Comments on: Trades vs Monthlies

By: MaGnUs

MaGnUs — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:06:37 +0000

Yes, there’s indeed forced decompression in some books, and that sucks. It’s one of the worst trends of the industry today.

By: johnamor

johnamor — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:06:37 +0000

Thanks

By: MaGnUs

MaGnUs — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:04:29 +0000

Ah, and I forgot… that Thor sketch is kick-ass!!!

By: johnamor

johnamor — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:03:02 +0000

That’s exactly what I mean. It’s almost… I dunno… forced(?) decompression?

Trades would be fine if, like TV shows, they encapsulate whole “seasons” per se, with a real sense of resolution. Those are usually the types of trades I enjoy picking up.

By: MaGnUs

MaGnUs — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:56:45 +0000

I don’t mind trades (or larger volumes) when it’s stand-alone stories like miniseries, or a graphic novel. But for regular stories; even if they are arcs of six or three issues; monthly is the way to go. It’s like scrapping TV altogether and just release shows on DVD without airing them epioside by episode.

And decompression is good, when done well (Powers, volume one), but not when done for decompression’s sake (the first arc of the new JLA book).

By: Sully Eliot

Sully Eliot — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:56:37 +0000

Mm, of course. I don’t get why so many people hate decompression. While I enjoy my Fell and my Nextwave, comics with decompression can lead to some really awesome results. The sequence where Spider buys Air Jesus shoes in Transmetropolitan comes to mind–six pages of that stuff, if I remember right.

By: johnamor

johnamor — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:52:03 +0000

Way I see it, writing for the trade is all about decompression. Which is all well and good, especially when it serves characterization. But when it’s done just to stall and boost sales, and with no fan-gratifying reason, I’d rather go for them one-shots.

By: Sully Eliot

Sully Eliot — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:43:30 +0000

I don’t think it does dictate how a story is developed. Perhaps I have the definition wrong, but I thought it was like writing with a particular mindset. If you go read golden-age comics, the idea of “story arcs,” is almost nonexistent. However, more and more recently, longer stories have gained prominence in comic books (this seems to have been introduced during the Lee era; more work must be done on this subject by the person that is me!). Writing for trades is merely writing a longer, better story in a way that may not necessarily look good in monthly form.

Am I right? Am I wrong? I don’t know.

By: johnamor

johnamor — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:34:16 +0000

Err.. make that *IT shouldn’t dictate how a story is developed.

By: johnamor

johnamor — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:32:26 +0000

I agree. Though the fact remains that I, and I’m sure you do too, enjoy Ultimate Human a lot precisely because of that anticipation period wherein I need to think about what’ll happen next. The whole Writing-for-Trade trend is all good, but I shouldn’t dictate how a story is developed and told. It should enhance it.