I like sharing personal information with others. It brings a sense of community and "real" to the world. I've been in the college/university life now since 2009 and it hasn't gotten any cheaper. I'm entering my Master's program now and financially it's tough to be an independent person attending school full time, working full time, among other things. Over the summer, I sat down and really dove deep into my budget and found that I was spending an overly obsessive amount of money on comics... mostly X-Men comics. Finishing off Remender's run on X-Force, finishing off PAD's run on X-Factor, following the newest series that came out of the Marvel Now! titles, it all became too expensive. So I decided that in order to save money for schooling, gas, extremities, etc., I need to cut comics from my life. In July of this year I bought my last comic book (X-Factor #257... not even finishing off the series that I've been following since its inception). Do I feel a bit left out? Yes. Do I feel like a piece of me is missing? Yes. Do I feel like I saved a tremendous amount over the past few months? Yes. Nearly $900... and that's only been since July. I tried cutting my pull list down in the beginning of the year, but found that I was giving in too often than not in buying the other series I left out. $900 of my hard earned money saved to pay off a little bit of my loan, buy a new Mac, among other things. I've been relying on Comicvine's news, X-Men forums, standing in a comic store/bookstore skimming the pages, and brief online summaries to get me by and "in-the-know" of what's going on. That's why I reduced my presence here on Comicvine. But for YEARS I've been buying comics freely with no regard of cost or expense. A huge ego, knowing that I know what's happening in every book. But now, as it's been 4 months, I see that reading comics (especially X-Men comics, which I've grown up with all my life) is not a "need" but a desire I crave to fill a void. It's a desire that must be controlled. I would like to blame the publication companies for making their prices so high, but that's just passing the blame. We, as consumers, need to be aware of our spending. Until I am comfortable enough to splurge on a title that deserves my money, I will not buy another comic book. I feel almost as if I'm in an AA program, releasing my addiction. I hope my story has inspired you.

Good stuff man it's never easy to stop buying comics especially ones that have been part in your life since u can remember. I'm in college too but I have extra cash lying around to spend a few $12 bucks a week to pick up some new comics. It's not easy i wish I had more but I have to limit myself to only buying at best 4 comics a week. But good for u. U have ur priorities straight and hopefully once you get the career you have been working hard for you will have all the money you need to fill the void again.

Amen to that... It's hard but I'm keeping myself busy enough, like working on my Senior project. I'm taking 5 classes now and they're all so demanding. The only free time I have now is sleep, and even that is limited!

For me, I just don't buy monthly comics.
Just arcs. Marvel has completely lost my trust.
Only Thor GOT is a comic that i've trusted on a month to month basis... and that was just starting this summer.
So basically I wait til an arc is done then I buy the whole series. But I don't just blindly buy issues. It has just got deflating with the constant inconsistent, in accurate, character tearing down work. I don't know who buys this stuff but oh well. If they ever get good again I'll cop a few

Well that's the problem too.... I would buy hardcovers and paperbacks in addition to my monthly pull list. So my expenses were through the roof. But now I'm in comic-book-rehab so I'm just waiting till the holidays. My brother always buys me a hardcover or 2 every year for the holidays.

Another thing I did was stop getting physical copies. I just don't have the storage anymore. So I just get digital comics and call it a day. Marvel reads well on a tablet or laptop...

You hope your post inspires what? More people to stop buying comics?

Personally I thought your status as an X-fan basically just consisted of.... "Ugh Wolverine, I avoid books with Wolverine in them, we need more books without Wolverine, etc..."

@papad1992: I'm in college as well and was in a similar situation to you except with video games/time instead of comics/money. Honestly if I were you I would just read online summaries/youtube reviews until a collected edition came out then buy it from amazon so you can get a percentage off of msrp.

I would definitely wait until the semester is over though

Well studying can be expensive. I think you should wait till the X-Men stories come out on paperbacks. There pretty cheap after a while. If you want to read comics. If not then focus on studying and paying bills.

I've been buying digital comics for awhile as well... No value in them whatsoever but they are easily accessible.

I hope I inspire people to prioritize their spending and realize that desires should not always come before real-life financials. My cost per semester is increasing dramatically as I reach my Master's program... if you're in the same boat as I am, then those are the people that my message would wholly relate to.

Thank goodness the holidays are approaching... I'll splurge a little bit. And I already watch online reviews and read summaries. I'm just saying it isn't the same feeling as reading the material yourself.

I've been back-tracking via paperbacks for years now. I got Operation: Zero Tolerance hardcover as a gift last year for my birthday, and I'm still reading it. On and off of course. This is the first year in which financial aid has lowered their amount for me at school... because I've been in school for a long time now.

i know its weird how wolverine is in almost all of x-men book(even the new amazing x-men comic) and avengers, while cyclops has one book and soetime guest stars on others

my void is too big to be filled.

That's a personal issue that you must solve on your own... try knitting or scrapbooking.

the other issue comics are so maddeningly inconsistent

and marvel's fight scenes are for the most part really boring.

most of their a list fighters hardly looked skilled in h2h combat