2014 A summary of the last six months

As usual at this time of year I take a look at how I've been doing on my constant BUYING v READING competition. Previous retrospectives have shown that I'm buying more than I'm reading - but is that still the case?

For this summary I'm introducing a new category - that of Epic and other collections. These are the books which are either part of Marvel's new EPIC line or they don't quite fit into the Masterworks or standard trade description.

The numbers at the end of 2013 were (brackets are the 6 month figures);

New back-issues purchased      (30) 30
New trade collections                 (44) 51
New copies of Masterworks  & Omnibus editions     (6) 24

Back-issues read                       (19) 39
Trades read                                 (19) 23
Masterworks read                      0
Books (novels)                            (3) 6

AND: Movies watched at the cinema (3)  5

For the first 6 months of 2014 my record is;

New back-issues purchased      4
New trade collections                 21
New copies of Masterworks  & Omnibus editions     12
EPIC and other collections         2

Back-issues read                       0
Trades read                                 19
Masterworks read                      0
EPIC and other collections         0
Books (novels)                            1

AND: Movies watched at the cinema     2

So I can say that I've cut down on purchases (which is a win!) but still not managed to read more than I've bought. The book I read Lies of Locke Lamora did take me a long time and with work and reading RPG stuff my time for reading comics has been restricted lately. My plan for starting my Marvel run at the beginning from early 2015 is looking like it might need to be revised. I've got lots of Batman books to get through before I start! Plus I've a few Omnibuses of more modern material I want to get stuck into as well, so perhaps 2015 will be Modern Marvel, Powers and Grendel.