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We just recorded an episode on Friday where we talked about comics/event fatigue. The episode will go up on the feed next Friday (Sept 5th) but I'm going to talk about it now.

How much is too much? Going over the Previews every month, we cannot help but notice the plethora of new mini-series and ongoing series that keep cropping up month after month. Add to that the fact that we're coming off of a couple of years of almost continual "events" from both Marvel & DC, which each have lots of tie in issues & mini-series.

On the episode, we're joined by:
Lenny (ctowner1)
HassanT
Jon Carroll
Zack Kruse (pronounced Cruise-ee)

and we talk about how this is affecting our buying habits & just general mental state as readers. When is the "last straw" going to be dropped on our collective backs?

After doing this episode, I got to thinking and took a look at what I was buying. I decided today to drop a variety of books that I was not getting "full enjoyment" out of. I may pick these up down the line out of 50-cent bins, but the publishers are no longer getting my on-going monthly $.

Are you dropping anything lately? If so, note them on this thread, and give a short reason why!

Stuff I'm dropping, as of now. I just went in and edited my August DCBS order to remove these titles, I will not be collecting them "new" from here on out.

Marvel Adventures Avengers (last is #28 )
Marvel Adventures Spider-Man (last is #43)
- For these books, I initially enjoyed them as nice stand-alone stories, but lately, more and more, I'm getting a feeling they are "dumbed down" for the target audience (kids), which I don't think is necessary, but, in any event, I'm not enjoying reading them any more. CUT!

Trinity (last is #18 )
- I'll finish out a "triplet" since they generally do this in groups of 3 interlocking covers, but I am really not enjoying this book to buy it every week. It's "just OK" and as such, I'm tired of shelling out $12-$15 per month (or, at my discount $7.16 - $8.95). It's too much for what I'm getting.

Superman/Batman (last is #52)
- I'm jumping off this one as a new story arc begins in #53. Why? This one has been bothering me since the Superman panel at the San Diego con where Geoff Johns said he does not read, know what is going on in or have any influence over the stories in Superman/Batman, since it is handled outside the Superman editorial office. If this is going to be an "out of main continuity" title, and DC is OK with that, I think I can safely skip it too.

Final Crisis: Submit & Resist
- I'm going to "Just say NO" to these $3.99 one-shot spin-offs out of the Final Crisis storyline. DC does not have a great track record on these kind of tie-in issues. Hey I could be wrong, if so, I'll pick one up off the rack. At least I'll be able to avoid the ugly "strip down the middle" cover.

What's annoying me lately is when they move the main story in a book over to a one-shot so that they can stick a cross-over in the main book.

This happened last week with the Layla Miller One-shot and X-Factor. The Layla Miller story feels like it should be in the main book with the cross-over being a mini-series. But then would anybody buy Secret Invasion: X-Factor/She-Hulk??

JLAFan wrote:Stuff I'm dropping, as of now. I just went in and edited my August DCBS order to remove these titles, I will not be collecting them "new" from here on out.
Marvel Adventures Avengers (last is #28 )

I only pick this up when they are written by Jeff Parker. He has a good handle on telling all ages tales. His X-Men:First Class is probably the best X book out there right now.

Here are some titles that I dropped or will drop.

Young X-men - My last pre-ordered issue is #6 and then I am done with this series unless I hear good things about it. Out of the new status quo of the X-Men books, this book interested me the least. But I thought why not? I wish I didn't.

Cable - My last issue was #6. I did enjoy the first 6 issues but this book is moving a bit too slow. I put this down as something I might just get off the racks.

Superman/ Batman - Issue 50 was my last one. I haven't really enjoyed this series since Loeb left. Green's run was good until number 49. I hated the ending. Besides, this is just a fill-in series and not part of the main DCU line

Brave and the Bold - I thought the first 12 issues were great. I wish Ordway stayed on as a replacement for Perez. I was excited about JMS and Saiz coming on as the new creators, but I have no idea when that is going to be. It was just announced that there is a new 4-part storyline with a different creative team starting in November. The DC fill-in comics are starting to to annoy me.

Batman Confidential - My last issue will be #21. I will only pick this up if I like the creative team.

