Been Reading Comics

I have a two-and-a-half year backlog on comics. Fortunately, I only collect (on average) one book per week, so the 30-month backlog is not as huge as you might think. Each week, I would buy a comic and then bring it home and put it in my "to read" shortbox. And each week, I would forget to actually read it. At first, this was a conscious decision. I wanted to save up several issues and read them all in one sitting. Keeping track of a title you only read once a month can be difficult. In the case of Usagi Yojimbo or Y The Last Man, I could have (should have) simply waited and bought the trade paperback. But with other titles, like Birds of Prey, I could not guarantee that a compilation would ever be made. In the meantime, I also picked up the occasional graphic novel or tpb of some other series and not read those, either.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been catching up on this backlog and having a blast. I remember now why I read comics. In particular, I highly recommend Runaways, which I started with tbp #5, and now have gone back and read the first two (waiting for #3 to show up at my new favorite comic book store). One of the factors facilitating all this reading is a rainy lunch hour that has prevented me from walking outdoors. Plus, there are fewer shows to watch on television and the TiVo queue is at a very manageable level, so I have also been reading in the evenings.

My grand plan, once I get fully caught up (besides not letting this happen again and switching to tpbs almost exclusively), is to catch up on a backlog of roleplaying games and supplements.