Tuesday 30 June 2009

Ch-ch-ch-changes

You know, I haven't forgotten this post, and I do still plan to get some sort of drink together. It's just difficult to find the time to do it, what with the fact that I work in the evening and look after my son on my days off. HOWEVER, as some of you who know me in real life may have heard, I've made good on my long-promised threat to hand in my notice and will soon be living the life of a full-time househusband. This should make getting a night off that bit easier, so look out for an exciting evening up west soon (well, in the next three months anyway).

Packing in the job is a bit scary, but to be honest I haven't enjoyed it for ages, the missus earns enough to make a year or so out viable and I enjoy spending time with my son, so I may as well give it a go. Haven't a clue what I'll do when it's time to start work again, hopefully something sensible will occur to me. I might even go and do something stupid like a university course.

In the short term I think that the biggest challenge will be getting used to going to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm so used to sleeping at strange times that the thought of having to hit the sack before midnight so that I can get up with my son is vaguely terrifying. There will also be some financial cutbacks, so I suppose I'll have to tone down my ridiculous comic habit. This will be OK. I'm getting a bit tired of single issues at the moment and am actually quite excited about hacking back my pull list.

Yeah right fat man, come back and tell us that when Blackest Night tie-in fever kicks in.

OK, so I'll still buy all the Blackest Night stuff, BUT after that I think I might kick my single issue habit into touch completely. I know, I know - it's trade waiting cunts like me who doom so many titles. Except that 99% of these flipping comics I lash my cash on are written for the trade anyway, so why the bollocks am I buying them in single issue format? Honestly chums, I'm getting old and suddenly the site of nicely arranged trades on my shelves is a lot more appealing than the yards of bagged and boarded comics and ugly cardboard long boxes that clutter up my floor.

Yes, I'm coming round to the trade-waiters claim that reading comics in collected editions is a much nicer experience than the quick hit world of single issues. I'm tired of wracking my spandex addled brain to remember what happened in the previous issue which I read at 2am last month while drunk. It makes reading comics difficult and unenjoyable. Certainly, I've been actively ignoring my to read pile in recent weeks in favour of collected manga editions and some of my unread trade collection. It will be a struggle for a single issue junkie like me to change old habits, but I think I'm ready to give it a go.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought you'd be the last person to trade wait to be honest. I'd miss the weekly trip to the shop most I think, but I've been getting stuff out of the library lately and it's been great, especially as we have quite a small flat and not much shelf space. I'm also interested in this 'Longbox' $.99 digital thing I have been hearing about. Not sure I'll ever totally give up singles though.

Dom Sutton said...

To be honest longbox has zero appeal to me because I don't like reading comics on a computer screen.

After I wrote about giving up single issues, I sat down and read a few and quite enjoyed them. Still I think I'm going to cut back. Didn't buy the new Rucka Detective and won't be getting Captain America Reborn. Both can wait until the trade. When I'm finished with the current mini series I'm reading, I'm making a rule not to buy any more in single issue form. I'm also not going to pick up any new ongoing series.

Jared said...

I'm a huge fan of trade-waiting, frankly.

Economically, it can be a bit of a hassle though, as in order to make the weekly (or bi-weekly) shop worthwhile, you need to be following a shitload of titles.

Then again, it also forces you to experiment.

Can I also recommend the Soho Book & Comic Exchange? Lots of cheap trades - and generally pretty new ones, too.