Too Many Comics!

It was only about four or five years ago that my comic reading was primarily limited by my bank account. I had a finite amount of income and I had to pay my bills before I could buy anything like comics. When my financial situation changed pretty radically, I had to cut my comic buying to zero. I just simply did not have the extra cash to afford comics on top of the mortgage, electric bill, water bill, food, etc.

I'd been reading a handful of webcomics before that -- I think I started reading them regularly around 2004 -- but I now found myself with more time to read more webcomics. Since I was no longer purchasing print ones. I set up a decent reading system, including for those that don't have handy RSS feeds, and I would add new comics as I came across ones that looked/sounded interesting.

I did some traveling for Thanksgiving this past weekend, and couldn't really keep up with all my regular comics. I caught a few of them, but mostly just the ones that tended to be more time-sensitive. I knew I could catch up on the others later.

Tonight I sat down to 300-some pages of webcomics that I hadn't read yet. I got through maybe half of them. And many of them will get updated overnight, so I'm sure I'll be back over 200 by morning. With my other obligations, I don't expect I'll get caught up until the weekend. And that's only from missing a couple of days!

So, for the first time ever, I'm considering paring back my reading because I simply don't have the time to keep up with everything. It's an interesting change from earlier where money was my limiting factor. Now, I can get a hold of everything I want, but it's more than I can actually keep up with. It's an interesting challenge to face, and I'll need to set aside some time to think about what comics really appeal to me in a very different way than I have before.

Not only are there the quality and genre components to consider (which I'm accustomed to) but also a frequency issue. A webcomic that comes out daily will eat up more time than one that's weekly or simply irregular. How does that factor in? Does a really great daily comic equal a mediocre weekly one? What about something pretty good that comes out three times week?

Also, I keep finding new comics. How do those fit in? What sort of "grace period" should I give them before making a choice between that one and another one I had been reading previously? (Since I obviously don't want to just wind up with the volume of comics I'm at now again in a few months.)

Just something new and interesting for me to consider.

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