I agree. The thing is even 1st issue of Spiderman, Superman which is very very old, hard to find will cost a ton of money. Comic book collectors is niche market. Who knows how many comics they collect 😱😱
For someone who started collecting for about 2 years I started off with single issues it was the easiest way to get exposed to as much content as I wanted. Now I’m trying to lean more towards trades because they take up less space, cheaper, and look better on a shelf. Also wanted to just jump straight in on current runs
Getting into comic books can be really difficult but falling out of the interest and then years later trying to get back in is almost just as hard. There's some big barriers of entry that mainstream comics have that most things just don't.
Sal is right the comic book world was hard to get into. I grew up reading manga through shonen Jump and I remember being completely overwhelmed when I started reading American comics. There was too much and very little guidance. Love you guys ❤
For me is either digital or trades/omnibus' at this point. I don't have a shop near my area to get floppies anymore. I do have a shop, but they only sell trades and toys, merch etc. I tend to only read digital stuff I intend to not have on my shelf, while the trades/omnis are what I have for stuff I really like. Edit: Yeah my local shop I always pre-order the trades/omnis there.
Same. If I wanna try something I'll buy it digital, but for the stuff I really like I get trades. Most of the time I'll watch someone talking about the first couple issues of a series if I'm curious and I make my decision on how to buy (or if to buy) from there
I haven’t collected any singles since new 52, collections are much more readable, if I want to buy a story I want the best possible way to reread it, not collect dust
I work at an LCS and what Sal said about delinquent subscribers is so true. I just had to put out what added up to about 6 months worth of heavy-duty pulls for two people that ghosted us even though we treat them real well. (We also allow them to buy their books in chunks if it helps.) Fills in some back issues in the bins but it just bums me out when folks do that. Just get your books once per month as a subscriber! If you wanna cancel, no pressure, but leaving us with stacks of books is pretty dirty behavior.
I learned a long time ago the impact reneging on your pull list had on a shop owner. I will always pre-pay my standing orders and just go into store to collect what I’ve already paid for. 📚
What I hate about pre orders is that as a kid my LCS would not make me a pull list and wouldn’t subscribe or pre order anything for me because I was young….I had a job building houses at 13 and I was making money to support the shop and my hobby, but they didn’t want that and didn’t want me to pre order…it was messed up I didn’t know I could actually order or subscribe to a series until that store owner sold his shop to someone else and I went back to check it out and now I’m there every week, I only hate the pre order thing because people will try and gate keep and not even order stuff for you or anything….these owners sometimes try and make you not welcome and they won’t help and that’s unfortunate, I wasn’t a casual until my comic shop wouldn’t help me so I decided to only pick comics up when I saw them and seldom go to the lcs, glad we got a new owner and I’m happy he doesn’t just gate keep or treat people like they can’t afford to order(edit yes go buy the books you pre order don’t leave them sitting in a box at the shop) someone went the extra mile to put those away and help you
Remember when issues WERE complete stories in one issue? And there was just a subplot or two that took up like three of the 20 ish pages to connect with former/later issues. If monthly floppies are going to survive, that's what we have to return to
Me too. I read the majority of my stuff through those apps. And now that I'm older, with a family and busy schedule, idc that I'm reading books that come out months later.
I trade wait all the time, I wait for a story and art that has good reviews and I buy the complete trade so it can go on my book case. I did the weekly buying during to new 52 to rebirth era but that was all digital, I just can’t dedicate the space. I would be open to weekly magazines like manga does. Say there’s an Action comics mag one week, a Detective mag the next and ect. Or a digital subscription to all the new books and archives. But they may have already done that, I haven’t gone to DC universe in a couple years
I stopped buying singles due to space issues. Was a major spender on comixology with their amazing sales, but now you can't purchase in app (not their fault), the UI of looking for books suck, there aren't any good sales anymore, and comixology is just a horrendous experience that's not getting fixed. As for graphic novels, I only stick to certain books. Realistically, now I just pirate unimportant series to me but buy the graphic novels of those I want. Digital comics was the perfect inbetween.
