Is anyone else worried about the number of books that are coming out right now?
A quick count of our shipping list reveals a little over 30 new graphic novels this week, including a number of excellent high-end releases. New Darwyn Cooke & Tim Sale Superman, the Local hardcover, D&Q’s entire awesome fall lineup (so much good!), Plain Janes 2… And that’s before the manga! The all-in-one edition of Inoue’s VAGABOND shipped this week, as did the second Dragonball in that format AND 2 Inoue art books from the Vagabond series.
I’m just looking at all the books I wanted to buy from this week and last, and it’s well over 200 bucks, and that’s kinda crazy? A little? Maybe I’m just over-reacting because I’m trying to find space from all of this stuff on the racks and there ain’t space, maybe not. But you guys tell me; does your budget for comics and graphic novels allow you to buy everything you’d like? Do you suppliment purchasing with visits to the library or being a filthy stinking internet thief? Is there a larger the-economy-is-shit worry you have when deciding that the hideously underpriced $30 Local hardcover needs to go home with you today or not?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, because mine are pretty scattered at the moment.
– Christopher
I actually am having a tough time right now as my comics budget has been slashed quite a bit due to the poor economy, rising gas prices and kids’ birthdays. I actually went quite a bit over this month and don’t know where I’m going to find the cash for stuff like Burma Chronicles or the countless $50 reprint projects that fill like manna from the heavens these days.
I am spending more on comics and graphic novels at the moment than I ever have in my life. There’s just so much out there at the moment.
So yes, there’s a lot I’m not reading/buying any more, mainly superhero stuff from Marvel and DC and manga, because there’s so much interesting stuff being done in independent graphic novels and collections.
It’s a dilemma, that’s for sure.
I just buy whatever genre I feel like reading at the moment and make a mental note of the other books. When I feel like reading a different genre then I’ll get the other book(s) that fits it. There is no shortage of good books out there so I don’t fret about missing anything.
I reached the saturation point a couple of years ago. I used to order $100 – $150 a month in trades via mail order and pick up more at my local comic shop week to week. I had convinced myself that I’d have time somewhere down the line to read all those unread books piling up in the corner. It never happened. I finally learned to cut back on what I ordered. I miss stuff all the time now that I want, but I read much more of what I buy. And I think that’s what all comic fans have to learn — your eyes are bigger than your wallet.
That said, I have a huge list of books that I haven’t bought that I’d like to someday, when I’m filthy rich and retired. 😉 I hope to get to that list someday soon. heh heh
does your budget for comics and graphic novels allow you to buy everything you’d like?
yes and no, I don’t keep a ‘comics budget’ but then I don’t make weekly visits
It’s very rare right now for a new book to come out that i’d want to buy to go out of print before I could pick one up
If I do have money to spend though i’m that much more likely to grab more and more books, and naturally I tend to buy for more then just myself when I do swing by
I’m one of them poor stooges who preorders stuff, so when a week suddenly just FLOWS with great new books I’ve ordered, I gotta scramble to come up with the dough, cause I HATE leaving stuff behind in my “pull” box (because I don’t think it’s fair to the retailer…). Most weeks lately have been sporadic,minimal things (ie, one or two books…), but I just know there’s gonna be a week with like, three or four awesome graphic novels I’ve ordered released the same day, and then the screws get tightened.
Yes, absolutely, I have to be choosy. There’s an insane amount of stuff out there that I want. I tend to pick up the stuff from the artists or titles I’ve already committed to, sometimes because the name ensures quality (anything Trondheim, for example) but also sometimes just to satisfy my completist personality (why drop Path Of The Assassin now when there are only a few volumes left?). I seem to be in comics history phase at the moment as well, so I’ve been picking up a number of the reprint books that look appealing.
New GNs from untried artists get picked up if word is good (I’m always happy to hear your and Peter’s recommendations) and they appeal to me when I flip through them in the store. If they don’t grab me, they get put on the back burner where I might pick them up during a slow week/month or I might just forget about them entirely. For example, I still haven’t picked up Red Colored Elegy, just because there’s something about the artwork that turns me off. I expect I will pick it up eventually, though, considering the raves. I know enough about my tastes not to trust my snap judgments.
Cost is a factor too — I might give something that’s $10-15 a try, but for $30 I’m going to be more leery about taking chances.
