Why is it so difficult to maintain Focus?

[innocuous]

I went through all the books I bought this past year and realized that I didn't buy anything that I really, really loved. I spent a lot and bought a lot, but mostly to fulfill a theme or strategy of collecting. But, nothing I felt so strongly about that I wanted to post it in the thread to show off as my best purchase of 2007.

 

Is it time to clean house and focus only on the top 5? How do you keep your focus? What do you do when you see a comic that is really cool, that you would love to have...at that moment (and you don't know you'll feel differently a week later).

[The Troll King]

You buy it and not worry about it later (thumbs u

 

That's what I do anyway... I try to focus as well but I still get off track every time I see something I really like. I over spend on some things too so being off focus is not good... then again... I have good trade bait for future purchases!

[He11blazer]

Why? Because the guys on this board keep posting great comics that make me want one too!

 

How to focus? Well, my girlfriend's having a baby next month. I find that's really helped my collecting focus

 

Whenever you see me buying anything other than ASM1-100 or Conan1-24, that's me out-of-focus.

[djpinkpanther67]

My problem when I started back into the hobby this past year was that I was trying to get back the equivalent of the collection I had as a teen. It took about 3 months to realize that my efforts would be fruitless. So I made a decision to narrow my focus to one major title (FF) and a couple minor ones that were my faves as a teen... Captain Marvel, Starlin STs & Warlocks.

My decision was based on my monetary capabilites and overall quality of the title as a whole from SA to modern. While ASM was my favorite during my younger years, with FF being a close second, ASMs basically turned to krap after the McFarlane run, not to mention the whole Norman Osborne/Gwen Stacy fiasco and pretty much everything else JMS sullied about the title. Spidey being unmasked also didn't help...That coupled with the price disparity between the two in the grades I wanted to obtain them in, FFs were the more realistic option for me.

So I sold off the X-Men 94-present run I had (Minus 70 issues I hadn't yet acquired after issue 150, the few SA's I had and all of my ASMs and turned my focus solely to FF, CMs and Warlocks. I have no regrets about it, and am quite content with my choice. After I crack the top 10 in the Registry of all three of titles, then and only then will I attempt another title. I am already thinking about the Wrightson Swamp Thing run, then graduating to HOS or HOM. I will limit any other DCs to Neal Adams art/covers.

[CAP Freak]

I collect SA Marvels and that is as focused as it gets.

[Aces]

Why is it so difficult to maintain Focus?

Because there is so much good stuff out there...

[DrWatson]

Is it time to clean house and focus only on the top 5? How do you keep your focus? What do you do when you see a comic that is really cool, that you would love to have...at that moment (and you don't know you'll feel differently a week later).

Ask Arex.

[thirdgreenham]

Why? Because there's a lot of good material out there. You can try to buy everything if you want, but to remain realistic, you may want to narrow your collecting focus down a bit. You will, of course, need self control and will power to pass over the desirable books that fall outside of this range. That's often what proves to be difficult.

 

Cheers! (thumbs u

 

Andy

[Mr.Silvestri]

My problem when I started back into the hobby this past year was that I was trying to get back the equivalent of the collection I had as a teen. It took about 3 months to realize that my efforts would be fruitless. So I made a decision to narrow my focus to one major title (FF) and a couple minor ones that were my faves as a teen... Captain Marvel, Starlin STs & Warlocks.

My decision was based on my monetary capabilites and overall quality of the title as a whole from SA to modern. While ASM was my favorite during my younger years, with FF being a close second, ASMs basically turned to krap after the McFarlane run, not to mention the whole Norman Osborne/Gwen Stacy fiasco and pretty much everything else JMS sullied about the title. Spidey being unmasked also didn't help...That coupled with the price disparity between the two in the grades I wanted to obtain them in, FFs were the more realistic option for me.

So I sold off the X-Men 94-present run I had (Minus 70 issues I hadn't yet acquired after issue 150, the few SA's I had and all of my ASMs and turned my focus solely to FF, CMs and Warlocks. I have no regrets about it, and am quite content with my choice. After I crack the top 10 in the Registry of all three of titles, then and only then will I attempt another title. I am already thinking about the Wrightson Swamp Thing run, then graduating to HOS or HOM. I will limit any other DCs to Neal Adams art/covers.

 

 

Very good way to look at collecting comics (thumbs u

[nik]

Staying focused is overrated, and quite simply boring

[Duffman_Comics]

I went through all the books I bought this past year and realized that I didn't buy anything that I really, really loved. I spent a lot and bought a lot, but mostly to fulfill a theme or strategy of collecting. But, nothing I felt so strongly about that I wanted to post it in the thread to show off as my best purchase of 2007.

 

Is it time to clean house and focus only on the top 5? How do you keep your focus? What do you do when you see a comic that is really cool, that you would love to have...at that moment (and you don't know you'll feel differently a week later).

 

Patience, Grasshopper, patience.

 

Wait for the deals. Do not rush headlong into proposals. Go placidly amidst the haste........... oops, sorry.

 

Collect what you love and love what you collect. An oldie but a goodie and worth recalling when dollars get involved.

 

My 12c

[qualitycomix]

I just ask myself one question when I'm buying a book - "Do I love the book and will I still want to keep it in 5 years?". I asked myself that question while going thru my personal collection recently and realized that I hadn't been applying that principle because I'm too much of a completist.

