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As I was desperately struggling to come up with something, ANYTHING to
write about for this month's Collector Times (after Sheryl begged me to, a
thoroughly frightening experience), I decided to simply check the Previews
for April 1998. Sure enough, nestled inside was a piece of paper with my wish
list for the month. What luck!
I don't know if I was really shocked to discover that of 21 books I
ordered in April 1998, I still buy seven of them! I expected the number to be a lot
smaller! Incidentally, I buy a few more than 21 books a month, if TPB's are
included in the count. Let's look at what survived and what didn't...
Of the seven books that I still read, two are in danger of being
dropped. One is BATMAN: GOTHAM ADVENTURES. It's gotten really unappealing since Ty
Templeton was dropped as writer. It feels too simplistic for my tastes now,
and neither the new writer or the characters are compelling enough for me to
give it any more chances. The other is Dragonball Z. It's a really expensive
reprint of the Manga title, and nothing ever seems to happen. Plus, the differences
between the censored version that is shown on TV and video (and Telemundo),
and the uncensored version of the comics isn't significant enough to warrant $3
a month. These two titles are out the door! Hasta nunca!
The other four are in slightly better shape. Even with June's price
hike, I'm going to stick with SUPERGIRL. Peter David weaves intriguing plots, and
I've really grown emotionally attached to the characters. I'm certain it
isn't in danger of being cancelled, but sometimes I'm concerned that the depth and
complexity that Peter David has built up over the past four years makes the
series off-putting to new readers, a vital commodity in the comics industry.
It seems odd to drop DRAGONBALL Z but keep DRAGONBALL, but that's what I
intend to do. DRAGONBALL is more clever, has better fantasy elements, and
moves a little faster than Dragonball Z does. It's still slower than I would like
for a $3 monthly comic, but it is all new to me, and that makes it much harder
to simply stop buying.
LAND OF OZ and ASTRO CITY are so infrequent that it's hard to get a good
feel for them. But I know that I do enjoy them when I do get around to them.
That plus inertia makes them hard to drop, and at this point, I don't think
I'd want to. If enough better and more regular titles came along, I might have
to consider it, but in the meantime, they're safe, and I'm enjoying the ride.
I've enjoyed the last two issues of SUPERMAN ADVENTURES, and it feels
good to be able to read a quality Superman book. I like the character, and the
writing is very clever. If someone wanted me to recommend to them an
entry-level superhero comic book, this would be it, especially for children.
As for the other fourteen titles, seven were cancelled. I used to have a
really high attrition rate, as far as books I read go. Maybe that's made me
more careful about what titles I get involved with because, these days, I
drop a lot more titles than get cancelled on me (usually because of a change
in the writing team). I dropped four of the titles on this list, the Heroes
Return books. Mainstream Marvel super heroes just don't appeal to me. The last
three were: a mini-series, the Robotech Annual which never came out, and the
Silver Age Superman storyline (which I still remember fondly).
Oh, and one last thing. My total from the April 1998 Previews was 52
dollars. As of April 2000, it looks to be 66 dollars. That's a difference of
14 dollars for four extra titles. I guess in this case the inflation isn't so
bad.
I always like to receive feedback or thoughts you've had based on what I've
contributed. If you have such things to share, please feel free to drop me a
line, at drnate@hotmail.com
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