years back.. towards the start of the decade.. I started a pull box at my local comic book store. It was never really local though, at about 32 miles away.. but it was the closest one to me that had what I wanted and also didn't criticize my purchases the way some closer shops did.
I'd get about 30 books a month, I went weekly to pick them up. It pretty much all started when Devil's Due Publishers started up the new GIJOE comic.. Followed by Dreamwave with Transformers.. and a gazillion other revivals and tie ins.. I was never really big on " Super Heros ".. But I started getting more and more of the Vertigo Titles And then started buying Rex Mundi from Image.. Hellboy from Dark Horse.. stuff like that. Not only that, but after I'd bought the individual issues I would turn around in 6 months and buy the Trades of exactly the same stuff..
Now however.. I get less than 10 books a month, partly its because of constant changes in direction and an unwillingness to jump into a totally different version of something I'd liked.. as is the case with GIJOE and Transformers.. and Partly due to simply buying the trades now instead of the single issues... but mostly its due to distance. The " Local " comic book store which was 32 miles away, moved another 5-10 miles down the road, not that big of a deal but for whatever reason.. I just haven't been going as much. The move was accompanied by or roughly preceded by a change in ownership. It had been owned by one guy since as long as I can remember.. 1995 at least.. and then about 2006 it changed owners. Well The new crew were great, always pleasant always willing to encourage my spending in a new direction.
But one after another my pull list got smaller and smaller, to where I was having to scrounge to even make the minimum 5 ongoing titles to even keep the thing. And driving the nearly 40 miles each way to go and pick up 5 comics just didn't seem like a very good investment. So I started going less and less..
I think this is my longest period of not having been to the store, sometime before the holidays was the last time I went.. my box is long since closed...
Its a bit of an odd situation really.. I'd had it for so long it feels weird to not have the obligation hanging over me to go pick up my books.
But I think I prefer the idea of simply buying the trades.. Its easier to read and properly appreciate a story when you don't have it interrupted by ads or in my case.. 3 month breaks between new issues.
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2 comments:
I can relate to this.
My sub at the local store has shrank over time. These days, I think I'm only getting Hellboy, Warlord, Ultimate Spider-man and whatever grant Morrison happens to be writing at the moment (at present Batman and Robin).
I don't think I could delay gratification enought to just await the trade though.
Well I used to think something very similar, if I didn't get that new issue I'd die.. etc etc..
Something I didn't touch on, but something that really cemented my decision to kill my pull box. Was when Issue .. I think it was 16 of Rex Mundi Volume 2 came out from Dark Horse.. and it turned out that the whole thing was some bit of Propaganda for Arvid Nelson's Religion.. I assume this is what caused the " Creative differences " which lead to the departed of Eric J the original Artist.
the whole thing really pissed me off after having invested nearly 10 years collecting that series. I've still not made up my mind what to do with my RM collection.
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