2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions

shaxper
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2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions Nov 28, 2018 11:20:06 GMT -5

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Post by shaxper on Nov 28, 2018 11:20:06 GMT -5

Jan 1, 2018 10:07:10 GMT -5 shaxper said:

Buying Goals

- Buy no more than 200 books this year. I made this goal last year and broke it for good reason, so it's more of a guideline. I have a little more space in my collection than I used to, but I also have 3,000 books in my collection I still haven't read, so it seems silly to buy more unless they are somehow must-haves. At this point I'm approaching 40 and wondering how many of those 3,000 unread comics I'll ever get to. I tend to read about 1,000 books a year (well, not last year...) but I want to do a lot more actual book reading this year, and even if I end up reading 500 comics, a lot of them will be re-reads of comics I've already enjoyed. If I didn't buy a single new comic book this year, it might still take me ten years to get through all the unread books in my collection at that pace.

Reading Goals

For now, everything I didn't get to in 2017:

~~- Finish reading the 200+ 1980s-1990s Disney comics I picked up at my LCS~~ completed 6/18/18
- Finish my Avengers run (#194-300, plus annuals)
- Get through more of my Savage Sword of Conan run (32 issues remaining)
- Miller's Daredevil
- Kirby/Lee's Fantastic Four
- Byrne's Fantastic Four
- Ditko's Spider-Man
- Grimjack
- Astro City
- Dreadstar
- Re-read Gaiman's Sandman from beginning to end
- Get caught up with The Cerebus Reading Society

Reviewing Goals

I don't know how seriously I want to take my review threads at this point. They are A LOT of work, I've had to painstakingly restore each twice now (once due to CBR, once due to Photobucket), and I'm not sure anyone ever actually reads any review that's more than a week old, so I'm going to have to continue to ask myself if it's worth it for my enjoyment alone, even if this work ultimately falls to the dark recesses to the CCF back pages.

~~- Finish T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents at Tower Comics.~~ completed 7/15/18
- Finish Atari Force. 11 issues left. Might as well.
~~- Finish volume 1 of Teen Titans from the Beginning. 17 issues remaining.~~ completed 11/18/18

~~- Finish restoring Superman in the Post-Crisis Era. Many of the images are still hosted at Photobucket~~ completed 1/12/18
- Restore Writer's Spotlight: Doug Moench. The images are still hosted at Photobucket
- Restore Justice League in the Post-Crisis Era. The images are still hosted at Photobucket
~~- Restore Planet of the Apes from the Beginning. The images are still hosted at Photobucket~~ completed 1/8/18
~~- Restore The Metamorphosis Odyssey. The images are still hosted at Photobucket.~~ completed 5/8/18

- Restore or bury Nick Fury in the Silver Age. It's always been my least favorite review thread, and I didn't do a single review for it last year. Time to sh*t or get off the pot with that one.

No specific goals for The Complete Batman. The thread is restored, so I'll review if and when the mood strikes.

I may still meet my buying goal and all of my reviewing goals, but wow have I not done much non-review reading this year. Yet another year of not getting through any of the reading goals I set for myself two years back.

I do have a far bigger goal I am about to reach though. I will be turning 40 in February. I have been tracking my reading habits since I was 26, and I am 83 books away from having read 4,000 books in my 30s

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2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions Dec 19, 2018 2:11:06 GMT -5

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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2018 2:11:06 GMT -5

Jan 1, 2018 12:44:36 GMT -5 @mrp said:

My comic resolutions this year are a work in progress, and will be fluid throughout the year, but as of right now they include...

-support more indy books, especially self-publishers and local artists

-organize and curate my collection, i.e. update my have list post-purge to make sure it's accurate and that I have added everything acquired last year so I can make a more accurate want list, get comics sorted and stored in the new room once it's ready implementing ways to eliminate short boxes when possible.

-read more of the books I own i.e.

-finish and/or read at least 5 of the following runs I own but haven't finished...
Ms. Tree
Nexus
Starslayer
Kirby's Demon
Kirby's OMAC
Kirby's 2001: A Space Odyssey
Warlord
Marvel's Kull
Marvel's Red Sonja
Arion, Lord of Atlantis
Battlestar Galactica
DNAgents
Marvel's Tarzan
Dark Horse's Tarzan
~~Conan the Adventurer (Marvel)~~ (done)
Further Adventures of Indiana Jones
Shaman's Tears
Shogun Warriors

-and at least 10 of these shorter runs/minis
Six from Sirius
SCISPy
Nathaniel Dusk
Nathaniel Dusk II
~~Black Lamb~~ (done)
~~Battle of the Planets (Image)~~ (done)
~~Black Dragon~~ (done)
~~Black Lamb~~ done
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
~~Conan the Flame & the Fiend~~ (done)
~~Conan: Lord of Spiders~~ (done)
Conan: The Return of Styrm
Conan: The Scarlet Sword
Cormac mac Art
Thongor from Creatures on the Loose
Echo of Futurepast
The Elsewhere Prince
Seekers into Mystery
Solomon Kane: Death's Black Riders
Solomon Kane: Red Shadows
Supreme: Blue Rose
Tor (70s DC series)
Tor (Marvel Epic mag)
Tor (2008 DC number)

-and try to average close to one trade or OGN I own per week, setting the goal for 50 (giving me a week or to to slack off)

in terms of buying stuff...