 

So now, I'm only buying books that I'll not want to sell in 5 years because I love them and selling the rest.

 

Brent

[JiveTurkeyMoFo]

I just ask myself one question when I'm buying a book - "Do I love the book and will I still want to keep it in 5 years?". I asked myself that question while going thru my personal collection recently and realized that I hadn't been applying that principle because I'm too much of a completist.

 

So now, I'm only buying books that I'll not want to sell in 5 years because I love them and selling the rest.

 

Brent

 

Yeah, I have a few books like that myself....and thankfully we have venues like The Forums, Comiclink, and to a lesser extent, ebay to help us correct our collecting "mistakes".

 

I probably have $10k worth of impulse purchases I can sell off and put toward more Focused wants. The thing is, collecting HG GA often means you go months at a time between finding suitable purchases within your collecting focus, and when that happens, the "eyes tend to wander" to other goodies....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[arexcrooke]

Is it time to clean house and focus only on the top 5? How do you keep your focus? What do you do when you see a comic that is really cool, that you would love to have...at that moment (and you don't know you'll feel differently a week later).

Ask Arex.

 

As Doc alludes to, it is hard for me to maintain a focus. And as it has been stated by Hellblazer is because there are so many cool books that come across the screen here on the boards that it just expands your knowledge of books and makes you want to get the cool ones you see.

 

I think you need to do what you feel and enjoy. Ive gone from collecting everything (didnt like it) to trying to focus on 1 specific title (ok until the issues stopped showing up), then started suucking) to now im looking the hardest for GL's and Tecs from 401-500. But if something else shows up i like, then ill buy it.

 

Focus is a matter of what makes you happy and whether you enjoy collecting or not.

[arexcrooke]

The thing is, collecting HG GA often means you go months at a time between finding suitable purchases within your collecting focus, and when that happens, the "eyes tend to wander" to other goodies....

This was also true after about 9 months into working on my GL run. The books that pop up often i had bought and nothing I needed (as im not going to pay 3xFMV for a book on CLink) was showing up.

 

I went 2 months between purchases recently and i started to loose interest in comics. So after some thought it made no sense to limit myself to one title/focus and loose interest in collecting

 

Focus is a good thing, but if it becomes too narrow, then you limit the amount of enjoyment that you can get from this great hobby.

 

Now, if you will excuse me, i need to go work on my new focus, 52 page DC's

[rob_allan]

When the year started, I was very, very bad about this. My focus would shift once a week and I was constantly starting the next new run. As I stared in awe at the books some people were acquiring, I realized my inability to narrow my wants was really limiting my own ability to have books I love.

 

I started narrowing my focus over the last 6 months, and I've gotten a bunch of books I really love because of this. The best decision I ever made was to slow down and stay on task.

 

HOWEVER, art came along. And I found myself flipping books I loved a couple of weeks ago to buy art. Now that something other than comics has my attention, I'm back to square one! And I really can't decide if I like the original art or the funnybooks themselves better.

 

Good luck on your quest. If you can narrow down it can be very rewarding.

[G.A.tor]

I just ask myself one question when I'm buying a book - "Do I love the book and will I still want to keep it in 5 years?". I asked myself that question while going thru my personal collection recently and realized that I hadn't been applying that principle because I'm too much of a completist.

 

So now, I'm only buying books that I'll not want to sell in 5 years because I love them and selling the rest.

 

Brent

that completist mentality is killing me....I want to complete everything, and it is tough to break that habit...

 

I too, will be "cleansing" myself, and redirecting focus...I am thinking top 100 GA books, and then top 100 SA books.... good strategy

rick

[skybolt]

When I got back into comics about 5 years ago, my collecting habits were all over the place. I spent the first year and a half basically starting and stopping one run after the other (mid grade SA and BA Marvels, SA CGC graded X-Men, SA CGC graded ASM's, Iron Man, Daredevil, GA Batman, GA Actions, GA Timely's, etc.). I hated having to rethink my focus every few months because somehing else peaked my interest. Thankfully, I finally found my niche with GA good girl art covers, and haven't strayed from my focus in 3.5 years. I love this genre and enjoy obtaining and keeping books in my collection for many years.

 

That being said, I'll still slowly but surely pick-up a few books here or there to complete the 10-issue Supergirl (1972), and 9-issue Cry for Dawn (1989) runs in CGC 9.4 and higher (I'm a couple of books short), and add to my small CGC graded Sensation Comics and "Super Hero Vehicle Lifting" cover collections.

[batman_fan]

Staying focused is simple. I collect Batman, Detective, and covers I consider "classic". The Batman and Detective is simple, I only buy Batman and Detective titles. For the classic covers, I made a list about ten years ago and I only buy off that list, PERIOD. I don't deviate, I don't stray. This approached has worked for me very well for ten years.

[arexcrooke]

Staying focused is simple. I collect Batman, Detective, and covers I consider "classic". The Batman and Detective is simple, I only buy Batman and Detective titles. For the classic covers, I made a list about ten years ago and I only buy off that list, PERIOD. I don't deviate, I don't stray. This approached has worked for me very well for ten years.

Do you grade restrict in any way? Because if not, then it can make it much easier to collect those titles. There are over 1000 of them combined

 

We me being a high-end collector, it significantly lowers the pool i can choose from.

 

Arex