Memes are fun! This one finds its way here courtesy of Johnny Bacardi. Alan David Doane did it, too. So why not?
1. Do you tend to go to the nearest store, the best store, any store, or does it matter?
If I can get into the city, I go to Midtown Comics. They’ve got the second-best selection in the city (after the amazing Jim Hanley’s Universe), but they offer a 15% discount for regulars, and the employees are very friendly and helpful. If I can’t get into the city, I go to a mainly-models/toys shop next to my gym, or use my employee discount to buy graphic novels at the bookstore I work at. And if it’s an alternative comic I’m really fiending for and Midtown’s all out, I’ll go to Hanley’s. (I do try to get there every so often, because it’s awesome.)
2. Ladies, what books do you tend to purchase, or what kind would you like to purchase (if you are a male please leave blank or supply what a girlfriend reads)?
The Missus likes Craig Thompson, Jeffrey Brown, Phoebe Gloeckner, Paul Hornschemeier, Jordan Crane.
3. What one thing would you add or change about your most frequented store (i.e. What is the worst thing about the store)?
It’d be nice if Midtown had a deeper backstock in terms of alternative comics. Their online reserve service can get you anything provided you’re buying it the week of release, but after that, you’re sort of on your own. Hanley’s has a much wider, deeper selection overall, and I love the way it’s organized, but the lack of a discount and occasional surliness make it a special-occasion-only type thing.
4. What one thing would you not change (i.e. What is the best thing about the store)?
The discount and the online reserves.
5. Do you read any small press comic books currently? Which one(s)? (examples: Lone Star Press, Avatar)
Well, of course. Fantagraphics is the tops, I think.
6. What back issues do you buy?
I’ll occasionally play catch-up with series I missed out on if I’m particularly anxious to read them, but thanks to trade paperbacks that’s usually unnecessary.
7. How do you decide what comic book to buy? Writer, artist, character, word of mouth, etc?
All of the above, except perhaps character–my favorite character is Batman and I’m not buying any regular series starring Mr. Wayne’s alter ego. I’ll probably be buying Astonishing X-Men for the characters, but that’s for what Grant Morrison did with them and an interest in seeing what the new team does to follow up more than it’s for some love of the platonic ideal of Wolverine or the White Queen.
8. Do you buy strictly current age comic books or do you buy older comic books? What kinds?
I guess it depends on how you define “older”–reprint collections are a big part of my collecting habits. (Several of my favorite books of 2003 included Palomar, The Frank Book, and Squadron Supreme, just by way of a for instance.)
9. How do you feel about graded comic books?
Who cares? To paraphrase Lorne Michaels, spending $20,000 on some super-duper shrinkwrapped copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 is God’s way of telling you you have too much money. And as for anything newer or less important than that, you gotta be kidding me.
10. What comic book related merchandise do you buy?
Not much anymore–I’m a married man. I gotta maintain a respectable home. T-shirts is probably as far as I’ll take it these days, and it’s been a while since I even bought one of those.
11. What do you read if you are not reading comic books?
Comics blogs, obviously. Rock magazines. I was on a non-fiction kick for a while–books on warfare, crime, and terrorism, mainly. I also like reading books about scenes (glam rock, freeform FM rock radio, Saturday Night Live, funk, and so forth), which is funny because I hate scenesterism. I enjoy rereading favorites–every year I read Lord of the Rings, and there’s plenty of Clive Barker and George Orwell and old Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk and suchlike that finds its way onto my nightstand on a regular basis. The Master and Margherita has been on my to-do list for quite some time, and hopefully it’s ready to be done.
12. What do you buy at comic book conventions?
Tons, and I mean tons, of comics. It helped that it wasn’t so much “me” that was buying them as it was my Uncle Abercrombie, that’s for sure. But if you’re not gonna buy comics at a comic book convention, where are you gonna buy ’em?