Comic Book Resolutions 2012

With a little over two months until the end of the year it seems like an appropriate time to start thinking about comic book resolutions. The biggest resolution I made at the beginning of this year was to read more and buy less. Specifically I wanted by "to be read pile to shrink" and avoid buying things that I just ain't going to read.

Aside from that my only other resolution was to read more Batman comic books, specifically some of the classic Batman story lines. Prior to 2012 the only big Batman stories I had read were

- The Dark Knight Returns
- The Cult
- Hush
- The Long Halloween

So far this year I have read

- Year One
- The Untold Legend of Batman (3-part mini-series)
- Rules of Engagement (Batman Confidential 1-6)
- A New Dawn (Batman Confidential 26-28)

I also read books 3 and 4 of Gotham Central. Strictly speaking it is not a Batman book but it is a Batman family book.

At the moment I am reading Year Three (Batman 436-439) and also have Ghosts (Batman Confidential 40-43) sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

There are a few other books that I want to read before the end of 2012:

Martian Manhunter: American Secrets - For almost 10 years I only had the first issue of this 3-part mini-series. A couple years ago I found the third one in a bargain bin at Baltimore Comic Con. A couple months ago I found the second one on Comic Collectors Live, for a reasonable price. Now that I have assembled the entire story it seems like an appropriate thing to push to the top of my reading pile. I hope it lives up to my expectations.

The Spectre 9-12 - by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake - I bought the first 35 issues of this series a few years ago. I started to read it, was enjoying it but didn't get far into it before putting it down to read something else. I need to get back on that horse and start reading this series again. Based on my usual reading habits four issues seems like a reasonable number to try read over the next couple months.

The Mice Templar volume 2.2: Destiny

I will read other things aside from those I just listed above before year's end but as far as targeted reading goes I think this list will suffice for now.

I am working on a list of what I want to read in 2013. It won't be a comprehensive list of everything on my TBR shelf or of anything and everything that I would like to read. It will be a manageable goal which includes books from various types of writers, artists, and publishers.

Library Binding: Wants and Needs

I'm trying to put together some runs to send to Library Binding. I've got a number that are more or less ready to go. I think the first two will be Dreadstar 1-12 and Spectre 1-12 or maybe Breach 1-11.

Lately I got it in my head to get Batman and the Outsiders (1983) bound. I've got the first 8 issues but I'm missing a couple of crucial extras:

• Brave and the Bold #200 - which contains the preview
• New Teen Titans #37 - which contains part 1 of the story that concludes in BatO #5

There's a small con next week. I'll look there. I want those issues and won't get the collection bound without them, but I also don't want to spend more than a couple bucks a piece for them, preferably less.

What I Read - October 26, 2009

Its been a little too long since I last wrote about what I've been reading and I don't have the time to go into details right now.

I'd love to write about Watchmen (by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) which I think was brilliant, even if the ending was a bit underwhelming. The combination of the words and pictures was just amazing. Things that I thought were going to be predictable weren't. Some of the scenes were quite moving and had me blinking back tears as I read it in public. I have no interest in seeing the movie but I do want to get the absolute edition.

I'd also like to write about The Spectre v1 (by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake) which was unsurprisingly (to me) a very good read; unsurprising to me because I enjoyed their work on Grimjack and Firestorm back in the late 80s and early 90s. I hoped for the best but I was worried, before reading it, that it wouldn't measure up to my memories of those other series. Best thing I ever read? No, but it had some choice moments and artwork that really pulled me and made me want more. Sadly, this is the only collection of Ostrander and Mandrake's 60-issue run on the title.