rereading comics

[whitecomics]

I have an impulse, every so often, to embark on a grand project of rereading every comic I own - part of the idea, of course, being that I should get rid of anything that I find myself uninterested in reading. I sometimes make a bit of headway on this but never get too far.

What makes for a comic worth rereading, particularly characteristics that are maybe separate from whether a comic is worth reading once? What comics do you reread often?

[colinprojects]

Format makes the biggest difference for me, as boring an answer as that may be. Collections sit on the bookshelf and are easier to grab and reread. Most of my floppies are either packed away or framed and on the wall as decoration, not as convenient. Been trying do figure out a system for keeping some of the stuff out and readable, but nothing satisfying yet.

For content characteristics, the two opposite sides of a spectrum. Dense stuff, art or writing, seems the most rewarding for a reread. And the other side, real light and fast stuff to blaze through, thrill ride style.

Probably what I've reread most are various Alan Moore books. I read the Ballad of Halo Jones probably once a year.

[grubcubman]

I'm confident that embarking on a project like that would lead to some real existential dread for me. I want to be the type of collector who appreciates everything I have, and I worry that some substantial portion of my comics are more about the collecting part of things. What is it all for.

Anway, five categories:

1. Serials for which I need a refresher: Copra is probably the best example of this for me. I've reread Copra about six times because I have so much trouble remembering who everyone is when the new issues comes out. I'll probably reread a few issues again when I pick up no. 44. I did the same with Crickets and Ganges, and I'm sure plenty of others (though I'm not reading as many serialized comics these days).

2. Stuff I enjoyed a long time ago: I read Asterios Polyp in college and adored it. I hadn't read it since then, so I picked it up again late last year and... adored it again. I'm halfway through a very slow reread of Pittsburgh and it's like a revelation despite this not being the first go-around.

3. Stuff I don't understand: Gary Panter! CF! You handed off an Aidan Koch book that I've been reading and rereading in the dim hopes that I'll begin to understand something.

4. Homework: I'll reread if I want to write something or, for example, record a podcast. I recently reread a bunch of Malachi Ward's comics for an as-yet unwritten blog post and had a lot of fun with those. And I've been writing back and forth with Daria Tessler for an interview that hopefully gets posted somewhere, and that's been a great prompt to revisit stuff by one of my favorite cartoonists.

5. Oh yeah, stuff I just like.

[awfulquiet]

Jan 31, 2023 14:50:34 GMT grubcubman said:

I want to be the type of collector who appreciates everything I have, and I worry that some substantial portion of my comics are more about the collecting part of things. What is it all for.

I felt this in my soul.

[cartoonysam]

I rarely reread books since I have so much in my collection that I haven't touched yet, but I think humor comic collections (especially comic strips) have the most rereadibility value. It's usually easy to go back to those in any order and enjoy them without feeling the need to commit to them.

[manoopuesta]

I am not used to re-reading a lot, because I was using heavily the network of local libraries. So it was more of a reading approach of "let's read all comics that get into my hands and that opens up my taste and knowledge".

Now that I don't have that kind of catalog at hand, I buy way more comics but still I don't come back for re-reading much. Most of the times that happens is when I am checking out a comic for the artwork and I get so engaged with the comic I start reading a bit, another bit... and then I finish it completely (which is a good sign of how good that comic is).

The format affects me too, but 'cause usually I do "on-purpose" re-readings at bed before sleeping, so I get small/easy-to-handle comics. Strips are specially good for re-reading, you can pick them up wherever. I have 2 sets of the complete series of Mafalda by Quino, cause one is so worn down. I used to read them over and over again when I was a kid/teen.

[disneyweirdness]

Sometimes I will see a comic book on Ebay from the 90s or whatever and I'll think "I read that. I bet I still have that." And then it's an entire weekend afternoon going through boxes and stacking stuff up, usually I end up not finding the thing I was looking for but a stack up to my knee of stuff I want to re-read.

That's for like, Marvel floppies. My comic strip collections and fancy graphic novels I will take off the shelf and flip through when I'm on the phone or putting off an unpleasant task.

