Comic Con Withdrawal

[the-mangaman]

Although I am not an ifanboy "staff writer", the previous week in comics has inspired me to scribe my immediate response and much like a gag reflex to comic suffication I may or may not be overexagerating certain facts (because in my world everything has to be overdramatized), so please ignore any and all hyperboles and chalk it up to hallucinations.

It was no secret that many comic shops were fueled with readers new and old alike (not blaming SDCC...but I am), whether they were old collectors or , it felt very much like the week of speculation.

Collecting must be part of speculation week because I could swear that was the reason why I recieved a "War of the Witchblades 125" for free from my checker at the front desk and ofcourse, being the completist that I am I just had to see how 126-128 turned out. So in exchange for a free comic I needlessly shelled out the cash for another 3 comics (which I could take or leave) which was definitely a win in the Shop's favor. And if that wasn't enough I had picked up the same copy of 128 (or so I realized the next day).

While pondering my role in what felt like a very long week of collectors crowding me in the shop, I had come to the realization that had any comic been given to me for free, I may buy the next issue even if planning to drop it. I gave myself a list of hypotheticals some of which being outrageous (I admit) but a must in evaluating the seriousness of my obsession with comics.

Here's a quick sample:

Would I buy Transformers #2 if given #1 for free? - Yes?

Would I buy The Boys #2 if someone gave me #1 for free? - ...Maybe

At the end of the day I seem to be very ordinary in comparison to the comic book crowd (generally speaking). Still it bothers me in the worst ways: such as my budget. Times are getting tougher and collecting is the point of purchasing a comic, so why are we so obsessed with collecting? Is it to feel rewarded in the end for having completed a run of good comics? Or are we simply optimistic that our modest collections will come in high monetary value?

Anyways I open the floor to you: The Ifanbase.

What say you? Is it as big an issue as I make it out to be or am I going to have to get some therapy (*sigh* more money spent...)?

I look forward to your responses...

[sensei]

I've always wondered about people with this mentality because I don't share it. I'm not a completist in the least. If I don't like a comic, I normally won't buy the next one.*

If I buy the first three or four parts of a six part series, and don't like the story, I just stop buying it.

I tend to give most series that look interesting a "one-issue try". If someone gave me #1 of an issue for free, I'd take that as my opportunity to find out whether or not I like the series. I figure at $3 a pop (minimum, but also my personal max for a regular-sized issue), the creative team needs to give me an awesome story in one issue if they want me to come back for the next one.

I look at it this way: the writers and artists of the comics I buy are working for me. If I don't like their work, I won't pay them next month. I'm not going to sit around and be unhappy that other people are paying them and I'm not included. Why would I be upset that I'm not being included in something that I don't enjoy?

And it's certainly not that I want those writers and artists to be unemployed--it's just that I don't want to be the guy that employs them.

We vote with our dollars. Every time we buy a book that we don't enjoy, we just told the comic book companies "I will buy this as it is now." They're a business, and it comes down to the dollars in the end, as it really should.

Oh, and in response to the actual question that I think you asked (sorry!), I don't think anyone is ever going to "reward" anyone for having a long run of something.