My Year in Comics (Thus Far)

It's July 1st, which is the perfect time to do my mid-year analysis of my comic buying habits. Starting in 2004, I've kept an Excel file of all my comic purchases. Last year I spent a total of $697 over the whole year on comics. At this point in 2004, I'd spent a little over $300.

This year, my comics budget has increased. Between January and June, I dropped $452.70 on comics, an average of $17.40 a week. The cover price of these books totalled $890, so on average, I'm getting a pretty good deal.

These purchases (exluding FCBD books) included 185 issues, 19 trade paperbacks, and five hardcovers. $196 of my total, or 43%, was spent on collected editions.

Purchases of new comics at my local store totalled $187, or about $7.20 a week. The most I spent on any single visit to the shop was $23 (which included a Fables tpb). I've spent $75 on eBay, my next biggest source.

On the back issue front, I've completed my long-lacking runs of Blaze of Glory, Code of Honor, Orion, Static, and Young Justice, as well as the Ty Templeton runs on Batman: Gotham Adventures and the last Batman Adventures series.

Best deal so far: the first three Cerebus phonebooks for $13.50 (though the binding on the first is poor).