XFactorFan

Yes... it is rough... but it is really simple too... JUST SAY NO! If you don't like how the publishers shake readers down, then don't buy the books! We all know what one-shots and crossover events are intended to do! Increase sales and suck readers into buying more books! DUH! JUST SAY NO!

I've been trimming my list down for quite some time now. Finally weaned myself off all the X-books except X-Factor, which is the only one I really like... hate saying this, but Uncanny hasn't moved the status quo forward... and X-Force was only good through the end of Messiah War... I read Deadpool because I love the dark humor... but how did this guy become the king of the X-Marvel universe? My reading is more eclectic than it ever was before... DMZ, The Boys, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ... So I trim my list by being selective and only reading what I want to and what I think will be worth reading. And I'll pick up the first story arc whenever a new series starts up. I'm not naive about resale value, but I figure the first six issues of a new series is more likely to sell than issues in the middle of continuity. So far, it has worked. If I read something I don't want to hang onto, I can sell it rather quickly on Ebay.

Honestly... in my opinion, it is no different from investing in stocks... ONLY buy what you really like to read! 

To echo your point about business viability--in addition to floppies and TPBs, Mile High Comics in Denver also serves the fantasy gaming market as well. I'm sure that helps make the difference for them. And they're not afraid to charge what they need to charge in order to stay in business. I feel sorry for brick and mortar stores... the economy and the trends in the industry have really taken their toll. But I don't have any guilt about buying through DCBS. The smart comic shops have websites or Ebay stores anyway, so if they can't stay in business by cultivating multiple points of sale, then they shouldn't.

With 70 years of history behind them, Marvel has accumulated too much cultural capital (I hope) for Disney to be able to dismantle them the way they did the Muppets. Imagine Marvel animated features of Marvel characters produced by Pixar... something to think about.

Sometimes it's hard to resist the hype, but so much of Marvel's current storylines are derivative/recycled that I've started following indies a lot more lately. Who wants to spend $5 of their hard-earned $$ on a boring hero story when one can pick up a copy of, say, the graphic adaptation of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?