Stash or Trash?
Oct 20, 2011 by     2 Comments    Posted In: Articles

Truth told, I’m not much of a “stasher”. I never bagged and boarded and hoarded because of the perceived monetary value a particular issue may bring… although, yes, I DID buy every alternative cover option for Jim Lee and Chris Claremont’s “X-Men #1”, but who didn’t? I know nuns who bought that book. Not really. Point is, I’ve always valued my stashed books not for what they may someday be worth in cash American money or because I’m some sort of a save-everything pack-rat, but because the stories contained within are what I consider to be ever-so-subjectively GOOD, and may be something I want to someday return to or revisit.

So every few months as a collector of weeklies I would dive into my stash and pick and choose the books with which I would “pay it forward”; i.e. leave in a box outside on the curb with a hand-scrawled sign that reads “FREE COMICS, YO!” The box is always gone in a matter of hours, at most. The number of books paying it forward in each semi-annual cleaning has grown larger and larger as I’ve run out of storage space in, first my parent’s house, then the apartment my fiancee and I shared, and now the apartment my now-wife and I share along with our four-year-old daughter. (I refuse to pay for storage space for my comic books. Why? Because I’m not Scrooge McEffingDuck, that’s why.)

However… I am no longer a collector of weeklies. The reasons for this are numerous, and something I plan to outline in a future article. However, today is not the day for that. Today is a day for a little article I’m going to call “Stash or Trash”, a feature that may very well have become a recurring one if not for the above-stated fact that I no longer am a collector of weeklies. As it is, I may have paid it forward with the last group of books I’m going to rid myself of for a very long time, and right now I’m going to give you a peek into my thought process and show what books I’ve decided I need to hold onto, and what books found their way to the side of the curb.

FREE COMICS, YO!

To the breakdown… !

Stashing: My full run of “Ultimate Spider-Man”. In contention for my favorite comics anything ever. No, I’m not caught up with Miles Morales yet, because frankly, I’m not sure how I feel about non-Pete. Also, I’m waiting for the trade. I’ll get it. However, I am getting rid of…

Trashing: Two arcs of “Ultimate Spider-Man”. Between my last clean-out and now, I’ve gotten those two in trade. Also, the entire run may or may not have fallen off the digital truck onto my hard drive at some point. I ADMIT NOTHING.

Stashing: The Jim Lee/Jeph Loeb “Batman” issues. Because they look awesome, even if the story was douche-tarded.

Stashing: “All-Star Batman and Robin”. Yeah, it was never finished. Yeah, it was demented and had no discernible sense of how time actually moves. But there’s genius in its dementia and I love it and I could (and probably someday will) devote an entire post to why.

Trashing: Selected holdovers from the JMS run on “Amazing Spider-Man”, about 40 books. Partially because this reflects my new-found preference for self contained stories. Partially because as much as I’ll defend the JMS “Amazing” run, I’ve found it just doesn’t read well outside of the monthlies in which it was published. And I can’t name one memorable villain/fight in the entire damn thing. I thought he wrote a GREAT Peter and MJ, though. Although I’m going to keep…

Stashing: … the final issue of “One More Day”. Just in case Marvel ever hires me to fix it. ‘Cuz I could. And while “Amazing” has sold well since “Brand New Day”, OMIT ALSO needs fixing. But this, too, is a post for another day… Trashing: “Kick-Ass”. I liked the movie better. If I want to experience that story again, I’ll watch the flick.

Stashing: “Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.” Because Boom-Boom was never so awesome (amongst many other reasons.) Stashing: “Marvel Knights Spider-Man”. This book, to me, is the Marvel equivalent to the Jim Lee “Batman” days, and just like those issues I’m keeping this run. The story is kind of half in the bag but the art is gorgeous. And it’s self contained; bonus points!

Stashing: “Wolverine: Enemy of the State” and “Wolverine: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” Loved the story, the art, the costume, the aftermath. I’ve read it once, twice, probably gonna go for a third soon. But I won’t be re-reading…

Trashing: “Wolverine: Old Man Logan”. I remember enjoying it, kinda, when I read it… right up until the ridiculous ending. I don’t remember the ending offhand, but I remember it being ridiculous.

Stashing: Full runs on “New Avengers” (up until this current volume) and “Mighty Avengers”. “New” speaks for itself, I think; “Mighty” probably not so much. But that period of “Avengers”, however brief (and delayed), was some of the most fun I’ve ever had with comics. You decide if that makes me a tasteless moron or not.

