A couple of months back I did my first round of Pull List pruning, in anticipation of some real world changes necessitating a decreased comics budget, as well as a shift towards “emphasizing comfort over experimentation” in my selections. Originally I was expecting to cut it roughly in half, to $75/month (including my hefty discount), with another $25/month towards sampling and/or TPBs. Now I’m thinking $50/month with a much more selective eye towards sampling might be in order.
Thankfully, several mini-series I was buying have ended or have only an issue or two left, so it wasn’t quite as painful as I thought it would be. One of the biggest losers is Image, though, whose erratic shipping schedule means almost all of their titles I was following will shift over to my sampling budget, which unfortunately means they’re effectively cut. Reality bites.
Italicized titles are on the chopping block, either outright or via wait-for-the-trade.
Marvel
All-New Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe A-Z
Black Panther
Captain America
Civil War
Daredevil
Incredible Hulk (“Planet Hulk”)
Moon Knight
Nextwave: Agents Of H.A.T.E.
Powers Vol 2
Thunderbolts
X-Factor
Young Avengers
DC
All Star Batman & Robin, The Boy Wonder
Batman
Blue Beetle
Detective Comics
Firestorm: The Nuclear Man
Jonah Hex
Robin
Shadowpact
Teen Titans
American Way
Ex Machina
Dark Horse
Conan (plus all mini-series)
IDW
Fallen Angel
Supermarket
Image
Fell
Godland
Hysteria: One Man Gang
Strange Girl
Independents
Action Philosophers!
Atomika
Black Coat: Call To Arms
Elk’s Run
Elsinore
Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy
G.I. Joe: America’s Elite (and most mini-series)
Mouse Guard
Nat Turner
Revolution On The Planet Of The Apes
Super Real
Talent
Tron: The Ghost In The Machine
Villains
Werewolves: Call Of The Wild
Clearly there’s more cutting to be done to get down to $50/month, though the majority of the Independents are short mini-series so there’s some flexibililty there over time. DC’s One Year Later has mostly been a wash for me, with several of the titles I added a couple of months ago already on the chopping block. Marvel faces a similar fate depending on how they handle Civil War, though at this moment, I’m thoroughly enjoying everything from them that remains on my list, and the two series on the chopping block are purely budgetary sacrifices.
What are YOU buying on a regular basis?
Wow, I recently cut back on mine and the only titles I kept were a few you plan on taking off. I guess we have different tastes. 🙂
Cap and DD are the only two on here I buy regular.
Oh, and Atomika too, oops 😉
Dark Horse
Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic
Star Wars: Legacy
DC
52 Weekly Series
Batman: Legends Of The Dark Knight
Birds Of Prey
Blood Of The Demon
Checkmate
Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre
Flash: Fastest Man Alive
Green Arrow
Hellblazer
Ion
JLA Classified
JSA
JSA Classified
Manhunter
Secret Six
Solo
Supergirl
Supergirl And The Legion Of Super-Heroes
Superman/Batman
Swamp Thing
Teen Titans
Wonder Woman
Dynamite Entertainment
Army Of Darkness
Battlestar Galactica
Marvel
Captain America
Civil War
Civil War: Front Line
New Excalibur
She-Hulk Vol 2
Wolverine
Wolverine: Origins
X-Factor
Shane: Different tastes are a good thing. Thank god we don’t all just like Ultimates and New Avengers!
Erech: Read American Way, damn you!
Omar: Shit, you weren’t kidding that you jumped right back in! But you, too, should be reading American Way.
I just did a quick search for American Way… so that’s from the former Image press Wildstorm, eh?
Hmm… while I enjoyed 1963, I still remember Youngblood #0. I never quite got over that comic and everyone associated with Image.
After spending too much time trying to figure out what I should / should not be reading, I just decided to start picking up all the books I used to pick up. That decision made creating a list a whole lot easier. I’m probably going to change some of these tho. I intend to add a few more and then cut the fat.
Don’t hold Image’s past against current day Wildstorm, especially Wildstorm Signature. It’s now owned by DC and unlike current day Image, almost all of their titles are pretty good and ship on time!
And I started the same way when I came back, seeking out the familiar first, branching out and then cutting back. The branching out part is where it gets crazy!