Defining your collection

[Anjohl]

Hey guys. I have a question. Specifically for collected edition collectors, do many of you define your collections, or do you just essentially either try to buy "everything", or just buy whatever catches your eye?

As I am sure some of you have dealt with, I have been fighting with a constant space issue, and was actually considering dropping 90-95% of my books, and/or going digital. I have instead decided to really ask myself the tough questions about what my collection is and sell off everything else. I have decided that my main areas of focus are:

1) Jack Kirby Marvel/DC (All of his silver age Marvel, Eternals, Fourth World, Golden Age Cap)
2) Golden Age Superhero comics, specifically Captain Marvel and DC's Trinity (via those glorious "The War Years" and "Golden Age Omnibus" books!).
3) Golden Age Horror comics (EC, Yoebooks), and a few of the artist-specific Warren books ("Creepy Presents Bernie Wrightson", etc)
4) Savage Sword of Conan Archives (Dark Horse phonebooks)
5) DC Showcase Presents
6) A very small amount of key comic strip collections (Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Spiderman, Flash Gordon)

Obviously, this list could still constitute a rather large collection. In the case of the books with long series like Showcase, Conan, and FF, I will buy as I read.

I have just found that the books have been piling up. Every couple of months, I would "trim the herd", and trade in stuff I was done with, or had no interest in, but this cull has to do the job. The nice thing about the list above is that it is finite and definite. I could work out exactly how large a collection, the cost to acquire, and the space needed.

I currently have a massive pile of books I am going to trade in towards a bit of cash, and 1-2 books that I have been eyeing off that list, and while it hurts to lose on them, I know unequivocally that I will never read any of what I have stacked up to trade in, as my backlog is already big enough to last the rest of my prime adult years. I should add that I am best a casual reader, maybe reading 5 issues worth a week. So something like a Marvel Omnibus, or one of the phonebooks could take me a month or more to read.

Have any of you structured your collection thusly? Obviously, there are outliers that don't fit this list, but they are few and far between. Have those of you that have had success with it?

[zevious zoquis]

This is very much something I've been doing recently as well. I don't have a huge collection like some of you guys so it isn't as much a space issue as it is simply a matter of not having the cash to get everything I might like to have. So I've decided to narrow my focus and limit myself to a handful of titles. Ftmp I'm a "pulp action/adventure" guy. Over the years I've acquired a certain number of odds and ends books - just stuff I've purchased to read and not as part of a full set or anything. I'm not planning to do much of that anymore. From now on I'll be buying books for a limited number of titles. Any Hellboy LE's, The Sixth Gun HCs, The Goon LE's, BPRD books. I may add The Black Science books to my list as well. That'll be about it. I just can't keep up with everything - especially if you start down the Marvel/DC rabbit hole. There's just too much...

[Taral-DLOS]

When I go to a Con or trade show or something, I tend to go with a specific Want list, developed through a lot of online research (what series I want, how are they collected in TPB, what the cover prices vs. Amazon prices are, how much do single issues tend to be, etc.) But I do have a general theme (X-Men, especially specific characters like Magneto, Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde) and try to collect those. When buying loose issues, I try to go for complete storylines (Days of Future Present, Magneto War/Magneto Rex), minis or small series (Generation Hope), creator runs (Claremont's Excalibur, Ellis's Excalibur, Wood's X-Men, Liu's Astonishing X-Men), or fun single- or two-issue things (Spotlight on...Starjammers, X-Men Unlimited).

[Mace Dolex]

I've narrowed my collection based on 2 criteria:

A) Comics based on a favorite character and/or franchise that I would buy every comic even if its just a cameo appearance in some random book.
B) Comics based solely on a favorite artist that I'd even buy a crappy comic based only because my favorite artist did it.

So based on these I've gotten rid of approximately 1,000 single issue comics because they were collecting dust and didn't care for it.

[Captain Craig]

My wife would probably like an answer to this question as well.

While I don't buy them all, I do probably have about 75% of the OHC and Omnis by Marvel.
I avoid ones I don't like story wise and ones I don't prefer from a "collections" standpoint. Those being Ultimate Omni, Powers, Marvel NOW, 90's Firsts, Tomb of Dracula(I want just a collected Blade Omni) and a few others I can't recall.

I'm probably not as picky as some on what I call good. I should probably say, what I found fun.
I wouldn't say The Crossing Omni is good but it's fun in places and "so bad it's good" in other parts.

[Dayle88]

The majority of my collection could be defined as a load of superhero books that don't have any superheroes in them.

[JJ87]

Interesting question. When I started collecting I used to get only TPBs, and I gradually became more interested in hardcovers or higher-end editions. I'd only buy stuff that I knew I would re-read. As of now, I find myself upgrading my books as opposed to getting new stuff. I currently focus on this:

1) Amazing Spider-Man (main title) in collected editions, in the best format possible (Omnibus > MMW > OHC > TPB, for the most part).
2) Ultimate universe storyline featuring 1610 Spidey (first Peter, then Miles, including "events" like Cataclysm or the Ultimates series) using basically the same criteria.
3) Same thing applies for 616 Daredevil.
4) Batman (main series) HCs, starting with the N52 stuff.
5) Classic Batman stuff (miniseries, Miller stuff, etc), in the highest-end format possible. I've been upgrading these lately.
6) I used to buy all Hellboy TPs, I'm now focusing on Library Editions.
7) Absolute editions of my favorite maxiseries or minis. I'm stoked that Preacher will be getting this treatment, so I sold off my TPBs. I'm also waiting for Swamp Thing to be released in this format.
8) Marvel Event OHCs.