Wonder Woman - I have not been all the impress with this series since the relaunch. The best issues were by Heinberg.

Batman and the Outsiders - I have felt that this has been a very weak relaunch by DC, which is unfortunate, since I grew up reading the Batman and the Outsiders. (Yes, I think there is a trend of bad relaunches by DC)

Flash - Gee, do I really need to explain this one? Ever since Johns left the Flash years ago, this title has been average at best. Best thing to do is to ignore it until next year, when Johns will fix the mess that DC has caused over the past couple of years.

Trinity - I am finally decided to pass on it. It is a good series, but I feel that DC made a mistake of doing a weekly series staring the Big Three during the same time Final Crisis is going on. And then with the weekly specials for JSofA coming out in November, this became an easier decision. The best thing about the series are the covers.

Hassan

For me, event fatigue stems out of the fact there is no longer any status quo to settle out before the next even kicks in. But beyond that, I am sure Marvel can tell this story better with fewer titles. Why they can't use the very simple model of the original Secret Wars, I have no idea. All it would take is for them to coordinate each regular title to have a Skrull reveal like the one in New Avengers that started it all. As much as I might be oversimplifying this, I know Marvel is padding out the number of books. "Frontline" is the only proof I need.

I also don't appreciate the main event title going to $3.99 for every issue. I already bought the first two issues before I noticed, so I'm going to finish it out, but I plan to sit out the next event unless I feel it is worth $3.99. Good as parts of Secret Invasion are, it isn't Walking Dead or Mouse Guard (which are better reads and don't have interrupting ads, either).

HassanT wrote:Here are some titles that I dropped or will drop.

Young X-men - My last pre-ordered issue is #6 and then I am done with this series unless I hear good things about it. Out of the new status quo of the X-Men books, this book interested me the least. But I thought why not? I wish I didn't.

Cable - My last issue was #6. I did enjoy the first 6 issues but this book is moving a bit too slow. I put this down as something I might just get off the racks.

Good catches, Hassan.

I gave up on Young X-men after issue 2 or 3.

Cable #6 was my last issue of that title also.

Doing some more cuts:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (last issue #19)
- I have been liking this series, but not loving it. Bringing Jeph Loeb onto this with #20 is a perfect jumping off point for me. I have not been loving his writing for the last several years.

Batman Confidential (last issue #21)
- While they may be interesting stories, this is another "non-core-continuity" title that I don't need. I suspect most issues of this will be availble in 50-cent or dollar bins down the road.

Brave & The Bold (last issue #18 )
- Hassan made a good point on this one. It has not been the same since Waid's 1st arc. I had hopes for Wolfman, but I see Wolfman is now gone as of #19. This title seems to be "side stories" with no real impact on core DC continuity, so I can do without it.

Moon Knight (list issue is #22)
- After reviewing this book for the show this week, I realized that I really don't like the "mentally troubled" Moon Knight portrayed in this series, so why am I buying this series?

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I might also point out that I passed on several series (never getting them in the first place) for pretty much the "fatigue" reason:

Batman:Cacophony
El Diablo
Superman/Batman vs. Vampires/Werewolves (this should be in the DCU encyclopedia to illustrate "unnecessary series")
Superman/Supergirl: Maelstrom

Captain America: Theater of War
Fantastic Four: Ture Story
Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch

I gave up on Moon Knight after the last arc. The last arc was the best arc yet, but the pace of the story is way too slow. Plus, I agree with your opinion that I really don't want to read a story about a troubled Moon Knight.

The Batman/ Superman BI-WEEKLY series just shocks me. Who at DC thought this would be a good idea at the same time Trinity, Final Crisis, Superman event/crossover, and Batman event. The same goes with the Superman/ Supergirl BI-WEEKLY series. I buy a lot of comics and I am staying away from these series as well.

Ghost Rider - I tired the series when Way was started and hated it. I read Aaron's first arc and liked it, but since I was getting too many comics and they felt they need a spin-off mini-series on a book that isn't selling in high numbers, I decided to drop it.

I also dropped the WS titles again after Number of the Beast and the first issue of Wildcats. This line isn't as good as it used to be.

