The Fractal Hall Journal

The Fury has been intense around the Journal these past couple of weeks, and by that I mean the emotion rather than the Nick. So lets dial it back, chillax a little, and not yell about body parts so much.

So, a few rage-neutral notes to kick off the week:

You may have noticed that there are few picture-heavy posts on the Journal. I usually avoid putting images into the entries. Sure, they can make the place look pretty, but they get in the way of this site’s raison d’être; its Prime Directive, if you would: giving the People a motive for skiving. Rest assured, we at the Fractal Hall strive for the optimization of sneaky workplace reading.

This week is also the last time I pick up a pre-ordered stack (and I do mean stack) from my local comic shop.

In the past couple of years I just haven’t been enjoying Marvel and DC stuff very much. I’m sure it’s all appealing to someone but that someone just isn’t me. So rather than have a scream filled tantrum about it (my instinctive fanboy response- we are none of us immune) I thought I’d take a great big dose of positivity and embark on Constructive Plan Alpha.

Is that a distant, wobbly voice I hear asking what that might entail?

Well, Distant Wobbly Voice, it’s fucking revelatory is what it is. Stage One was to get shot of back issues I don’t want. Thing is, obsessive collecting is part of the pathology and we need to burn it out like sin. So from now on if I like something I’ll keep it, but Issue 11, Cover E of The Darkness (do not ask) is getting Al Gored because fuck knows it’s not going to pull its weight on Ebay.

Stage Two is not buying something or the sake of getting it in particular if it’s only being bought to keep the run intact, hence the slashing of the reservation list. The calculus isn’t complex:

Paul Dini issues of Detective Comics > (Issues of Detective Comics not written by Paul Dini) x 10¹⁰⁰

Stage Three is switching to trades, on the grounds that they’re easier to store and if a title didn’t make it to the trade, then maybe it wasn’t worth getting.

I’ll let all you good folks know how it turns out, but it’s amazing how relieved I feel more than anything. Weird.