Comic Book General Thread

[abazaba]

Are collections (TPB/HC) still a thing for most new (Marvel/DC/Image/Dark Horse/etc.) comics ? There used to be a time when most of their stuff would end up in a HC/TPB, but I get the impression that recent-ish the format has gone out of style for new comics ? For example, DC still has their 'Compact Comics' TPB line, but that only collects older material if I understand correctly ?

 

[R_J_K75]

I also consider Spider-Man to be the Greatest Fictional Character ever made. However, I am on and off with the current and recent runs.

Ive been a Spider-Man fan since I can remember, since seeing the 1980 animated show as a kid, probably even before thar. First comic I ever owned was ASM #245, Oct 1983. I've read the comics on and off ever since. My Favorite story arc was Kravens Last Hunt. I agree the last year or so story lines for ASM have not been good, the Hellgate/Space-Arc was especially bad. I have a bad tendency to buy comics weekly and not read them for a while, so I'll binge read them every so often, reading 20-30 issues over a few days. This bit me in the ass though as I just started reading Death Spiral last night and didn't realize there were two one-shot issues, and three Venom issues in the run. I had to order the issues I missed from Midtown Comics and have to wait until they arrive before I can continue reading them. I signed up for a free trial of Marvel Unlimited and read the first issue Amazing Spider-Man/Venom issue (Death Spiral #1), but the other issues in the run weren't available to read. Regardless, I liked what I read, that issue and ASM #23. I really hate crossovers; think Secret Wars II was when this started.

The recent Ultimate Spider-Man series was good, but I still have a few issues to read. Don't know why they stopped it so soon. Think the series is finished with Ultimate End Game #5.

I do find myself kind of lost at times following the overall meta plot from reading inconsistently over the years. I always wanted to try and read the full ASM run, but it would probably be way too expensive and time consuming at this point.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Are collections (TPB/HC) still a thing for most new (Marvel/DC/Image/Dark Horse/etc.) comics ? There used to be a time when most of their stuff would end up in a HC/TPB, but I get the impression that recent-ish the format has gone out of style for new comics ? For example, DC still has their 'Compact Comics' TPB line, but that only collects older material if I understand correctly ?

Collections are still very much a thing, usually every 5-6 issues or so. Some things get the omnibus treatment when the entire run is over, depending on popularity. DC is better at collections than Marvel as of late, and Image is probably a little better than both.

 

[gnarlygninja]

As far as I know the recent Ultimate comics were planned around the hard stop. I'm a little skeptical that'll stick, much like how the original Ultimate universe wasn't ever supposed to cross over with 616. The origin boxes are already popping up in the mainstream universe.

 

[abazaba]

Collections are still very much a thing, usually every 5-6 issues or so. Some things get the omnibus treatment when the entire run is over, depending on popularity. DC is better at collections than Marvel as of late, and Image is probably a little better than both.

Thanks. I recently tried to search for Marvel collections, but (at first glance) only found somewhat older material. Perhaps I'm just searching in the wrong place ? I used to get all my TPB's/HC's (indeed most of the time about a single arc of 4 to 6 issues) over at Amazon, but perhaps that is a bad place to look for them currently. Or my search terms are lousy.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Thanks. I recently tried to search for Marvel collections, but (at first glance) only found somewhat older material. Perhaps I'm just searching in the wrong place ? I used to get all my TPB's/HC's (indeed most of the time about a single arc of 4 to 6 issues) over at Amazon, but perhaps that is a bad place to look for them currently. Or my search terms are lousy.

I don't buy trades or Omnibuses from Amazon.

I usually use two places:
Cheap Graphic Novels
and
In Stock Trades

 

[Reynard]

The transition from "stories that took as long as they took" to "story arcs must be built for the trade paperback market" was a painful one back in the day, and rarely made for better stories.

 

[jian]

Are collections (TPB/HC) still a thing for most new (Marvel/DC/Image/Dark Horse/etc.) comics ? There used to be a time when most of their stuff would end up in a HC/TPB, but I get the impression that recent-ish the format has gone out of style for new comics ? For example, DC still has their 'Compact Comics' TPB line, but that only collects older material if I understand correctly ?

Certainly on Kindle Unlimited there’s plenty of these, all the things I mentioned were in digital TPB format.

That makes me remember my Comixology collection, all lost when they were bought by Amazon. Sigh.

 

[abazaba]

Certainly on Kindle Unlimited there’s plenty of these, all the things I mentioned were in digital TPB format.

Thanks. I just got the impression that quote/unquote 'most' super-hero TPB's/HC's in physical form these days were reprints of older material, going back ten years or even longer ago. The only 'recent' things I could find in physical form was just about only DC's 'Absolute Universe' series: Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, etc.

That makes me remember my Comixology collection, all lost when they were bought by Amazon. Sigh.

Yeah. I'm conflicted about 'going digital' for comics. You might lose (access to) them all and you cannot sell them when you're done with the ones you do not want to re-read, but it sure makes it a lot easier to store them all.

 

[abazaba]

The transition from "stories that took as long as they took" to "story arcs must be built for the trade paperback market" was a painful one back in the day, and rarely made for better stories.

Although I get what you mean, I'm not sure I totally agree. I have quite a few 'collections of arcs' in HC sitting on my shelf that I did really enjoy. And I enjoyed reading them 'by the arc' (4 to 6 issues or so), instead of having to wait for a full month to get the next 22-page installment of the same story.