Are you a reader or a collector?

[TheLazy]

I am a little bit of both, purely through habbit. I don't really collect anymore, but if I buy an issue of something I can't bring myself to throw it away. Which is very space consuming, and the reason why I am jumping for joy over this (http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=93092) news.


I'm currently signing up for the family guy(OMG!!!11!!!!1!) comics, but I'm going to wait to see if they get any critical or commercial 'names' on there before I get anything else. I think this could be huge though, as I prefer reading on the computer, and if they can make a program for things like iPods and PSP's then even better, I've just grown tired of the monthly format.

Also, I could start picking up more titles if DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse commited to this format, which means they'd make more money. I think this could entice 'normal people' to take a look inside an issue or two, at them prices I'd buy one that I didn't even want to read.


What's everyone's views on this type of format?

[big_dippin]

It sounds like a great idea.

Personally, I'm both a collector and a reader. Just got back into comics after about 13 years away. I'm already running outta space.

[sgt pepper]

Reader. I don't care at all about collecting. I give away many of my old comics.

[Stephane Garrelie]

A reader. Stopped to be a collector in 91.
I keep only the issues of the books i follow, to have whole runs, and when i drop the book, i gave or put to the bin the whole run. sometime i keep one or two favorite issues for some suplementary months, but in the end it joins the rest.
The only comics i really collect and keep are the ones writen by Claremont. I have some others, for various reasons that i keep in my library, but not as much as i used too.

[Erisu Kimu]

I'm both. The quality of comics today is just too hard to throw away. Plus, graphic novels are keepers.

[shyguy]

Both. It's because I love reading comics so much that I have to keep them - I know I'm going to want to read them again later.

At some point I'm going to have to trim my collection down, though. There are a lot of comics I have no interest in ever reading again that I'm sure someone wouldn't mind picking up for cheap on eBay or whatever. Plus, I have a lot of "What was I thinking?" comics, like Chuck Austen's runs on Uncanny X-Men and Action Comics.

[Aaron King]

I don't think keeping your comics means that you're a collector. I mean, people usually keep the books they buy. That doesn't make them book collectors. I always assumed that a collector was someone that kept their books as pristine as possible in the assumption that they could sell them for a profit at a later date.

[daletron]

reader. but i collect the classic storylines too

[Paperghost]

i collect, but only so i can read them. when i was in my teens i was only able to get hold of a handful of JLI comics and some others titles because you just couldn't get hold of anything where I lived. i always wanted to read the rest of them and this (coupled with the horrendous tragedy of my mother waiting for me to go to China till she lobbed all my comics in the bin) stirred me into EBay action. now i like to collect slightly oddball stuff so i can write about it.

and i managed to get hold of practically every comic my mother ever threw out. HA! take that mother! take that, I say!!

[dancj]

I'm a reader definitely and a hoarder. Stuff I don't like goes on the "Sell" pile, but everything I like stays.

I try to avoid the word "collector" though. That conjures up images of people who have their comics graded and encased in mylar, and who buy the toys without taking them out of the packaging.

Dan

[Agent Helix]

I'm a reader, but I tend to simply hang on to issues that I buy. I hate the idea of reading comics on-screen, much like I hate the idea of reading books on-screen. It gives me a headache, and having to scroll up and down rather than being able to physically turn the pages annoys me to no end.

[Joey Deadcat]

I keep the books I buy and buy them to read them.

[Shadow ES]

I buy them to read, and then keep them. I think I've only ever bought 2 comics with the intention of not reading them.

[kal_el21]

I'm both.

I love keeping them because they are a part of me. Having a collection has come in handy those nights I've spent waiting for the unemployment check and my entertainment $ has been wiped out. There's nothing like pulling out a 20 year old Avengers arc and being able to read from beginning to end.

