My changing comic book purchasing/reading habit.

[Jack Flag]

First of all I wish there was a forum dedicated to comic book reading hobby in general rather than what I see now by publisher. With that said, I have changed the way I purchase and read comics.

I grew up reading comics with the expectation that comics will maintain a collectable value in the long run and that is now no longer the case, at least for books published in the modern era from the late 80s onwards. Out of all my post 1990s collections I think only the early issues of 'The Walking Dead' have gone up in value and that is because they were rare. But modern books are not rare and not worth boxing or placing in plastic bags. I never collected comics to sell. I almost never have sold a comic I have purchased. One of the reason I collected was back in the day, Marvel comics created an interconnected comic book universe and I felt each comic book was a recording of the history of this world. Comic books, especially Marvel books back in the day had narration references from back issues as part of a history that had a past, present and future and that somehow I had to catalogue it - and that was the fun of it and - I no longer have the time nor space to maintain my collection on such diminished returns.

To me, post Onslaught and Crisis Marvel and DC are no longer these very same universes that dated back to their origins (or DC's start - DC only later started to interconnect their heroes) so the need for me to collect books is diminished (along with any financial collecting incentive) so the collecting aspect of the hobby is done for me.

I was exploring no longer purchasing physical paper comics on a monthly basis. I explored going all digital but after some calculations, I found that this would cost me more money in the long run than I currently spend (and I read a lot). My comic book store in Manhattan (which I won't name - this is not a plug) offers a $20 credit back for every $100 spent on books if you have an account with them. That actually helps with my comic book buying budget a lot. If I went the digital route I could save money on sales, but I would have to wait for that or wait for collected trades.

Also, I have taken to selling my Marvel digital codes online for anywhere between .99 cents to $1.99 (again not a plug and not intended to be). This practice is sort of a gray area - not illegal but frowned upon. I might stop doing that one day but until then this helps lower my collecting costs on top of the discount I get from the comic book store.

What I have been doing is a mix - I have been purchasing all my DC and independents as digital copies since they don't have a separate digital code that I could sell. I have been buying Marvel comics from my comic book store and getting the $20 off every $100 spent discount and then selling their Marvel digital codes online. This has saved me on space and on money spent.

One more thing about the digital comics, I have come to enjoy reading comics again like I did when I was a kid. As a kid, I would ride the subway and before I did that I would buy comics from the corner store and read them on the half hour trip on the train. Now as an adult, I can read comics again on my smartphone or tablet while commuting. I am really enjoying my new digital reading experiences.

[Reviresco]

First of all I wish there was a forum dedicated to comic book reading hobby in general rather than what I see now by publisher. With that said, I have changed the way I purchase and read comics.

There is.

http://community.comicbookresources....ected-Editions

[Jack Flag]

There is.

http://community.comicbookresources....ected-Editions

That is about classic comics and collected editions not on the CURRENt state of the comic book hobby in general.

[Reviresco]

That is about classic comics and collected editions not on the CURRENt state of the comic book hobby in general.

Uhn, collected editions ARE very much about the current hobby. It's also about current comic books also, just usually read in a collected format, i.e. in arc format. It also talks about curating collections, displaying and storing comics, collectiblity, and stuff you bring up.

If you just want to talk about the hobby, then there's also the community board:

http://community.comicbookresources....-CBR-Community

[Jack Flag]

Uhn, collected editions ARE very much about the current hobby. It's also about current comic books also, just usually read in a collected format, i.e. in arc format. It also talks about curating collections, displaying and storing comics, collectiblity, and stuff you bring up.

If you just want to talk about the hobby, then there's also the community board:

http://community.comicbookresources....-CBR-Community

That is probably the more apt one.

[Ravin' Ray]

If you just want to talk about the hobby, then there's also the community board:

http://community.comicbookresources....-CBR-Community

Since the original poster is discussing purchasing/reading comics in general and not Marvel exclusively, I moved the thread to this forum.

[Spike-X]

My buying/reading habits have changed over the years also. I used to do it pretty much the same as the OP (finances allowing), but these days I find myself drawn towards more self-contained stories that can stand on their own, without necessarily being part of a shared universe. I don't currently read any DC comics, the Marvel books I buy are stand-alone titles (I'm so very, very tired of the continuous Big Event cycle form Marvel, but that's what sells comic books, so that's what they're gonna keep doing), and I'm reading a lot more titles from other publishers than I did when I was younger.