If only five 19-page $25.00 graphic novels could be compiled under one cover for $125.00, I’d somehow find that easier to justify within my budget than buying them individually. 😉
I don’t have enough money to buy everything I want and that’s with a generous discount from our local comic store. I’m lucky in that our local store in London, Ont just moved to a much bigger location and I have been helping them set up, making lots of store signs etc in exchange for store credit. Thank goodness since as you mentioned there is so much good stuff out now. I realize most people don’t have this option though…
I have also recently renewed my love affair with the public library. It’s really amazing the selection they have as well as the amount of new stuff. On our system, you can see what’s popular by looking at how many “holds” are on a book. I had to wait a month and a half for the Abel/Madden first second book on cartooning. Finally got it and it looks good. Even Jason stuff I have to wait for (surprising since London has such a reputation for being a conservative town). Interestingly, the Marvel stuff seems readily available…
I live in Japan and have to rely on Amazon.jp for my comics buying and yes, it seems like a huge amount of good stuff is coming out practically at once.
I just got the American Flagg hardcover and the Creepy archive book in the same month. And since they’re imports and due to the exchange rate, I actually paid more than American retail for them. I have the Love & Rockets thingy on pre-order, too. They seem to be having trouble getting it for me.
Strangely, even though these books are more expensive here, I find I can afford to buy them now because my disposable income is so much more now than it was when I was a lowly graphic designer. But in all the spending I do end up depleting my bank account pretty rapidly so I’m trying to cut back. I can’t quit cold turkey, not with all these awesome books coming out at the same time. So, no, even though I do go crazy sometimes I can’t buy everything I’d like.
But I do like everything I buy.
And if they suddenly dump a bundle of new Nana volumes on the market though… I’m in serious trouble!
I just keep raising the floor, basically. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t buy that I might well like, but I only have time to read (& money to buy) stuff I might well love, if you see what I mean. If comics ever go through a lean period again, maybe I’ll go back to stuff I missed.
Usedtawas, I had to buy everything that I liked and everything that I thought I might like to fill my reading time.
But now, well, yes, my reading time is less… but also there is so much goodness out there that one can’t do it all. Egads, I’ve got a big to-be-read pile. And as a reader, there’s worse situations to be in than to have a surfeit of worthwhile reading. But yes, it leaves me reading mostly known quantities, not finding the need to experiment much.
But as a publisher… this is a pain in the butt. Because I know the reader I’m pitching to is also in the same situation. And with so many projects that folks need to make noise about to promote, it just becomes a wall of noise. It’s so hard to get heard.
I realized a couple of years ago I couldn’t in a single lifetime read everything I want to read even if I limited myself to comics that came out before 1980. At the same time I feel I’ve already read a lifetime’s worth of comics. So I look at everything I get to read now as a bonus. It’s splendid to know that there I’ll always have good comics to read.
Of course, I’m old enough now I can spend an hour sitting on my porch and staring at the street.
man, i can’t write!
As you know, I have no budget for comics, which is not a problem some weeks… and a huge problem others, depending on what’s out. Anytime I walk into the store on a Wednesday, I find myself spending either between 40-100 dollars, but I’m walking out with mostly everything I want… but I’d rather be spending 40 dollars than 100, so I’m going to have to get my shit under control from now on. ^_^;;;
Last month I bought way too much. Really !!! I was shocked by my Mastercard-bill. I still have a huge to-read-pile so it’s getting really ridiculous. I’m sure I’ll be able to cut back on my purchases. I HAVE TO !
I’m a library man myself.
It takes the TPL a few months to get stuff, but eventually they do (occasionally it’s @ the Merrill collection only – ugh!) . There is still so much older material I haven’t looked at yet it’s nuts.
I use the ‘new graphic novel’ section of their site and ‘reserve’ a bunch. Then I ‘suspend’ the holds so that they’ll get me down to ‘first’ place so I can try to contain my reading as best I can. I don’t like to have more than 4 or 5 out at a time 😉
It was thanks to Peter a few years ago when he did an event with Seth and Chester Brown at the library that got me started — had never occurred to me before to get comics @ the library!
Could be that the comicbook industry is matching the marketing of the book publishing industry… Fall is always a killer season (and as a database analyst for B&N, I get the infor in the Spring and have to wait six months to see it all!)
My fave? “Alan’s War” Gonna send that to my uncle who arrived in France two weeks after D-Day. The one I’d merchandise like crazy? Spiegelman’s Breakdowns.
So much good stuff coming out… stuff I’d ask people “Why don’t you…” and they are! Sam’s Strip! Humbug! Trump! Mmmm… and I can afford to buy it, unlike when I was a kid and Eclipse was printing hardcovers, and Graphitti was printing S&Ns…