It’s a new year (or at least early in the year), and in true new year’s tradition, the ComicsXF team has set some New Year’s resolutions.
Also in New Year’s tradition, it’s nearly mid-February, and we’re just now getting to it, and, look, the beginning of the year was a lot, OK? Maybe our resolution was giving ourselves grace, y’ever think of that?
So sit back and check out what geeky resolutions the ComicsXF staff has for 2026. Also, we followed up on our 2025 geeky resolutions here, so why don’t you check that out, too?
Back-issue diving for my faves
Last year, I went back-issue diving for Superman comics, but I also found myself enjoying looking for other stuff I really loved. Thanks to Whatnot (which I may have needed to set myself some healthy boundaries for), conventions and more, I was able to pick up a bunch of Marvel Team-Up, G.I. Joe, X-Men, Uncle Scrooge, Spider-Man and X-Factor. So this year, I’m going to pick a couple series to focus on, and go from there.
— Tony Thornley
No collecting FOMO
I really enjoy toy and comics collecting. About midyear last year though, I caught myself spending money out of fear of missing out, more than actually enjoying it. So this year, I’m making a point of being more thoughtful. No random grabbing of back issues unless it’s really something I want. No action figure pre-orders just because they look cool. I’m going to be much more intentional in my collecting, and use that to be better.
— Tony Thornley
No more gaming in the evening
Before the end of last year, I realized that I’d been gaming too much as a coping mechanism for caregiver stress. In particular, I’d been especially bad about gaming very late into the evening and messing up my sleep, which is already crappy from middle-of-the-night insomnia. To that end, I’ve decided to stop gaming during the evening and find an alternative activity to relax. Right now, I’ve been reading comic books, and so far, doing so has been so entertaining that I rarely want to play in the evening.
— Latonya “Penn” Pennington
Driving down the DC streets
I’ve been a Marvel guy my entire life. While I’m still a huge Marvel fan, and even their nose-first dive into pure nostalgia won’t turn me fully away, my eyes are more on DC and other spaces in recent times. There are a ton of holes in my reading history when it comes to classic DC, and I would love to start filling some of those holes. I’ll be starting with some Mark Waid Flash and spinning out from there.
— Scott Redmond
Putting it all in order
Comics in boxes. Comics on shelves. Comics stacked here or there. In short, I’ve got a ton of comics, and they are not particularly in any sort of order or discernable logic. I have plans to move in the very near future, so going forward I would like to not only organize and store all my comics properly but actually catalogue what I have. It would help me know what issues I’m actually missing rather than just aimlessly back-issue bin diving all the time.
— Scott Redmond
Diversify my comics reading
One of my resolutions in 2026 is to continue diversifying the comics I read. By doing the Battle of the Atom podcast with Zack Jenkins and reviews of Uncanny X-Men with Austin Gorton, I sometimes get siloed into just reading mutant stories when some of my favorite creators are out there making incredible stuff elsewhere. This means digging into more artists, publishers and anthologies and even more classic work I’ve missed over the years. I guarantee by December I won’t have read everything I’m thinking of, but I want to at least try.
— Adam Reck
Draw more
I have been trying to take more time to make art. Since the heyday of Twitter and the halcyon era of Krakoa, it’s been more difficult to establish a consistent commission side hustle. I get that. It’s harder than ever to grow an online following, folks certainly do not have as much disposable income as they might have previously, and, y’know *gestures at the world*. My goal in 2026 is to not worry so much about generating art for others as to spend time making art for myself. If folks want me to draw for them based on what I make, so be it. But in the meantime, I want to be practicing and trying to get better. Now where’s that sketchpad?
— Adam Reck
Read for fun
I’m concerned this may be dangerously close to the resolution I made last year (and probably the year before that, and the year before that) but hey, recovering from a literature Ph.D. is a lifelong process. Part of me still associates reading with work, and while I’m no longer teaching, I still get paid through a research grant to study comics, so it’s sometimes hard to separate work reading from fun reading. Which is not to suggest work reading can’t be fun — I love studying comics! But if everything you read becomes a potential essay or conference paper, reading isn’t always as rejuvenating as it could be. I’m too often that meme about how you need to schedule time for relaxing because you’re so stressed out, but then you’re too stressed out to schedule time for relaxing, so instead you do nothing (or, more accurately, you aimlessly scroll social media feeling stressed out about all the other things you should be doing).
Long story short: I am promising to make a concerted effort this year to do some low-stakes comics reading. Stuff like occasionally clicking on Marvel Unlimited instead of Bluesky, snagging something I’ve never read off our in-home spinner rack while I’m making a pot of tea, or flipping through some trades from the library during commercial breaks while I’m watching one of those HGTV shows I claim to hate. I know my world is richer with more comics in it. While I’ve never been good with money, I’ll try to be better with comics.
— Anna Peppard
Watch more movies
I have friends who see three or more movies a week at their local AMC, friends who get Oscar screeners online, friends who rank every movie they’ve ever watched on Letterboxd, friends who’ve ranked every Marvel movie ever (using the broadest possible definition of what a Marvel movie is), heck, friends who make their own short films. And I smile and nod while they talk about them in social settings, not even waiting for my turn to speak because I have nothing to add to the conversation.
Last year was a definite turnaround in that trend, though, as I found myself seeing more movies, both in theaters and on streaming, that weren’t about superheroes or Disney characters (though I certainly saw those, too; I have two kids, after all). I saw Sinners, only a few months after everyone else. I saw Weapons, only a few more months after everyone else. And I had seats opening weekend for the Naked Gun reboot.
One Best Picture nominee down, nine to go!
I’m off to the races for 2026: My wife and I saw Send Help last weekend. The workplace politics of it were a bit basic to start, but once it gets cooking, it doesn’t take its foot off the gas. Put that in your Letterboxd and rank it!
— Dan Grote
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble. Follow him @brawl2099.bsky.social.
Latonya "Penn" Pennington is a freelance contributor whose comics criticism can be found at Women Write About Comics, Comic Book Herald, Newsarama and Shelfdust, among others. Follow them @wordsfromapenn.com on Bluesky.
Scott Redmond
Scott Redmond is a freelance writer and educator fueled by coffee, sarcasm, his love for comic books and more "geeky" things than you can shake a lightsaber at. Probably seen around social media and remembered as "Oh yeah, that guy." An avid gamer, reader, photographer, amateur cook and solid human being. Follow him @scottredmond.bsky.social.
Adam Reck is the cartoonist behind Bish & Jubez as well as the co-host of Battle Of The Atom. Follow him @adamreck.bsky.social.
Anna Peppard
Anna is a Ph.D.-haver who writes and talks a lot about representations of gender and sexuality in pop culture, for academic books and journals and places like Shelfdust, The Middle Spaces and The Walrus. She’s the editor of the award-winning anthology Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero and co-hosted the podcasts Three Panel Contrast and Oh Gosh, Oh Golly, Oh Wow! Follow her @annapeppard.bsky.social.
Dan Grote is the editor and publisher of ComicsXF, having won the site by ritual combat. By day, he’s a newspaper editor, and by night, he’s … also an editor. He co-hosts The ComicsXF Interview Podcast with Matt Lazorwitz. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, two kids and two miniature dachshunds, and his third, fictional son, Peter Paul Winston Wisdom. Follow him @danielpgrote.bsky.social.