-I have about a bunch of series I am missing only a handful of issues that I'd like to complete including
~~DC's Tarzan (1 issue)~~ (done)
~~Conan the Savage~~ (1 issue) (done)
~~Atari Force~~ (5 issues) (done)
DNAgents (1 issue)
Book of Fate (1 issue)
~~Fate (2 issues)~~ (done)
~~Chronicles of Corum~~ (1 issue) (done)
Chilling Adventures of Sorcery/Red Circle Sorcery (2 issues) (down to 1 issue)
Epic Illustrated (4 issues) (got one of the 4 needed)
Mr. X (1st series) (3 issues)
Mr. X (2nd series) (10 issues)
Mr. X (3rd series) (1 issue)
Onyx Overlord (2 issues)
~~Moonshadow (5 issues, Epic not Vertigo)~~ (done)
Sandman Mystery Theatre (10 issues)
Swords of the Swashbucklers (2 issues) (got 3 of the ones needed)
~~Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction~~ (2 issues)(done)
Buck Rogers (GK) (2 issues)
Doc Savage (mag, Marvel) (2 issues)
Grendel (Comico) (12 issues) (down to 3 needed)
ROM (6 issues plus 2 Annuals)(down to 1 annual needed)

-and a couple of longer term goals that I won't complete the series but want to make progress:
work on getting Milestone books (got a handful)
work on Grimjack (got bunch, but still need 18 issues)
work on Kirby's Kamandi (done) (ok maybe I still need one issue grrrr!)
work on Flash Gordon (got a handful)
work on Phantom (got a handful)
work on Heavy Metal (only need 11 more out of the first 100 issues)

plus various 80s and 90s indy books as I find them

but mostly I buy stuff in trade and will focus on:
-get DC Silver Age trades (Flash, GL, Doom Patrol, etc.) and Golden Age trades (Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, etc.) as they come out. Limited to series I want to read, not all releases)
-keep up on Justice League in the Bronze Age omnibus as released
-pick up the Usagi Yojimbo Saga volumes I don't have yet (Vol. 3 +)
-pick up the volumes of James Robinson's Starman I am missing
-pick up the Mignolaverse trades I am missing
-keep up with World of Moebius volumes Dark Horse releases
-keep up with Image series I follow in trade
-pick up other various trades of series I follow or want to read...

-pick up more commissioned art or original art and prints (I am actually curating a gallery of pieces to display in various places in the house) Got a bunch of prints at Gem City)

-acquire 2-5 pieces for my vintage toy collection, hopefully Micronauts related or grail pieces I listed last year but did not get this year (one down, Flash Gordon from the Mattel line)

-attend 6-8 comic, toy or gaming shows this year (2 down)

and finally, for something completely different...

-write, draw, letter & color (optional), either by myself or in collaboration with other creators, at least 24 pages of content. Not sure if they will go out as webcomic content, digital comics or self-published in print yet, more focused on producing content rather than getting it out there at this point

-M

I did better on the buying goals than the reading goals, did ok on the art and toy goals, but creative goals were a complete bust. I still don't have the renovations to the studio and comic room done, we were short staffed at work all year and once I got cleared to resume full duties after the surgery, I got buried in hours and wasn't able to put any time into the renovation or creative projects. Energy levels were getting better, but the extra hours wiped me out most of the year leaving little time to get anything done. I did manage to get the basement projects mostly done, but the upstairs is still a half-finished shambles, so I don't have any actual drawing space yet. On top of that, the laptop died and it took a while to get all the files recovered (and most of the started manuscripts, outlines and beat sheets were on the laptop not on a flash drive or cloud because I hadn't gotten around to backing things up as I had so little time to get anything extra done-vicious circle I guess. So all in all, 2018 was a bust in terms of meeting most of the goals, and early 2019 doesn't look like it's going to get any better in terms of available time as we are even more short staffed than we were at the beginning of the year and my part-time job has me skirting the edge of 40+ hours every week and closing 6 nights a week. But it is what it is and I did what I could.

-M

Deleted Posts: 0	2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions Dec 19, 2018 5:57:20 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2018 5:57:20 GMT -5 I have no goals for 2019, and next year might be my last year reading Comics and I'll elaborate further in the right time in early March and proceed from there. Stay Tuned Members.

