As long as YOU can read it! It really is a good creative outlet and has served me well. It helps for me to write the date I started and finished, where I acquired it, and if it was electronic or physical. And now when anyone asks me what I think, i just flip through to see… It’s amazing how much I can forget!
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That’s really cool, very creative.
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I am a collector plain and simple. I read digitally on this app but love owning comics for the art. I have some on my wall with top loaders and a few graded. It is my one hobby really. Variants have made collecting that much more fun although I only get the ones I like. I only buy dc and independents sometimes. The dceased horror movie variants were amazing.
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I am on a hybrid model of reading comics right now. I was getting every Future State and that is nearly over so I am going to dedicate more time in the back bins. I also pick up trades or hardcovers. Then there are the weekly Archie digest which are mainly reprints with one new story in them, I think?
I do embrace digital. Of course, I read books on DCUI but there are also sites where you can buy bundles of digital comics like Humble Bundle and Groupees. Needless to say, my hard drive is filled with comics from those sites. It also works out as I get a lot of digital trade paperback volumes and that money is going to charity.
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I’ve been digital since DC and Marvel went ‘same day digital’ back in 2011.
It helped that New52 killed off my physical buying at the time.
I still have physical collections of stuff that I really really liked, like the Sienkiewicz era New Mutants, Moon Knight v1 and v2, Levitz Legion, JLI, ‘70s Iron Fist, the original Power Man/Iron Fist, DNA Legion, Sandman Mystery Theatre, Micronauts v2, the first DC Star Trek series, Secret Origins, the original Who’s Who and the updates, Who’s Who in the Legion, ‘80s Doctor Strange and the latter half of the original Defenders.
I also liked the Essentials and Showcase Presents, and have a few from both. Mainly for early Doctor Strange, Thor and JLA.
I still need to get the Doom Patrol in that.
For trades, I tend to get more Vertigo-type stuff. And when I say Vertigo, I mean Karen Berger/Gaiman/Moore/Morrison/Milligan Vertigo, not the later creator-originals Vertigo.
I have almost all the Moore issues of Swamp Thing in tpb (and what I don’t have collected in trades, yet, I have in floppies), the first volume of Promethea, the first volume Morrison’s Doom Patrol, and pretty much all of Allred’s Madman comics in tpb.
I also tend to buy a lot of Marvel digital trades because they go on sale frequently on Comixology.
I got almost a complete run of Werewolf by Night and Tomb of Dracula that way.
I also buy digital singles for older comics, but I now only buy singles if a run is complete in digital.
If there are issues missing, I won’t bother with it.
For example, I already own a complete runs of the Stern and Gillis Dr. Strange, and would love to get them in digital, too, but the Stern run is missing four or five issues. So I haven’t bought any of them.
I would say that where I’m at with comics is kinda like where I am with music or movies.
I’ll read, listen to or watch a wide variety of stuff, but only the things I really like get collected in comics/trades, albums or DVDs.
Owning physical copies is like a confirmation that it’s something that resonates with me.
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I buy physical copies of my comics. I USED to read thru the app, but they removed the app from Xbox and I can no longer read on my 60 inch big screen TV. The screen on my phone just can’t cut it, especially reading dialogue. So I had to unsubscribe from DCUI. If anyone has a workaround that would allow me to use the app thru my TV, please let me know I miss it a lot.
So I’ve been into comics since the early nineties. I’m a bit “old school”, I definitely didn’t embrace the idea of digital comics, part of me STILL worries that physical copies of comics will go away completely. What brought me around to even trying digital was buying graded comics. Once they’re incased by CGC, CBCS, etc., you can’t open them up and read them. And I may fall into a category of comic book collector, I have a pretty impressive collection if I’m to toot my own horn, but more importantly I am a comic book READER, I have read every comic book I own.
To finally address the main question, I have a pull list at my local comic book store and I’ll go in sometimes weekly, but more often every few weeks and pick up my stuff. Generally I read them all in the next day or two, but there are times of the year when I’m super busy so I can be a few issues behind. I don’t know the exact number of comics I have pulled monthly, but I’d estimate it near 30 (yeah I’ve got a problem), so they can pile up. When that happens I sort them by title and read them that way, like for example I just finished the last 3 issues of Action and Superman (pre-Future Slate) and it was great because remembering what happened previously is much easier, it’s like a TPB experience, only with individual issues.
