I've been dropping stuff like crazy lately, as my trigger finger has gotten much more itchy of late. If a book stops being enjoyable for me, it's gone, no looking back. According to Diamonds lists and DC comics, I'm getting a total of 2 comics the next 3 weeks. I might have missed a FF/Spidey in there. That's it.
Conversely, I've been buying the hell out of showcases and essentials. Also looking at some other collections. I'm wondering what criteria DC uses to collect stuff? Unlike Marvel, they don't put out trades of everything under the sun, and certainly not as quickly as Marvel. With the few books I'm left buying, it might be worth it to just wait on the trades...if I knew they were coming!

Jeff and I are in the same boat.

(Why are we in a boat, Jeff? And move over.)

I have to keep m monthly total at 50 regular titles (not incluning specials or mini's) just to retain my 35% discount. Luckily, I'm enjoying every title right now. Except for Spider-Girl, which I'm giving one more arc before I decide to drop it or not and give another book a chance.

I dropped every comic, right down the board, if I still read it, I get it from the library, if I really like it or the library doesn't have it, I might buy it, I just don't have money for this anymore, especially since I rarely enjoy comics these days anyways.

Yeah, I get a lot of books from the library too. Our local library has an impressive collection of recent trades.

...50 regular titles??!???!

wow.

I think I'm collecting 4.

Gotta admit, I thought that was a typo. Even back in the glory days (late 80's early 90's, before the hobby drove me away), I didn't read 50 titles per month. Shit, that must be pretty expensive now that comics average about 3 bucks each ... I mean, that's my cable bill right there.

I am enjoying picking up trades of the stuff that I find worth reading; Fables, Walking Dead, and just started Y: The Last Man, and the occasional collection of old stuff. So I still get my fix.

-JP

The only comics I'm reading regularly are the Superman titles.

The 50 is about $25 a week. Add in the the other minis and specials and shipping and its about $30 to $40. Not really so bad. I REALLY enjoy them so it's worth it to me. I figure I'd drop at LEAST that much if I made a weekly LCS trip every week and not get NEARLY as many books to read.

Plus, if I want a TPB I get it for cheaper than Amazon (sorry Linda) and don't have to pay tax OR extra shipping.

It's all about where you want to spend your Entertainment Dollar, and just about all of mine goes to the books.

My current pull list:

I just get trades, Essentials and Showcases. It's too damned expensive these days, when comics (here in Australialand) cost between six and eight bucks each. It just makes more sense to buy the trades.

Only Trades/Hardcovers for me.

My monthly order from DCBService, and an occasional dip into InStockTrades for anything I've missed out on when I see some good word of mouth around here.

Once Ultimates #13 hits, I'll be down to 2 Marvels (Astonishing X-Men and Wolverine Origins). I mainly buy DC now.... The only non-DC/Marvel I buy now is Fallen Angel. I gave up on Conan once Busiek left.

Yeah, I really rely on 'good word of mouth' here and a couple of other boards to know what's worth checking out in trades. I waited until I got a ton of positive feedback on Y: The Last Man, recently grabbed the first four trades on Buy.com (cost under $40 with no s/h), and I was really glad that I did. Next month I'll order books 5-9 (was just waiting for 9 to be published), and I'll probably continue with the trades as they're released.

Just goes to show that 'good word of mouth' is probably more important now than ever, with more and more people waiting for the trade and such.

-JP

I think I am ready to drop weeklies / monthlies again. Financially and in terms of what I like, it makes sense.

Hardcovers, trades and mini-busts are still for my consumption though!