There's the occasional addition (runs or series) to the collection, but this is pretty much it. I read a lot of digital and if I like something enough, I add it to the list. Also, I read/re-read/re-visit most of my books, two or three times a week, late at night or on a work-less afternoon, so all of my collection consists on reader's copies.

[Bad Wolf]

Well I certainly wouldn't buy everything even if I could afford it. I guess you could say nostalgia drives most of my purchases, and I'm mainly interested in stuff from my personal "golden age" (mid-70s to early 80s.) So I have Roger Stern's Spider-Man, Michelinie's Iron Man, Byrne's FF, Miller's Daredevil...

I do have other books from other eras, but that's what I concentrate on mostly.

[The Whovian]

I just buy what I like

[Roland1580]

Hmm that's an interesting question. I think it is possible to divide my collectioning into two different periods:

1) from the beginning of 2013 to the end of 2014: I tried to collect maxmium of the "must-buy" stuff independently of the format and publisher (but preferably in OHC/Omnibus/Absolutes). Like, you know, some kind of hungry lion, I spent a lot of money for buying everything I saw. Vertigo hardcovers, DC absolutes, Marvel omnibuses, some Fantagraphics and Dark Horse stuff... etc. And a lot of rare limited/signed editions, of course
2) When my collection become huge I forgot about rare stuff and concentrated on the new releases only. Now I'm interested in:
2.1) Any DC/Vertigo omnibuses and old Vertigo reprints in OHC
2.2) Some of the Marvel OHC and Omnibuses, but only the most interesting for me (I think I have only 15% of the all Marvel omnibuses released in 2015)
2.3) Humanoids stuff (yep, I have a lot of their books)
2.4) Image OHCs
2.5) Dark Horse Library editions
2.6) Almost all interesting stuff from Fantagraphics/Drawn&Quarterly/SelfMadeHero/etc. About 30% of the all my new books in this year were published not by Marvel/DC/Image.

[Shinglepants]

I don't have a criteria as such but I do have preferences.

1. I have no interest in gold or silver age books, so they're an easy pass. Not really a big fan of bronze age stuff either so I guess my no. 1. preference is that I buy modern age books.

2. Most of the books I pick up are Marvel. I do try and mix it up a little though and pick up some DC, Image, Valiant and Euro comics too.

[Fuller]

For me it's quite simple... I don't buy Marvel books or DC (I could make an ecception to the rule buying some Batman books)

[marvelmaniac6169]

When I got back into collecting in 79 it was about getting back the Marvel Silver I grew up with and had collected in the mid 60's. (64-68)
As time went on and I got those books it became about completing runs of all of the Marvel Super Hero titles which between me and my Son (he accumulated the newer issues, say 1980 - 1998) we have done.
After that was done I became nostalgic and wanted books that I read before I became interested in Super Hero's (Sad Sack and the Sad Sack Spin Off Titles, 10 cent covers only, Harvey Hits and the #1's of the spinoffs) and books that were based on the TV shows I watched as a kid (Beany and Cecil including the Four Color Issues, Tom Terrific).
Once that was done I decided to start working backwards and started collecting Atlas/Marvel Pre-Hero Westerns (Kid Colt, Rawhide Kid, Two Gun Kid, 10 cent covers only) and Atlas/Marvel Pre-Hero Horror (JIM, ST, TOS, TTA).
Even though I have completed the TOS, TTA and Two Gun Kid runs at this point in my life with 6 Grandchildren, changes in finances and priorities and the prices some of these books are commanding even in lower grade, sadly it appears I will never complete the JIM or ST runs, Kid Colt and Rawhide Kid???

[Mike]

Mostly mid 70's to late 90's Marvel and DC books.
Mostly Silver age trades.
Very few books from the 2000s on.

[stgeorge602]

I collect primarily DC because I can't afford or have the space to collect more. But I do have some Marvel (ASM, Runaways), Image (Invincible, TWD, Chew and a few others) and some other publishers. Invincible and TDW I recently moved to digital because of space. I have nine Invincible OHCs I'm trying to unload. With TWD I started digitally.

I have a 5x5 Kallas that is already full; I am beginning to go through my collection to trim it down. I started to read comics with 52. That era, a few years before and everything to Flashpoint, is special to me. So I usually will buy most anything from that time. I'm also interested in the mid-90s material like Dixon's BoP, Robin and Nightwing.

I told myself I would stop collecting (except for Batman, Aquaman and JL) when the New 52 began. And I did good for a while. Then one day I bought most everything in trades because they're so cheap ($8 a book). Now I tell myself Convergence is the cutoff point. Hopefully I stick to it. But my N52 trades are where I am trimming my collection. If I could unload most of those I will be happy and free up space for future collection in the period I enjoy.