Well, being pure and be-having didn't really work. Well, I tried. I really did.
Then I started to notice things on Ebay that were screaming at me to be bought.
And I kicked out of the cold turkey into buying a long run of Batgirls, Nightwings and then promptly started to (and this is my biggest problem, trying not to start another run) pick up all but a few issues of Garth Ennis' Hellblazer run.
By and large the biggest thing I have noticed this month is the serious uptake in prices of the key Batman titles. Seriously, I was watching a CGC 9.8 Vengeance of Bane #1 (for educational purposes, you understand) sell for £140! One of the reasons I thought the Batman quest was do-able was that unlike the Marvel titles (where there are key books scattered throughout their titles numbers, that command serious coin), Batman and the other DC hero titles generally do not provoke this kind of premium, even in key books. Therefore, I thought, it will be cheaper for me to complete this collection.
I know that there is a price link between a comic book hero and its upcoming, related movie franchise that causes speculative prices of key books to jump through the roof. But, I cannot believe how much more expensive some later Batman books have become in less than six months.
Somebody ought to start a rumour that Azrael is secret addition to The Dark Knight Rises cast, and watch what happens to that Sword of Azrael #1 book value!
Yeah, this could be interpreted as a rant of fan, that is a little bit aggrieved that a lot of other people are jumping on his hobby bandwagon. But I am genuinely curious to see what happens when this Batman comic market bubble rises, and inevitably pops.
Oh and while I am ranting. What the Hell is so important about Detective Comics 871!!!?? Did I miss the CBR posting that announced that this book was bound by staples made of platinum...
Final Tally this month: About sixty books (and thank God, for Travelling Man's bargainous 50p back issue boxes for picking up the less fashionable series).
And I am not proud of myself.
