I finally stopped buying single issues and switched to trade paperbacks

Honestly, I used to be that guy who hit up my local shop in Portland every Wednesday to grab 6 or 7 single issues. After my move last year, I realized I had 4 long boxes just sitting in storage and I barely remembered half the stories. Now I just wait for the trade collections to come out and read them straight through. Has anyone else made the jump and felt like they actually enjoy the story more without the month-long gaps?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella2216d ago

Those 4 long boxes really hit home for me. I had a similar moment when I was boxing up my collection for a cross-town move and realized I couldn't even tell you what happened in that "Batman" arc from three years ago because I'd read it in dribs and drabs over six months. Do you find that the trade format changes how you feel about the writing itself, like do you notice pacing issues or cliffhangers that feel cheesy when you read them back to back? I ask because I started picking up "Saga" in trades and the pauses between storylines felt totally natural, but then I tried "The Walking Dead" that way and the constant "next issue will reveal!" endings got exhausting without the week to breathe.

emma_garcia16d ago

Tbh @stella22 you nailed it with the Walking Dead example. I had the exact same thing happen with Hickman's Fantastic Four run. Reading it in singles I was like "whoa hyped for next issue" but in the trade every single page ended with Reed saying something cryptic and it felt like the comic was gaslighting me. Honestly I think some writers lean too hard on cliffhangers when they know there's a month between issues, and reading trades exposes that hard.

colethomas16d ago

Man oh man, this is spot on. I still remember buying that first Hickman Fantastic Four issue off the rack and feeling like a genius for keeping up with all the SHIELD stuff. Then I got the complete omnibus last year and I swear every third page is just Reed staring into a panel with some math equation floating in the background. It made me wonder if I was the one who was slow or if Hickman was just stalling. I actually had a moment where I closed the book, looked at the cover, and said out loud "what is even happening here?" which is real embarrassing because I was alone. The cliffhanger trick totally works when you've got to wait a month and your brain fills in the gaps, but back to back it's like watching a friend tell the same joke five times in a row and each time it gets less funny.