Reading Comics In The 21st Century

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Spotlight:

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As a result of Flashpoint, during which Barry came to know Bruce’s father, the two heroes formed a bond. Batman and The Flash reunited in 2017’s The Button (Batman 21 & 22 and The Flash 21 & 22), which laid the foundation for the maxi-series Doomsday Clock.

The two detectives are together again in The Price (Batman 64 & 65 and The Flash 64 & 65). Without spoiling any significant plot points, Batman 64 opens in the middle of an exciting Justice League battle with a classic foe. From there our heroes are immediately thrust into a mystery, the result of which may have as great an impact on the DC Universe as Flashpoint and The Button. We’ll see.

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Reading Comics In The 21st Century:
When I was a kid, I’d pick up the odd comic book at 7-11 to kill time. I didn't start regularly reading and collecting comic books until I was 19, in 1989. Through the decades I’ve amassed a sizeable collection.

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I have jam packed boxes of comic books in my bedroom, the garage, and in a rented storage space in town.  That’s right, I’m paying to store comics which I’ll probably never read again.  It’d be one thing if I had loads of rare collector items worth loads of cash, but that’s not the case.

Back when the medium was in its infancy, most kids bought, read, and traded comics as though they were toys (which is how they were intended to be used and enjoyed).  If the occasional copy was found in mint condition, decades later, it was worth something.

Then news of a Captain America Comics #1 selling for $343,000, or an Action Comics #1 selling for $3,200,000 circulated through Nerdtopia and became folklore.  Pretty soon everyone with a copy of Batman in their attic thought they had a golden ticket to Easy Street.

Comic book companies caught wind of this mania and began labeling certain issues as “Collector Items.”  Savvy collectors began buying up, and carefully storing, these gems as investments.  Of course since the things were mass produced, they'll never be rare enough to be valuable.  Thus, I’m storing thousands of books for no reason.

I still enjoy reading new stories, but have nowhere to put them.   While I will miss the gang at my local comic book shop, I’ve decided to read my stories on ComiXology.com from now on.  They get all issues every Wednesday, just like the brick and mortar shops.

I'm not sure what the future of comic books is.  The romantic in me hopes the physical shops don't go away completely.  However, for me, until I have a mansion with unlimited storage space, digital comics are the way to go. -