Episode 4: 5 Reasons to Re-Read Your Comics

This is a topic that should go without saying, really. But as we all race to what’s new this week and discussions of a comic will last for barely five days after their release, it’s easy to forget about that ever-growing pile of comics behind you.

Take a look around. Take a second look. Pick up a book. Give it another life.

Here are my 5 Reasons to Re-Read Comics:

1. Get More Out of Your Investment

Comics aren’t cheap. You’re paying $4 for a single issue or $15 – $20 for a trade with six.

Don’t complain about digital comics only giving you a “lease” to read a comic when you never read that dead tree version of a comic more than once, at most. What’s the difference?

You paid $4 for a comic you read once. If you read the comic a second time, you only paid $2 for each read. The more you read, the cheaper it is!

2. Cheaper Than Buying More

Take this Wednesday off. Don’t go to the comics shop. Look at the comics shop equivalent you have in your house. Those are all books you chose to bring into your home and give valuable space to. Why? Open them up again if you’re going to keep them. Be more functional!

This is a controversial topic. I once wrote a column suggesting people skip a week at their comic shop and catch up on their reading. It may have even been a holiday week, like a Christmas week, when Diamond was shipping a limited supply of books and it was almost not even worth the drive.

Oh, boy, were retailers not happy with me. One ever referred to it as a boycott, which was ridiculous. There are times, as a reader, when you need to absorb your own excesses, rather than pile more on. It’s OK to think “selfishly” once in a while and do what’s actually right for you.

3. Finally, Complete Stories!

It took six issues for that story to finish. That’s a five month gap between the first and last issue. You probably forgot some relevant line of dialogue from the first issue that paid off in the last.

Go back and reread the whole storyline in one sitting. Given the style of modern North American comics, that won’t take you long.

But now you can appreciate the story in a new way, just by re-reading it.

4. Why Collect It Otherwise?

What are you doing with all those longboxes and bookshelves, otherwise? 99% of the stuff you bought isn’t going to be worth more than what someone will pay you out of a quarter bin. Comics are a horrible investment that way.

You might as well just borrow books from the library if you never do anything again with them. If it’s read them once, put them away, and never look at them again, then you’re not getting the full value of your purchases.

5. Finding New Angles from Forgotten Favorites

This may just be the writer in me, but I can’t help it: Re-reading an old favorite may lead to re-contextualizing it. You might see something new in the story, thanks to the passage of time. You can see more of how the zeitgeist of the time contributed to the story, or the fashions of the time influenced the artist. You might place the comic in the overall oeuvre of the creator and see how it led from one thing to the next.

Plus, if you haven’t read the comic in a long time, there’s a good chance that some things will take you by surprise again. You can’t remember everything.

6. Bonus Reason

Listen to the podcast to get the bonus, somewhat-but-not-entirely facetious bonus reason…

Subscribe to the Pipeline Comics Podcast

Support the Podcast:

Tell a friend! Tell a neighbor! Tell the puppy next door!

Become a Pipeline Patron!

I’m just crazy enough to have plans to take this podcast to five days a week if the Patreon campaign hits a high enough number. To be fair, it’s a really high number, but there are also levels for three and four podcasts a week.