Buying Comics for Research Purposes

June 13, 2021

I love comics. I love watching movies, and when I get the time, I love playing games. However, I love comics enough to have made it a key part of my life. I am studying for my doctorate in comics and time (a handy guide to how long it is taking is on the right!) and the big problem that comes from this, is I like and use physical books in my research. This means that I do end up spending a fair amount of money on comics. I have friends and mentors with larger collections then I. Collections that have obviously spent more on, but it is something that comes with time.

I made some notes earlier of areas in comics I want to research more. This meant making a list of books I need to/want to read, whether they are available, and when they will be available if they are out of print. One or two I did preorder since they come out around my birthday, but it dawned on me just how much I could spend if I bought everything I needed for various research projects. Currently, I’m looking at:

• DC Who’s Who Omnibus

• Sandman Vol. 5 – 9

• Superman Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1, 2 and 4.

• Batman Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 1, 3 and 4.

• Hellblazer Vol. 3 onwards

That is just to name a few, and it is not cheap. I am keeping track of everything, but damn this is an expensive profession. It is a profession I am proud to be a part of, and my goal in life is to make some form of impact on the media. Either as a researcher or even as a consultant. I want to teach about comics, I want to work with comics, and I want to keep going forward. But if that Superman by Tomasi and Gleason omnibus wants to drop in price a little or just show up at my door, that would be great.