I occasionally enjoy the shock headline.
The $3 dollar whore is a reference (that I first heard from Jeff) to buying the single issues of comics for $3 versus waiting for a trade paper back or a hard cover format of a story. It is amazing how many formats that comics come in now days. You can buy the single issues, buy the collected trades (usually six issues or more) at a better bargain for you dollar or buy the hard cover version. Recently we have added the mini-hard cover version.
Justice from DC is publishing the comic and has the 4 issue hard cover versions coming out, a trade is sure to follow and eventually they will do an Absolute edition on this baby.
Punisher is a monthly, they do six issue trades and they do a 12 issues deluxe (slightly over sized) hard cover version. Six issue is $18, the trade is $15 and the hard cover is $30. Why are we buying the monthly version at all.
I have three books I get as trades (Punisher, 100 Bullets and Walking Dead) and I will only buy Ultimates Volume 2 as a deluxe hard cover format as Bryan Hitch's artwork looks great in that format. I buy the monthlies but try to never buy a trade of any monthly I get, unless it is something that I absolute love and want to own. Very few books met that criteria and Aquaman might be the only one right now that I will go that route. If it is especially good and I want to own it (as I give away almost every monthly) I'll wait years if need be and get the hard cover. I skipped the trades on New Frontier holding out for the hard cover that comes out next month.
I wonder with all these formats how is a comic judged as a success anymore? Does a company consider how the trade sells as wells as the book sales? And when is it going too far. Invincible (a book I love) did the monthlies, the trades and recently did the hardcover for 12 issues worth of material. Now they are offering an Omnibus of 24 issues in another hard cover format. I got the monthlies and the 12 issue hard covers, but I ain't buying the over sized version.
Still I may get the Spider-Man Omnibus which covers stuff I have in Masterworks and I have been roped in on buying other books in multiple formats, but I try to resist 90% of it. I wonder what portion of the sales of these formats reach a new customer and how much is the same customers buying the same material in different formats?
HOLY SHIT.
ReplyDeleteMarvel stole Stephen Wacker, DC's editor behind 52 (who has been keeping the damn thing together), and the sonofabitch jumped ships today.
Joe Q really is the Devil that they made him out to be in Dying In The Gutters.
Its like a hit below the belt.
I wish DC and Marvel would stop the bickering and try and do something together that would get new fans into the hobby. And it really stinks that you get stung time and again for the same material. I bought the singles on Planetary. Then the hardcovers came out so I bought them. Then the Absolutes came out and it started to burn me up that I had to consider buying yet another version of a work that I adore. There are so few of us fans left, you would think that they would treat us with more dignity than that. As it is, we are treated like living ATMs that they can just draw and draw from. Horrible treatment for loyal fans.
ReplyDeleteShawn- it was like they traded editors.
ReplyDeleteJeff - I have older children and at one point I was a living ATM. I fortunately passed on the Planetary hard covers and now will just have the Absolutes, but it does seem almost like disrespect.
ReplyDeleteAfter having read a great article about the state of comics in the past and currently(Newsarama) I have to agree with the author of the article that we are in a transition period. Comics are moving away from the direct market and towards the book stores. Joe Q has gone on record saying that the future of comics will be book stores. Trades and hardcovers are coming out at a rapid pace. The direct market retailer has been left to burn while big sellers are delayed for months so that no fill-in artist will disrupt the flow for the inevitable trade compilation. It's worked to small effect so far. Trades are doing okay at book stores, but are eclipsed by the sale of manga. So what do the publishers do? Jack up the prices on the monthlies which they know are endangered so might as well soak the remaining fans for whatever you can get. Screw over the retialers and do your best to please book store buyers. It's no wonder that I have, over the last year or so, sold off my singles collection in lieu of trades. Don't miss the singles at all and I don't keep the singles I get anymore as they really arent' all that memorable or special. I still keep All Star Superman, Fell, Loveless and DD in singles. The rest is totally trades. It really is the way to go and I cannot think of a single logical argument to keep singles anymore. One day soon I can see myself closing the pull box that I've maintained for a decade or so and saying good-bye to my comic guy, getting my comics fix from Amazon or Border's instead. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing.
ReplyDelete