Speaking as someone who just enjoys reading stories, (comics, manga, fiction, and fantasy) it's more enjoyable to sit down and just read a story beginning to end and become immersed in the world. Take a few breaks between chapters, but having the full story feels more satisfying of an experience. For some stories like comics which come out weekly or monthly, it's fun to imagine what could happen next, maybe speculate on how characters escape a situation. Ala....Next time on DragonBallZ, the excitement and creativity of "oh anything can happen." Sometimes I never got to see the next chapter or episode and used it to spin off my own ideas and fanfiction stories. Binge culture is definitely an aspect, but I think people just also enjoy being told a full story once they start hearing it. You have their attention and interest, they want to know what happens. Cutting it short, sometimes leaves them wanting more but also can leave them disappointed they don't get to know what happens.
I like binging on a comicstorian video because you tell a great movie. Your green lantern videos were one of my happiest videos to watch late into the night.
I usually gravitate towards floppys because they remind me of when I was a kid. The first time I picked up a graphic novel I found the lack of ads... disturbing. That said, if a series is old enough making it hard to get and it's collected (like Batman Year One, TDKR, or Watchmen) I go graphic novels.
One difference between Manga and Comic industry comparison is that Manga's market is a lot bigger. They're being sold internationally. But American comics aren't sold on the same level even though they should be. They're a much smaller market. I would like to know the percentage of comics and manga sold based on the number of prints.
Watched this to evaluate on whether or not I should keep reading and collect the same ol' trade paperbacks or start getting in the singles. Didn't know I would be getting lectured by Benny and Sal on being a responsible adult at the end. What a great channel and video.
I’ve collected graphics for years and years. I love having it all together and reading it all at once. I have a few omnibus but for me, graphics over singles. I also have a booth at a flea market that gets graphics (new and old, marvel/dc/indie) for like $7 each. Just awesome.
Part of the issue with digital might be people like me who primarily buy digital trades on comixology when they're on sale for 67%-90% off. Sometimes even better when the old BOGO sales used to stack with the Marvel and DC sales. I can count on one hand the # of times I've bought a digital book for full price and I've been reading digital comics legally since before comixology or marvel unlimited even existed. It doesn't make much sense to buy digital issues especially for Marvel books when you can usually buy a physical book and get the digital for free. Then with DC Universe Infinite and Marvel Unlimited you can buy an annual subscription to both for the same price I used to spend on my monthly pull lists and you're only ever like three issues behind these days.
I don’t read nearly the volume of you guys, generally 6-10 new comics/week, so I read them 2-3 times and do “catch up” reads, plus Omnis and trades on the weekend. Great topic!
Mainly a TPB person myself, and that's because I'm not American. I didn't grow up with an LCS, just bookshops full of TPBs (that's now drastically changed as it's all "proper books" now). I did subscribe to a monthly magazine that reprinted the single issues a few months late. That was great as a kid; three or four quid got you three single issues and a poster. I don't have an LCS, but will visit second hand magazine shops and a comic shop if I'm near one. Single issues are something I only get if I see that it's a short run and I like the look of a variant cover.
Marvel and DC should have their own entertainment magazines that simultaneously cover the comics and the movie/show sides w interviews from each side’s creators
I conveniently stumbled across Comicstorian around when 2012 when I was trying to get into comics and I was in late elementary to early middle school. Benny did what he set out to do, he updated me on past and current runs and allowed me to pick up good stories which was good considering the closest comic book store was an hour from where I grew up and I didn’t know anyone who were invested in comics. I grew up watching his channel and he introduced me to other TH-camrs like Sal and Rob. I’m graduating college soon and I admit I’ve fallen off viewing every video mainly because of my busy schedule and studies but I always can catch up with full story videos. I feel that can be applied to my current spending habits too where I buy omnibus and trades and I agree with Sal where in my life it’s easier to binge the stories. Still buy a few single issues for my favorite writers
For me, I collect trades because it's overall much cheaper. I'd like to collect some series by issues, but being in college kinda restricts my finances. So waiting for trades is just much more financially justifiable for me at the moment.
I have a pull list and have had since basically I started going to my local store years ago. I'm also starting to get into the habit of, if there's a series that looks interesting that for whatever reason I can't collect in singles, I preorder the trade for it. That's what I did with AXE since I didn't have the money to collect both it and Dark Crisis. I'm also doing that with the Marvel book Tiger Division. I read the first issue and it looks interesting, but not interesting enough that I want to collect monthly, so I'm gonna grab the trade when/if that comes around.
If you want to just read comics then trades are by far the best option, as they will tend to be cheaper then single issues. Especially if the storyline you want to read has a Key comic attached to it.