I am also staying away from the Thor one-shot by Alan Davis and the Captain America one-shot and most one-shots from Marvel. I am getting the Eternals, but will not get the Annual.

I will pick up Batman: Cacophony because I am a sucker for Kevin Smith writing Batman.

I will be dropping books but not because of comic book fatique. I am dropping some titles because with work and other stuff I can't keep caught up. As far as the events go, I am loving them. I just read Black Panther 40 and this series is the best Secret Invasion stuff out there. I love it. The DC crossovers have been some of the best and I am reading them as soon as I get them.

I think I am going to weed out titles but not getting new number 1's unless they are DC. I have tried to cut in the past and it has not worked out too well. Will see how this time around goes.

HassanT wrote: I will pick up Batman: Cacophony because I am a sucker for Kevin Smith writing Batman.

I will get Batman: Cacophony out of a dollar bin at some point.

I'm just going to assume it will follow suit with pretty much every single Batman "side-mini" ever done and be readily available as cheap back issues down the line. There are exceptions to this rule (like Killing Joke), but they are few & far between.

HassanT wrote: I also dropped the WS titles again after Number of the Beast and the first issue of Wildcats. This line isn't as good as it used to be.

Me too. The only WS books I am getting are Ex Machina, Storming Paradise, & Top 10 Season Two

The downside of using the DCBS excel form is that I don't really maintain a regular pull list. Every month I go through the form and get what looks interesting or that I'm willing to try based on the sale price.

That being said, I'm probably going to stop following all of the non-First Class X titles. Greg Land isn't my taste and now that the first arcs of Young X-Men and Legacy are over, I think I'll wait and see how it goes.

There are always a few titles that I don't order from DCBS, but I end up grabbing at my LCS based on reviews or buzz (Robin and Blue Beetle are ones that come to mind that can be very hit or miss)

I'm tempted to add Daredevil, though. At least as long as Brubaker and Rucka are co-writing it. And I've been thinking of picking Powers back up. Proof and Locke and Key are others that I may add as soon as the first trades come out and I can get them read. Manhunter and Guardians of the Galaxy have recently jumped on my regular list of titles to follow as well.

I think there are more mini-series more than ever because people's attetion span isn't long enough. I mean look at this thread (and not to pick on anyone) but this is a discussion of dropping books. The days of people buying books based on strength of character I think are over. We buy books based on strength of story arc.

Skyhawke wrote:I think there are more mini-series more than ever because people's attention span isn't long enough. I mean look at this thread (and not to pick on anyone) but this is a discussion of dropping books. The days of people buying books based on strength of character I think are over. We buy books based on strength of story arc.

I disagree. I'm not buying (or dropping) based on the strength of any particular story arc, but based on my enjoyment of the book. Maybe you can translate that into a story arc argument, but I'm not so sure.

For example: I'm dropping Trinity. This has nothing to do with strength of the characters. In the "old days" if I liked Batman, Superman, & Wonder Woman I'd buy their books, and maybe JLA. Now these characters are in SO MANY books, I'm just too worn out to buy every single one they are in, so I guess it comes down top the strength of the particular book instead of me just liking Batman (for instance).

I guess the point of the "fatigue" (at least for me) is that the "Big 2" are so over-saturating the market with series that you can no longer just buy a couple of book because you like & want to follow a character. They take the popular characters and put them EVERYWHERE.

At DC, the straw that broke my back was "Batman/Superman vs. Vampires/Werewolves". Do we REALLY need this series? Don't we see enough of these characters each & every month? Someone will buy this, and probably like it, but you cannot equate just saying "too much" to a series like this to "buying based on story arc".

For me, that would be true if I jumped on & off of the main Batman book based on the particular arc. I don't do that. I either buy Batman (& Detective) or I do not, I don't jump back & forth on that title. But that is very different than buying every single non-continuity mini-series featuring the characters I like.

Enough is enough.

This thread has kind of a "negative spin" since it is about dropping titles instead of elevating & boosting them, but I think my point is that I believe a saturation point has been hit (for me) and was wondering if it had hit or was approaching for others.