I cannot afford Comics with my meager earnings!!!

[Tyjenks]

Serious question:

Do you guys shop-lift, know a guy at the store, buy in bulk? Comics became an expense I could no longer afford once I started paying my own bills. Maybe you all make enough that the cost is negligible in your cases. I know McMaster is swimming in cash, but what about the rest of you. (As a side note: F*ck, I need a new job.)

[Thierry Nguyen]

I average about $25 a week.

And I'll give art shout-outs to Frank Quitely, Steve Dillon, and Bryan Hitch, my faves of the current generation.

There's also rumor of Frank Miller's unedited Robocop story (http://idiotofvillages.hypermart.net/robocop.jpg) finally seeing print.

And for you art junkies, imagine Bill Sienkiewicz and his crazy-ass lines inking over this guy (http://idiotofvillages.hypermart.net/black-razor.gif). Weird art clash!

[Desslock]

How much do they cost these days? They don't seem to have consistent pricing. I only buy about 6 titles a month, although I also pick up trade paperbacks of stuff that I've heard good things about.


And I'll give art shout-outs to Frank Quitely, Steve Dillon, and Bryan Hitch, my faves of the current generation

I love Quitely and Hitch as well - I just wish they could produce more frequently. I like the Spanish guys - Salvador Larocca and Carlos Pachelo. Art, in general, is much, much better than it was even 10 years ago.

[Dean]

I've been reduced to picking up the collections in B&N, heading to the coffee area and reading them while sipping my coffee, then guiltily putting them back on the shelf.

Every once in awhile I go to the comics store and actually buy something. Last time was the last couple of Amazing Spider Man collections written by the B5 guy. Then, seeing they came to $30 I swore off them again.

I've been reading the Bruce Wayne: Fugitive series in B&N, and I realize that the way DC sets up their storylines I could never buy all the comics series necessary to follow the story. This thing swtiches around between Batman, Detective, Nightwing, Robin, and Birds of Prey (I think. They don't say so in the collections, but the shifts in focus from one issue to the next, and the very different art all tells me it spans the entire Batman universe.)

I tried the Universe X collection, but sheesh! The first one seems to start in the middle of the story, and everything is different, obscure characters from the regular Marvel universe are major characters here, and everyone else is either 30 years older, dead, or never existed. Only for the hardcore, I decided, and reshelved it.

[Gordon Cameron]

I got my comics education when I roomed with a friend who worked (still works part time) at a comic store. He had stacks of them in his apartment 4 feet high. That's when I read Watchmen, Dark Knight, classic silver age Superman, Legion of Superheroes, Life of Captain Marvel, Green Lantern/Green Arrow Psychedelic 70s Roadtrip, Justice League International, Death of Superman, Supreme, John Byrne's Man of Steel, Dark Phoenix Saga, etc. It was a good education.

I don't buy comics anymore, though in my script-reader capacity I'm asked to cover the occasional graphic novel etc.

[Jason McMaster]

I'm not swimming in money, my answer is that my pull list is the following:

Any Alan Moore
Any Mike Mignola
Hellblazer



Those are my buys

[Tom Ohle]

Any Mike Mignola
Those are my buys

Mmmmm... Hellboy. Can't wait for the movie.

[Tyjenks]

I do have some old Micronauts comics if anyone wants to trade.....blech!

[Toddy]

I'm around $25 a week, too, though that's in Canadian, um, dollars. I am soundly hooked on the damn things again, though every week now I shake my head at how stupid I am for spending so much money on so little reading.

But what bugs me the most is gouging between currencies. Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, etc. actually charge more for each issue in Canadian money than they do in American. They're over and above the exchange rate in every instance, especially right now, with the US dollar so weak and the Canadian dollar up seven or eight per cent over the past few months. Paperback book and magazine publishers traditionally don't get close to the exchange rate (most mags, for instance, cost a buck more Canadian than they do US), let alone go past it, and this blatant gouging really pisses me off.

