I feel the same way, but considering how available non-mainstream comics are, why haven't these readers just switched to less conventional stories?

You can add me to that list.

My reasons for stopping the weekly visits weren't due to lack of interest, but since stopping I have come to realize how little I really care(d) about part 39 of a 200 part saga that spreads across thirty books.

That's not to say I don't want to some day return to the weekly visits. I enjoy going into the comic store and browsing, shooting the shit and so on, but when I do eventually go back I'll be buying a lot less, with more focus on creator owned books and smaller titles that don't rely on other titles to make sense.

For now there are a plethora of really great web comics around.

I remember the day I read a floppy from Marvel -- a Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon PUNISHER -- and belatedly realized that I'd paid FIVE DOLLARS for it.

It was an OK comic, but it was Part One of Six, the usual deal. Closing it, I spotted the cover price. (I had purchased a stack of comics at once, so I'd not noticed any individual price.)

That was one of the days that helped me quit.

I like the idea of a 12-step program for comics addicts weaning themselves off the weekly habit with the support of a few friends, and a higher power. That higher power being Brother Power, the Geek, naturally.

And I guess it would have to be a 12-issue maxi-program, actually.

Reading about the the good old days helps. Two-morrows puts out some great magazines, like Back Issue and Alter Ego, they make great transitionary reads. If you need something to help wean yourself off comics. They wax nostalgic about the good old days too. The Jack Kirby Collector is my favorite.

Isn't that what Comicon.com has become?

I lost my habit due to unemployment back in 1992 - not so much for comics themselves but for buying a particular comic because I'd been buying it for nigh on 15 years and not because I liked it. For instance, I kept buying Cerebus for many years, even though I had stopped liking it for a long time. Silly me.

I still enjoy going to my local comic shop - I just don't buy anything - but I like to see what's for sale.

Same with me. Besides the cause of supporting the indies that Sim always crowed, there was something about that #300 end point that fed into the "collect 'em all" fanboy mentality. It became painfully clear somewhere in the middle of Jaka's Story that Sim didn't really have a coherent idea of what he was doing, just meandering, but I had a subscription. When that was about to run out, his assistant (the girl that embezzled money from him) sent me a letter to renew, with a price per issue of over four dollars. This was when the cover price was $1.40, and Sim had just recently revealed his printing cost was approximately 25 cents per copy. That made it easier to drop.

Is it? We have donuts?

I still visit my local shop every Wednesday, but my reading has gone down quite a bit. I mostly keep up with Amazing Spider-Man (I've been collecting since #362, and can honestly say I've enjoyed the majority of that time) and the Walking Dead.

Digitally, I pick up the new Swamp Thing and Justice League. I've sold off portions of my collection over the last few years, parsing things down to what I've really enjoyed, such as Ostrander/Mandrake Spectre, and CrossGen's Scion. I wish Marvel would bring that title back...I really dug Jim Chueng's artwork on the title.

Heath