RIP, CGB...

As I've mentioned before, I stopped collecting comics around 1991/1992.

It was the hardest thing I ever had to do.

It was a bit later that I discovered Wizard Magazine...

It fed my addiction for comics-related goodness without having to buy ten books a week. It was a fun read, but over the years I found that many in the industry - including Frank Miller - saw this publication as crap.

I didn't see why until the monthly mag started writing more about movies, toys, television and stuff...

...instead of comics.

I let my yearly subscription run out and settled into a life of diapers, mortgage payments, and heat.

Then, in a shop in Moultonborough, NH of all places, I came across the May 2006 issue of Comics Buyer's Guide:

This wasn't a light read. It weighed close to three pounds, and had close to 200 pages of stuff:

* articles from former comic writers...

* data about comic sales for the previous month...

* articles from comic shop owners about sales the previous month...

* the usual highlights of upcoming books, and...

* an up-to-date price guide (for most comics). Plus, along the bottom of the price guide pages was a timeline showing key events (and changes in) the original Teen Titans series.

I bought the book, walked to the nearby coffee shop, got a cup, sat down, and read.

I sat there for an hour, and didn't get close to finishing the thing.

I was hooked, and despite the occasional lack in subscription upkeep, have been a fan ever since.

So when I got an e-mail from CBG last week saying they were ceasing publication, I was sad.

In a way, I could tell it was coming - the page count had decreased significantly in recent years, and many of the articles I followed were dropped.

It did, however, keep Peter David's But I Digress... going.

So now I'm stuck settling into a life of colleges, mortgage payments and heat.

I'm going to need to find a new source for my addiction.