I feel Marvel and DC should just release the story in trade stop single issues. Put it out as Books. With tag saying what to read next after it on last page of the book
It was the Amazon buy out of Comixology that got me back into buying hard copies again. More so than any other platform it was Comixology that made me very aware that I didn’t outright own the digital issues that I purchased so once Amazon made it even harder to purchase them I went back to my LCS. I’ll always but TPS & Omnibus’ for historical series that I will never be able to easily purchase a full run of single issues & I’m very happy to collect single issues for current runs. So you can absolutely thank Amazon for the decline in digital sales. What was supposed to be the hope of the industry is now in the Ash Can (pun intended). 📚
I know this is an old video but as someone just getting into monthly singles after years of buying trades, the whole preorder thing is a mess to get used to. Oh there’s a new series/event that everyone is excited about, let me go to my story to see if I can get it… oh it sold out and I needed to preorder it months ago by looking at a magazine and knowing what’s coming out to even have a chance at getting one? What? My LCS doesn’t keep a lot of back issues, so if I don’t have it on my pull list, I have to get there on release day or I don’t get it at all.
When I used to read comics regular, before I couldn’t afford to keep up with it, I had a simple model. I subscribe to a comic digitally through comixology for singles, to stay up to date with current comics. Then if there are physical copies I want, I buy a trade book. The only exception I made to this was Secret Wars when I started. The issue is I got have a local comic book shop nearby, hence the digital route. But this way, if I preorder something, I goes straight to my iPad and I can cancel at any time.
There are comicbook stores in places like New York City that will ship comics and Trade Paper Backs to people you can pre-order comics from FOR A DISCOUNTED PRICE. So not having a local comic isn't much of an excuse.
Personal buying strategy, I buy singles for series that I want to stick around for a long time, but might not be popular with anyone else (Far Sector, Aero, Black Panther and the Agents of Wakonda, etc) but I'll buy the trades for stories guaranteed to last (Batman, Avengers, Action Comics)
In the last year I collected all of Snyder's and Kings Batman runs, I read them month to month originally online, just had an opportunity to get each volume for $3.99 a pop.
If I do buy a single issue it's either to replace an older copy or to fill a gap in my collection other than that I haven't been buying monthlies for 17 years now, I'm strictly deluxe editions and tpb's now. The rise in Manga sales doesn't pique my interest I don't care for chunky B/W paperbacks that take up more space.
The preorder system has become a lot more bearable now that the Big 2 are not with Diamond, asking your customers to order 3 issues before they’ve read 1 is ridiculous. Now I only need to order the next issue of a book after I’ve read the current issue
I only buy issues of a comic series if its one of my favorite ever. Like I recently found out that an older brother of mine gave me Midnight Sons Issue 3/8 and 4/8 so I decided to read the full thing online, and now i'm purchasing the other 6 individually on Ebay!
As someone who works at a comic shop, I want to add to the unfortunate importance of pre-orders. I can only show so many tweets to my boss. We gotta have the actual pre-orders and subscriptions to get the proper number of copies to readers.
I do a mix, about 50/50 singles and trades. There is something to me still about getting a big stack of singles and reading them. I also like displaying specific covers I like, which never looks as good with trades. I know I am a niche case though.
After buying singles for the past couple years(after being away from comics for like 15 yrs)...the main problem I have with singles is the crossovers to other titles. I had the new Wonder Girl series in my pull and by the end of it lead to Trial of the Amazons and my LCS put the Trial of the Amazons title into my pull...but the subsequent parts were in Nubia, Wonder Woman, Trial Wonder Girl. Trial #2 is actually Part 7 of the event. So yeah, Trades is the more effective way of reading. Plus cost effective.
Last year I started buying single issue comics with the Beyond the White Knight books and have started buying other books since then. I completely agree that stories are trending toward being a worse experience read month to month. I have to refer back to the previous issue because I can never remember exactly what happened. I don't have that problem with trades because you get a sizable chunk of the story at once. That said, I'm trying to be better about buying things as singles just to show support for the book.
Other than anniversary issues like Action 1000, I have only ever trade waited since I started reading comics (10 plus years). Being a broke teenager and now a broke adult, it just made a lot more sense to collect that way. Not to mention the fact you can’t buy single issues at book retailers.