I also no longer buy singles. All my purchases are tpbs/HCs. I'll check out a new title digitally at first, and if I like it enough I'll start buying the collected editions. Sometimes I'll even buy volume 1 of a new series sight unseen, if it comes highly recommended from people who share my tastes. A risky investment, but one that usually pays off.

[Jack Flag]

My buying/reading habits have changed over the years also. I used to do it pretty much the same as the OP (finances allowing), but these days I find myself drawn towards more self-contained stories that can stand on their own, without necessarily being part of a shared universe. I don't currently read any DC comics, the Marvel books I buy are stand-alone titles (I'm so very, very tired of the continuous Big Event cycle form Marvel, but that's what sells comic books, so that's what they're gonna keep doing), and I'm reading a lot more titles from other publishers than I did when I was younger.

I also no longer buy singles. All my purchases are tpbs/HCs. I'll check out a new title digitally at first, and if I like it enough I'll start buying the collected editions. Sometimes I'll even buy volume 1 of a new series sight unseen, if it comes highly recommended from people who share my tastes. A risky investment, but one that usually pays off.

I do the paper route also. I am also considering ending reading most books on a monthly basis but Marvel does some things right. I really loved the Annihilation Wave stories which re-birthed the Guardians of the Galaxy for example. The Avengers/X-Men/Cap stories of late just bore me.

[Jack Flag]

Since the original poster is discussing purchasing/reading comics in general and not Marvel exclusively, I moved the thread to this forum.

Good call.

[Mighty Roman]

My buying/reading habits have changed over the years also. I used to do it pretty much the same as the OP (finances allowing), but these days I find myself drawn towards more self-contained stories that can stand on their own, without necessarily being part of a shared universe. I don't currently read any DC comics, the Marvel books I buy are stand-alone titles (I'm so very, very tired of the continuous Big Event cycle form Marvel, but that's what sells comic books, so that's what they're gonna keep doing), and I'm reading a lot more titles from other publishers than I did when I was younger.

I also no longer buy singles. All my purchases are tpbs/HCs. I'll check out a new title digitally at first, and if I like it enough I'll start buying the collected editions. Sometimes I'll even buy volume 1 of a new series sight unseen, if it comes highly recommended from people who share my tastes. A risky investment, but one that usually pays off.

I read my comic books like this as well. I don't have a local Comic Book Store, only bookstores that sell TPBs. Out of all of the DC Trade series I'm reading (see my signature), none of them are set in the main DCU.

I currently collect 3 series in TPB (see my signature), and pick up other standalone TPBs outside of those 3 series.

[Hero]

I have sold all my floppies down to one remaining long-box of keys that I intend to hold onto for value and nostalgic reasons. I have a bookshelf containing collected editions of my favorite comic runs, usually stuff with a lot of re-read potential. Otherwise, I'm completely digital now for my regular reading. I much prefer reading series in chunks or complete rather than single issues at a time, so I do wait for the big comiXology sales to buy titles in large quantities and read them then, keeping my costs as low as possible.

In terms of content, I was a Marvel only, and really an X-Men related only reader for a long time. Eventually I branched into other Marvel titles and later some DC titles. I read a lot of older completed Vertigo series. Anymore, I'm reading a lot of Image. My preference now is something self contained with a beginning, middle, and end.

[Jack Flag]

I have sold all my floppies down to one remaining long-box of keys that I intend to hold onto for value and nostalgic reasons. I have a bookshelf containing collected editions of my favorite comic runs, usually stuff with a lot of re-read potential. Otherwise, I'm completely digital now for my regular reading. I much prefer reading series in chunks or complete rather than single issues at a time, so I do wait for the big comiXology sales to buy titles in large quantities and read them then, keeping my costs as low as possible.

In terms of content, I was a Marvel only, and really an X-Men related only reader for a long time. Eventually I branched into other Marvel titles and later some DC titles. I read a lot of older completed Vertigo series. Anymore, I'm reading a lot of Image. My preference now is something self contained with a beginning, middle, and end.

I waited to get a sale for some Indies and I am glad I did. I rather read stories from Comixology on sale and in batches.

[OcStat]

I have 5 long boxes full, with comics over flowing into about 3 other boxes I just have lying around.

