Streamlining! Love the comics, hate the clutter?

Dave2099

A while ago, my library literally beat me up. My comic rack tipped, pulled down the bookcase beside it, which knocked down everything else in my comic room.

Right on top of me.

I think this actually knocked a bit of sense into me! My pull list is half of what it was, I've sold off a load of back issues & trades, have several loads more on their way out and I'm slowly, but surely, paring things down to the bare essentials.

It feels GREAT.

Everyone else I know in the hobby thinks I've gone completely daffy, so I'm turning to the internet to see if anyone else has had this change of view. Anyone?

Torchsong

Nope. You're not alone. A few years back many of us had quite the discussion on this very topic - the idea of breaking free of the "collector" mentality and basically culling what you realize you no longer need.

I've done this several times with my DVD and Comic collections. Look at something and honestly ask myself if it's ever likely I will read it again/watch it again in my lifetime. If the answer is no, then why hold onto it? Now sure, there are sentimental items - it's unlikely I'll re-read the first manga that featured one of my review quotes on the back of it, but I'm not getting rid of it, for example.

I read a lot more books digitally now, regularly cull my trades, and am slowly divesting myself of my longboxes.

jaydee74

Nope. You're not alone in this at all. My wife and I live in a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment and we have a child who is about to turn 1. I have a very limited amount of room to have stuff. It makes you consider what you really want and what you could possibly live without and it's not just about comics. I have done that with DVDs as @Torchsong mentioned. I also have done that with music, clothes, shoes, novels and other items. It's about managing your clutter. I like feeling like my space is not overly packed so cleaning things out and selling stuff or donating things is something I do on a semi-regular basis.

Oh. I also store things at my in-law's house. :)

Trev

I do this pretty regularly. In fact, it is now an ongoing process. I keep an active list of items to trade to mycomicshop and send them a box about 6 times a year.

I dropped my pull list entirely, cut myself off from DCBS (with some rare exceptions -- New 52), and now try to limit my new comics to 3-5 a week. My rule is that if I pick it up and I don't want to read it RIGHT NOW, then I don't get it. That approach has constrained the growth on my new books and is letting me focus on reading and buying the classic runs I love.

WetRats

I've done several culls in the last ten years or so, and am overdue for another one.

Speaking of which, anyone looking for old Warhammer 40K miniatures or Champions rulebooks/adventures/supplements, send me a PM.

Dave2099

WetRats actually touched on something I've noticed... my stuff isn't worth anywhere what I paid for it! Any tips for resale? I'm thinking eBay, because the used bookstores & comic shops can only go 10 cents per for most stuff.

Torchsong I can definitely relate to, but what I've started doing is scanning covers to those milestone comics that I have attachments to, but never read. I found that helped with that last lingering desire to hold onto them.

MikeGallagher

I've started doing this too. It is amazing what you find you have that you know you will ever read again

busty

Maybe a swap/lend session should happen on here,get rid of what you've read and get hold of stuff you want to read but don't want to pay for.

dubbat138

I got through my comic and dvd collections 2 times a year and get rid of stuff. The DVDs,unless I can sell them for a decent amount of money,I end up giving away to friends or family members. The comics,the all ages stuff,gets split up between the local hospital's children's ward and the local woman's shelter.

Trev

Maybe a swap/lend session should happen on here,get rid of what you've read and get hold of stuff you want to read but don't want to pay for.

If anybody is at San Diego this year, I host an event there every year that I call 'drink and swap'. A bunch of us get together at a bar one night and bring with us trades and other books that are well done but not to our taste for whatever reason and then offer them all up for free to whoever wants them. While we drink our choice of beverages. It's a pretty good time and we encourage people we know (from various forums) to participate even if they don't bring a book with them. Though most people bring something.

It's a good opportunity to divest yourself of something you no longer want and pick up something you do, while hanging out with a drink and talking comics.

Nick

WetRats actually touched on something I've noticed... my stuff isn't worth anywhere what I paid for it! Any tips for resale? I'm thinking eBay, because the used bookstores & comic shops can only go 10 cents per for most stuff.

I sell most of my stuff through eBay. Honestly you do get a lot more, but it is a pain to itemize everything, take pictures, list them, pack them all up, ship them, etc. I'm selling a lot of my new 52 stuff now and most are going for about $1.50 an issue (which is what I paid), but even the older stuff that I call crap usually goes for 50 cents to a buck an issue. A lot of people want a huge lot and will pay a little more. Just depends if you want to spend the time to list it all. As an example I'm fairly experience with eBay's listing process and my 46 items I just listed took me about 5 hours to do.

