2019 Comic Book Retrospective Analysis
By nature I am an introspective and analytical person. For all of you laughing out loud at the idea of me being an introvert let me educate you quickly. Being an introvert or an extrovert is not about being quiet or loud in public. It has to do with where you recharge your energy. I have learned and adapted to function in public, in crowds, and in front of mobs of people. The process wears me out. I have to get quite a bit of alone time to recharge.
Because of my reflective nature I like to analyze. I track almost everything in my life. With all the data I gather it is sometimes fun just to look at it different ways and see what can be learned.
The first thing I learned is that I spent way too much on comic books this year. I averaged $329.43 per month. That is about $83 a week. I totaled out at $3953.13 per year. That is almost exactly $1000 over 2018 ($2922.79) and more than $1500 up from 2017 ($2329.42). Some of that can be attributed from an increase in average comic book price from $2.99 to $3.99. I continue to see that price point creep upward on both Marvel and DC. It looks as if the goal is to average $4.99 per book in the near future. While that won't be a complete jumping off point for me I cannot buy 15 books per week at $5 a piece and look at myself in the mirror.
Seeing my habit increase an average of $500 per year makes me feel a little out of control. I do quite a bit of writing, talking, and thinking about comic books. I do think it is time to consider carefully how I spend my comic book dollars.
So what did $3953.13 buy me you might ask? Well, that data is a little imprecise. I bought a few graphic novels and trades along the way and while I have that data it is not as neatly organized as my weekly trips to my local comic book shop. I will say the majority of this money WAS on my weekly pull list, but since I cannot be to the penny precise I won't go into average weekly spend and discount versus retail cost.
To be fair, I did crunch all of those numbers. The data is skewed. Moving on.
I read a metric ton of Marvel Comics. I read 54 Marvel Titles not counting all the individual books for events like Age of X-man or 2099. This made up 341 Issues.
The most individual issues goes to Amazing Spider-man at a count of 25 issues. Immortal Hulk comes in at 17 issues with Avengers at 16. I wouldn't have guessed at this result since I consider X-men my favorite part of the Marvel Universe. If you add up all of the X-Titles, I read 102 X-related issues this year. It was a good year for the X-men if you do away with Age of X-man which was simply dreadful.
Conan the Barbarian had a great year. At a quick glance there were about 46 titles I picked up related to him. I don't feel as if any of those were wasted money. I look forward to more swords and sorcery in 2020 and beyond.
It follows Logic that DC comics makes up the 2nd most read company. I broke DC down into 3 categories: DC, DC Black Label, and Vertigo. All together I read 236 issues from these companies. They break down as follows: Vertigo 28 issues, Black Label 24 issues, and DC 174 issues.
The main Universe is where I focus most of my reading. I read 26 issues of Batman, 24 issues of Detective Comics, and 24 issues of Justice League. Interestingly enough if I add up all of the titles that are about Batman, Joker, or Harley Quinn the total number is 98 issues. That likely indicates accurately that Batman and his pals are my favorite characters. Sean Murphy is hands down my favorite Batman writer. I would love to see him take the helm in the main continuity.
Here is the list of Titles and Issue Count:
Make of it what you will, 2019 was a good year in comics. I plan to use the above information to spend smarter in 2020. I am paying more attention to what I love and what I like. Nest year I would like to spend about $1500 less and end up with a collection I am happier with.
We shall see.
Because of my reflective nature I like to analyze. I track almost everything in my life. With all the data I gather it is sometimes fun just to look at it different ways and see what can be learned.
The first thing I learned is that I spent way too much on comic books this year. I averaged $329.43 per month. That is about $83 a week. I totaled out at $3953.13 per year. That is almost exactly $1000 over 2018 ($2922.79) and more than $1500 up from 2017 ($2329.42). Some of that can be attributed from an increase in average comic book price from $2.99 to $3.99. I continue to see that price point creep upward on both Marvel and DC. It looks as if the goal is to average $4.99 per book in the near future. While that won't be a complete jumping off point for me I cannot buy 15 books per week at $5 a piece and look at myself in the mirror.
Seeing my habit increase an average of $500 per year makes me feel a little out of control. I do quite a bit of writing, talking, and thinking about comic books. I do think it is time to consider carefully how I spend my comic book dollars.
