How Do You Read Your Comics?

[iSteve]

Wondering if most folks read all or most of their comics on Wednesday or spread the joy over the course of several days? I tend to do the latter. I definitely read the top of the pile comics before Sunday and the podcast, but I like to hold some back for the rest of the week.

[baxter]

I get mine in the mail twice a month. I tend to go through all the floppies on day one, then take my time reading the trades over the next week or so.

[humphrey-lee]

I try to read them all in one lump, and I set my order in what I think will be the "worst" of them first all the way to what I think will be "best". I put #1 issues and the first issue of new creative runs at the forefront too, just cause you never know how they'll turn out.

[kwok_talk]

I predominantly read in trade format. When I get one, I’ll usually stay up the night for the first read, which is partial skimming just to see what happens. Over the next few days, I’ll sit down and re-read to take in all of the art and dialogue.

[billy-parker]

Yah I pace myself. It's more fun that way, instead of reading them all at once.

Which in one way makes me feel bad for the iFanboys, 'cause they have to read them all at once for the podcast. Not that that's bad. But it just seems when you're "forced" to do something fun, it's weird, you know? Is it weird iFanboys?

[luthor]

I usually read what I've been anticipating first(like an event book) right when I get home then read whats left over the course of a few days, usually in bed. My bedroom is littered with comics(which is kind of scary considering the girl and I are getting a place soon) so it's relatively easy to just grab something and go.

[marcushill73]

I get my books the first week of following month. Usually a dozen or so comics and a dozen TPB's. I generally read comic books that night, and pace myself with TPB's over the course of the month.

[conorkilpatrick]

Yah I pace myself. It's more fun that way, instead of reading them all at once.

Which in one way makes me feel bad for the iFanboys, 'cause they have to read them all at once for the podcast. Not that that's bad. But it just seems when you're "forced" to do something fun, it's weird, you know? Is it weird iFanboys?

Weird.... no, not weird. It can be stressful, in a way. If you've got like 17 books to read and you've go the Pick then Wednesdays can be... rough.

But then we've been doing it for seven years now, so I'm pretty much used to it.

I try to get them all read by Wednesday night so I can read the POW thread on Thursday and not worry about spoilers. If I am pressed for time, I look to see what the Pick is and I make sure I at least read that one. That happened last week, I only had time to read half my books, so I read half Wednesday night and half Thursday.

[JAFlanagan]

Given the choice, I'd read them spread out over a week. But if I have the POW, that's not happening, as Conor said.

But if I don't have POW, I usually spread them out over a couple days.

[scottlittlefield]

I usually come home from my LCS and start reading them. Depending on how many books I get, I usually get through the bulk of them by Wednesday night. I like to sit and enjoy them and take my time with them.

If I don't get through all of them, I usually check the site to see what the POW is, that way if I haven't read it, I can bring that to the top of the stack to be able to join in the discussions.

[derek]

I read them in order of least favorite to most favorite, and it usually takes me most of the week to do so. Sometimes longer, depending on how busy I am at work, how many shows I have backlogged on the dvr, how many video games I am playing at the time, etc...

Sometimes I end up getting behind by a week or two. But whenever I have to go out-of-town for work I take all of the floppies I am not caught up on with me and I can catch up in a day or two in the hotel. I think last month I was behind almost three weeks and I read about 35 floppies in 2 days at the hotel.

I don't think I have ever read all of the week's new books on the day I get them.

[fred]

I usually read all my books on Wednesday. Sometimes, like last week, I have almost 20 books and it stretches into Thursday

[darron]

Most of the time I read my floppies on Wednesday right after work. If I have a trade, I hold it off until whenever I have free time.

I usually read them while lying on the ground. Sounds weird, but my back is all messed up, and laying down on the ground helps. Anyways, sometimes, if I'm RE-HE-HEeally excited for a book, I'll read that effer in the car before I even leave the parking lot. BOO-YA.

[iSteve]

Most of the time I read my floppies on Wednesday right after work. If I have a trade, I hold it off until whenever I have free time.

I usually read them while lying on the ground. Sounds weird, but my back is all messed up, and laying down on the ground helps. Anyways, sometimes, if I'm RE-HE-HEeally excited for a book, I'll read that effer in the car before I even leave the parking lot. BOO-YA.

DarrOn, maybe we ought to ask where the most unusual place you've ever read your comics.

[darron]

What, you mean like the back of a Volkswagon?

[humphrey-lee]

DarrOn, maybe we ought to ask where the most unusual place you've ever read your comics.

I read a mini-stack of about a half dozen comics at the midnight showing of Snakes on a Plane... needed something to do until the flick started.

[darron]

Honestly though? Uhm....on a sidewalk, probably. I remember waiting in L.A. for a ride for FOUR hours a few months ago (guess who's still on my shit-list?), and while waiting, I cruised to a store down the street and picked up a few books to kills time.

Maybe someplace weirder, I dunno. I'll have to think/find a weird place.

[fred]

I once read my Wednesday stack in the emergency room lobby

made me feel even more uncomfortable with the unwashed masses than usual

[iSteve]

To the horror of collector puriststs, I can remember as a kid reading my comics both in the john and in the bathtube.

