While there is plenty left to December, I am pretty sure how reaching the 2020 goals has shaken out and not much will change over the course of the rest of December. I know what I am currently reading and what I will not get to, and I know what purchases are outstanding so it's time to evaluate what happened. Well, 2020 happened and pretty much most of the stated goals went out the window. I also finally figured out I am a mood reader when it comes to comics and fiction, so planning out what I will read too far ahead is an exercise in futility, as my mood of what I want to read will change before I get to most of what I list as a specific TBR list. So without futrhter ado...
My reading goals for longer runs/series were (results in bold-italic)
Nexus-
NoGrimjack-
NoGrendel (including several Grendel Tales minis, War Child & Behold the Devil)
-got 18 issues into the Comico Grendel run at the beginning of the year, lost the mood to read it and never came back to it. Captain Victory
NoDark Horse Comics
NoEclipse Monthly
NoEclipse Magazine
NoEpic Illustrated-
got 5 issues into it, was really grooving to it, then had to go back to work and never got back to the runEchoes of Futurepast
NoThe various Elric mini-series from First
noKamandi
noHawwkman (200os series-I read the Showcase 70s series, Shadow war, 80s series Hawkworld mini & onging, and 90s series last year)
noJohn Carter, Warlord of Mars
noDC's Tarzan
noMarvel's Tarzan
no Dark Horse's Tarzan
no Ka-Zar is Astonishing Tales
noKa-Zar (70s series)
no Ka-Zar the Savage
noPrimal Force
no The Shadow (DC 80s series following up Chaykin's mini)
noSpelljammer
noI wanted to get to 8, I started 2 and finished zero, So that was pretty much a fail.
I also wanted to get to 12 mini series/short run series as well. I actually read 14 of those, so met that goal. The 14 were:
Immortal Men #1-6
Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #1-5
Matt Wagner's Spirit #1-12
Sir Edward Grey, Witchfinder: In the Service of Angels #1-5
Section Zero #1-6
Green Arrow ('83 mini) #1-4
Tor (70s series) #1-6
Joe Kubert's Tor (2008) #1-6
Ragman #1-5
Bat Lash #1-7
Surge #1-4
Showcase #83-85 (Firehair)
Marvel Spotlight (Ghost Rider run) #5-11
Black Hammer '45 #1-4
I wanted to read at least 8 of some combination of Showcase volumes, Omnibus of DC in Silver Age trades.
I managed 1, the first Showcase volume of Jonah Hex. So we'll call that one a fail too.
I wanted to get to 25 of other kinds of trades/OGN/strip collections over the course of the year. I read over 50, so doubled the goal. I might read 2-3 more, still. We'll call that one done.
These included:
Unearth Vol. 1
The Woods Vol. 1-9
The Collected Essex County
Black Canary Ignite OGN
Savage Town OGN
Black Magick Vol. 1-2
Injection Vol. 1-3
The Last Fair Deal Gone Down OGN
Ascender Vol. 1
Something is Killing the Children Vol. 1
Richard Stark's Parker Vol. 1-4
Lazarus Vol. 1-6
Lazarus X + 66 tpb
Planetary Vol. 1-4
Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower OGN
Octavia Butler's The Kindred OGN
Black Moon Chronicles Vol. 1
The Last Templar Vol. 1
Superman Dailies 1939-1942
Usagi Yojimbo (Fantagraphics) Vol. 1-3
Tarzan in Color Vol. 1
Frazetta's Johnny Comet
Wally Wood's Cannon
Matt Baker's Canteen Kate
Alex Toth's Bravo for Adventure
Creepy Presents Alex Toth
Pulp by Brubaker & Phillips
I also wanted to get to the stack of vintage paperbacks I have amassed over the last few years. I got back into epic fantasy series, so didn't get to as many as I hoped, but still read a bunch (13). I didn't set a specific goal, but I am content with what I got to, so we'll call this one done.
