Burnt Out
AlbertCampion
Posts: 19
I just wanted to see if anyone else feels like I do. I've been reading comics for a long, long time and I'm just tired of them. There are very few titles I actually enjoy reading these days, but I continue to read them mostly out of habit and because I don't want to get behind. I don't have much free time so I have also come to resent them because they take me away from other things I actually want to read. I'd like to stop reading current stuff for a while and go back and read some of the old stuff that I'm actually interested in. Pants recently said he only reads a few issues from the big two, but I'm having trouble cutting it off. Comments or advice? Thanks
Comments
1) Stack your weekly comics from your least favorite to your favorite, with your least favorite on top and your favorite on the bottom.
2) Read said comics.
3) If at any point you find yourself struggling to get through a comic so that you can get to the ones you like most, make a note of it. If it happens twice in a row with the same book, drop that book.
4) For every two books you drop, try one new book, stacking it on top the first time, and as you like or dislike it thereafter.
5) Rinse and repeat.
After four or five months of this you should have a list of comics you're excited to read. Or you'll stop reading comics altogether.
Grant Morrison's interpretation following OYL was enough for me to cut anchor. Brand New Day was enough for me with Spidey. Even after a few months I did not miss reading either.
* I do read Moon Knight from Marvel, but he's always felt like a fringe character. His titles get cancelled about the time I feel it's time to jump ship too.
Is your burn out just the Big 2 or in general? I always suggest reading independents when the Big 2 go off the rails for someone. In my experience, Dynamite Entertainment generally does well with characters. The art sometimes seem like it's by people just breaking into the business, but the titles are like TV series on FX or USA; limited. Their books could be cancelled at any time, so they don't really give you "filler" issues.
Life's too short to "hate read" over-priced, over-rated comics.
I still love comics, but I think I've dug myself into a hole from where there'll be no return. :D
*I have been saying this for 3 or 4 years now. Marvel & especially DC keep finding more stuff to collect to keep me in the hobby.
Like she knows anything... :smiley:
I realized the other day most of the books/writers/artists I'm reading I have nothing in common with in life. Political, Religious, Moral or otherwise. If I knew these creators on a personal level we would not have the same circle of friends.
Case in point. The Saga 25 cent issue. I have heard for years how this was a must read book. I gave it a try because it was so cheap. The issue had abortion, little girls asking about a transgender's "penis", poop turning into monsters. I was totally turned off! The back page has a survey to mail back in for a contest. Some of the questions..."where do you fall on the 1948 Kinsey Scale of Human Sexuality?" "What kind of kisser are you?" "Well, what do you think of Trump?". I just sighed and threw the comic in my get rid of pile.
I read comics to be entertained, but the industry seems to be using comics to proclaim personal social agendas. It's harder and harder for me to find a comic world that I enjoy and want to read every month.
I know some of you think I'm being prudish. But I do have some books I enjoy. Kill or Be Killed, Moonshine, Descender, Animosity to name a few.
Please do not take these comments as an attack on anyone, this is only an opinion from one comic reader. Felt like I needed to get this stuff out.
I also have tons..no, TONS, of trades and HCs that need reading and it's always helped me when I felt burnt out to take a break and read a couple of those. If I come back and a comic still isn't doing it for me I drop it.
Right now, the only Marvel book on my pull list id the soon-to-be-cancelled Silver Surfer. The only DC book us the limited series Bug.
Furthermore, I have gotten out of the habit of reading my books as soon as I get them, which has led to a nigh-insurmountable pile of unread books. There are a couple series like Astro City that I will keep on my pull list just to do my small part to keep them being published, but the trade paperback has become my preferred format for reading--a surrender to the fact that writing for the trade is here to stay.
So yeah, I relate to your burnout.
I hate to say it but the innerwebs might be contributing to my burnout too. Back in the olden days I talked to friends occasionally about what we were reading, but I only read what I was interested in, even if it wasn't popular. But now I read posts and articles, and listen to this and other podcasts, and feel some some pressure to keep up with books I'm really not interested in. This is my own fault for feeling this way and I'm trying to do better.
Don't blame yourself. I blame the subpar, bland, reused stories put out for some ridiculous cost.
And it probably helps that I follow creators much more than characters, and the characters I tend to like most are quirkier B-listers whose books tend to stay on the fringes of Events rather than be caught up in the middle of them. It means there will always be only a handful of Big Two titles I’m interested in at any given time, and those titles will rarely last more than a year or two, but it also means I’m not reading an endless cycle of editorial-driven crisis after crisis.
That's probably also why I've read a lot of crap storylines for Batman & Spider-man (now Moon Knight & the Shadow) over the years.
And there are varying degrees to which I'll follow a creator. For instance, I think Mark Waid is one of the best comic book writers out there, but if Mark is writing an Avengers book or an X-Men book where I know there will be a lot of crossovers, I'll pass. Anything else, I’ll give it a shot.
That’s not to say I don’t have my favorite characters. I’m a sucker for Aquaman, and I’ll give just about any Aquaman book the benefit of the doubt. But if you stick Scott Lobdell and Rob Liefeld on the book, I’m not even going to sample it. I have no qualms with dropping a book I've collected for years if the book changes in a way I'm not happy with.
I don’t collect titles or characters. I collect stories.
If current comics are not your thing, anymore, fuck em. I "grew out"
' of comics in the early 90's, and didn't read them for the entire decade. I have never regretted it. Turns out, I didn't outgrow them, they changed to a point that I couldn't muster up any interest in them anymore.
I came back to them in the 2000's, and bowed out again about the time of the New 52. I haven't bought new comics regularly for about 10 years, now. But I read them daily, make no mistake about it.
There are SO MANY comics, collections, graphic novels, art books, comic strips, etc. out there that might scratch that itch. I think at this point, I am more interested in the history and people behind the comics I loved, much in the same way I am more inclined to watch documentaries than sitcoms...
To summarize... don't feel bad... it's not you, it's them. Dump em.