As always, let’s start with the numbers …

Physical Comics Read: 8 (31/41)
Digital Comics Read: 0 (471/471)
Trades/Graphic Novels Read: 0 (0/0)
Books Read: 3 (90/100)
Movies Watched: 0 (194/194)
TV Series Watched: 0 (49/49)
TV Seasons Watched: 0 (94/95)
Podcast Episodes Remaining: 77

I guess I covered what I needed to cover in my most recent podcast episode, although I also kind of think I half-assed the “update” part of that. Here’s my chance to rectify it, I guess, although I will tell you that there’s not much to really write about. I’ve noticed that the purchasing of media has dropped lately and I’ve noticed is more deliberate, especially when it comes to back issues. Like many of us, I have a “want list” that I keep on my phone, but when I’m going through the back issue bins, I will also pick up anything that looks interesting and is fairly cheap (we’re talking 99 cents or $1.99). Unfortunately, that has tended to create some problems over the last few years because it adds to my piles and makes me spend more money than I intended to. So I’ve tried to be very deliberate here and just grab books that are on my list. And while I’ve not been 100% the best at that (there’s one coming up that’s kind of bonkers and was a .99 special, so I had to grab it), I’ve been more consistent in the past.

As a result, I have been rewarded by the back isseu gods. No, really. I’m not kidding. I have been able to fill three significant holes in my collection just by going into my LCS on their “Fresh Fridays” (where the newly acquired back issues are in some short boxes on one of the counters). The first was a long time coming, and that was Tales of the Teen Titans. Now, I’ve owned the entire New Teen Titans/New Titans run from DC Comics Presents #26 to New Titans #130 for years; however, I had not been able to find all of the reprint issues of Tales of the Teen Titans. I’d narrowed it down to two books and I had been striking out for years. And what do you know, they were there a few weeks ago. As were the last two issues of Secret Origins that I needed and the issue of Action Comics Weekly that I needed to finish collecting the Nightwing storyline. I mean, it was a comic collecting karmic windfall or something. So maybe if I keep holding myself to this idea, I will wind up being able to finish my runs of Amethyst, Atari Force, and Conan the King?

I need to get some more of them out of the house, though. I’ve got stacks of both comic books and trades/graphic novels that are supposed to go up on eBay. The pictures have been taken, but I have just been lazy about it, just like I’ve been lazily scrolling through Reddit and playing Tetris every night instead of working on this blog, my podcast, my writing projects, reading a book, reading comics, watching TV shows, listening to a podcast or two, watching a movie, or doing anything else that’s constructive. Welcome to being tired in your forties, I guess?