Monday, February 14, 2011

Homework

Money's tight. It always has been. My girlfriend and I were talking about ways to save. Different ways to shop. Things to sell. Things we don't need. Eating out less. Renting fewer yachts. Boats are so pre-Concord anyway.

Immediately I considered cutting out any comic book spending, but one of my New Years resolutions was to write a well-informed Best Of GN list for 2011. That's a daunting prospect without reading any comic books. I could pick just based on how cool the titles are, but I don't even know if I've ever read anything by the guy who writes Cowboy Ninja Viking.

A thought occurred to me; something that I've considered every once in a while, and it made me think that maybe the best kind of idea is the kind that helps you with more than one problem.

I allow myself far too many reasons to be intimidated. I'm intimidated by reviewing comics out of my comfort zone (i.e. comics without any capes), comics I don't like by writers I do, comics by writers I hold in too much esteem (e.g. to date I have never reviewed an Alan Moore comic), and subsequent volumes of comics I've already reviewed (I imagine it might be tough to go on too long, for example, describing the differences between Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 18 and Lone Wolf and Cub Vol. 19, but I might be wrong). In short I'm far too intimidated, have too many reasons to be intimidated, and was surprised to learn just how many GNs I own that I've never reviewed.

On the bottom of my sidebar is a Graphic Novel homework List. Those are all the GNs I own that I haven't reviewed. I'm going to review them, and until I review every single one of them, I'm not going to buy another GN.

There will be exceptions. I won't review Incredible Hulk: Ground Zero because I've already reviewed Hulk Visionaries: Peter David Vol. 2 which reprints all of the same issues plus a few more. I won't review Thor Visionaries: Walt Simonson Vol. 1 because I've already reviewed Thor: The Ballad of Beta Ray Bill, and the latter reprints almost as many as the former. I won't review my volumes of Best of Twisted Toyfare Theatre because, well. Come on.

I may end up having to give up on that one resolution, but maybe not. Regardless, I think that my desire to come up with a Best of 2011 list comes more out of a desire to be seen as a "real" reviewer than anything else, and I think I'm kind of over that.

So I'll get over some fears and hopefully in the process I'll save enough money that we won't have to sell off our Bengal tigers. I may not earn a reputation for reviewing incredibly current comics but, come on man. They're fucking tigers.

3 comments:

Chris said...

That is a very impressive homework list. I should really do the same with my books - try to break the endless cycle of book-buying addiction....

Unknown said...

Using inter-library loan can get you just about any graphic novel. I need to use that method more.

Mick Martin said...

I don't know. I mean yeah, you can get a lot of GNs through the library and I try to take advantage of that as much as I can. But GNs turn up as Missing Inventory or Lost or Stolen in the libraries around my region that some libraries won't even bother honoring hold or loan requests for them. And trying to get them when they're new is usually just ridiculous. I've had some GNs on my hold list literally since before they were released (Jason's Werewolves is an example) that are still listed as On Order. And in many cases they go missing as soon as the libraries get them.

Which isn't to say libraries aren't a good resource for GNs. They are. But relying on them to review current books is another matter. At least in my region.