The vintage paperbacks/older books read include:
Conan the Adventurer
Conan the Buccaneer
Godwulf Manuscript by Robert Parker
God Save the Child by Robert Parker
The Death Dealers by Mickey Spillane
Phantom: The Slave Market of Murcar
The Hand of Fu Manchu by Sax Rohmer
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Dawn by Octavia Butler
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
20.000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Triplanetary by E. E. Doc Smith
and those epic fantasy/modern fantasy books included:
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
Before they were Hanged by Joe Abercrombie
Gentleman of the Road by Michael Chabon
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
I'm 600+ pages into the fourth Wheel of Time book (Shadow Rising) as well, and read significant chunks of Abercorbie's 3rd book and Lynch's 2nd Locke Lamora book before deciding to abandon them as DNF's.
I also read a few artbooks and books about comics/genre, like Will Eisner's Shop Talk, Afrofuturism, Black Kirby and Fantastic Paintings of Frank Frazetta to add to the page count read.
That sums up reading goals. Missed on 2, hit on 2, and those I hit on I exceeded the goals by a lot. Those I missed on, I really missed on.
Now let's look at acquisition goals. I had a list of books, most have been nagging me for several years. Single issues or a small handful of issues to complete series or runs that I just haven't run across at shows or in shops (some since I came back to comics after a hiatus in 2012, others not for the past few years). I wanted to get as many as possible, but had no delusions of getting them all, Well, I managed to get a bunch, not all though, so let's take a look. Again results in bold italics.
These include:
DNAgents 24
yesChilling Adventures in Sorcery 1
No. I saw a copy in the wild but passed as I was short budgeted that day. Regret not picking it up, but oh well. Conan the Cimmerian 25
yesConan: Ravagers out of Time GN
noConan the Rogue GN
noMystery in Space 112
yesAlien Worlds (Pacific) 4, 8, 9
got 4 but not 8 or 9American Flagg! Southern Comfort & State of the Union GNs
noBatman/Hellboy/Starman 2
noDune (Marvel adaptation) 3
noHouse of Yang 6
yesSandman Mystery Theatre 61, 65, 66, 67
yesSubhuman 4
yesWorld Below: Deeper & Stranger 1
noso overall, not a bad success rate,s o will call this one accomplished.
I'd also wanted to finish as many of the following series as I could, and managed a bunch.
Bat Lash (need 5 issues)
DoneCrossfire (need 9 issues)
DoneJack Kirby's Fourth World (need 13 issues)
Got 10 of the 13 neededPhantom Stranger (need 3 issues)
DoneDr. Fate (need 5 issues)
DoneThe Dreaming (need 11 issues)
still need 11, so nopeGhost Rider (90s series; need 13 issues)
now need 6, so made progress (with special thanks to
The Captain)
Legends of the DC Universe (need 17 issues)
now need 11 issues, so made progressOrion (need 6 issues)
still need 6, so nopeScout:War Shaman (need 7 issues)
DONEKitchen Sink's Spirit (need 33 issues)
still need 27 issues, so minor progressSpirit: The Origin Years (need 3 issues)
no progressYang (need 6 issues)
now need 3 issues, but all 3 are reprint content so I think I am doneJustice League of America (need 18 issues, fist 100+ issues in omnibi)
no progressSo overall, pretty good progress, so will call this goal met.
I also wanted to coninue making progress on some bigger series I was working on
DC Star Trek
no real progressDark Horse Presents
picked up a handful of issues so minor progressPhantom
made solid progress on thisFlash Gordon
only need 3 issues now so good progressDC war books
minor progressKubert covers
minor progressWhisper
no progressXenozoic Tales
minor progressMister X
no progressSilver Age Hawkman
ended up doing much more with this than I thought I would, no only need B&B 34, Hawkman 1, 2, and 4 to finish, but most of those are out of my price rangethe Milestone books
minor progress, but the market exploded on these and they are all now getting kind of pricey so not sure how much more progress I will make on these70s Ghost Rider
minor progressDC mystery books
minor progressCharlton horror books
no progressGold Key horror books
no progressEC Gemstone reprints
minor progressAgain, decent progress, so we'll call this one accomplished as well.
Two late addendum I made were
Red Circle heroes
Batbooks
and I made some progress on each, moreso on the Red Circle books.
So overall, I hit all the acquisition goals for the year, actually surpassing expectations on most of it.
I am starting to formulate some general goals for 2021, but we'll see how things play out.
-M