Stashing: “Ultimate Fantastic Four”, but… Trashing: … only up until the “Frightful” arc. ‘Cuz the wheels kinda came off after that one. Stashing: “The Ultimates” Vol. 2. I already have Vol. 1 in the hardcover prestige format. Those two volumes are amazing comics, even if Millar does right everyone on the team as kindofadouche (one word).

Trashing: Everything “Ultimates” after that. Because, seriously Marvel… WTF?

Stashing: “All-Star Superman”. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Stashing: Joss Whedon’s “Astonishing X-Men”. Remember when X-Comics were fun and not impossible to follow? Because it was only for these 25 issues. Ever. Maybe back in the 60’s. But seriously, probably just these 25. Trashing: “Paul Jenkin’s ‘Sidekicks.’” Funny for five minutes. Not so much anymore. Stashing: “Secret Invasion”. Because even though the hype was better than the final product, I have faith I’ll come back to it. But I won’t come back to…

Trashing: “The Sinestro Corps War” from “Green Lantern”. Never lived up to the teasers, or it’s predecessor of “Green Lantern: Rebirth”, which is still one of my favorite minis of all time. However, I’ll be keeping…

Stashing: “Green Lantern Secret Origin” because I’ve only read it once, and it was hella cool (and self-contained. Do we see a pattern here?) Trashing: All the issues I have left of “Powers”, about 50. Yeah, I’m gonna catch crap for this. But I found this was one of those books I bought because I kept hearing from everyone that it was great, not because I loved it so much. I’ve never really felt the need to go back and read any of it. That said I hope the monkey rape issue makes it into the TV show. (I don’t really.)

Stashing: “Alias”, full run. Because unlike “Powers”, I actually DID love this book. Make mine Marvel, bitches.

Trashing: “The Pulse”. Because I guess Jessica Jones doesn’t work as well when she can’t swear. But I am hanging on to…

Stashing: … the first five issues of “The Pulse”. I love me some Bags, and I love Luke Cage laying the smackdown on Norman Osborn in about ten seconds when Spidey’s been dicking around with him since the 60’s. (I forget; in continuity at this point was Norman alive or dead or the president or locked up or… ?)

Trashing: “She-Hulk”, the Dan Slott runs. Because this was comic book cotton candy: fun and pretty to look at and a treat… but ultimately there just wasn’t a lot of substance there. Agree to disagree with me on this one.

Stashing: All the Paul Dini penned issues of “Detective Comics”. I’m 32 years old. Paul Dini’s Batman is my Batman, and nothing any of you say will TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME!

Stashing: “The Batman Adventures”. See above.

Trashing: Judd Winick’s “Green Arrow” issues. A.) I really like Judd Winick. B.) I really like Green Arrow. C.) These are comics that I enjoyed when initially reading them, but were never, ever beckoning me to come back and read them again. I’ve hung on to them for far longer than I’ve hung on to books of the same time period that I let go for the same reason. I also loved Winick’s brief run on “Batman”. That’s right; I was the one.

Stashing: “Young Justice” and Peter David’s mid-90’s “X-Factor”. Yeah, these two books aren’t really from the era of collecting I’m talking about. But that “X-Factor” run with Larry Stroman are the only 90’s books I have left this side of “The Batman Adventures” and I absolutely adore them. While Jim Lee and Claremont were pimping out their two teams of X-Men and X-Force was going all pouch- happy, it was Peter David and “X-Factor” that kept me reading along. And “Young Justice” might be my favorite book of all time. That, also, probably deserves its own post some day.

On the cusp:Young Avengers”, which I again got because it was, according to the hype, ‘great’, but which has never really done it for me. Also, the Paul Jenkins full run on “Punisher”, which is really the only way the character should ever be done but which probably doesn’t really get along with all the Avengers and Batman and Spider-Man that makes up most of my collection.

So there you have it. There’re probably some things on both the ‘stash’ and ‘trash’ side I didn’t mention. So did I make the right calls? Did I keep garbage? Did I garbage gold? In the end, does it matter? ‘Cuz, hey… FREE COMICS, YO!

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2 Comments Add Comment

  • JasonNewcomb October 21, 2011 at 10:39 am

    Nooooo! Not the Sinestro Corps War!!!!

    Where do you live? I’ll go get that box! 😛


  • TomH October 24, 2011 at 11:47 am

    Like always, that box is looong gone, sir. Sorry! ;^)