Here's an example, based on the three books I got last week:

Star Wars Empire (Dark Horse): $2.99 US $4.99 CDN -- should be $4.34 CDN based on today's exchange rate (which is better than it was when this issue was printed, but not 60 cents better)

Hunter: The Age of Magic (DC): $2.75 US $4.60 CDN -- should be $4.00 CDN

Alias (Marvel): $2.99 US $4.75 CDN -- should be $4.34 CDN

And here's the kicker -- all three books were printed in Canada (nearly all comics are printed in Canada)! Fuck you very much, guys.

[Don Quixote]

I don't buy so much any more. In fact, at this point, I'm only buying a couple of new Lone Wolf and Cub books once a month or so (only eight left in the series!!), and buying the collected books of Transmetropolitan. Most other things don't hold my attention very long- my best friend buys a lot of comics and I read them occasionally.

Warren Ellis is the best working comics author. Period. I wish he'd get back to doing Planetary. :(

[Thierry Nguyen]

Warren Ellis is the best working comics author. Period. I wish he'd get back to doing Planetary. :(

I think Planetary/Batman is slated for June, after which Planetary proper will resume. Ellis' sickness and Cassaday doing pencils for Cap were the big causes of the delay.

[Jason McMaster]

Any Mike Mignola
Those are my buys

Mmmmm... Hellboy. Can't wait for the movie.


You and me both, brother. You and me both.

[Tyjenks]

Any Mike Mignola
Those are my buys

Mmmmm... Hellboy. Can't wait for the movie.


You and me both, brother. You and me both.

Why did I even start this thread when I can just mooch comics off Jason?

[Jason McMaster]

yeah, Ty, if you wanna try out some of my comics I'll bring some to you and let you check them out. I got originals and TPBs of all of the Mignola stuff as well as most of the Blade of the Immortal run, the watchmen, V for Vendetta, Sin City and soforth.

[Andrew Mayer]

Two words:

Warren Ellis

He's the best thing happening in comics right now.

[Desslock]

Two words: Warren Ellis He's the best thing happening in comics right now.

I've heard his non-Marvel stuff is great, starting with Authority, etc., but his Marvel work was universally abysmal.

[Thierry Nguyen]

Two words: Warren Ellis He's the best thing happening in comics right now.

I've heard his non-Marvel stuff is great, starting with Authority, etc., but his Marvel work was universally abysmal.

Excalibur didn't suck.

[Jeff Green]

Never read the old Warren Ellis, but his recent stuff (including Transmetropolitan but especially The Authority) is fantastic. Desslock, if nothing else, read The Authority. I'm also enjoying his current mini series Global Frequency. Excellent little one-shots.

I'm spending somewhere around $20 a week at this point. And now at this point I just add them to a large pile since I'm hopelessly behind. I only keep up on certain ones so I can hash them out with Scooter at work.

[Captain Cookiepants]

Comics are a huge rip off. I go to B&N and read them before I make my book purchase. I avoid guilt by actually buying books that I want and being pissed at the world in general. Also they never stock good books so I gotta spoecial order them.

[Tom Ohle]

The new Transformers stuff is beautiful, incase anyone had a passing interest in that. The artwork throughout is solid... like... cover-art quality solid.

[Desslock]

Two words: Warren Ellis He's the best thing happening in comics right now.

I've heard his non-Marvel stuff is great, starting with Authority, etc., but his Marvel work was universally abysmal.

Excalibur didn't suck.

I really couldn't disagree with you more, Scooter. I couldn't stand Ellis's Excalibur. His "Revolution" oversight of the three "junior" xbooks was an utter fiasco, that ended with the cancellation of all three books (which had been top 20 sellers less than a year before).

Jeff -- will pick up the Authority TPBs at some point - I like Mark Millar's stuff a lot, so I'm interested in his run as well as Ellis's -- Thierry's been recommending it for a while. Like yourself, I'm months (maybe a year) behind on reading any of the stuff I've been picking up, other than the Ultimates.

[Tyjenks]

Never read the old Warren Ellis, but his recent stuff (including Transmetropolitan but especially The Authority) is fantastic. Desslock, if nothing else, read The Authority. I'm also enjoying his current mini series Global Frequency. Excellent little one-shots.

