{"id":3844,"date":"2025-09-13T14:29:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T18:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/?p=3844"},"modified":"2026-02-04T18:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:00:20","slug":"buying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/2025\/09\/13\/buying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying By The Seat Of My Pants"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"651\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2025\/09\/211656_1209901_3.jpg?resize=500%2C651&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3845\" style=\"width:420px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2025\/09\/211656_1209901_3.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2025\/09\/211656_1209901_3.jpg?resize=230%2C300&amp;ssl=1 230w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Couldn&#8217;t be me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A Bluesky discussion about the size of creator credits on the covers of comics led to a side discussion positing that most people who buy comics already know exactly what comics are out in a given week and the names of the creators behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;If you like creator X, you already know that X is working on book Y, so there&#8217;s no reason for X to be prominently featured on the cover,&#8221; basically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which led me to make this point:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-bluesky-social wp-block-embed-bluesky-social\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"bluesky-embed\" data-bluesky-uri=\"at:\/\/did:plc:qmb4g7gr35teqsdbv3q3p4nh\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3lyocqvgu5c2q\" data-bluesky-cid=\"bafyreibpiren37wuqblpamqqdd4ttrpjj5zxcb6ab3ue77a5izkro4xupm\"><p lang=\"en\">I generally walk into the comic shop every Wednesday with no idea what books are out that day.If I don&#39;t see it mentioned on here, specifically, the odds are I won&#39;t know that a creator I like has a new book until I stumble upon it at the shop or find out that I missed it when someone mentions it.<\/p>&mdash; <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:qmb4g7gr35teqsdbv3q3p4nh?ref_src=embed\">Jon Maki (@jonpaulmaki.com)<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/did:plc:qmb4g7gr35teqsdbv3q3p4nh\/post\/3lyocqvgu5c2q?ref_src=embed\">2025-09-12T22:28:52.817Z<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/static\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This led to some questions about my blind buying &#8211; both from others and from myself &#8211; and as I had some additional thoughts on the subject, I decided to write a Reference post because it&#8217;s easier than trying to parcel it all out in a thread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t read <em>Previews<\/em>, use any kind of app to keep track of new releases, or even visit comics news sites regularly. Every so often, I <em>will<\/em> tune in to the livestream my comic shop does on the morning &#8211; or sometimes eve &#8211; of New Comic Book Day, but that&#8217;s pretty rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(I also largely avoid Comics YouTube, because the almighty algorithm assumes that I want Nazi content the very second I click on any kind of comics-related video.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-9581540985996689\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\n<!-- Unbagged -->\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9581540985996689\" data-ad-slot=\"5626726652\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, in a given month, I do have <em>some<\/em> idea of which comics I&#8217;m going to get. I do, after all, have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/category\/pull-list\/\" data-type=\"category\" data-id=\"16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Pull List<\/a> of comics that I provided that the shop sets aside for me. (My box number is 145; I even remember that in my dreams. Yes, I frequently dream about going to the comic shop.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I don&#8217;t really pay attention to scheduling &#8211; which is often a fool&#8217;s errand anyway &#8211; so on any given Wednesday I don&#8217;t know which of the books on my list is going to have a new issue in my box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A typical trip to the shop for me goes like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I walk in the door and there&#8217;s a good chance someone is already waiting to hand me the books from my box<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I flip through the stack and see what the week has brought me<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I walk over to the shelves with all of the week&#8217;s new comics and l look to see if anything not in my stack catches my eye or if there&#8217;s a variant cover for any of the comics already in hand that I also want\/want instead<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, I <em>do<\/em> know that there are other things that I want, and I deliberately look for them. That&#8217;s generally due to someone posting about it on Bluesky. For example, a couple of weeks ago, I knew to look for the latest <em>Criminal<\/em> book from Brubaker and Phillips because prior to heading to the shop I saw a post from Sean Phillips mentioning that it was out that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other times, I&#8217;ll have missed something during my browsing, and then after getting home I&#8217;ll see someone post about it, so the next week I&#8217;ll try to remember to look for it on the not-new comics shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I do frequently miss things when browsing because I arrive at the shop a few minutes after it opens and it&#8217;s usually very busy, which means there are a lot of people standing in front of the new comics, many of whom, lacking certain social graces and\/or situational awareness, will stand in one spot and not move for several minutes, giving the shelves a much more thorough scanning than I ever have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <em>ridiculously <\/em>thorough scanning, if you ask me, though given how often I miss things, I&#8217;m probably wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I go to the comic shop on my lunch break, and I stop to do most of the week&#8217;s grocery shopping on the way back. The round-trip drive alone can take up to twenty-five minutes depending on traffic, so I don&#8217;t have a lot of time to waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Especially given that there are several people there at that time who buy massive stacks of comics and take forever to get rung up who I want to avoid getting behind in line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-9581540985996689\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\n<!