identifiable reason that an issue is bad eg a fill in artist, I might give the next issue a go if the creative team returns.

I've seen some people post that they'll give a title they aren't enjoying 6 issues. I can't understand that mindset. $24 dollars on something you don't like? Seems nuts.

[ThiefHookUps]

When do you decide to drop a title? When I stop looking forward to reading it anymore.
How long do you give it? Depends on the title and for how long I've been reading it. The two previous answers are both right for me. Some comics I know within an issue (usually new titles) and others take a 3 or 4 before I can see that it's not going to improve. But there have been comics that I've been buying for a while and then they have a bad arc and I ride through it assuming it''ll improve once the arc's over. If the very next issue after the arc isn't any better though, then that comic's dropped. If it is a return to previous quality then happy days!
Do you sometimes carry on buying it until the end of the arc? Yeah, like I wrote above if it's a comic I've been enjoying I assume/hope the bad arc is only a rough patch. For other kinds of comics if I've bought 5 of 7 or something I might. It depends. Though, I don't think seeing an arc through to the end of a comic I was on the fence about has ever paid off.
What happens to the comics afterwards? Do you try and sell them? Do they go in a loft only to be forgotten about forever? Oh yeah, I get rid of it ASAP. I have enough comics in my house that I DO like!

[mars]

Three pages.

[JasonTodd428]

When do you decide to drop a title? When I'm no longer enjoying the title in question and feel my money can be best spent elsewhere. I have a limited entertainment budget and lots of other things I enjoy besides comics.

How long do you give it? I had one title that I just kept reading and hoping it would get better but I learned my lesson there. Right now I only give titles three issues to hook me although I have dropped titles after a single issue before. If the creative team can't hook me in that time frame then they very likely aren't going to be able to.

Do you sometimes carry on buying it until the end of the arc? Nope. If I'm going to drop it anyway then I feel there's no point in finishing out the arc before doing so especially if there is some other title out there I think I would like better.

What happens to the comics afterwards?They sit in a pile until I have time to store them away in the attic.

[gimpboy76]

Here's a question for those that sell their bad comics, sometimes I will see an arc through just because I think it would be easier to sell on e-bay in a bundle, that was the reason behind getting Red Hood and the Outlaws through the Tynion run, I could tell it was never going to improve but felt it would be easier to sell as a bundle, is that true? It kind of backfired on me though because that thing just kept going and going, LOL.

And to answer your other questions: If it's anything in the Batfamily I will just keep getting it because those are my favorite characters, other than Red Hood which I don't really see as a Batfamily book in the New 52, but I dropped Dark Knight after one issue because I almost felt like it was a sideways continuity book, nothing in it really affected any other titles. I will try the new Batbooks in October, but I feel like there are getting to be too many Bat-books and it's really stretching my money to get them all.

[Goggindowner]

It completely depends on the situation, for me.

If I typically like the creators involved, I'll give it one full arc to grab me. Sometimes you don't get a sense of direction until the opening story under a new team is finished, and it sets up everything that comes after that. I would greatly prefer that opening arc to be of equal or better quality than what follows, but it isn't always. If after the first arc, I'm not digging the direction, the series is cut regardless of who's doing it.

If I don't typically like the creators involved, I'll usually wait and see what critics and fans think of the series. This would be an example of when a new writer takes over a series I've been enjoying under the previous writer. If Matt Fraction were to take over writing on Saga, I would drop the book having never read anything he did. If critics and fans say it is as good or better than what Vaughan was doing with the title, I might pick it up in trade later on down the line, but even then not likely.

If I don't know anything about the creative team, they get one issue to make me want to come back for the second.

[ish kabbible]

It could take as little as one panel of Humberto Ramos art

[RDB2]

I just usually drop a title after a few bad issues in a row, or if I just feel like the story isn't going anywhere, or if the dialogue is just hard to follow or difficult to read, no real formula for dropping a title I guess, always try to sale them on ebay, most recently I dropped All New X-Factor, love Gambit and he's the reason I picked it up, but I just feel like its not that great and really doesn't seem to be going anywhere, I'd like to add to the OP's question and ask what was the most recent title you dropped and why?

[gimpboy76]

I'd like to add to the OP's question and ask what was the most recent title you dropped and why?

Harley Quinn, because there are just too many Bat-books and this one was just a fun book that's not really in continuity so I can read it as a trade and not lose anything in the telling. I also dropped Batman/Superman because of the lack of quality in the story lines and the incessant delays due to Jae Lee's art, it looks like he may be getting relegated to doing covers because of his inability to meet deadlines.

[Goggindowner]

[W]hat was the most recent title you dropped and why?

The last title I dropped was Captain America right after the Lost in Dimension Z story wrapped up. I enjoyed that story a lot, but what came after it did NOTHING for me.

That was actually my only monthly title at the time. Since then all I've read in single issues has been Allred's Silver Surfer.

[Marvel_Is]

IME, titles never get better. If I think the first issue is crap, then I end it there. Do not, DO NOT carry on with a title if you're not enjoying it. Live & learn.

After I've assessed that the series will no longer be collected, I blacklist the writer of the material and carry on looking for more suitable entertainment. And I'd never sell garbage to someone else as that'd be unethical. I just use resources such as CBR to warn people of the inherent dangers of buying terrible comics.

[The New Black]

Depends on how long I've been getting the title and I hold onto the books I buy. Don't know what I'm waiting for, but I don't feel the need to get rid of any as of yet.

If it's something new I'm trying out and the art or writing or the plot of whatever really annoys me, I'll drop it after 1 issue.

On the other end of the spectrum, if it's something I've been getting for a long time it will take an awful lot. It would require some EXTREMELY drastic change(s) to the X-Men to get me to drop every X-title, for example.

Last titles I dropped were
Blood Queen from Dynamite. Don't know what I was expecting, but the covers seemed to show what the series "will be" and the story didn't seem like it was getting anywhere near that interesting any time soon.
Conan vs Groo. Yeah I understand it's a goofy premise, but SPOILER if I wanted to read MAD style stories, I'd pick up a MAD issue. Don't tell me I'm buying Conan vs Groo and end up selling me a book that's half Conan vs Groo half The Wacky Adventures of Evanier and Aragones. END SPOILER

[Goggindowner]

IME, titles never get better. If I think the first issue is crap, then I end it there. Do not, DO NOT carry on with a title if you're not enjoying it. Live & learn.

After I've assessed that the series will no longer be collected, I blacklist the writer of the material and carry on looking for more suitable entertainment. And I'd never sell garbage to someone else as that'd be unethical. I just use resources such as CBR to warn people of the inherent dangers of buying terrible comics.

ONE failed attempt to entertain you isn't grounds for blacklisting. That's just crazy talk. No one is perfect, and no one is going to hit your entertainment gland every time out. Even Grant Morrison, my favorite comic writer of all time, doesn't hit the nerve every time for me. His Action Comics was/is terrible, IMO. Doesn't mean that I won't give his next big project a chance. I wasn't wild about Remender's run on X-Force, but love Fear Agent and his work on Captain America.

I've only ever "blacklisted" one creator, and it's Matt Fraction. He has failed to entertain me on EVERYTHING he has done. I have never enjoyed anything he did.