I'm spending somewhere around $20 a week at this point. And now at this point I just add them to a large pile since I'm hopelessly behind. I only keep up on certain ones so I can hash them out with Scooter at work.

Oops! Forgot to exclude from my inquiry Magazine editors who are inundated with fat paydays and hot women.

[Sparky]

Never read the old Warren Ellis, but his recent stuff (including Transmetropolitan but especially The Authority) is fantastic. Desslock, if nothing else, read The Authority.
I love The Authority, and not just because there's a character with my name, which makes reading very bizarre. Holy cow, there's an action figure too (http://toychest.diamondcomics.com/toys/02_02/04_jennysparks.htm) (oddly enough, I really am the spirit of the century and feature multiple points of articulation. I would not, however, wear those tragic green cargo pants).

[Tyjenks]

inundated with fat paydays and hot women.

I type the phrase "hot women" and if by some divine intervention look who appears not 30 mins. later. :)

[Anders Hallin]

I only buy TPBs.
Latest purchases I've made has been The Dark Knight Strikes Again, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #1, Rising Stars 1 and 2 and Strangers in Paradise #12 (highly recommended).
Also, Revolutionary Girl Utena, though those aren't really TPBs as such.

[Thierry Nguyen]

Excalibur didn't suck.

I really couldn't disagree with you more, Scooter. I couldn't stand Ellis's Excalibur. His "Revolution" oversight of the three "junior" xbooks was an utter fiasco, that ended with the cancellation of all three books (which had been top 20 sellers less than a year before).

Jeff -- will pick up the Authority TPBs at some point - I like Mark Millar's stuff a lot, so I'm interested in his run as well as Ellis's -- Thierry's been recommending it for a while. Like yourself, I'm months (maybe a year) behind on reading any of the stuff I've been picking up, other than the Ultimates.

Heh, then we must agree to disagree. I think I liked Excalibur because Pete Wisdom was such an Ellis-style character. It also felt to me like a better-written version of Gambit.

But yea, his revamp of the three junior books was, er, not up to par, heh.

But all of Ellis' and Millar's run of Authority is on TPBs, and if you liked Ellis' run in particular, you might want to pick up StormWatch, which was the immediate precursor to Authority. If nothing else, Sparky digs Ellis' Authority as well, since it features Jenny Sparks as the leader.

Sparky, did you ever see Millar's original script for, er, what he was going to do to Jenny Sparks in 23/27? It's pretty grody.

[Jeff Green]

Oops! Forgot to exclude from my inquiry Magazine editors who are inundated with fat paydays and hot women.

I think you have me mistaken for Greg Vederman. :)

Desslock-- Millar's run of The Authority is, maybe, possibly, even better than Ellis's run. If you're already predisposed to like Millar, you can't go wrong.

[Tyjenks]

Oops! Forgot to exclude from my inquiry Magazine editors who are inundated with fat paydays and hot women.

I think you have me mistaken for Greg Vederman. :)

You cannot fool me. It has been widely reported that all editors get lots of tail. You, Greg, steve..evidently there is something about delegating tasks leaving you twiddling your thumbs at your desk that makes editors irresistable.

[Dirt]

Millar is the Howard Stern of comic writers.

[Kalle]

You guys pay for comics? I just go to the library. :)

Seriously, I do. No way I could afford reading all those fancy imported magazines otherwise. It helps that Stockholm has a dedicated comic-book library.

[Bub, Andrew]

My library has Richie Rich comics from about 15 years ago (Star Imprint). Man, Stockholm and Cleveland both put my library to shame.

[Anders Hallin]

You guys pay for comics? I just go to the library. :)

Seriously, I do. No way I could afford reading all those fancy imported magazines otherwise. It helps that Stockholm has a dedicated comic-book library.
I don't really understand why I don't hang out at Serieteket more. Maybe I just like consuming :)

[Tyjenks]

No war, hot chicks, good school system and free comics.

Sounds like some kind of beautiful dream land to me.

[Kalle]

Yeah, it's a dream land alright.

Of course, our taxes are rather nightmarish to compensate for it all.