LibraryBoy

Just finished the latest semi-regular weeding of my collection. I try and sell some of it to MyComicShop.com for trade credit, sell other bits on eBay or here on the forums, and anything else gets donated to the Salvation Army or just dumped in the recycling bin. Earlier this year we spent close to three months living in my wife's grandparents' old house because she broke her ankle and couldn't navigate our house's many stairs, and we spent all that time surrounded by all of her grandmother's stuff, things, tchotchkes, and general crap. Once we got back home, we were inspired to commit ourselves to getting rid of as much of our own excess stuff as possible.

BadDeacon

If anybody is at San Diego this year, I host an event there every year that I call 'drink and swap'. A bunch of us get together at a bar one night and bring with us trades and other books that are well done but not to our taste for whatever reason and then offer them all up for free to whoever wants them. While we drink our choice of beverages. It's a pretty good time and we encourage people we know (from various forums) to participate even if they don't bring a book with them. Though most people bring something.

Drink and Swap is a good, good time! I'll bring a pile of stuff this year.

dubbat138

A good idea for the various comics you have that you don't want. Is if they have no value,and they are all ages,take them to your local hospital and give them to the children's ward. Or take them to a homeless shelter or woman's shelter and leave the there. I do this a few times a year,and have been told that the kids at the hospital and the woman's shelter love them.

brydeemer

I've gotten rid of most of my single issues. I only have four boxes left. And every few months I cull some trades from my shelf.

I love physical books, but I realize now that they aren't all that practical. They take up a lot of space. I want to switch entirely to digital. I'm trying to balance out the cost vs. space issue.

I'm also holding on to some of my classic trades for a few more years to see if my daughters develop a desire to read lots of comics. If that ends up being true, then they can go nuts with all my books.

Bry

random73

I'm frequently trying out new series and may have the first 3 or 4 issues of a title I ended up not committing to, for whatever reason. So occasionally I will go through the collection and cull the things I don't intend to make a complete run of and, if they are age appropriate, I'll ship them to my buddy Steve who has 3 boys under 10 who all love comics. Grittier stuff I send to friends who have slightly older kids. It is my way of spreading the gospel of sequential art.

kevinvolo

I cull my collection every few years. Before my big move back to NY 4 years ago I sold about 5 boxes of comics and half my trades. Since I've been in NY I don't sell the trades, I donate them to my local library. They put a little sticker in them that say who donated them. Its cool. And kids get to read cool comics, they have a huge selection and more than half are mine. Now they give me the comic order once every few months and I show them/pick the books they should get in.

The digital thing is interesting. I talk a lot with my classes about digital/analog. With everything streaming why buy anything. I used to buy DVD's, why, I used to by hard copy cds, why and so on. With Spotify, Pandora, itunes, netflix, hulu, amazon prime, on demand, and the like, why own.

Comics though, I'm not sure. Don't know if I could feel like a comic collector if I sold all my comics and went digital. I do like the idea of keeping a core collection. The big stuff, silver age, gold, bronze and then some major events and just comics that mean something to me, then getting digital subscriptions to other items. But here's the rub, I don't want to pay 3 bucks for a digital copy. Yes, we need to pay for a creative teams intelectual property, but a hug portion of the costs is being lifted in the printing. Not sure. I am actually trying getting some titles as digital comics, Batman Beyond is one of them. I enjoy it, and they are taking up no space in the real world. Something to explore.

Greg

I'm also holding on to some of my classic trades for a few more years to see if my daughters develop a desire to read lots of comics. If that ends up being true, then they can go nuts with all my books.

Bry

That's why I've been holding on to stuff.

dubbat138

I've gotten rid of most of my single issues. I only have four boxes left. And every few months I cull some trades from my shelf.

I love physical books, but I realize now that they aren't all that practical. They take up a lot of space. I want to switch entirely to digital. I'm trying to balance out the cost vs. space issue.

I'm also holding on to some of my classic trades for a few more years to see if my daughters develop a desire to read lots of comics. If that ends up being true, then they can go nuts with all my books.

Bry

Both of my sons are into comics. Actually my oldest son reads way more modern comics than I do. My youngest prefers trades or as he calls them "fat comics". When I do cull my collection I let both of them know and see if there is anything they want. What they don't want I give to the hospital's children's ward or to the local woman's shelter. Talking to the lady that runs the shelter,she told me most of the time the kids that end up there with their moms have no toys or anything to play with so the comics are very much appreciated.

Dave2099

Maybe a swap/lend session should happen on here,get rid of what you've read and get hold of stuff you want to read but don't want to pay for.

If anybody is at San Diego this year, I host an event there every year that I call 'drink and swap'. A bunch of us get together at a bar one night and bring with us trades and other books that are well done but not to our taste for whatever reason and then offer them all up for free to whoever wants them. While we drink our choice of beverages. It's a pretty good time and we encourage people we know (from various forums) to participate even if they don't bring a book with them. Though most people bring something.

It's a good opportunity to divest yourself of something you no longer want and pick up something you do, while hanging out with a drink and talking comics.

