One of my favorite things about comics when I first developed a weekly habit more than 20 years ago, was learning about the idea of a PULL.
The idea that I could put titles on a list and people would modify order numbers of books, and assure that I got a copy of something pulled aside before it ever went on a shelf made me pretty excited. It also probably made me feel kind of powerful and in control - at a time (16!) when I was anything but.
Over the years, especially since I started writing this column, a lot of people have asked me what's on my pull and I'm never really shared it. Maybe it seemed just a shade too intimate? Like going through my underwear drawer or something? Silly, I know, considering I've talked about way more personal things here over the years, including recently admitting that I have sometimes watched soap operas.
Anyway, I closed my pull last week and it was almost physically painful to do it - saying goodby to so many years of having a pull. There has never been a time in my life when I was actively reading comics that I didn't have a pull, so this is new ground for me. And mostly I don't like it! I did it simply because I live in Manhattan and there just isn't room in my apartment for a weekly pull of print comics to fill up every nook and cranny of space. So I've moved to digital for most of my books and then double-buying the stuff I really cannot live without having when the trades come out.
So, in honor of the too-painful closing of my pull last week, here is what was on it -- by publisher and alphabetically -- as well as a list at the bottom of things removed in the last few months -- enjoy the peek into my now closed underwear drawer! A strikethrough simply means the title was canceled (or ended) while I was pulling it.
BOOM!:
Adventure Time
Deathmatch
DARK HORSE:
Angel & Faith
B.P.R.D.
Buffy Season 9
Conan The Barbarian
Ghost
Mind Mgmt
Star Wars
The Massive
DC:
Animal Man
Batman
Dial H
Justice League Dark
L'il Gotham
IDW:
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
IMAGE:
Fatale
Glory
Lazarus
Mara (limited series)
Pretty Deadly
Revival
Saga
Sex Criminals
The Walking Dead
MARVEL:
All-New X-Men
Avengers Assemble
Daredevil
Daredevil: Dark Nights (limited series)
FF
Captain Marvel
Hawkeye
Journey Into Mystery
Powers/Powers: Bureau (Icon)
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man
Ultimate Comics X-Men
Uncanny Avengers
Uncanny X-Men
X-Men
Young Avengers
VERTIGO:
American Vampire
Collider/FBP
The Wake (limited series)
Trillium
OTHER/VARIOUS:
Bandette (Monkey Brain)
Harbinger (Valiant)
Princeless (Action Lab)
Quantum & Woody (Valiant)
Rachel Rising (Abstract Studios)
Stumptown (Oni)
DROPPED IN 2013:
Avengers Arena, Batman Inc., Batman & Robin, Batwoman, Birds of Prey, Demon Knights, Gambit, Red She-Hulk, Uncanny X-Force, X-Men Legacy, and many others that are escaping me at the moment. There were also of course dozens of books that I tried over the last year (Katana), and would have liked to add to my pull, but that never quite made the cut.
Looking back over this list I'm reminded of what a reversal I'm seeing on the Marvel/DC part of the pull. Pre-New 52, I was pulling about four DC books for every Marvel, now the reverse is closer to true. But what I'm struck most by I suppose is the fact that not only do I find myself happiest (at a glance) in both the quantity and quality of the Image books on my list, but the fact that the non Marvel/DC books actually make up more than 50% of my pull. That's kinda cool, and something the teenage me never would have imagined.
So what about you? Do you love having a pull? Will you ever give it up? Even if you go digital you don't HAVE to as they have subscription services, so if you move to digital someday will you get a "digital pull." What's on your pull? What helps keep it there? How often do you take a good hard look at exactly what's on it? Sound off in the comments!