so i'm pretty particular when it comes to the things i collect. like, very particular. like, so particular it's not healthy. so if you can't relate to that or don't understand or just don't care, none of this will seem important. Also, if you read digitally only this will seem silly, but I don't so for me it's an issue. Okay so I missed the last issue of the Trial of Jean Grey (Guardians #13), which I had been reading before. It came out when I didn't have money and when I went to my shop a couple weeks ago they were sold out, so instead I went ahead and bought All-New X-Men #24, which came out at the same time and I also missed, part 5 of 6 of Trial, and Guardians #14, the start of a new arc. Or something. I haven't read it. I wanted to go ahead and buy it because it's a bigger issue ($4.99) and that was also free comic book day and I got the Guardians handout as well. I was already a little put-off from buying one ahead than what I already had, but I figured I shouldn't be too picky in that instance. I talked to the owner and he said he would keep an eye out for a second printing and hold one for me. I didn't think about the implications of this, I just went along with it. Now, I'm not familiar with how long it takes for additional printings to happen, I figured a couple weeks to a month because when I talked to the owner he said they sold out quickly. I called yesterday to find out when this would be, something I should have done the day I was there (my bad), and he said that there is no scheduled date yet. I was a little down because of this, I wanted to read #14 because it's special and I was waiting to read All New #24 till I got the last part, but I was none too happy with the idea of waiting for an indefinite amount of time. So I thought about downloading #13 (as in not paying for it) and reading it now, something I am entirely opposed to when it comes to what I'm reading that's current, and just buying the second printing later. So I did. And I felt kinda bad. I haven't read it yet. Then it occurred to me that the second printing may have a variant cover, which would not be a problem if all of my other covers were not first printings. So I looked up second printing covers for some of the other issues and they are different. 2nd printing? I don't think so. So here I am. I'm about to buy the first printing online even though I told the owner I would wait for a second printing. And after typing all of this it all makes sense and I don't remember why I needed advice or motivation but I just spent 20 minutes typing this and it's getting posted goddammit.
If you were so particular about your collection, you'd be trying to collect every version of every issue anyway. Get the first and second printings, that way you'll get what you want and you can fulfill your promise to the guy at store. Comics are pretty cheap anyway, even they're expensive for what you get.