Trades is better for reading and usually cheaper. Single issues has some reselling value and you get to read them month to month without waiting 6 months to a year. And if want to try something, it is cheaper to drop $4 or $5 for an issue to see if it works for you. As for the issue between manga and American comics, it is different. Manga is b&w; so, it is cheaper to produce. But manga art is pretty consistent. For American comics, there are usually 3 or 4 artists per story arc. Especially, for Marvel and DC, they are not paying to keep the main/good artists. Most of the artists have become cover artists because that is where the money is at. So, American comics can be frustrating when the art is changing every few pages.
I think a big reason people get so caught up with the manga vs comics debate is because manga sales are easier to see and find, they’re more open about it publicly, where as with comics, it’s not as easy to find and the industry doesn’t really care about how many copies they sells in a year. They care about pre-orders and monthly sales. Like, I’ve also read up on numbers of copies sold: Superman alone, no adjacent titles or special issue, sells like 900k to more than a million issues and trades every year. Action Comics #1000 is a special issue, but that sold half a million issues, on top of all the other Superman books. And that’s JUST Superman. Imagine having to take into account every other character or book from DC, and then the rest of the industry. If they went around going “hey, we’ve sold like a gazillion copies of Batman or Daredevil this year” like some do with manga, a lot of the “comics industry is dying” arguments would straight up be over.
Always, always, always, go to your local comic book shop. There’s one shop that sells $1 comics that were originally $2.99, $3.99, etc. However, yes, they are not popular, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hidden gems [>
I started with trades jumped in both feet into Green Arrow new 52 was like YEAH LET'S DO THIS. Got caught up and kept going in floppies once I understood how that worked. Although I started and finished Batman New 52 in trades. Now I'm just all about my floppies, because my job has set breaks and I like reading an issue per break. Hell James Gunn reads comics and drinks coffee in the morning so I figure I'm doing something right.
I remember Doomsday Clock took what? 3 months per issue back in the day ?! Like how do we wait that long for stories. That's my problem personally. I'd rather wait til the story is done, is it a great story? Then I buy the novel. It's okay, maybe I watch your video on it xD n save the money lol
I had a pull list of 12 different books. Each run was 12+ issues long. At 3-5 bucks per comic. That's roughly 50 every 1-2 weeks minimum but if I wait for the graphic, I save a couple hundred by the end of it. The math proves the logic
I always loved the new comics on Wednesday's when I was younger and still would if there were any comic book stores near me but now I would prefer hardcover and might give it a try one day I only avoid digital & I would love digital but if those apps ever get shut down I will have nothing so I just pull out my old comics now & re-read luckily I have a lot lmao
As an 18-year old I mostly buy trades and omnis, the only singles I have are from the 70s-90s that I got from my uncle and some more recent ones I got from a con.
After watching about a years worth of Twp and all the individual channels. I started buying trades and single issues from bookstores like Books A Million and 2nd Charles since it was discounted. To a lesser extent Ollie's. Now my books are taking up too much space. Currently I buy digitally single and trades when they're on sale. Only collect physical if isn't available on Comixology.
I started collecting single issue in 2000. I loved the weekly trip to the store. As work and family responsibilities grew I moved to trades. I’d like one day to return to single issues, but it won’t be for a while. It disappoints me that trade sales don’t contribute to the lifeblood of a series, as it seems short sighted of the companies. Why offer the product in this way if it means nothing to you.
Consider me extremely looking forward to this Comics vs Manga video cuz the way you're talkin about it here makes it seem that people have been spreading a lot of fake news
When I’m in the mood for physical comics, I want trades. But in most cases, I’m reading stuff on Marvel Unlimited, DC Infinite, or Comixology Unlimited.
For me I only read digital. Single issues are very difficult to follow by the time I've read 30+ issues of different books. Tpb's are so much more enjoyable and easier for me to follow
Oddly enough last year I decided to slowly transition to read trades only and get a select couple of series in floppies Joke is on me because so far this year none of the solicitations for comics have excited me
If someone wants to compare manga volumes and comics, well, try comparing one volume of manga (let's say 6 chapters), than count six issues of one comic and compare that... But at the end, why turn everything into a competition. Both manga and comics have so much good stories that it's really sad to see people argue what is better.
As Someone gotten into comics and manga. I will say I find it easier to collect manga simply because I could look up the Author quick find what I want.
The savings for trade is very negligible Often times a trade will have 6 copies for the price of 5 copies So you do get one comic book worth free If you buy 5 If you're buying trade a very old comics sometimes the deal is a little bit better
Benny i love back issues!! And comicstorian so this is amazing!! Its a black benny just to here to talk comics while i hit this weed lol gm fella'z #Cheers!
