FLOP - On the comic book issue format

I don't have much allegiance to the comic book issue format. This in large part is due to the fact that I wasn't raised on reading issues - I had already read well over a thousand pages of trade paperback collections before I had read a few comics in issue format. I confess that the only real reason I started buying comics in issues was to give me an excuse to show up every week at Atlantis Fantasyworld in Santa Cruz, CA.

Anybody that has gone to Atlantis probably understands why I did this. Anybody that hasn't... Well, the unique thing about Atlantis is that unlike other comic book stores, nearly everybody that works there is female. And unlike other comic book stores, almost every body that works there is really attractive.

Can you put two and two together, then figure out why I wanted to be there more frequently?

As many comics as I bought in issues this week(five tends to be a lot for me), there were still others I wanted to buy. Air was one of them. I've heard good things about it, and G. Willow Wilson's debut graphic novel, Cairo, had a wonderful sense of storybook imagination.

Why would I buy a whole bunch of Marvel and DC stuff and not buy the cool, creator-owned comic that I really want to read?

The trades. Creators are increasingly complaining about the "wait-for-trade" mentality, while simultaneously, more and more stories are becoming next to unreadable in the issue format, especially when plagued by long delays. At the same time, the trade is sexier on the shelf, is easier to reread and loan to a friend, and often comes a lot cheaper than the issues.

Take Northlanders for example, the newest Brian Wood comic that is turning out to be the only comic by him that I really like (though I haven't read Local). I bought the entire first story arc in issues, all eight of them. It was difficult to read from month to month, as I had forgotten many critical story details and got some of the similar looking characters confused.

But what was the real kicker that made me wait for the trade?

...when this was released - a ten dollar trade paperback collection. An overall more practical product than the eight floppies I bought, at less than half the price of my copies (24 dollars for all 8 issues).

See what I mean?

If creators really want people to buy books in issues, then they should make the issues solid reads in and of themselves. Casanova and Fell are wonderful examples of this - they tend to be so jampacked with story that it's hard to believe what you're getting is just 16 pages (and also that it's just two bucks an issue).

If only more people would jump on that format. And if only Casanova and Fell came out more frequently...