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Comics I own, by width

Posted by Ampersand | August 24th, 2004

Time for a post that only a geek could write. Well, not “could” so much as “would.”

So I’ve decided that I should convert my comic book collection away from 28-page pamphlets and towards bound books. I keep all my bound comics on one seven-foot bookcase. Lately (damn you Ebay!) I’ve run out of room, causing me to ask the question: Which comic books, or comic book creators, are taking up the most shelf space?

  1. Doonesbury - 16.25 inches.

  2. Cerebus - 15 inches.
  3. Pogo - 13.75 inches.
  4. Osamu Tezuka (mostly Adolph and Pheonix) - 7.75 inches
  5. Usagi Yojimbo - 7.5 inches
  6. Rumiko Takahashi (mostly Ranma) - 7.5 inches
  7. Alan Moore (various) - 6.5 inches
  8. Calvin and Hobbes - 6 inches
  9. Neil Gaiman (mostly Sandman) - 6 inches
  10. Peanuts - 4.5 inches
  11. Will Eisner - 4.5 inches
  12. Dykes to Watch Out For - 4 inches
  13. Bone - 4 inches
  14. Scott McCloud - 3.5 inches
  15. For Better or For Worse - 3.5 inches

After that, it’s all a mish-mash.

For now, I’m going to shelve some of the Pogos and then some of the Doonesburys elsewhere. In the long run - perhaps a bigger bookcase.

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14 Responses to “Comics I own, by width”

  1. kStyle Writes:
    August 25th, 2004 at 8:49 am

    I just adore comics. My favorite over time has been “Robotman,” which morphed into “Monty”. I don’t think it gets the attention it deserves; it’s so clever and weird.

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  2. nobody.really Writes:
    August 25th, 2004 at 9:41 am

    I have a dream that someday a man will not be judged by the color of his skin, but by the contents of his bookshelf….

    Nice bookshelf.

    Good thing you haven’t been collecting Opus; if they publish the book version in the same size that the strip appears in the newspaper, it will displace everything else in your house. I guess Burke Breathed negotiated to get the strip run in oversized format, but undersized concept.

    Since you’re a comics junkie, you might know: WHAT HAPPENED TO BURKE BREATHED? Bloom County was a generally clever, really cute cartoon. It even poked fun at its own cuteness with the Bill the Cat character. Then a Bill the Cat flavor took over the strip. What’s up with that? Mental illness? Chemical dependency? Or is there some sense of “growth” that a layman like me just can’t grasp?

    Anyway, always remember: yes, Santa Claus, there is a Virginia.

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  3. karpad Writes:
    August 25th, 2004 at 1:41 pm

    all in all, a great bookshelf.
    personally, I think you’re a bit lacking in some things (mainly Rumiko Takahashi and Usagi Yojimbo, but that’s mostly because I’m quite fond of both)
    of course, I have 3 and a half feet of Lone Wolf and Cub, so I suppose my taste is odd enough to make any criticism I offer irrelevant

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  4. Ampersand Writes:
    August 25th, 2004 at 1:58 pm

    Well, 7.5 inches of Usagi represents 14 paperback books. Even if I had all 18 books, it would still only be about 9.25 inches of Usagi. :-)

    I’d love to own more Takahashi, especially more Inu Yashi (sp?). Someday…

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  5. Annika Writes:
    August 25th, 2004 at 4:59 pm

    You made me curious so I measured my Pogos. Only nine inches! Curses!

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  6. Evan Writes:
    August 25th, 2004 at 6:54 pm

    Pogo! Are any Pogo collections still in print? I’ve been wanting to learn more about this highly-praised comic strip, but the library has none and they don’t seem to show up in the used bookstores hereabout.

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  7. Helen Writes:
    August 26th, 2004 at 3:30 am

    What Evan said. I used to have a couple of Pogo books in my yoof, but they have disappeared, along with many other of the very best books - funny that, isn’t it?!

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  8. Don Myers Writes:
    August 26th, 2004 at 2:18 pm

    Did you know that the day after you posted this was Walt Kelly’s birthday?

    Great shelf, BTW. I’ve been spending the summer reading CEREBUS in in’s entirety. I’m up to volume 8 (”Women”) right now.

    I stopped reading the individual issues somewhere around issue 220-something because Dave Sim’s misogony and all-around weirdness got to be too much to take. It was like watching a favorite uncle slowly lose his mind to dementia. Now that all 300 isues are available in trade paper, I can enjoy the entire epic as it was meant to be appreciated.

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  9. P6 Writes:
    August 26th, 2004 at 2:23 pm

    You have intelligent comics, man. All I got is superheroes.

    But it’s about 15-20 feet of them (no joke).

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  10. Annika Writes:
    August 26th, 2004 at 4:06 pm

    There appears to be enough Pogo for everybody.

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  11. Lorenzo Writes:
    August 31st, 2004 at 8:47 am

    Holy shit. Who the hell knew you were into manga?

    Cool.

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  12. karpad Writes:
    August 31st, 2004 at 12:57 pm

    honestly, I was just surprised by the manga in question being Ranma 1/2
    which, while a great series, seems a bit different from the relatively grim, serious, and grown up nature of the majority of the other titles. (Pogo is grown up because of generation gap. few 12 year olds would get much of what’s in pogo)

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  13. Ampersand Writes:
    September 1st, 2004 at 8:21 am

    I’m not actually that much into Manga, but I’m a fan of particular series. Nausicca (sp?) is probably my favorite. I really, really, really, really want the English versions of Tezuka’s Pheonix, but so far I haven’t found any used.

    As for Pogo, it’s actually loads of funs for kids, even nowadays.

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  14. Neal Rubenstein Writes:
    October 6th, 2008 at 3:32 pm

    Saw your question about Burke Breathed and thought I’d let you know that I just heard him interviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered explaining why he is ending Opus.

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