I remember Webspinners fondly, and this article reminded me of Rampaging Hulk, but what was Fantastic Four Fireworks? It doesn't ring a bell.

Posted by Michael Heide on 2007-07-30 22:36:25
Trade Paperbacks
Tom, that's very interesting. Especially the point about how things look similar until you add in Trades.

If you could ever talk about the effect of Trades, that would be great. I hear people talk about how "waiting for the trade" hurts comics, but to me it seems like it's the other way around. I've spent hundreds of dollars on trades in the last few years (probably more like thousands, yeesh), and I don't think I would have spent a tenth of that without trades. That seems like bonus money for the industry to me.

Any thoughts on how the possibility of trade affects any decisions on books? Is it even something that concerns editors at all?

Posted by CodeGuy on 2007-07-31 03:41:34
Wow, those figures look really good, particularly something like Slingers

Posted by keense on 2007-07-31 04:32:49
I know we complain about the 90s, but I can't help but miss titles like X-Man, Mutant X and the short-lived Warlock.

Posted by NewChad on 2007-07-31 04:45:08
I have to agree with CodeGuy. At least for myself, I would definitely not be buying as many books as I do if it weren't for the trades. I buy a number of books in trade or digest format (love those digests, by the way!)--along with the occasional hardcover. Honestly, I buy so few monthly series right now that if it weren't for trades, I might not be buying anything. Especially right now, where DC and Marvel have been doing so many crossovers and making the titles more interconnected. Marvel has done a decent job of making the books that I get stand on their own, but DC has all but chased me away from their books. Which is too bad considering the amount of talent working over there right now.

Posted by KentL on 2007-07-31 07:20:25
Ken, I'm with you on the digests. Most of what I have is normal trades, but I've been getting all the Runaways digests. Being in my early 30s now, I'm starting to get far enough away from being a teenager that I wouldn't have looked twice at that series for $3 an issue. Even for regular Trade prices I would have passed. But as a digest it was such a good deal that it was worth a shot, and I enjoyed it enough to keep getting it.

Posted by CodeGuy on 2007-07-31 09:00:03
enjoy trade
as a reader, trade had always been ways to find issues I tought never find anymore,
DC Vertigo provides a wonderful trade-paperbacks line with the Swamp-Thing or the Sandman,Gaiman and Moore are significiants examples of stories thinked with a global point of view ( what they had to tell and not more), and this is a mark of respect onto their works to make them still reachable;Marvel got the reputation to be more chaotic with particulars strong runs here and here ,apart some exceptions we know ( Chris Claremont,Frank Miller, Grant Morrison),so I got absolutely no problem with the Essentials collecting all the issues ( a chance for some who had been censored , it's also a good thing after a weaker arc to see what follows or what permit to it to be so "new ", so "good "; even a weaker doesn't stay weak for long, I'm thinking about the X-Men "Muir Island Invasion" who hadn't been well received at the time, it was a particulary transition needed, I had been glad if Marc Silvestri had handle it to the end as he did for the Adversary-run, anyway that's o.k ) but I remember right now that someone had
already ask the question about it....

Posted by notapotatoe on 2007-07-31 12:58:22