COMICS CULTURE SHRAPNEL from CBEM 305
These past few weeks have found me flouting my own expectations. I have passed on the titles I usually buy in favor of building up my trade paperback collection. I'm not in the process of building a classics library or anything, since I already own all the standards like Watchmen and Understanding Comics. What my hard-earned money has been going to are things I've never read. Stories I'm not even sure I'll like. Ladies and gentlemen, I am taking risks.
And oddly enough, I'm enjoying myself. I find myself rereading them, lending them to friends, and having long discussions about the stories. I bought "Earth X" and suddenly caring about Marvel again. I bought "Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President" and found myself curious about politics. Things are happening to my brain.
At some point I will go back and pick up everything I've missed, this will be far from now at a point when these strange pamphlets will be a novelty once more, and I will be utterly fascinated by the discovery. Stagnation is bad.
I think we sit around too much waiting for something to happen. A new creative team, a character dying, a new direction for a particular book. Maybe we should go out or move on. Just be somewhere else for a time, so maybe we can figure out what the hell we like so much about the comics we read. And maybe find something better.
It's like going to work everyday to a job you hate... do you hate it because its bad, or because you're just bored? Improving our situation is all about figuring out what we want. Does your job pay enough, do your coworkers like you? Does your boss respect you? Does the work accomplish something? Flipside - do you look forward to reading a particular title? Do you like the characters? Is the art pleasant to the eye? Does it make you think?
Stop buying crap. It just makes you miserable and disillusioned.