Luckily my comic store is absolutely fantastic and they help order whatever I need. I have books on my pull list and then there are books I get in trades. Right now my favorite book I have on my pull list is Daredevil. I have been getting the Radiant Black series in trades though because I found out about the book through trades. Personally no way is wrong both are right Do what works best for you!!!
Personally, I prefer trade paperbacks over single issues because A. they are generally more affordable, B. they are usually more durable than single issues, C. are much easier to store and display. As well, single issues can feel like a complete waste if the story you paid $5-$6 for is either just filler, poorly written or poorly drawn, meanwhile trade paperbacks while usually have good issues as well as the bad (not always, of course; some runs and story arcs are just flat out horrible). Now, I have been in grad school the past few years, which has involved moving around a lot, so the amount of digital content I have been reading has increased exponentially. But, when it comes to physical copies, trade paperbacks absolutely wins over single issues for me.
The DC Tom King books are the most difficult here for me. I want to buy them as they come out, so DC corporate sees sales and let him keep doing shit. But stuff like Batman/Catwoman or Supergirl feel like theyre explicitly written for the trade. It's frustrating. Batman/Catwoman particularly is a really cool book, but it came out so infrequently that I couldn't follow it. It hops between three timelines constantly without telling you its happening. But that actually works REALLY well reading it in one go. Yeah. Frustrating.
Singles are better for the industry, Trades are better for most readers at this point, digital is necessary because it's more convenient, but a physical copy will always be better for 1, and they need to do a lot more work towards promoting and making digital a better experience. (Better hardware and software) Good talk bois
I think for me, I really don't care for the manga vs comics argument. I stopped caring years ago after I got out of HS. I read and enjoy both. When I get burned out from one I go to the other and cycle through. Unfortunately the only lcbs I had, the owner passed away and gave his store to the same type of guy Benny had to deal with. He didn't understand the industry at all and only talked about woke arguments. Until eventually, they closed down. So now I only have Amazon as a source of anything. My town no longer has a book store either. So for me, it's just more convenient to preorder a trade rather than focus on single issues
Love current monthies. I like being able to listen to people talking about the comics I'm currently reading. It creates the illusion that the stories are happening in real time.
Personally I read mostly digital and sometimes if I really like a story I'll buy the trade. I used to buy floppies when I was 12 and they just started taking up too much space.
Singles are the worst for me because I can read in less than 3 mins spent $4 or more on it. I like trade backs and Volumes cause I can get at at least 15 mins of entertainment.
I love when yall do actual conic related content so much.
It feels like the Manga vs Comics video has been hyped for like a month
I think it's a pointless war
@@spider-423 Even though I want to see the conversation, I have to agree. It’s like Apples and Oranges. And there’d only be 1 or 2 points, anyway.
I agree. The thing is even 1st issue of Spiderman, Superman which is very very old, hard to find will cost a ton of money. Comic book collectors is niche market. Who knows how many comics they collect 😱😱
@Jessica drew(1610) agreed its stupid especially since there different forms of art
@@spider-423 Right? I'm on twitter and I see people saying "MANGA SOLD MORE GNs in 2022"!
Me: Cool.
For someone who started collecting for about 2 years I started off with single issues it was the easiest way to get exposed to as much content as I wanted. Now I’m trying to lean more towards trades because they take up less space, cheaper, and look better on a shelf. Also wanted to just jump straight in on current runs
Getting into comic books can be really difficult but falling out of the interest and then years later trying to get back in is almost just as hard. There's some big barriers of entry that mainstream comics have that most things just don't.
Try digital. Marvel unlimited and DC infinite are pretty user friendly.
Sal is right the comic book world was hard to get into. I grew up reading manga through shonen Jump and I remember being completely overwhelmed when I started reading American comics. There was too much and very little guidance. Love you guys ❤
Why does Amazon still not allow me to buy issues digitally? Why is Canada still not worth stealing money from?
For me is either digital or trades/omnibus' at this point. I don't have a shop near my area to get floppies anymore. I do have a shop, but they only sell trades and toys, merch etc. I tend to only read digital stuff I intend to not have on my shelf, while the trades/omnis are what I have for stuff I really like. Edit: Yeah my local shop I always pre-order the trades/omnis there.