[Green Goblin]

I am collector and a a reader m mianly a reader I see no point in buying them then putting them away for dust to gather , I love collecting Amzing Spiderman comics and I'm really into Civil War

[Green Goblin]

I am collector and a a reader m mianly a reader I see no point in buying them then putting them away for dust to gather , I love collecting Amzing Spiderman comics and I'm really into Civil War

[TheLazy]

I don't think keeping your comics means that you're a collector. I mean, people usually keep the books they buy. That doesn't make them book collectors. I always assumed that a collector was someone that kept their books as pristine as possible in the assumption that they could sell them for a profit at a later date.

I suppose, but for the point of the thread it was easier to split it into black and white.

When I say collector, I mean people who do that AND people who hang onto old comics collections to have a complete run, even if its in a poor state (like much of my x-men collection). Graphic Novels like books are expensive in relevant terms to a monthly issue so I understand if people hold onto them, I do, but monthlys mostly just go into a pile in a box now until I can decide what to do with them, be it ebay or charity.

[Dan Apodaca]

I suppose, but for the point of the thread it was easier to split it into black and white.

When I say collector, I mean people who do that AND people who hang onto old comics collections to have a complete run, even if its in a poor state (like much of my x-men collection). Graphic Novels like books are expensive in relevant terms to a monthly issue so I understand if people hold onto them, I do, but monthlys mostly just go into a pile in a box now until I can decide what to do with them, be it ebay or charity.

I always thought that "collector" meant something beyond that. The kind of person that tries to get complete runs of everything they can, buys variant covers, and might spend so much money on a comic, they're afraid to take it out of the case.

I'm a reader. My comics are strewn all over the place, in bad condition, mostly, and I'm happy to pass comics on to other folks when I'm done with them.

[TheLazy]

I always thought that "collector" meant something beyond that. The kind of person that tries to get complete runs of everything they can, buys variant covers, and might spend so much money on a comic, they're afraid to take it out of the case.

I'm a reader. My comics are strewn all over the place, in bad condition, mostly, and I'm happy to pass comics on to other folks when I'm done with them.

Like I said :)


I suppose, but for the point of the thread it was easier to split it into black and white.

[Brian Cronin]

I only collect them.

-Brian

[mattbib]

I guess I'm both. I buy comics for the stories; I'm no longer the completist I was 15-20 years ago. But I do horde the comics I buy, keeping them bagged (not bothering with boards) and eventually boxing everythign alphabetically. I'm facing a big task of purging my collection though; only keeping those issues I believe I might ever read again.

[Althalus]

Both. Though I'm more of a reader. Only for some outstanding series (like Gold Digger, Usagi Yojimbo, Thieves & Kings, Ninja High School) I've let my collector's urge run free and started hunting down all the single issues and specials after I started reading on trades. I bag my comics, but that's just so they'll stay in a readable condition for as long as possible. I don't board them (they're packed close enough in those comicboxes anyways).

I have no problem reading comics on the computer, but I like to have physical copies as well. CDisplay is very easy to use and digital copies are most useful to me as a shortcut (if I want to read a particular comic, I don't have to first find it, then take the box out, then take the comic out and finally peel off the bag) or as extended previews.

I recently even bought the digital collection of Gold Digger, where they put about 150 issues and specials of the series on 2 DVDs as PDFs *and* JPGs and I'm very pleased with it (at least with the 50 B&W issues: great quality... the color issues could have used a bit less compression and more pixels).


~Althalus

[parrish]

I used to be a collector only, but I am more of a reader now. Now that most of my comics are stacked in a closet, its easier to dig out 1 trade paperback than 6 or 7 single issues, so I am starting to prefer that format more, but I still get sketchbooks and stuff at shows, so I guess I am both.

[The Batman]

I figure that I'm a sort of genetic hybrid of both. I get comics to read, I really only buy comics I enjoy (or expect to enjoy at least) but the comics I do get I try to hold onto and keep in decent enough shape.

Of course I do a pretty terrible job of that, they're not bagged or boarded and they're either around the place in stacks or boxes.

[stealthwise]

I always have to explain to people that I don't collect, only own and read them. That usually gets me a bit more respect. :)

[stelok]

I'm just a reader. I don't throw the comics away but I don't treat them kindly. That is why many of my comics were missing covers which were ripped away due the effect of moving the books back and forth inside the stacks.