Icctrombone
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2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions Dec 23, 2018 21:06:02 GMT -5

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Post by Icctrombone on Dec 23, 2018 21:06:02 GMT -5

Here are some things that I didn't list but got accomplished this year.

Completed the following :

Urth4 1-4, Deathmatch 1-12, Avengers Unplugged 1-6, Terra Obscura 1-6, Tom Strong Terrific Tales 1-12, Tomorrow Stories 1-12.

The strong must always protect the weak

The Captain
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2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions Dec 24, 2018 14:53:05 GMT -5 shaxper likes this

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Post by The Captain on Dec 24, 2018 14:53:05 GMT -5

Since it looks like all the cool kids are revisiting their 2018 Resolutions right now, I'll join the party and find out how I did this year.

Jan 1, 2018 10:27:58 GMT -5 The Captain said:

My 2018 resolutions are pretty simple, both buying and reading:

Buying Goals
1. Get Daredevil #'s 65, 68, and 69. With the first six Masterworks, these will give me a complete run from the beginning through the end of the series that Kevin Smith started (it ended in August 2009). I did get #'s 68 and 69 this year, and I could have gotten #65 from a couple of different shops, but the condition on any of those copies was not what I wanted. Mostly complete.

2. Finish my Fantastic Four run from #100 up. I need six issues to do this, all between 100 and 109. Nope. I did not pick up a single one of these issues, and I don't think I ever actually made much effort to do so. Failed.

3. Finish my post-Crisis Flash run. I need five issues to do this. I got four of the five and the one I didn't get, #92, is a little bit more than I want to pay for a book in this series. I'm thinking I will just leave that hole in my collection and call it a day. Complete after revision.

4. Get the Iron Man Masterworks #'s 1 and 3. This will complete my collection of all of the Tales of Suspense issues through the end of the series right before Riri Williams and Victor von Doom donned the armor. I got #3, but not #1. Something about those very early Silver Age appearances just didn't draw me in, and I will probably skip getting it and be content. Complete after revision.

That's it for buying. There are some other books on my Want List, but I will only get them if I find a good deal. Not going out of my way this year to spend lots of money acquiring more floppies. May try to pick up a couple more of the DC "Greatest Stories Ever Told" editions to expand my collection into that area, as they are pretty cheap on Amazon and I have a bunch of gift cards that I have accumulated over the past couple of years.

Reading Goals
Much like shaxper , I have a huge backlog of books that I have owned for years yet never read, and being in my mid-40's now, it's time to get to them or consider getting rid of them. To that end, I want to read the following:
1. All of the Iron Man ToS stories as well as his first solo series, as I have only read bits and pieces of it. See above. Did not get the early ToS stories, and of the books I have, I only got up through #15. Failed.

2. Finish the Luke Cage/Power Man/Power Man & Iron Fist run that I started reading last year and gave up on. I did finish reading this in 2018. Complete.

3. Finish reading Daredevil from the beginning (I'm up to about issue #55 or so) I'm still stuck on #64, since I did not buy #65 this year and didn't push forward. Maybe next year.

I really just want to get through a bunch of the classic stuff that has been sitting around this year. My new purchases each month are only about five books, so if I put my head down and dig into it, I may be able to make some serious progress. I did OK on this in 2018. I got through a bunch of early Incredible Hulks and read a huge number of DC Silver Age, but with my eye surgery in the middle of summer, I lost a few weeks and also got focused on reading a lot of more-modern books, both things I own (I Hate Fairyland was a highlight) and things I borrowed from my local library. I think 2019 needs to be refocused on getting through my collection and only using the library sporadically.

Reviewing Goals
I'm evaluating my commitment to my Captain America review thread and deciding if I want to keep going with it. It's a toss-up right now, as it's a lot of work and I am not sure if that is where I want to put my energy in 2018.I did add some to this review thread in 2018, and I have at least one or two more to post by the end of the year. I'm thinking if I put more emphasis on reading my current collection, I should be able to be more productive at adding to this in 2019.

I also want to keep contributing to the new comics review threads (Off the Rack), as those don't take nearly the time, effort, or research to do.

"As a youngin' I used to share the colt 45 on the street corners with my friends. I'm not proud." - icctrombone

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again. But one which crumbles from within? That's dead. Forever." - Baron Helmut Zemo

The fact that there is a Highway to Hell but only a Stairway to Heaven should tell us all we need to know about expected future traffic.

Icctrombone Fortress of Solitude member Posts: 22,742	2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions Dec 25, 2018 9:14:06 GMT -5 shaxper likes this Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top Post by Icctrombone on Dec 25, 2018 9:14:06 GMT -5 Got a shipment yesterday and completed The Sabre 14 issue series and Terra Obscura v.2 1-6.
	The strong must always protect the weak

shaxper
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2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions Dec 31, 2018 9:56:57 GMT -5

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Post by shaxper on Dec 31, 2018 9:56:57 GMT -5

Hard to believe it's December 31st already!

