And Now For Something Completely Different: End of An Era

With the release of Superior Spider-Man #31 and Wolverine #4, today my time buying comics in the physical format has come to an end for the time being. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, as I’ve been buying them for longer than i can remember and “New Comic Day” has always helped cheer me up in the middle of a shitty week. However what with traveling round a foreign country for a year and living out of a suitcase, i really don’t have any way of transporting a years worth of comics around with me and the though of not buying any for a whole 12 months isn’t even worth thinking about! So it’s came to this, i’ll now be getting all of my books from the comixology app and the review copies i get through the website.

It’s also a nice full circle as the first two comics i bought when i landed in Australia the last time were Wolverine and Amazing Spider-Man, so i thought it would be right that the last two i bought before going back again 7 years later, would be the same two characters.

It’s a sad thought to have as I’ve always been a massive advocate of supporting your local scene and local Comic Shop and i’m always going to have memories of collecting my standing order in A1, or sneaking into Forbidden Planet on my break from work. Even stupid little things, like getting funny looks from people when i read “Crossed” or Sex Criminals on the train isn’t going to happen any more, unless they’re reading over my shoulder and then that’s a totally different conversation!

The Digital medium is something I’ve been using for a while now, but really only for the sales and for picking up trades that would otherwise be unavailable to me and i have to say, while lifeless and devoid of all social interaction, it’s not as bad as a lot of people are making it out to be. The ability to zoom into pages to get a better look at the art work is one of the most welcome editions, as holding a comic a nose-width away from your face isn’t exactly the easiest way to do it. The other thing it’s helping with is something that i’mm sure many of you have a problem with, is that i now know where my collection is at all times. i can’t even count the amount of times I’ve went to go find a book in my collection only to find that it’s not where i thought it was and have to spend ages looking for it, only to remember that i lent it to someone and they never returned it (Bryan, i’m looking at you here…..).

It’s not been an easy thing to do, but in the long run, i’m looking at it as an experiment to see if i’m better or worse for it. I really do doubt that i’m going to become a full convert as there’s nothing that can beat going to a comic shop and getting to browse and talk to people that have a similar interest as you. So there we go, i guess this should be a “Sunday Confessional” but i just don’t feel i have anything to actually confess to? If it means it’s going to make my life easier then i say it can only be a good thing. Now here’s just hoping the issue is actually any good!

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The writer of this piece was:
Chris Bennett
Article: And Now For Something Completely Different
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