Same. If I wanna try something I'll buy it digital, but for the stuff I really like I get trades. Most of the time I'll watch someone talking about the first couple issues of a series if I'm curious and I make my decision on how to buy (or if to buy) from there
Nailed it
I haven’t collected any singles since new 52, collections are much more readable, if I want to buy a story I want the best possible way to reread it, not collect dust
I work at an LCS and what Sal said about delinquent subscribers is so true. I just had to put out what added up to about 6 months worth of heavy-duty pulls for two people that ghosted us even though we treat them real well. (We also allow them to buy their books in chunks if it helps.)
Fills in some back issues in the bins but it just bums me out when folks do that. Just get your books once per month as a subscriber! If you wanna cancel, no pressure, but leaving us with stacks of books is pretty dirty behavior.
I love my LCS. So whenever I don’t visit one week, I’ll just buy all the comics from my pull box the following week. I can’t wrong them
@@DarthLemon616 you’re an exemplary subscriber, then! Picking up your comics every week or two is perfect. I’m sure your LCS is a big fan of yours!
I learned a long time ago the impact reneging on your pull list had on a shop owner. I will always pre-pay my standing orders and just go into store to collect what I’ve already paid for. 📚
As a guy who started reading manga waaayyyy before I read comics. I can say that the facetious argument and war between the two is always dumb.
What I hate about pre orders is that as a kid my LCS would not make me a pull list and wouldn’t subscribe or pre order anything for me because I was young….I had a job building houses at 13 and I was making money to support the shop and my hobby, but they didn’t want that and didn’t want me to pre order…it was messed up I didn’t know I could actually order or subscribe to a series until that store owner sold his shop to someone else and I went back to check it out and now I’m there every week, I only hate the pre order thing because people will try and gate keep and not even order stuff for you or anything….these owners sometimes try and make you not welcome and they won’t help and that’s unfortunate, I wasn’t a casual until my comic shop wouldn’t help me so I decided to only pick comics up when I saw them and seldom go to the lcs, glad we got a new owner and I’m happy he doesn’t just gate keep or treat people like they can’t afford to order(edit yes go buy the books you pre order don’t leave them sitting in a box at the shop) someone went the extra mile to put those away and help you
Remember when issues WERE complete stories in one issue? And there was just a subplot or two that took up like three of the 20 ish pages to connect with former/later issues. If monthly floppies are going to survive, that's what we have to return to
I'd be very, very interested to hear a discussion about how Marvel Unlimited and DC Infinite's library/stream model impacts or informs anything
Just discovered marvel unlimited and I feel like if your only purpose is to just enjoy the stories it makes the most sense.
Me too. I read the majority of my stuff through those apps. And now that I'm older, with a family and busy schedule, idc that I'm reading books that come out months later.
I trade wait all the time, I wait for a story and art that has good reviews and I buy the complete trade so it can go on my book case. I did the weekly buying during to new 52 to rebirth era but that was all digital, I just can’t dedicate the space. I would be open to weekly magazines like manga does. Say there’s an Action comics mag one week, a Detective mag the next and ect. Or a digital subscription to all the new books and archives. But they may have already done that, I haven’t gone to DC universe in a couple years
I stopped buying singles due to space issues. Was a major spender on comixology with their amazing sales, but now you can't purchase in app (not their fault), the UI of looking for books suck, there aren't any good sales anymore, and comixology is just a horrendous experience that's not getting fixed.
As for graphic novels, I only stick to certain books. Realistically, now I just pirate unimportant series to me but buy the graphic novels of those I want. Digital comics was the perfect inbetween.
Speaking as someone who just enjoys reading stories, (comics, manga, fiction, and fantasy) it's more enjoyable to sit down and just read a story beginning to end and become immersed in the world. Take a few breaks between chapters, but having the full story feels more satisfying of an experience.
For some stories like comics which come out weekly or monthly, it's fun to imagine what could happen next, maybe speculate on how characters escape a situation. Ala....Next time on DragonBallZ, the excitement and creativity of "oh anything can happen." Sometimes I never got to see the next chapter or episode and used it to spin off my own ideas and fanfiction stories.
Binge culture is definitely an aspect, but I think people just also enjoy being told a full story once they start hearing it. You have their attention and interest, they want to know what happens. Cutting it short, sometimes leaves them wanting more but also can leave them disappointed they don't get to know what happens.
Engagement and interaction with creator to please the mathemagics that choses what gets seen or not.
My biggest issue is that nobody is promoting I have to go to my local comic book store to see what going on
I like binging on a comicstorian video because you tell a great movie.