However when I’m completely up to date I sort my comics by what I want to read the most and then start with the stuff I’m least excited to read. It’s like a delayed gratification before I get to my favorite characters/writer/storyline. It’s also why I sometimes have a few issues of one title left over (like my previous example of the Bendis Superman stories).
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Another thing about collecting comics is that they hold a value. Sure some might be worth $1 some might be worth more but I like I can sell if I need to when digital does not give me that option. Love both mediums as I obviously read digital on here daily.
One workaround is to mirror the screen from your phone to the tv if you have a compatible tv or a roku.
get a windows pc, any type of xbox, and bam, instant screen cast to the tv
Oh you will need to download an app on the xbox though; (I personally prefer to read on a tablet though, its the closest thing to actually having a comic in your hands, when it comes to digital
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I’ve recently leaned into digital. I have very limited space so digital lets me have the shelf I wish I had IRL.
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I like the tablet too but my most comfortable tablet reading experience was the fire tablet but no more! I use the Samsung tablet now, the large one and it’s uncomfortably big.
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I’m digital now and only buy GN of stories I really love. I used to get the TPBs but when I moved across country and to a place without a vendor it was just more efficient in both time and money to go digital but I do miss getting that DC package in the mail every month! All my old TPBs are still at home with my mom but one day when I’m home I’ll have to decide what to *gulp part…with…
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I bought floppies up until two years ago. I am mostly digital now due to space. I sold off my entire run of Tom King Batman. I was never going to read those things again. I have short boxes and I want to be more selective of what I bring home. The other day I set aside some runs of Suicide Squad that I am going to donate for the school book sale. I am only keeping some because of the covers. I only got into variants covers recently. I was so happy when I found three Lee Bermejo covers with Harley on them. I am going to put them up in a frame. Right now, I am only buying Batman/Catwoman and the new Joker run by James Tynion. I still want to support my store as they have been very accommodating with me.
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Supporting the local stores is why I still pick up comic books once in awhile. Well… Future State looked too beautiful to pass up physical copies.
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I am a collector to the point where its a problem, so I imposed rules on myself, especially when it comes to singles. Basically, I told myself I’d pick characters and focus only on them when it came to singles. Speaking exclusively of DC, that moratorium excluded only Nightwing and Hellblazer. But rules are made to be broken. I still collect exclusively based on characters, but I’ve still limited myself within those more expansive confines. I’ll collect specific runs of certain characters - Spectre’s 1992 run, or the short lived Zatanna run - or special covers for favourite characters. I think it’s important to preserve this format of comics, so I try to always have at least one series on my pulls list, be it DC or otherwise.
Trades I’m a little more lenient with myself on. If I love it, I’ll buy it. If I love an author’s run, I’ll collect it. If I love an artists work, or a story, I’ll pick it up.
I generally wait several months before going to the store to pick up my pulls and then I binge read them back to back, add them to my spreadsheet where I keep track of everything, and then carefully place them on a shelf, or bag and board them in the appropriate box.
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Obtain a Comic, Read, Bag n Board, Find room in one of these boxes, Repeat Cycle…
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I usually wait to read stories until the graphic novel comes out, or if I can get the full series on here. There are so many older stories that I am catching up on like Hellblazer, and Swamp Thing that it will really take me awhile to get through everything. I usually collect physical copies of older series that I started when I didn’t have this service. I am slowly collecting Batman: No Man’s Land.
That my friend is a long process but oh so satisfying whenever you complete a collection. Graphic novels definitely are my go to reads these days, unless it’s a short series, otherwise I’ll wait for the novel and pray that another Injustice saga isn’t coming, waiting for those was almost unbearable.
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Physical copies of the monthlies.
I’ll buy a collected edition of older things (before 1970), digital firsts, expensive things or favorites in a great format. (Absolutes)
I don’t own any digital comics or use a service such as DCUI.
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