What's A Nerd To Do?

Compared to what I have seen, my standing order at my local comic store is relatively small. Most weeks I don’t get more than two or three titles. This is mainly due to financial constraints and not by choice, as I am sure that if I was capable I would have a healthy stack of comics waiting for me each week. My girlfriend, Sarah, believes that two or three comics a week is more than enough to keep a young man going, but my recent ventures into DC have made it more and more difficult to keep the size of my order at a reasonable level.

A few months ago there were only a few titles that were a must have in my mind. At the top of my list were Uncanny X-Men (a no brainer) and X-Men Legacy, cause there just isn’t enough room in one title to contain the ever growing number of mutants in the Marvel Universe. From there, my order was filled with the many tie-ins and whatever event took my fancy at the time. Not long ago there was Siege, then Second Coming and now Chaos War.

My reactions are mixed whenever I see the cover of a new ongoing title in Previews. At first there is excitement, “Uncanny X-Force?!! With Fantomex?!! Sweet!” But then reality hits you in the face and you realise that you have to pay for that new title, “Damn. Can’t I just squeeze it in? It’s only one title after all.” But it’s not just one title. It’s another comic every month for the foreseeable future. And how often will Marvel give us just the one new title. It seems that recently that Marvel has become the Hydra of the comic book world. When one title ends three more grow forth to take its place.

And then there are the one-shots. Those damned one-shots, that promise us oh so much, but oh so often leave us feeling disappointed. Not just in the comic, but in ourselves as well, for being duped into indulging in a seemingly harmless little $3.99 tie-in. A comic book cover promises us many things. Mystery, thrilling artwork and epic battles between characters that we soon find out don’t even appear beyond the tempting gloss of that cover.

So what are we to do?

Tomorrow I will walk into my local haunt. As Giuseppe fumbles around in a drawer for my order I will see three more titles teasing me from a shelf, taunting me, daring me to pick them up, flick through its pages and forego my afternoon slurpee in place of its papery goodness. And five out of ten times it will win and I will put it in the pile with the others, nestled in between my Carnage #1 and X-Men #4, and grin up at me knowing that it had gotten the better of me.

This is our curse. And our blessing. For every now and then you get an absolute gem, a comic that when you have finished reading it makes you think, “Gee, I’m glad I picked that one up.” And you read it again, and again.