My comic collection is quite large. This is understandable, as I’ve been collecting for a while now. I try to keep it controlled, with occasional pruning. In some instances, this has lead to me donating comics to a children’s hospital (my karma was smiling that day), but sometimes I have just put them in a recycle bin, so completely horrible were the comics and the state they were in. (Don’t worry, they weren’t precious comics, just some old Marvel and DC rubbish that were produced in bulk.)

I am currently going through another rethink of my collection. There are comics and trade paperbacks that I have bought that I don’t re-read. I believe that this is a sign that I don’t really want them, or I would be dipping back into them on a regular basis. Looking at the titles in the spreadsheet that documents my collection, I can vaguely recall why I purchased them in the beginning. Sometimes, it was a recommendation from a good source, but which didn’t reflect my tastes. Sometimes, I was buying to support a title I thought I would like and would get low orders, only for me not to enjoy the title. Sometimes, I bought it and then found that it wasn’t as good as I originally thought. So, it is time for them to move on.

I’m still thinking about where they will end up. I won’t throw things away if possible, but they do have to go. eBay is an option, although it seems to be quite labour-intense. Giving them away is an option, but I would have to make sure that people actually wanted them. Another possibility is some sort of book exchange with like-minded individuals, the sort of people who might read this blog. Whatever the result of these ruminations, I shall be going through the collection and trimming it down to the books I really want, and subsequently reviewing them for the purpose of reminding myself and for honing my tastes and, hopefully, learning lessons about what to buy and what not to buy.

Trimming the collection: reviewing comics I don’t want anymore …