Jan 1, 2018 10:07:10 GMT -5 shaxper said:

Buying Goals

- Buy no more than 200 books this year.

Done! Don't know how many I purchased this year, but it was probably less than 40.

Reading Goals

- Finish reading the 200+ 1980s-1990s Disney comics I picked up at my LCS

Done! Finished them in June, and man was it fun!

- Finish my Avengers run (#194-300, plus annuals)

I didn't even touch this run until the beginning of this month. Got to issue #200 and then just had to take a break.

- Get through more of my Savage Sword of Conan run (32 issues remaining)

Read seven more issues and enjoyed them all, but still 25 left to go.

- Miller's Daredevil

I'm about halfway through. I'll have this run completed in January.

- Ditko's Spider-Man

Read a few issues over the summer and lost interest fast. I know this run is positively revered, but I struggle to maintain interest through those early issues. I intend to try again next year.

- Kirby/Lee's Fantastic Four
- Byrne's Fantastic Four
- Grimjack
- Astro City
- Dreadstar
- Re-read Gaiman's Sandman from beginning to end
- Get caught up with The Cerebus Reading Society

Didn't get to any of these. I spent a lot less time reading comics in these past two years than I'd expected due to circumstances beyond my control. Hopefully, life will quiet down at some point in 2019.

Reviewing Goals

I don't know how seriously I want to take my review threads at this point. They are A LOT of work, I've had to painstakingly restore each twice now (once due to CBR, once due to Photobucket), and I'm not sure anyone ever actually reads any review that's more than a week old, so I'm going to have to continue to ask myself if it's worth it for my enjoyment alone, even if this work ultimately falls to the dark recesses to the CCF back pages.

I've had a lot of fun getting back into review threads this year, but I've kept a tight focus, taking on one or two projects at a time instead of trying to get to EVERYTHING. I'd like to continue that into 2019.

- Finish T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents at Tower Comics.

Done! Got there in July. It didn't get much attention, and that's okay. I was just glad to be done with a series that was clearly dropping off.

Finish Atari Force. 11 issues left. Might as well.

That didn't happen. I'll probably do it in 2019. Never really got into the series, but it was getting better last time I read/reviewed it.

- Finish volume 1 of Teen Titans from the Beginning. 17 issues remaining.

Done! This was definitely the most fun I had reviewing in 2018. Went on to review most of the Bob Rozakis relaunch, as well as the sister Batman Family title. I'll easily complete both in 2019.

- Finish restoring Superman in the Post-Crisis Era.

Done! I'd still like to do some new reviews for this thread in 2019. I miss it.

- Restore Writer's Spotlight: Doug Moench. The images are still hosted at Photobucket

Photobucket went through a lot of changes this year. On the one hand, they are now displaying my images again (albeit with an annoying watermark). On the other, it's far harder to get my images from their servers than it used to be. I made a heroic effort to finish restoring this thread this year, but it just wasn't doable. I hope that will change in 2019.

- Restore Justice League in the Post-Crisis Era. The images are still hosted at Photobucket

Didn't even try. The Doug Moench thread is the higher priority for me. This thread was always extremely popular, but it was also very one-note, and thus a lot less satisfying to work on. I'll get back to it eventually, but that may or may not be in 2019.

- Restore Planet of the Apes from the Beginning. The images are still hosted at Photobucket

Done! Went on to catch up with the remaining POTA crossovers (Green Lantern and Kong). Still need to do Ursus from 2018 and then stay caught up with the new releases.

- Restore The Metamorphosis Odyssey. The images are still hosted at Photobucket.

Done!

- Restore or bury Nick Fury in the Silver Age. It's always been my least favorite review thread, and I didn't do a single review for it last year. Time to sh*t or get off the pot with that one.

I honestly miss this thread...a little. It took two years of inactivity to get me there. I will likely do a review or three in 2019, though I did nothing in 2018. I should probably index the reviews in the op and get those images off of photobucket too.

No specific goals for The Complete Batman. The thread is restored, so I'll review if and when the mood strikes.

I did two reviews anyway

There are a lot of goals I didn't meet this year, but I'm very satisfied with the ones I did meet. No complaints here.

2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions

Post by shaxper on Nov 28, 2018 11:20:06 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2018 2:11:06 GMT -5

Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2018 5:57:20 GMT -5

Post by Icctrombone on Dec 23, 2018 21:06:02 GMT -5

Post by The Captain on Dec 24, 2018 14:53:05 GMT -5

Post by Icctrombone on Dec 25, 2018 9:14:06 GMT -5

Post by shaxper on Dec 31, 2018 9:56:57 GMT -5

2018 Classic comics New Year's Resolutions