Post by The Canadian Content on Jan 25, 2008 16:01:03 GMT -5
I've never been into buying trades, since I prefer the actual comics, but a friend of mine recently lent me the Iron Fist trade, and it was completely awesome.
I'm going to buy it, since finding the first six issues will be a pain in the ass, but I want to add IF to my pull list, and #12 just came out last week.
So here's the question: how long is it going to be before issues 7-12 are available in softcover trade?
Well issue #6 came out in June, and the trade in october, so four months after would seem about right. Though we're up to issue #12 now and the current arc isn't finished yet, so it might not be just 7-12. Also, there's been an annual and there's a special one shot out before issue #13, so those might be included as well.
softcovers take forever. i can't take it. they seem to take especially long on stuff that has a hardcover come out.
a great example of that is uncanny x-men. when brubaker's run started first he did rise and fall of the shiar empire then he did a story called the extrmists. now, the shiar HC has been out for a while, but the extremists trade (no HC on this one) actually came out BEFORE the shiar soft cover.
same thing with new avengers. the volume 7 HC will come out before the volume 6 SC. it's fucking crazy.
trade can take as much as 6 months to come out. or more. DC is even worse than marvel. i just got a shadowpact trade that has issues 7-13 in it, and the series is on issue 21 already.
i really think it's ridiculous the time they wait to put out trades. i say you put them out a week or 2 after the storyline ends. give both formats an even playing fields and let the customer choose how they want to read. why should the consumer be punished and not be up to date just because they prefer to read in books rather than comics?
it seems they do it to purposely sabotage trade sales because they think it'll take away from comic sales. personally i think that's bullshit.
first of all, i don't think that would happen. at least not to any significant level. and if you look at robert kirkman, you can see the exact opposite could be true. invincible and and walking dead trades come out the next week after the end of the story arc, and sales on those books are on a steady rise. new readers are able to catch up to the current issue without having to go back issue hunting and they continue to read the monthlies.
and if on-time trade release does take away comic sales, well then maybe marvel and DC need to look at their audience and their marketing and find a new way of doing things to accomadate what their cusotmers want.
why just because i want to read it in a book do i have to wait 3 months to read messiah complex (HCs tend to come out within 2-3 months)? i've already conceded that i have to wait for all the issue to come out, why should i have to wait any more than that?
Post by The Canadian Content on Feb 4, 2008 10:40:34 GMT -5
I can see both sides of the issue here. On one hand, there are no ads in trades, so that's lost revenue for the publishers if people start buying trades exclusively. On the other hand, I want to see Iron Fist kicking people in the head, and I want to know why he's doing so, so I'd like to be able to catch up as quickly as possible.
that's my point though. i don't think they'd be losing sales. people are gonna read how they want to read. you're a monthlies reader. would that change if messiah complex was coming out this week instead of 3 months from now? i doubt it.
and as i said, books like the walking dead show that timely trades can help increase sales. while i doubt it would bring a huge bump, i think it could easily offset what small percentage drops the titles for trades.
I'm with Tard, and I'm coming from the complete opposite perspective.
I was brought back to the comic book shops after a year or two of losing interest in the comics by someone lending me book 2 of Preacher. Because I had started reading it in trade, I decided to continue reading it in trade, and the format really didn't work for me. I'm just not patient enough, and would spoil the story for myself flipping through the monthly on the stands. When Preacher was done, I vowed never to try to read a comic in trade again.
A lot of people say that a book like Y is "written for the trades," and doesn't work as a monthly. Personally, I've never had a problem with its story beats as a monthly. Sure, I'd put the book down and think "damn, what happens next!" But that's how I want to feel when I put down a comic book.
But where trades are great is for getting caught up on a book if you're late for the bandwagon, or if you fall behind because you haven't made it over to the comic shop in a few months.
And, as Op pointed out, they would work better for this if they weren't so far behind, and once readers who prefer to read monthly catch themselves up to a book, then they'll jump on to the monthly which can help snowball a book's fanbase.
On the other hand if there's a six month gap between where the trade leaves off and the current issue, and the intervening issues have sold out, what are you going to do?
One of two things: you could say "to hell with it, it's not worth the trouble." Or "to hell with it, I'm just going to torrent the missing issues." And once you've done that, will you go back to paying for the issues?
I had a discussion with a comics guy about this a few years back. Bugger all if I remember what company he was with. But from what I do recall he said that single issues are more profitable for the comics companies than graphic novels, hence the companies showing favoritism to single issue sales.
IMMORTAL IRON FIST VOL. 2: THE SEVEN CAPITAL CITIES OF HEAVEN PREMIERE HC Written by ED BRUBAKER & MATT FRACTION Penciled by DAVID AJA, HOWARD CHAYKIN, DAN BRERETON & JELENA KEVIC DJURDJEVIC Cover by DAVID AJA Once a generation, the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven align on a plane far beyond the ken of mortal men. It is here that these cities send their Immortal Warriors to compete against one another in a combat tournament to end all tournaments, and it is here that Daniel Rand was spirited to in his darkest hour. Generations of mystical war traditions await their chance to prove they have the greatest kung fu – to the Immortal Iron Fist! Plus: The Book of Iron Fist, written on parchment made from the dragon scales of Shou-Lao the Undying, tells the life stories and kung-fu secrets of every man and woman ever to hold the mantle of the Immortal Iron Fist – except two. One, Danny Rand, the current Iron Fist and the possessor of this most remarkable book. The other was Orson Randall, the Golden Age Iron Fist, and he died as he lived: trying to outrun the Iron Fist legacy. And if Danny hopes to escape a similar fate, he'll have to track down Orson's long-lost story and learn the mysteries within before it's too late. Collecting IMMORTAL IRON FIST #8-14 and ANNUAL #1. 200 PGS./Rated T+ …$24.99
Though that means they've left out #7, which was the standalone issue about the female Iron Fist, Wu Ao-Shi.
Post by The Canadian Content on Feb 20, 2008 13:37:30 GMT -5
Thanks Stu.
As it turns out, I just bought the first 12 off of eBay. As you mentioned, 7 is a standalone. I had to buy #1-6, #7, and #8-12 as 3 separate purchases.
yeah. that's a risk when it comes to reading in trades, but these issues tend to show up eventually.
i was originally pissed when volume 1 of DC's shadowpact was missing the stand alone issue 5 (it collected 1-4 and 6-, but then was fine when volume 2 collected 5 along with 9-13.
I notice that issue 15 is another standalone issue about a previous Iron Fist, between proper arcs. Maybe they're going to do this a few more times, then when they have enough material, release a seperate collection for "Tales Of the Iron Fist", putting them all together, along with this month's Randall Orson special. Because the Wu Ao-Shi issue alluded to her being the last female Iron Fist and that being a story for another day, so it seems they'll go back to her.