So what did $3953.13 buy me you might ask? Well, that data is a little imprecise. I bought a few graphic novels and trades along the way and while I have that data it is not as neatly organized as my weekly trips to my local comic book shop. I will say the majority of this money WAS on my weekly pull list, but since I cannot be to the penny precise I won't go into average weekly spend and discount versus retail cost.
To be fair, I did crunch all of those numbers. The data is skewed. Moving on.
I read a metric ton of Marvel Comics. I read 54 Marvel Titles not counting all the individual books for events like Age of X-man or 2099. This made up 341 Issues.
The most individual issues goes to Amazing Spider-man at a count of 25 issues. Immortal Hulk comes in at 17 issues with Avengers at 16. I wouldn't have guessed at this result since I consider X-men my favorite part of the Marvel Universe. If you add up all of the X-Titles, I read 102 X-related issues this year. It was a good year for the X-men if you do away with Age of X-man which was simply dreadful.
Conan the Barbarian had a great year. At a quick glance there were about 46 titles I picked up related to him. I don't feel as if any of those were wasted money. I look forward to more swords and sorcery in 2020 and beyond.
It follows Logic that DC comics makes up the 2nd most read company. I broke DC down into 3 categories: DC, DC Black Label, and Vertigo. All together I read 236 issues from these companies. They break down as follows: Vertigo 28 issues, Black Label 24 issues, and DC 174 issues.
The main Universe is where I focus most of my reading. I read 26 issues of Batman, 24 issues of Detective Comics, and 24 issues of Justice League. Interestingly enough if I add up all of the titles that are about Batman, Joker, or Harley Quinn the total number is 98 issues. That likely indicates accurately that Batman and his pals are my favorite characters. Sean Murphy is hands down my favorite Batman writer. I would love to see him take the helm in the main continuity.
Here is the list of Titles and Issue Count:
| Company | Title | # of Issues |
| Ablaze | Unsacred | 2 |
| Aftershock | Knights Temporal | 4 |
| Boom | Once & Future | 5 |
| Boom | Faithless | 3 |
| Dark Horse | Black Hammer/ JL | 5 |
| Dark Horse | Berserker Unbound | 4 |
| Dark Horse | The Orville | 4 |
| Dark Horse | Tommy Gun Wizards | 2 |
| Dark Horse | Strayed | 1 |
| DC | Batman | 26 |
| DC | Detective Comics | 24 |
| DC | Justice League | 24 |
| DC | The Flash | 17 |
| DC | Green Lantern | 14 |
| DC | Batman Beyond | 11 |
| DC | The Batman Who Laughs | 9 |
| DC | DCeased | 7 |
| DC | Event Leviathan | 6 |
| DC | Heroes in Crisis | 6 |
| DC | Batman & the Outsiders | 5 |
| DC | Batman Superman | 5 |
| DC | Tales from the Dark Multiverse | 5 |
| DC | Doomsday Clock | 4 |
| DC | Year of the Villain | 3 |
| DC | Legion of Super Heroes | 2 |
| DC | Superman | 2 |
| DC | Flash Forward | 1 |
| DC | Freedom Fighters | 1 |
| DC | Harley Quinn Poison Ivy | 1 |
| DC | Hell Arisen | 1 |
| DC Black Label | Batman Curse of the White Knight | 5 |
| DC Black Label | Batman Last Knight on Earth | 3 |
| DC Black Label | Harleen | 3 |
| DC Black Label | Last God | 3 |
| DC Black Label | Superman Year One | 3 |
| DC Black Label | Joker Killer Smile | 2 |
| DC Black Label | Batman Damned | 1 |
| DC Black Label | Batman White Knight Von Freeze | 1 |
| DC Black Label | Dark Knight Returns the Golden Child | 1 |
