Barbelith Underground > Comic Books > What Do You Buy/Read?

The amount of people on Barbelith who post in the comics forum is very small. One day I took down the names of everyone who had contributed even one post in a month long period. It came to about 50-75 people. A good quarter of those people had only posted once or twice. This was in the days when we were actively trying to get non-comic readers involved, and there were threads devoted to titles like Hothead Paisan, which were the only threads that cerain people contributed to. Meaning, the number of people in the comics forum now is probably even less, and so your focus group is pretty damn small, especially compared to the WEF.

The reason Ellis asked for what people were reading was to get a feel for why people were reading those titles, as well as just listing them off. They were divided into catgories of good and bad, allowing him to see if particular people were hanging onto titles that they hated just out of habit. It also provided people with the means to pick up books on strong recommendations.

The WEF is also (in theory) supposed to be comprised mainly of people who have a very distinct view of what comics can be. Barbelith does not exactly have a view of this sort, or any view for that matter. Which is absolutely cool. But it means that, unlike WEF, you have no philosophy to contrast or compare your findings with.

One of the complaints on the WEF was that people who bought graphic novels would often not post, because they hadn't had a chance to absorb enough of a given volume to give an opinion. This left the list to be mainly monthlies, which led to the thread which sparked this discussion.

I realize you have tried to circumvent this by just asking for the titles bought, and not for an opinion. However, you also say that a person can mention comics they've read. Does this include comics that you have reread, or solely ones which you have read for the first time? Should comics which have been read be in their own grouping, like in your original post, so you can differentiate between the two groups? And what bearing does what you've read have on what you buy?

Even with this thread, in the title "What did you buy/read this week?" you're makig the assumption that the person takes a trip to the local comic store every wednesday or thursday. It focusses attention mainly on new comics.

I'm not saying that this is a bad idea, at all. But you might want to tweak or add things to get to the root of what you're looking for. For example, a good question to ask might be "where did you get your purchases from?"