...says the guy who gets his education paid in full, $220 a month from the government as a student grant, and last year paid no more than $300 in taxes. And this year I'm getting a tax return of $90. Life is good. :D

[Brad Grenz]

And they'll write you a check for being in a garage band.

I'm pretty prudent with my comic purchases these days. I opted out of the scene when I got overwhelmed by the cost around the age of 13 or 14. I finally got back into buying trades of stuff I'd heard really good things about a few years ago. Picked up some Authority and Planetary, the first League of XG. Also some Manga trades, GitS, Akira, etc. I probably wouldn't have gotten into monthlies again if it weren't for League, vol. 2. I just couldn't wait for another trade of that. Now I've got subscriptions for that, GitS 2, Wildcats 3.0, and Global Frequency. That keeps me under $15 a month and then I pick up occasional trades of other stuff I want. I walk a pretty fine line, though, since there's so much great stuff being done in comics these days. I couldn't afford to keep up with everything that's good, so I just stick the the stuff I really like.

[DrCrypt]

I think some Canadian was complaining earlier in the thread about prices of comics in Canada. I went moseying by my local comic store the other day to pick up the latest issue of Astro City and did some calculations on the price increase into Euro. A copy of Judge Dredd versus Aliens was selling for 4.50 euros, with an original cost price of $2.99. Not only is the euro currently stronger than the dollarm but that same comic was previously printed in 2000AD, a British magazine that only costs 2 euros on the newstand. Europeans have to pay at least twice as much for any comic on the market.

I picked up the two Top 10 anthologies while I was out, which was totally great and, I think, probably better than League overall. However, Top 10 Volume 2 actually ends with the explanation that child rape is justified when "you know you'll always love the kid", which is just the sort of totally insane thing that Alan Moore would say. But though Top 10 has a deplorable "pro-kiddy-fuck-the-ones-you-love" theme to it, Joe Pi more than makes up for it.

[Toddy]

That be me. And that is a crazy increase, though at least it's somewhat offset by the fact that all those books are imports. The damn things are printed in Canada, trucked to the US, then shipped back to Canada for the exorbitant exchange fees to be charged.

[Sharpe]

It helps that Stockholm has a dedicated comic-book library.

Wow, the secret perks of socialism :).

Dan

[Jason McMaster]

Now I've got subscriptions for that, GitS 2, Wildcats 3.0, and Global Frequency. That keeps me under $15 a month and then I pick up occasional trades of other stuff I want.

I forgot about Global Frequency, it's a pretty keen book.

[Desslock]

It helps that Stockholm has a dedicated comic-book library.

Wow, the secret perks of socialism :).

85% of Stefan Edberg's income has to go to some worthy cause.

[Lloyd Heilbrunn]

I bought my first new comic in 20 years last year and I don't know what was a bigger sticker shock, that comic's price or what they were selling some of the old stuff for..........

[Jason McMaster]

Tell me about it, I've bought a few comics that have shot up in price greatly.

[Tyjenks]

I have a few that have 25, 35 cent pricetags. Do I win?

[DennyA]

I have a few that have 25, 35 cent pricetags. Do I win?
Bah. You whippersnapper.

One of my comic boxes managed to survive the 13 moves we made when I was a kid (we were running from the Illuminati), and it's chock full of 20 cent comics and 50-cent "100-Page Super Spectacular!" issues.

A few years back I decided to collect all of the silver-age Green Lantern issues. (I have issues from #4 on -- reprints on 1,2, and 3, as I did this on a writer's salary...) Lots of 10 and 12 cent issues in there.

Using a Mercedes as a guideline -- they cost a whopping $10,000 when I was a kid -- the 25c comics I read as a kid should be a buck now, not $2.99. But the advertising market for comics has plummetted, and printing costs (and printing quality) have skyrocketed.

[Thierry Nguyen]

Technically, the best way to read comics is in trade paperback form. More bang for your buck, and story arcs generally read better all at once, rather than serially (though, some writers, like Brian Vaughan, are great with the cliffhanger endings, which is negated in the TPB form). Though, publishers only greenlight TPBs based on the performance of the monthlies. So, if I wanted a TPB, I'd have to buy the monthly to help support the sales.

Then again, I'm an impatient bastard.