Time for a Change

So last week I left off saying I was making some changes to my reading list, so let's continue.  To recap, my pull list is currently:

Captain America

Captain America & Bucky

Thor

Journey Into Mystery

Secret Avengers

Alpha Flight

Avengers: Children's Crusade

Avengers Solo (slot "any solo Hawkeye books" here)

Now before I continue, I thought I should add the books that I collect in the form of trade paperbacks.  I have an all-hardcover collection of all of the cosmic books going back to Annihilation, with the exception of Nova which is in softcover (as the entire run is not collected in hardcover).  Even though I'm not wild about the concept, I am waiting for the collected edition of Annihilators: Earthfall.

I also collect Fables and Jack of Fables in trade format, though I am a little behind on Jack (which I think has ended, which I'm fine with because I've never loved the character).  I will probably get the Cinderella spin-offs as well.

Up until the Mark Waid "relaunch" I have a full run of Daredevil going back to the Smith & Quesada "relaunch".  I'm undecided if I will continue with the Waid books simply because I have a nice book-ended run right now and the collector in me likes that.

So what have I added? 

Fantastic Four and FF.

I keep hearing about how good Hickman's run has been, and a reluctance to add more titles is what kept me away.  With that being said though, I am happily jumping in now, for the following reasons:

- The books I've been reading have been kind of dreary, especially because of Fear Itself tie-ins (lately).  I'd like a more fun, upbeat read, and the Fantastic Four fits the bill.

- The Fantastic Four is a book about family, and now that I'm a father myself I love the scenes with the kids even more (and I've been a fan of the family stuff for awhile)

- The books should be fairly self-contained.  Marvel's events lately have revolved around either the Avengers or the X-Men, the FF dont' usually headline events.  Hopefully that will continue going forward.

- The Fantastic Four actually go on adventures!  I remember when the Avengers and X-Men used to do that, it's been awhile.

I am also very close to adding Avengers Academy to my list; I've read some issues digitally and I really like what I've been reading.  The completist in me likes to go back to the beginning, and since Marvel tends to cancel every new series anyway I'm thinking of just waiting for it to be canceled and getting a full run at a discount.  It sounds terrible but really, what book has Marvel launched in the past 10-15 years that made it past 30 issues?

I also considered the X-Men, as I really like what I read in Schism.  However, there are simply too many titles that tie into each other for me to get into it.  If I could get the story of Cyclops' team in one book and Wolverine's in the other, I'd be okay with that, but there are I believe 8 different books, with 4 per devoted to Cyclops' side and 4 more to Wolverine's, plus whatever other X-Books there are.  Too big for the kind of money comics cost these days, so I'll pass.

My comic book store has put together a Fantastic Four and FF run for me, all of Hickman's issues, and they're giving me a bit of a price break, so I'm looking forward to picking them up next time I'm in the city.  I may be paying in installments though, that's a fair number of books!  Fortunately my shop is awesome like that.