| DC Black Label | Joker Harley Criminal Sanity | 1 |
| DC Black Label | Wonder Woman Dead Earth | 1 |
| Dynamite | Bettie Page Unbound | 9 |
| Dynamite | Vampirella | 5 |
| Dynamite | Chassity | 4 |
| Dynamite | Bettie Page | 3 |
| Dynamite | Vengeance of Vampirella | 3 |
| IDW | TMNT | 11 |
| IDW | Shredder in Hell | 4 |
| IDW | Canto | 6 |
| IDW | Usagi Yojimbo | 4 |
| Image | Criminal | 12 |
| Image | Outer Darkness | 10 |
| Image | Die | 9 |
| Image | Curse Words | 8 |
| Image | Deadly Class | 7 |
| Image | Unnatural | 7 |
| Image | Redneck | 6 |
| Image | Sonata | 6 |
| Image | Crowded | 5 |
| Image | East of West | 5 |
| Image | Sea of Stars | 5 |
| Image | Analog | 4 |
| Image | Self Made | 4 |
| Image | Blackbird | 3 |
| Image | Dead Eyes | 3 |
| Image | Manifest Destiny | 3 |
| Image | Prodigy | 3 |
| Image | Safe Sex | 3 |
| Image | Death or Glory | 2 |
| Image | The Marked | 2 |
| Image | Undiscovered Country | 2 |
| Image | Assassination Nation | 1 |
| Image | Coffinbound | 1 |
| Image | Magic Order | 1 |
| Image | Pretty Violent | 1 |
| Image | Reaver | 1 |
| Image | Seven to Eternity | 1 |
| Image | Unearth | 1 |
| Marvel | Age of X-man | 30 |
| Marvel | Amazing Spider-man | 25 |
| Marvel | Immortal Hulk | 17 |
| Marvel | Avengers | 16 |
| Marvel | Uncanny X-men | 15 |
| Marvel | X-Force | 13 |
| Marvel | Conan the Barbarian | 12 |
| Marvel | Doctor Strange | 12 |
| Marvel | Old Man Quill | 12 |
| Marvel | Savage Sword of Conan | 12 |
| Marvel | Avengers No Road Home | 10 |
| Marvel | Fantastic Four | 10 |
| Marvel | Marvel Comics Presents | 9 |
| Marvel | Savage Avengers | 9 |
| Marvel | 2099 | 8 |
| Marvel | Dead Man Logan | 7 |
| Marvel | War of the Realms | 7 |
| Marvel | Absolute Carnage | 6 |
| Marvel | History of the Marvel Universe | 6 |
| Marvel | House of X | 6 |
| Marvel | Jane Foster Valkyrie | 6 |
| Marvel | Powers of X | 6 |
| Marvel | Spider-man Life Story | 6 |
| Marvel | Age of Conan Valeria | 5 |
| Marvel | Loki | 5 |
| Marvel | Wolverine & the Infinity Watch | 5 |
| Marvel | X-23 | 5 |
| Marvel | Age of Conan Belit | 4 |
| Marvel | Death's Head | 4 |
| Marvel | Excalibur | 4 |
| Marvel | Fallen Angels | 4 |
| Marvel | King Thor | 4 |
| Marvel | Marauders | 4 |
| Marvel | New Mutants | 4 |
| Marvel | Doctor Doom | 3 |
| Marvel | Ghost Rider | 3 |
| Marvel | Spider-man | 3 |
| Marvel | Superior Spider-man | 3 |
| Marvel | X-men | 3 |
| Marvel | Black Cat | 2 |
| Marvel | Conan Serpent War | 2 |
| Marvel | Return of Wolverine | 2 |
| Marvel | Aero | 1 |
| Marvel | Black Order | 1 |
| Marvel | Domino | 1 |
| Marvel | Ghost Spider | 1 |
| Marvel | Incoming | 1 |
| Marvel | Infinity Wars | 1 |
| Marvel | Invisible Woman | 1 |
| Marvel | Marvel Comics 1000 | 1 |
| Marvel | Spider-geddon | 1 |
| Marvel | Symbiote Spider-man | 1 |
| Marvel | Thanos | 1 |
| Marvel | Weapon Plus | 1 |
| Oni Press | Rick & Morty vs. D&D II Painscape | 3 |
| Vault | Moneyshot | 3 |
| Vertigo | Lucifer | 5 |
| Vertigo | The Dreaming | 5 |
| Vertigo | Books of Magic | 4 |
| Vertigo | Goddess Mode | 4 |
| Vertigo | Hex Wives | 4 |
| Vertigo | High Level | 4 |
| Vertigo | House of Whispers | 2 |
Make of it what you will, 2019 was a good year in comics. I plan to use the above information to spend smarter in 2020. I am paying more attention to what I love and what I like. Nest year I would like to spend about $1500 less and end up with a collection I am happier with.
We shall see.
Comments
Post a Comment