-- Unbagged -->\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9581540985996689\" data-ad-slot=\"5626726652\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, the fact that I <em>do<\/em> miss comics sometimes is a big part of the reason that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/category\/mail-call\/\" data-type=\"category\" data-id=\"15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mail Call<\/a> feature exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While it does happen, I&#8217;m actually a bit less likely to miss a first issue than I am subsequent issues. What often happens is that I&#8217;ll see a shiny new comic and buy it, bring it home, read it, like it, and then forget to ask to have it added to my box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, because I don&#8217;t pay attention to schedules, I&#8217;ll miss the next one, and then kind of forget about it until I happen to see the next issue after that. If I&#8217;m lucky, the shop will still have the previous issue, but if not, well, like I said, that&#8217;s part of what the Mail Call is for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I guess the question is why do I do it this way? There are so many ways to keep track of what is coming out when, and even though I tend to be lazy, most of them don&#8217;t require that much effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And honestly, trying, at least a little, to keep track is part of why I follow different creators, publishers, and news sites on social media, though it&#8217;s very easy to miss things in the firehouse of information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why not, you know, just pay a little bit more attention?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think a big part of it is simply habit. It&#8217;s how I&#8217;ve always done it. When I first got into comics there was no real way for me to keep track of what was coming out other than house ads or editorials in the comics I bought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hell, most of my comic-buying for a long time was done <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/2023\/02\/09\/an-enduring-mystery\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"333\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>completely<\/em> blind.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Part of it might be just that I like the element of surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But overall&#8230;yeah, it&#8217;s laziness, I think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the thing is, there really aren&#8217;t major consequences for my laziness. If I miss something, I can almost always buy a copy of it online. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or I can just tradewait, which is something that I do with a lot of books &#8211; and should do with more &#8211; anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And in the absolute worst case if it&#8217;s a DC book, I can just wait a month and read it on DC Universe Infinite Ultra, even though my preference is for physical media when it comes to comics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As with a lot of things at this point in my life, the only real answer to the question &#8220;Why am I like this?&#8217; tends to be, &#8220;I don&#8217;t really know&#8230;but whatever the reason, I&#8217;m probably not going to stop being this way.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text alignwide is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:15% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"518\" height=\"516\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2022\/11\/selfportrait.jpg?resize=518%2C516&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-43 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2022\/11\/selfportrait.jpg?w=518&amp;ssl=1 518w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2022\/11\/selfportrait.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2022\/11\/selfportrait.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Born and raised in the sparsely populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Jon Maki developed an enduring love for comics at an early age.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-9581540985996689\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\n<!-- Unbagged -->\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display:block\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-9581540985996689\" data-ad-slot=\"5626726652\" data-ad-format=\"auto\" data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Bluesky discussion about the size of creator credits on the covers of comics led&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Buying By The Seat Of My Pants\n\n#comics #Reference","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reference"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peoZaI-100","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3844"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4481,"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3844\/revisions\/4481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opendoor-comics.com\/unbagged\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}