Good Guys Finish...Never?

I spent some time this weekend thinking about which comics I might want to start reading again, and of course, that led me to thinking about which titles I might want to start collecting. Thankfully, I didn't get far. Why? Because after tucking my new Adam Hughes comics into their plastic cocoons and sliding them behind their brothers and sisters in the closet, I poked around my other boxes of comics. And what did I find? A whole bunch of incomplete sets.

That's right. In all of those boxes of comics I'm currently "collecting" I found a whole bunch of unfinished runs. Star Wars: 80% complete. Warlord: 80% complete. John Carter: 30% complete. And the worst of the bunch? Further Adventures of Indiana Jones: 97% complete. That's right, 97% complete. All I need is the last issue, #34. Good grief. I need one more issue? That's it? One?

Why the hell couldn't I finish that set? After years of "collecting" that title, why am I still without that one book? Is it expensive? No. Is it rare? No. So what gives?

I'll admit that my collections are rather modest. I just want to own some mint copies of the books I read as a kid. Because I read most of my comics in the early 80s, none of these books are particularly difficult to find and none will put too big of a dent into my wallet. Maybe that's part of the problem? Are they so easy to find that it somehow makes the "hunt" unfulfilling enough that the notion of still hunting is way more exciting? Would putting the collection to rest be so anti-climatic that it's not worth my time to actually do so?

I've stated before that the new stuff is often more important than the items I already own, but it looks like I'm taking that idea to the extreme. Not only are the things I haven't bought more enticing, but the collections I haven't started are even more so. Why else would I be looking into new things to collect when I haven't got a single complete set in my comic boxes? (Don't even get me started on my Packers collections or my book collections. Those are even worse, with one incomplete set after another.)

For now, I've managed to temper my lust for new things to collect (unless you consider my request for help finding the artist to do my next Dejah Thoris commission). My hope is that I can keep my desire for new things under wraps until I can at least get closer to finishing some of those sets.

And who knows. Maybe if I actually finish something, the feeling will be so overwhelming that I can't help but try it again. Just don't hold your breath...