Humming a merry "shopping for something I really like, not just milk and coffee and boring crap like that" tune (everyone has one; yes, even you), off I pop to Amazon, only to discover that since I bought Vol I, Dave Sim has launched a Kickstarter campaign to release a fully digital version of Vol II complete with animations and loads of other bonus material, and interest in the book has spiked massively. Hence, all I can find in an affordable range are Used copies rated as "Good" or "Very Good" - which is book-trade speak for, respectively, "Dropped Down the Toilet" and "Used as a Coaster".
A new copy or a used copy in Mint condition would set me back upwards of £40, which is outside what I can pay right now...
So, disheartened, I thought I would leave it a little while and see what turns up. Disappointed though, as when I bought Vol I, Vol II was going for a much more reasonable £25-odd. I did um and aw about buying Vol II as all the reviews say it's the best one - and actually a better jumping-off point for new readers - but I thought, in my anal control freak way, no, buy Vol I and get into it from the very beginning. *Cue Homer Simpson D'OH! echoing around Springfield as the camera pans up and away*
I could buy the digital version but I don't want to. I like books on shelves, I like books in my hands. I read comics on Comixology via mobile but it's not the right reading experience. Comics shouldn't be read frame by frame, they should be read as pages....what can I tell you, I like books as objects. I'm old-fashioned that way.
Aye, well. Thinking of Kickstarter reminded me that my friend Jason has set up a Kickstarter of his own for AXIS Arts, his new theatre group in London, so I went and funded his project instead. Funding him gave me a nice warm glow which has buffered me against the dark cloud of Cerebus denial I just experienced, so it was all a bit, y'know, karmic. 'N' stuff.
You can feel that warm glow too - it runs out in about two weeks though, so anyone who reads this please go here and donate.
Who am I kidding? Sorry, Jase, ain't no traffic from my site. But the thought was there...
Author: Gareth Richards