Your green lantern videos were one of my happiest videos to watch late into the night.
I usually gravitate towards floppys because they remind me of when I was a kid. The first time I picked up a graphic novel I found the lack of ads... disturbing. That said, if a series is old enough making it hard to get and it's collected (like Batman Year One, TDKR, or Watchmen) I go graphic novels.
Hahaha... you are one of the few people I hear that enjoys seeing the ads... hahaha..
One difference between Manga and Comic industry comparison is that Manga's market is a lot bigger. They're being sold internationally. But American comics aren't sold on the same level even though they should be. They're a much smaller market. I would like to know the percentage of comics and manga sold based on the number of prints.
Source? I made it the fuck up?
western comics are on demensional
I mostly collect single issues because of the art and if I thoroughly enjoy the story I’ll buy the trade.
Watched this to evaluate on whether or not I should keep reading and collect the same ol' trade paperbacks or start getting in the singles. Didn't know I would be getting lectured by Benny and Sal on being a responsible adult at the end. What a great channel and video.
I’ve collected graphics for years and years. I love having it all together and reading it all at once. I have a few omnibus but for me, graphics over singles. I also have a booth at a flea market that gets graphics (new and old, marvel/dc/indie) for like $7 each. Just awesome.
41:37 my favorite thing is you tried to close it like 3 times and kept going 😅 I’m enjoying it though
Part of the issue with digital might be people like me who primarily buy digital trades on comixology when they're on sale for 67%-90% off. Sometimes even better when the old BOGO sales used to stack with the Marvel and DC sales. I can count on one hand the # of times I've bought a digital book for full price and I've been reading digital comics legally since before comixology or marvel unlimited even existed. It doesn't make much sense to buy digital issues especially for Marvel books when you can usually buy a physical book and get the digital for free. Then with DC Universe Infinite and Marvel Unlimited you can buy an annual subscription to both for the same price I used to spend on my monthly pull lists and you're only ever like three issues behind these days.
I don’t read nearly the volume of you guys, generally 6-10 new comics/week, so I read them 2-3 times and do “catch up” reads, plus Omnis and trades on the weekend. Great topic!
Mainly a TPB person myself, and that's because I'm not American. I didn't grow up with an LCS, just bookshops full of TPBs (that's now drastically changed as it's all "proper books" now). I did subscribe to a monthly magazine that reprinted the single issues a few months late. That was great as a kid; three or four quid got you three single issues and a poster. I don't have an LCS, but will visit second hand magazine shops and a comic shop if I'm near one. Single issues are something I only get if I see that it's a short run and I like the look of a variant cover.
Marvel and DC should have their own entertainment magazines that simultaneously cover the comics and the movie/show sides w interviews from each side’s creators
I conveniently stumbled across Comicstorian around when 2012 when I was trying to get into comics and I was in late elementary to early middle school. Benny did what he set out to do, he updated me on past and current runs and allowed me to pick up good stories which was good considering the closest comic book store was an hour from where I grew up and I didn’t know anyone who were invested in comics. I grew up watching his channel and he introduced me to other TH-camrs like Sal and Rob. I’m graduating college soon and I admit I’ve fallen off viewing every video mainly because of my busy schedule and studies but I always can catch up with full story videos. I feel that can be applied to my current spending habits too where I buy omnibus and trades and I agree with Sal where in my life it’s easier to binge the stories. Still buy a few single issues for my favorite writers
For me, I collect trades because it's overall much cheaper. I'd like to collect some series by issues, but being in college kinda restricts my finances. So waiting for trades is just much more financially justifiable for me at the moment.
I have a pull list and have had since basically I started going to my local store years ago. I'm also starting to get into the habit of, if there's a series that looks interesting that for whatever reason I can't collect in singles, I preorder the trade for it. That's what I did with AXE since I didn't have the money to collect both it and Dark Crisis. I'm also doing that with the Marvel book Tiger Division. I read the first issue and it looks interesting, but not interesting enough that I want to collect monthly, so I'm gonna grab the trade when/if that comes around.
If you want to just read comics then trades are by far the best option, as they will tend to be cheaper then single issues. Especially if the storyline you want to read has a Key comic attached to it.