[surfDUI]

I've always been a reader, but that entails that I keep 'em like I collect them.

[CBPotts]

A reader -- and of the worst sort, too. I read with pen in hand, underlining dialog I like, making notes to myself, exclamations throughout (I do this with books, newspapers, magazines -- trust me, you don't want to lend me a book, ever) It gives my friends who are collectors the heebie-jeebies...but believe me, when I read something, it it completely and thoroughly read.

That being said, I'm also a bit of a magpie. I've got comics (and books, newspapers, magazines -- I have to round everything up for containment purposes at least once a month or it gets Out Of Hand as my hubby says with a disapproving sneer) EVERYWHERE in the house, I found a mess of Hellblazers in the pot holder drawer in my kitchen and re-read them with great joy while cooking the Thanksgiving turkey.

I don't think anyone will want them when/if I'm done with them, which is kind of sad, but what are you going to do?

[Greybird]

Reader, definitely. So much so that I'll only buy what I can anticipate I'll one day want to re-read. If a comic doesn't hit me with an interesting turn, visual or verbal, on a flip-through at the store, I won't take it home.

I won't try to keep up with a run on a title simply because I have many or all of the previous issues. At an average $2.95 these days, that's simply impossible, and puts a huge indigestible mass of paper under your feet.

We all have exceptions, o'course. From a 25-year interest (mostly around Dawnstar, as you might guess), I pieced together a complete run of the "Legion" books during and between Paul Levitz's stints as their writer. (S[LSH] 225 to LSH v3 n63.) eBay helped greatly. I also have full runs of the '70s Ms. Marvel and, more recently, of Promethea.

Yet little else has compelled me to "collect." And what little I do keep, in three and a half short boxes, is nearly all not bagged or boarded. I'd rather have it ready to read on short notice. (Only genuine rarities or single issues where I paid over $15 or so get the Mylar. About a dozen issues thus far.)

Comics should be good, but they can only be that way if they are read. Collecting massive runs and burying them in bags, boards, and boxes does nobody any good, except your heirs who may try to sell them after you're gone. Probably from having burst a blood vessel hoisting a long box {rueful smile}

[Reptisaurus!]

I prefer the term "Comics Nerd." Which is kind of like reader plus, meaning I can go on for hours about why Ghost World didn't work as a movie or Dick Sprang was the best Batman artist or Cheeks the Toy Wonder as symbolic audience insertion character.

Call it Reader Plus.

[Gilda Dent]

I'm a collector and a reader. I'd think it a little strange if someone just collected without reading also. My comics are organized so that I can find what I want easily and quickly and have them in order for rereading full runs. They're stored carefully and safely to preserve them in part because I like to keep my things in good condition, in part to preserve their value, and in part because I like to reread a lot of my comics. Having them well preserved means that the artwork looks better, or at least it looks better to me. Those books that I decide I don't want I'll resell, and I get more for them if they're well preserved than if they're strictly reader copies. Old trades and so forth I used to give away to students, but I learned the hard way that this is more likely to cause problems than anything else, so I stopped doing that and just toss them when I don't want them any longer.

[Arrjay]

Right now I'd consider myself both a reader and a collector.

But, due to some new considerations, that may change. Or it may not.

Recently I decided to really think about what I own and what I need to own. This came about after perusing my apartment and realizing that the wife and I had accumulated a whole bunch of stuff. I hate owning lots of stuff. It drives me nuts because it makes it really hard to travel and move about which is something we like to do often.

So, I'm considering maybe selling some dvds and donating some of our music to the public library that I work in. I don't really want to get rid of any of my comics because I really do enjoy having them at hand to read whenever I want.

It's a conundrum.

[dupersuper]

I'm a reader. I don't care what shape my comics are in as long as they're readable. I also love going back to read whole arcs and such. The only sense in which I'm a collector is that I keep the books, but I do that to reread them...and rereread them...and rerereread them...etc.