[fred]

I'm with you on the first but not the second

and I mean now not when I was a kid

[iSteve]

As an adult, I now keep my comics away from both. But ah the fond memories.

[fred]

someday I may become an adult


far down the road

[iSteve]

Adulthood is a mindset best avoided - or postponed.

[six-gun]

I tend to come home after Wednesday and read my books from (what I think will be) worst to best, oftentimes waiting until thursday to get to the cream of my crop.

There are some books that I just read in trades:

Daredevil
Astonishing X-Men (I'm reading this current arc in issues)
Runaways
Loveless
X-Factor

[k-dizzle]

I try to read everything on wednesday because I always have trade and GN's lying around to read the rest of the week. This week I picked up the best Batman stories Vol2, and I probably wont read it for a few months. I have about ten trades waiting to dig into but I just need more time. Actually come to think of it, I could be reading them right now! Oh well.

[darron]

I have about ten trades waiting to dig into but I just need more time. Actually come to think of it, I could be reading them right now! Oh well.

Ditto. Between Walking Dead, Powers, The Freshman, Y, and Ex Machina, I have about 10 to go as well.

[mister-s]

Definitely spread out. I have too much work, life to read around.

[ekval]

I typically tear through them pretty quick whenever I pick them up (almost never on Wed). Then, over the next week I'll go back and give them all at least one reread, even the really awful ones.

I try to read them all three or four times before I file them, and then I would say that most stuff in my boxes I've read 5-8 times typically.

I have to agree with Conor saying on the PoW that it really hurts to consider the cost of a comic when compared to how fast it gets read.

[drwally]

Hmmmmm, this is an interesting question if you really think about it...

I read trades, sometimes all at once, sometimes I take my time, and I don't think either has indicated the quality of the book. Of course the "It was a real page turner, I couldn't put it down" comment applies often, but I've also found that both Brubaker's Captain America and Bendis' Daredevil were ones where I took my time going through them at a slow pace, felt comfortable putting it down at the end of a chapter, then picked up a couple of days later, and still found I liked them a lot. In fact, the style of both writers almost demands you read at a slower pace. But others? I thought I've become too busy to just read one all at once, but with The New Frontiers and others I FOUND time to read them all once somehow, as they were really like watching a movie in the way they were written and drawn and demanded to be read all at once (and then I staggered in to work the next morning and people wondered if I had a hangover).

New Frontiers had me soaring, but I also devoured the Iron Ghost in one sitting, but I wouldn't put the latter in the same category quality wise -- it was just a jolly good read, dare I say it, just a really good "ripping yarn."

So, if a writer/artist is good, I just let them dictate the pace of how I read them...of course you can tell if a good writer crafted something for monthly release or otherwise, even if you're reading it in a trade (Bendis, even Cooke on the Spirit) and good is good, either way.

[drwally]

I have about ten trades waiting to dig into but I just need more time. Actually come to think of it, I could be reading them right now! Oh well.

Ain't it the truth, brother, ain't it the truth... you people are addicting... How can shop Amazon when you guys keep pulling me back in? (I'm about to do that Al Pacino line from the Godfather III right now...)

[mikegraham6]

i used to space it out throughout the week but now i have such a pile up trades/book/other media that im trying to work my way through that i try to read them early in the week.
in terms of reading order, i try to mix it up a bit. i will read the one or two comics that im looking the most forward to first and then read a few that im less excited for, then another "good" one and so on... its always nice to get a surprise from a book that you thought was going to be below average and it turns out to be a great issue (unfortunately it doesn't happen too often)

[jimmyp]

Right, I am totally not, ever going to buy tpbs from any comic book stores here. They are just too overpriced, and I am kicking myself now I'm looking at some of the prices on Amazon. It's just I've always been weary about getting books in the post, ever since my Dark Knight Strikes Again got totally bashed up in the post...of course once I read it I thought it was pretty funny.

[watsonglenn]

Are you guys still buying comics? I read them on the computer.

[iSteve]

Are you guys still buying comics? I read them on the computer.

Bit Torrent?

[paper]

I'm going to try reading my books alphabetically this week.

[fred]

I actually align them by expectation in a non-traditional way. If I read a realy good book, I try to follow it with a bad one and vice versa. Then I don't get a giant shit clog on either end of my stack. Sometimes, people fall below or exceed my expectations and it ****s up the rotation but all in all it works more than it doesn't

[darron]

I think I read them in the order they're given to me. However it's arranged at the register is how I read 'em. That way, no bias.

[marcushill73]

I read Previews when I am on the can.

[watsonglenn]

Bit Torrent?

Yeah........

[acomicbookgirl]

I pace myself. Depending on how big my stacks are and what kind of week i've had. I usually read them in bed or on my couch if there's nothing on it.

[jadedhalo]

I usually read my comics at work. I work the night shift so it gets quiet. I'll ether bring a Trade or 2 or 3 floppys a night with me.

[hypertime-mcmultiverse]

One page at a time.

[mikegraham6]

Are you guys still buying comics? I read them on the computer.

dude! if theres any industry that needs supporting, its comics, you should buy at least the ones you like