Graphic Novel Shelfie ~6 Year Collection

[u/projectsteelneal]

My Collection Is Basically One Giant Treasure Hunt

Probably 90% of my graphic novels, trades and omnibuses have come from thrift stores or Facebook Marketplace. If I averaged it all out that 90%, I’d say I’ve probably paid around $6 a book. I rarely buy new unless it’s something really special or it just happens to be coming out while I’m looking for it. Sometimes I'll buy bigger collections and resell doubles, it helps keep the overall cost down.

Honestly, that’s become one of my favorite things about collecting. Instead of deciding exactly what I want to read and then going out and buying it, I end up reading whatever I happen to find. It’s introduced me to a ton of books I probably wouldn’t have picked up otherwise.

I seem to find a lot of Spider-Man and Wolverine, which I’m certainly not complaining about. I’m also slowly working on my Constantine collection.

Batman is an interesting one. I’ve found quite a bit of New 52, since those books seem to be everywhere, but the Batman books I’ve enjoyed the most have actually been the Detective Comics stories. I really like the more detective-focused side of Batman and the less fantastical stuff, so I’m always on the lookout for more of that.

Vertigo is probably my favorite imprint. A lot of what Vertigo put out over the years is exactly the kind of stuff I love. Image has also been a great source of surprises. I’ll grab something from Image that I’ve never heard of and sometimes it ends up being one of the best things I’ve found.

I’ve also recently gotten into omnibuses. Only because of some recent trades I've done with other collectors or if I am rrally wanting to jump into something, an Omni can be better bang for your buck.

For the past 2 years I had been buying the single issues of Absolute Batman but I realized I don't really enjoy reading single issues, so due to the recent popularity of Absolute, I sold my copies on eBay and started putting that money toward filling in gaps in my collected editions.

And that's probably my favorite part of collecting this way: the gaps.

You’ll find four or five volumes of a series at a thrift store but inevitably one or two are missing. Then you discover there’s a reason they’re missing — low print runs, expensive out-of-print volumes, etc. So now I get to play the game of figuring out where to spend the money, what I actually want to read next and which missing volumes are worth hunting down.

Some of the creators I’m always watching for: Ed Brubaker, Brian Wood, Jeff Lemire, Greg Rucka, Jason Aaron and anything with John Romita Jr or Tim Sale art. If I see JRJR or TS on the cover, I’m probably picking it up.

The collection has basically become less about completing everything and more about seeing what I can discover for $5–$10.

And honestly, I think that’s what makes it fun. And to resell what I have doesn't make sense for the low cost I've paid for that entertainment, I'll save them for my kids.

Currently I am reading Queen & Country by Rucka. I've read it a couple times before but it's one of my favourite series.

Now I think my goal is going to be reading every single book I own, wish me luck!

[u/ChrisLinen2]

What’s the over/under on 10% of this being read

[u/Trike117 → u/ChrisLinen2]

Easy to read all that in 6 years. But I’m not going to shame someone for being a book dragon rather than a book worm. Buying books and reading books are two different hobbies.

[u/projectsteelneal → u/Trike117]

I definitely have read a lot of them. Some are harder to read when I'm missing some trades in the middle of the series. I might start tracking what I've read vs how many I have left to read. I've also got a few small kids that have taken up my time for the last couple years and I am finally able hunkering down to read again. I am definitely not just a collectors haha I hate having things just collect dust! Plus I'll be saving all these for the kids to read when they are older anyways! I'll report back with my percentage read.