I like this idea... I might try floating it as part of a FanExpo Meet! Any Canadians in this thread? Or anyone going to FanExpo?

Dave2099

Maybe a swap/lend session should happen on here,get rid of what you've read and get hold of stuff you want to read but don't want to pay for.

Maybe you could start a separate thread for that... seems like something everyone would go for. Good idea!

Dave2099

I've gotten rid of most of my single issues. I only have four boxes left. And every few months I cull some trades from my shelf.

I love physical books, but I realize now that they aren't all that practical. They take up a lot of space. I want to switch entirely to digital. I'm trying to balance out the cost vs. space issue.

I'm also holding on to some of my classic trades for a few more years to see if my daughters develop a desire to read lots of comics. If that ends up being true, then they can go nuts with all my books.

Bry

Both of my sons are into comics. Actually my oldest son reads way more modern comics than I do. My youngest prefers trades or as he calls them "fat comics". When I do cull my collection I let both of them know and see if there is anything they want. What they don't want I give to the hospital's children's ward or to the local woman's shelter. Talking to the lady that runs the shelter,she told me most of the time the kids that end up there with their moms have no toys or anything to play with so the comics are very much appreciated.

I tried that myself once awhile back and was surprised to have them rejected because of the violence and "portrayal of women". Have you ever run into that? What do you say, because my experience wasn't good.

I give a lot of my all ages stuff to coworkers' kids and that usually takes care of my stacks (I have one kid who is absolutely RABID about Spider-Girl!), so at least they're getting into the hands of some kids, but I have to admit... that early opposition made me stop trying the charitable route.

dubbat138

I tried that myself once awhile back and was surprised to have them rejected because of the violence and "portrayal of women". Have you ever run into that? What do you say, because my experience wasn't good.

I give a lot of my all ages stuff to coworkers' kids and that usually takes care of my stacks (I have one kid who is absolutely RABID about Spider-Girl!), so at least they're getting into the hands of some kids, but I have to admit... that early opposition made me stop trying the charitable route.




I have never had any rejected. But then I also go thru all the issues first to make sure they are all ages. And I try to stick to stuff the kids might have heard of. Like say Spider-man,Batman,Superman,etc. One thing is that I live in the deep south,and sadly most people aren't that concerned about exposing kids to violence and stuff. So that might be why I have never had any rejected. With my boys I much rather they be exposed to nudity and foul language than extreme violence. But it seems most people in my area are the total opposite. I saw a Mom asking the clerk at Movie Gallery if Saw had any nudity in it. She was renting it for her kid that looked to be at the oldest 10. The clerk told her no,but the film had some extreme violence. "Well I am ok with him seeing that. But I don't want him seeing any naked bodies." That kind of thinking I just can't understand.

Dave2099

Preaching to the choir, dubbat! I've seen that same scene play out at my video store.

With my boys I much rather they be exposed to nudity and foul language than extreme violence. But it seems most people in my area are the total opposite. I saw a Mom asking the clerk at Movie Gallery if Saw had any nudity in it. She was renting it for her kid that looked to be at the oldest 10. The clerk told her no,but the film had some extreme violence. "Well I am ok with him seeing that. But I don't want him seeing any naked bodies." That kind of thinking I just can't understand.

kfreeman

I'm down to about 9 long boxes of singles from a maximum of probably 35 long boxes. Some of it I have replaced with trades, some of it I gave away because it was just taking up space, and some of it I sold on eBay.

My favorite stuff I am keeping in book form (Usagi Yojimbo, Hellboy, etc.) but if stuff is available digitally, I'm switching over to that. I really like reading comics and OGNs on my iPad, and it definitely saves on space.

bralinator

I'm trying to keep my collection to nine longboxes and am about to make a curating run through those to see what can be sold or given away that I just don't care about.

nweathington

My problem is that in my line of work, I never know what I'll need. Like, when I was designing the Comic Book Fever book, I used a bunch of stuff from my collection that I’d often considered getting rid of. Not just covers, which are easy enough to track down online, but specific panels I needed, and ads, etc.—stuff I wouldn’t have been able to easily get otherwise. I've thought about scanning some of my comics and then getting rid of them, but I don't have time for that, and I'm not sure I want to rely on a hard drive anyway (nor do I want to pay for the amount of cloud storage it would take). So I'm just stuck with a large collection for now.

mwhitt80

nweathington said:

My problem is that in my line of work, I never know what I'll need.

Yeah yeah brag about it. I get to write off all my pop culture/comic/DVD purchases. I can't get rid of anything they are work.

What do you mean my office looks like the kids playroom

nweathington

mwhitt80 said:

What do you mean my office looks like the kids playroom

Ha! I wish! I mean, there’s some of that in there, but my office is mostly a maze of bookshelves and stacked boxes. It's an arsonist’s wet dream. I wouldn’t allow your kids in there for fear of something collapsing on top of them.