I never bought comics with the intention to sell them, actually if anything I always imagined I'd pass them on to my kids, if they would be interested. I have a few books from my time as a youngster, but most of my collection is Marvel, from 2004 on. I recently started selling books, while going through back issues and finding stories I didn't quite care for.

I buy way more books than I read at the moment, mostly because I fell behind in 2011, and my somewhat obsessive compulsions won't let me read ahead before getting caught up. Still getting caught up, almost to Original Sin, but I still buy all the monthlies that garner my interest so I won't fall behind and have to hunt back issues. I realize it would be much cheaper to do so, but I like supporting my town's only local comic shop.

The problem with this is, for one example, buying the entirety of Gillen's Now! Iron Man run monthly, before getting to sit down and read it and realizing I didn't actually enjoy it.

So now I am trying to eliminate some of my clutter. I'm trying to whittle down my back issues to just the best of the best, though I still plan on avidly collecting Spider-Man. I dropped about 10 books off my pull list yesterday and realized there's another 5 I'd like to put on. It's an endless cycle so I've gotten over trying to be a completest because reality has told me it will never happen.

I have thought about going digital but I have a few concerns, such as, losing those digital copies whenever the service is updated or revamped, or when replacing your device.

[Lady Warp Spasm]

First of all I wish there was a forum dedicated to comic book reading hobby in general rather than what I see now by publisher. With that said, I have changed the way I purchase and read comics.

I grew up reading comics with the expectation that comics will maintain a collectable value in the long run and that is now no longer the case, at least for books published in the modern era from the late 80s onwards. Out of all my post 1990s collections I think only the early issues of 'The Walking Dead' have gone up in value and that is because they were rare. But modern books are not rare and not worth boxing or placing in plastic bags. I never collected comics to sell. I almost never have sold a comic I have purchased. One of the reason I collected was back in the day, Marvel comics created an interconnected comic book universe and I felt each comic book was a recording of the history of this world. Comic books, especially Marvel books back in the day had narration references from back issues as part of a history that had a past, present and future and that somehow I had to catalogue it - and that was the fun of it and - I no longer have the time nor space to maintain my collection on such diminished returns.

To me, post Onslaught and Crisis Marvel and DC are no longer these very same universes that dated back to their origins (or DC's start - DC only later started to interconnect their heroes) so the need for me to collect books is diminished (along with any financial collecting incentive) so the collecting aspect of the hobby is done for me.

I was exploring no longer purchasing physical paper comics on a monthly basis. I explored going all digital but after some calculations, I found that this would cost me more money in the long run than I currently spend (and I read a lot). My comic book store in Manhattan (which I won't name - this is not a plug) offers a $20 credit back for every $100 spent on books if you have an account with them. That actually helps with my comic book buying budget a lot. If I went the digital route I could save money on sales, but I would have to wait for that or wait for collected trades.

Also, I have taken to selling my Marvel digital codes online for anywhere between .99 cents to $1.99 (again not a plug and not intended to be). This practice is sort of a gray area - not illegal but frowned upon. I might stop doing that one day but until then this helps lower my collecting costs on top of the discount I get from the comic book store.

What I have been doing is a mix - I have been purchasing all my DC and independents as digital copies since they don't have a separate digital code that I could sell. I have been buying Marvel comics from my comic book store and getting the $20 off every $100 spent discount and then selling their Marvel digital codes online. This has saved me on space and on money spent.

One more thing about the digital comics, I have come to enjoy reading comics again like I did when I was a kid. As a kid, I would ride the subway and before I did that I would buy comics from the corner store and read them on the half hour trip on the train. Now as an adult, I can read comics again on my smartphone or tablet while commuting. I am really enjoying my new digital reading experiences.

Glad the floppy and digital experience is working for you; as is the Midtown Comics discount. Midtown works on some levels, but they lost me as a nearly 15 year customer for economic and customer service reasons.

While I like being able to do a quick read digitally on day and date, I loathe reading anything on my phone, so floppies and/or trades for me.

[emac1790]

While I like being able to do a quick read digitally on day and date, I loathe reading anything on my phone, so floppies and/or trades for me.

Reading comics on a smartphone will kill your eyes. If one wants to go the digital route, try tablets with 8 inch screens and up or a laptop.