I finally made it through
all of my Comixology comics, and am relieved. For comics I already own, there
is only one that I haven't read, and I will get to it -- that is amazing
progress. It is also a relief to be done, because this section wasn't nearly as
fun as going through my Dark Horse cache.
(That is not a surprise
in itself. My preference for Dark Horse declared itself early: http://sporkful.blogspot.com/2012/08/i-dont-mean-to-be-contrary-but-it.html)
If you'll recall, there
were 61 different titles in the Dark Horse cache, with 14 where I will
definitely read more, 13 that I might possibly want to read more, and 24 where
I was unlikely to want to read more, plus ten that I had either read completely
or that were compilations.
I had 101 titles on
Comixology. Most of them only had one issue, though, and I had many, many
issues of Hellboy, so those numbers don't quite match up the
way they look. (I see now that it was 172 Dark Horse issues and 196 issues on
Comixology).
However, of the 101
titles, there were 53 that I am pretty sure that I won't ever want to pick back
up. There were 11 mostly single-issue comics, but also a few limited runs that
I had completed of my own volition for other, and 23 where I may want to read
more, and only 14 where I definitely want to read more. That is a lot of good
stuff, but not really liking more than half felt like a lot.
I am tempted now to
promote one of the Unlikely comics to "Possibly" and make that number
52. That would be very fitting, because 5 of them were from DC's New 52, and boy do I ever hate that. Slick artwork,
but so much noise and so little humanity -- kind of sadistic, really -- I could
only hate it more if the art were bad.
It was good to read some
other publishers and be better versed on their offerings. Publishing houses are
still not as reliable an indicator as the writers. I will check out almost
anything from Dark Horse and maybe also Top Shelf, but for most others it just
depends. Still, if the exception proves the rule, I think I might hate Valiant.
After a few of their titles I started wrinkling up my face whenever I saw their
logo, and right through reading X-O Manowar yesterday,
nothing redeemed them.
It did really validate my
writer love. I would never hesitate to read Gail Simone. She can get pretty
twisted (which she admits and revels in) but I just keep finding heart and
meaning and good things in her work. I suppose that means that I could even try
something New 52 with her name on it, but it wouldn't go at
the top of the list.
I feel similarly about
Terry Moore. I just keep liking his work and wanting to read more of it. I
haven't read a lot of Mark Waid, but I will give him a chance because of how
beautifully he handled Birthright. I may not
read everything from Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction, but I'll read a
lot.
(And is the reason I
don't like that one writer because he did so much on New 52? Or was he the perfect person to do so much
on New 52 because that's just him? Because I feel guilty
about not liking him.)
I also need to give
credit to Christy Blanch of Ball State. I didn't love every comic that she assigned,
but there were some really good things there. Many of my favorite titles in the
Comixology group were because of her two classes.
That leads to something
else I appreciate about this; going back and re-reading some of these titles
allowed me to view them with more experienced eyes. Maybe there was something
that I didn't like before, but I understood better this time why it had been
done that way. It gave a greater appreciation.
That isn't all merely
having read more either. People I follow on Twitter - creators and critics -
have shared their insights over time, and that has been good. I appreciate
lettering now in a way I never could have on my own because of Nate Piekos
(Blambot). Steve Lieber, Steve Morris, and Brett White have all been
influences. I like having a deeper understanding.
I mean, I am not at the
point where I will be writing academic papers to submit to the International
Comic Arts Forum yet. I don't even think I will be able to attend this year (though
I had been hoping). It is still pretty cool to look back and to have read so
many great comics and good comics and to even have a sense of accomplishment getting
through so many indifferent comics.
It's even better that
there is still so much more waiting. It's not just the "Definitely"
and "Possibly" comics, though that would be plenty. It's also the 33
books that I have down because I read a positive review, or that seem important
to comic history, or for some other reason I have thought, "I should read
that".
It is also the four
studios and the fifteen creators that I want to check out because they are
local or well-regarded or I went to college with them.
It is also the handful of
comic characters where I may not know of specific arcs to check out, but where
I do want to check something out. Maybe that is just because someone else is
passionate about them (like Steve Morris about Dark Star). It's reason enough
to read more comics.
Plus, soon I will be
reading Native Americans in Comic Books: A Critical
Study by Michael A. Sheyahshe,
and seeing where that takes me.
Finally, there are all
the things that I don't know about yet, or even know how I am going to find out
about them yet, there are books that haven't even been written yet, but that
will still be awesome when I get there.
All of which is really
just to say that I like comics.
But it should mainly be
trades for a while, so if any of my Goodreads connections were irritated with
the frequency of my updates while I was going through so many single issues,
that should be better now.
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