[mikesheawright]

I pretty much only keep stuff that I feel like I'll re-read at some point, it's an easy way for me to keep from over-collecting stuff just to have it. Then when I re-read it I decide if I'll read it again and etc. etc. It's been a great way to pare down to just the essentials. I like to be pretty ruthless, sometimes it's tough to get rid of stuff but am I really going to read Black Hole more than 4 or 5 times? I love it but I'm not gonna make the time to read it again and that's a chunky book. Also I like to drop the books off at Goodwill or the used bookshop down the street, so someone else can have a cheap and easy 1st time with them. I try to keep nostalgia out of it but I do keep some things purely because they were gifts from important people to me, not necessarily because I'll re-read it.

The criteria for whether or not I think I'll re-read something varies wildly though. Case-by-case basis. grubcubman 's list looks pretty similar to what I'd come up with!

[justareed]

When I was a kid in Florida I'd visit the (very large) flea market regularly with my dad.  I'd beg him to buy me issues of Toshihiro Ono's Pokemon comic whenever the sci-fi store had new ones in stock.  I amassed 12 glorious issues (my partner gifted me with the final four later in life).  Every day I came home with a new issue I would start my ritual of re-reading them all again in one sitting, from the very first issue, before cracking open that fresh new chapter.  Towards the end it would take the entire afternoon, but it was worth it.  Those comics were special and unlike anything else in my world.  (And they were exceptionally well done in terms of drawing and storytelling, it's sharp work!)

Less works beg revisiting now with with access to so much more...  Typically if I'm re-reading something it's because it's on my library chopping block.  The few times I revisit favorites are for works that are exceptionally funny, have fantastic art, or are adventure stories (usually manga) that I'm relaxing with - not unlike how I'd revisit favorite films that are just such a fun ride.  Stories that feel like an epic saga or haunting fairy tale (and are also expertly told) end up as the perennials. Sometimes I find a charming character who is fun to revisit can carry a work to some extent as well.  Even though I gravitate strongly to them, I find it most difficult to re-read memoirs or works that are informational in nature - unless I am visiting them for technical inspiration.

[junkflower]

Man, I loved, LOVED that Toshihiro Ono Pokémon comic as a kid, but I lost my issues somehow. I've always wanted to re-collect it (for weird nostalgic completionist's sake) but those issues have gotten pretty pricey

[whitecomics]

One type of rereading I enjoy is the genuine surprise, the work you grab almost haphazardly and that you wouldn't list on any personal pantheon of rereadable or favorite works. An example: I reread Bone a few years ago, half-suspecting I might decide to get rid of it (and knowing it wouldn't be hard to find a copy again in the future). But it's great! Even better that I had remembered! The cartooning is so crisp, so exuberant.

[arecomicsevengood]

I feel like I reread comics often, but of course any individual book can go ages without being reread. Still, the possibility of rereading is what keeps me hoarding stuff. Sometimes it's spurred by a memory of the mood of a work feeling like it matches the moment - I reread From Hell at the start of COVID, and texted friends who were coincidentally doing the same thing. I reread Miss Don't Touch Me after the Thick Lines episode about it, which I think was prompted by there being a rerelease of it printed at larger dimensions than the edition I have. I guess it's denser work that demands a focused front-to-back reread rather than the "dipping into a book to look at it" style.

[manoopuesta]

Just read the article Dash Shaw wrote for Bubbles #15. I haven't read Beto's "Speak of the devil" in a long while, but now I am planning to reread the whole thing soon, cause the article left me wondering about some aspects in the book. And about rereading: Shaw mentions there are 3 types of reading experiences of a comic: 1) flip-through, 2) the first reading of the comic and 3) the book as an art-object.

Few thoughts on this:
I don't do 1), I never want to spoil anything checking beforehand, can't help it. But 3) is always a frequent way I go back to many of the comics I own. I've always considered I never reread comics, but I guess the term "reading" is much more ambivalent than for a regular book...