Have you ever forgotten that you read something?

Elsiebub

Okay, we've all experienced or heard about people forgetting what they read. You hear readers say things like "Yeah, I read that a long time ago, but I forget what happened". But have you ever forgotten IF you read something?

It just happened to me.

I won an eBay lot with Fantastic Four #79 in it. "This Monster Forever!" I bought the lot because it included a few comics that I really wanted, and as an addition I got an old Lee/Kirty FF issue that I could trade back to my LCS for a lot of trade-value. (Seriously, I paid hardly anything for this, but my LCS will give me at least $40 for it.)

Anyway, I got the package today and decided to read FF #79 before I traded it in. It was a great issue, of course. I fully plan to SOMEDAY collect all of the Lee/Kirby run in Marvel Masterwork or Omnibus fashion.

But then just a few minutes ago I decided to look at the Marvel Masterworks TPBs I already had. I remember that I had bought one earlier this year that was from the later portion of the Lee/Kirby run. I thought it was Vol. 7. Nope. It was Vol. 8. I read it in May or June of this year. It included issue #79.

I forgot that I had already read this.

Sure, the issue seemed somewhat familiar to me earlier today as I was reading it. And it's a predictable story (Ben is human again but, aw shucks, he has to change back into the Thing and is "stuck that way forever now") but... I didn't remember reading it. And I apparently DID read it just 4-5 months ago.

Has this ever happened to you? We all forget about certain contents of things that we know we read. But have you ever forgotten whether or not you have read something, period?

Mr_Cosmic

Sometimes I forget to read a comic in my DCBS order. The next month comes and I pick up the comic and I'm totally lost. I'll figure it out quickly and go find the last issue and catch up...very annoying.

Mr_Cosmic

Maybe. I'm sure I've read things more than once without remembering.

CaptShazam

Sometimes when a series has multiple volumes in trade, i forgot which ones i have already purchased.

mwhitt80

CaptShazam said:

Sometimes when a series has multiple volumes in trade, i forgot which ones i have already purchased.

I've done that a lot with IDW's reprinting of Classic GI-Joe. At one point I realized I had purchased volume 8 3 different times (at least two other volumes I've double purchased). I can only hope that little kids may have run across them at our Goodwill and are now hooked on the Joes.

fredzilla

When I used to have extra cash and time I would often go to my LCS and pick up some buzz worthy books I missed in my DCBS order. Several times I would pick up an issue and think Did I get this already? I don't remember this cover. I would buy it with the fear that I didn't get it in my order. I would come home and there it was sitting on the top of my pile. It was acetates even more when Marvel used to release two covers for one issue (50/50).

Nick

Of course! I've even re-read things before and said "I don't remember reading this, I must've been mistaken!" I can't tell you how many times I've read 100 Bullets volume 1, probably 3 or 4, and I still don't remember what happens. Maybe it's all the Mountain Dew lol.

John_Steed

Have you ever forgotten that you read something?

Never. I even remember what I've read right after my brain surgeries. I'll stop reading when I'm dead. Or is it the other way round.

Elsiebub

On a similar note, in the last few years there were a couple times when I had seen certain covers so often in previews or advertisements, that when the issue came out I thought I already had read it.

One particular time was with an issue of Wolverine & The X-Men last fall. The cover image had been in AvX house ads for a couple months. And presumably it was on the last page of the previous issue. And issues were shipping every two weeks anyway, so it was kind of all a blur. My LCS at the time was notorious for screwing up my orders anyway, so when I saw this in my pile I thought, "I've already seen this cover before. Did I already buy and read it?" It wasn't till I got home that I realized I hadn't read it before.

AdamChapman

Now that I have an 8-week old son at home, I forget LOTS of things I've read. I do a weekly reviews episode of my podcast, Comic Shenanigans, and I swear I read the same Avengers issue three times last week. Completely forgot I read it, and only by the end did I realize "wait, I DID read this already", but so much of it was a blur that I couldn't recognize.

Chuck_Melville

Didn't I already read this topic...?

John_Steed

=))

Elsiebub

^LOL!