Comics vs. Trade Paperbacks

*Originally published on 9/16/09


Comic fans are generally divided into two camps, no not DC and Marvel, but the collector who buys the individual issues and one who waits for the trade paperback. Each one has their pros and cons. Which one is ultimately the better strategy? Well, I guess we'll find out won't we?

Trade paperbacks are the more economical route. Odds are you're going to spend less on a trade paperback than on the individual issues. It depends, some trades only have a couple of issues so the difference is negligible. Others have several. Trades also have the advantage of being sold in regular book stores where individual comics are only sold in comic book stores.

One of my friends suggested a while back that distributors should go solely on trades. They could even ditch the whole "universe" concept and just tell self contained stories that had no impact on others. I actually like the fact that heroes interact and that events in one book can impact another. As long as they don't go too crazy with the tie-ins and readers can skip it if they so choose, it can actually work pretty well to build a solid continuity.

I also enjoy making trips to the comic store. It's an entertaining venture and the crew is usually pretty amicable. If distributors went to just trades, all of those stores would shut down and people would be out of work.

Most trades are convenient, they put a number on the spine so that you know what order the books go in and they put all the issues in order. Other trades, not so much. Hellblazer, for example, doesn't mark what order the books go in, so for someone who's trying to get into it, they will have to do some research. Other trades skip issues. I was going to buy all the Brubaker Captain America issues in trade, sadly though, a few of the trades don't publish in order and issues get skipped.

DC's Sinestro Corps War was a fairly self contained story. It stayed within the pages of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. One issue of Blue Beetle, tied in, but like a good tie-in should it remained peripheral enough that you didn't need to read it to keep up with the story. There were, however, four tie-in issues that gave you some insight into the motivations of the villains. While they aren't necessary reading, they do drive the story forward and it makes the whole thing feel more complete. Rather than put these one shots in their place within the story, DC decided to release a third volume consisting of only the tie-ins. If you wanted to release three volumes, that's fine, but why not just put the issues in the order they're meant to be read. Doesn't that just seem like common sense?

Collecting issues can also be tricky. If you buy them as they come out, you can usually do a pretty good job of figuring out what order the comics are supposed to be read. With back issues, it gets confusing, especially when it comes to crossovers. A lot of times, the comic will have a number on the front telling you what part of the story the issue is, but other times, you have to go through and see what issue comes next. This was especially bad with Superman titles back when he had four comics coming out (one per week). You could have two subsequent issues of Action Comics only to find that you missed three issues of story. Filing them also becomes tricky in this scenario, do you put the comics in story order or keep each title separate and number it from 1 upward?

For newer stories, I'd say go with the issues, there's a certain feeling you get reading a comic that you don't get with trades. Another pro is that you don't have to wait as long to read a particular story. If you're trying to collect back issues to get caught up, trades are the way to go. You can always buy any issues that aren't included to fill in the gap and more often than not, the trades to put the issues in the right order with no complication.