If you are reading this the chances are great that you are a comic book enthusiast. You might have other hobbies, pursuits and distractions in your life; I know I do (or did before I had kids). Regardless of all that, first and foremost I am a comic book nerd. My week is filled with this hobby, this way of life, and I thought I’d break down a typical week for me.
Monday:
The start of my work week and my comics week. On my breaks I’m creating my pull list for the week drawing from two sources:
The Comics List
and
Comixology Pullist
Between these two I put together what I will be buying for the week, and when I'm done, sharing it with my twitter community for feedback & to see if I missed anything. Other items ill work on during the day include beginning my blog post for the week, reading any news released and interacting with my friends on twitter and Facebook discussing some of last week's comics, the comics coming up, and older comics we might be reading from the backlog.
Additionally I’m listening to two podcasts:
Burntweiners
And
War Rocket Ajax
Both of which I highly recommend.
Tuesday:
The day before the big game. Tuesdays I’m doing several things. Of course I’m checking twitter for the buzz about the next day that might be brewing; I’m usually writing my blog post for the week (like I am right now) and catching upon a graphic novel or back issues. Additionally I will try to submit questions to my favorite podcasts if I have a topic I'm interested in and would like them to answer, I'm sure many of them are annoyed by me at this point.
Wednesday:
The holy day for any comic book nerd. This is a big big day for me, probably for you too. I spend the morning trying to avoid too many spoilers that might creep up on the internet; most people are good about not giving away too much. I leave work promptly at 9:45am to head to my local comics store.
I arrive at Emerald City Comics a few moments before 10am, their opening time. I pick up my stack of pre-orders from my box and then head to the rack to pick up my other pulls for the week. If I have time ill bother the folks who work at the store a bit with some comics talk and then head back to work. I will try to read issues for my review column at Two-Headed Nerd and write during my breaks.
During the day before I can start really reading my comics I listen to the Fight For Comics podcast which talks about the week's previous comics and is a great show to listen to.
Once I get home and put the day to bed, I get into my comics. I tend to organize them by excitement factor. I will put some I'm most excited for first, then the "middle road" comics next then cap it off with some for sure gems at the end. Like a comic book enjoyment 3 layer dip.
If I finish with my comics by the end of the day I'll listen to the latest episode of The Pullpile Podcast to listen to what the guys thought of this week’s comics, if not ill save that for Thursday.
Twitter is very busy on Wednesday since everyone is talking about the new books out. This will keep me busy that night once all the "real life" work has been taken care of.
Thursday:
The hangover day. There are usually some books left over that I couldn’t get to on Wednesday, I’ll read those during the day on breaks or at night if I didn’t have time. Twitter is busy again this day since everyone is talking about the books from the day before.
In the afternoon I will listen to The Big Planet Comics Podcast which is a fantastic show that covers mainstream and independent comics in a review and round table format.
Friday:
Everybody's reading for the weekend! Friday is a day to catch up, to read some back issues or graphic novels from my ever growing pile of unread books I would like to get to.
I try to plan out what my next blog post will be, write down some rough ideas, and often I'm working on an article for one site or another. I regularly contribute to Read Comic Books "best of the week" column and will send in my picks for the week on this day.
For social media, I take Friday to do detailed and focused "Follow Friday" recommendations to my comic book community. I try to highlight 10 people and one creator on Twitter that love comics and deserve to follow by my other followers. I have found that if you take the time to write about why people should follow someone it works much better than a list of names. When the people I follow, follow each other, the conversations are so much better.
Saturday:
This is usually my "day off". Family, side jobs, work around the house is first and foremost. Talk on twitter and other sources are slow too. It’s a good day to take stock and get ready for the next week.
Sunday:
This is the big media day! Lots of podcasts come out on Sunday and I will listen to them while taking care of all the regular life business. It's a great day to recap the week, read some more back log and get any unfinished writing done. Shows that I listen to on Sunday include:
NonCanonical - A great show. Well produced, full of great reviews, discussion and thoughtful topics.
The Nine Panel Podcast - Eager guys who love comics and are enthusiastic about talking them.
The Panel Culture Podcast -Canada's best and brightest comic book lovers talk comics. One of my long standing favorite shows.
iFanboy Pick Of The Week Podcast -One of the most popular comic book podcasts out there. Always entertaining and packed with great information.
Two-Headed Nerd Comicast - The Shining Gem of comics podcasts. Amazing production quality fast paced, funny, entertaining and engaging.
Post-Mortem:
If you made it this far in reading, good for you! I thought it would be fun to actually break down what I do each week when it comes to this hobby I love so much. Hopefully some of these links turn you on to some new entertainment and give you some more things to do with your comics life.
What schedules do you keep? Are you a slave to ritual like I am? Id love to hear how your week compares to mine. Thanks as always for reading!