I feel Marvel and DC should just release the story in trade stop single issues. Put it out as Books. With tag saying what to read next after it on last page of the book
It was the Amazon buy out of Comixology that got me back into buying hard copies again. More so than any other platform it was Comixology that made me very aware that I didn’t outright own the digital issues that I purchased so once Amazon made it even harder to purchase them I went back to my LCS. I’ll always but TPS & Omnibus’ for historical series that I will never be able to easily purchase a full run of single issues & I’m very happy to collect single issues for current runs. So you can absolutely thank Amazon for the decline in digital sales. What was supposed to be the hope of the industry is now in the Ash Can (pun intended). 📚
I know this is an old video but as someone just getting into monthly singles after years of buying trades, the whole preorder thing is a mess to get used to. Oh there’s a new series/event that everyone is excited about, let me go to my story to see if I can get it… oh it sold out and I needed to preorder it months ago by looking at a magazine and knowing what’s coming out to even have a chance at getting one? What? My LCS doesn’t keep a lot of back issues, so if I don’t have it on my pull list, I have to get there on release day or I don’t get it at all.
When I used to read comics regular, before I couldn’t afford to keep up with it, I had a simple model. I subscribe to a comic digitally through comixology for singles, to stay up to date with current comics. Then if there are physical copies I want, I buy a trade book. The only exception I made to this was Secret Wars when I started. The issue is I got have a local comic book shop nearby, hence the digital route. But this way, if I preorder something, I goes straight to my iPad and I can cancel at any time.
There are comicbook stores in places like New York City that will ship comics and Trade Paper Backs to people you can pre-order comics from FOR A DISCOUNTED PRICE. So not having a local comic isn't much of an excuse.
Great video, great discussion.
Personal buying strategy, I buy singles for series that I want to stick around for a long time, but might not be popular with anyone else (Far Sector, Aero, Black Panther and the Agents of Wakonda, etc) but I'll buy the trades for stories guaranteed to last (Batman, Avengers, Action Comics)
In the last year I collected all of Snyder's and Kings Batman runs, I read them month to month originally online, just had an opportunity to get each volume for $3.99 a pop.
If I do buy a single issue it's either to replace an older copy or to fill a gap in my collection other than that I haven't been buying monthlies for 17 years now, I'm strictly deluxe editions and tpb's now. The rise in Manga sales doesn't pique my interest I don't care for chunky B/W paperbacks that take up more space.
I don’t know why they don’t sell comic trades in the book section of Walmart or Target when they sell manga volumes there.
They do now.
The preorder system has become a lot more bearable now that the Big 2 are not with Diamond, asking your customers to order 3 issues before they’ve read 1 is ridiculous. Now I only need to order the next issue of a book after I’ve read the current issue
I only buy issues of a comic series if its one of my favorite ever. Like I recently found out that an older brother of mine gave me Midnight Sons Issue 3/8 and 4/8 so I decided to read the full thing online, and now i'm purchasing the other 6 individually on Ebay!
As someone who works at a comic shop, I want to add to the unfortunate importance of pre-orders. I can only show so many tweets to my boss. We gotta have the actual pre-orders and subscriptions to get the proper number of copies to readers.
I do a mix, about 50/50 singles and trades. There is something to me still about getting a big stack of singles and reading them. I also like displaying specific covers I like, which never looks as good with trades. I know I am a niche case though.
After buying singles for the past couple years(after being away from comics for like 15 yrs)...the main problem I have with singles is the crossovers to other titles.
I had the new Wonder Girl series in my pull and by the end of it lead to Trial of the Amazons and my LCS put the Trial of the Amazons title into my pull...but the subsequent parts were in Nubia, Wonder Woman, Trial Wonder Girl.
Trial #2 is actually Part 7 of the event.
So yeah, Trades is the more effective way of reading. Plus cost effective.
Last year I started buying single issue comics with the Beyond the White Knight books and have started buying other books since then. I completely agree that stories are trending toward being a worse experience read month to month. I have to refer back to the previous issue because I can never remember exactly what happened. I don't have that problem with trades because you get a sizable chunk of the story at once. That said, I'm trying to be better about buying things as singles just to show support for the book.
Other than anniversary issues like Action 1000, I have only ever trade waited since I started reading comics (10 plus years). Being a broke teenager and now a broke adult, it just made a lot more sense to collect that way. Not to mention the fact you can’t buy single issues at book retailers.
Trades is better for reading and usually cheaper. Single issues has some reselling value and you get to read them month to month without waiting 6 months to a year. And if want to try something, it is cheaper to drop $4 or $5 for an issue to see if it works for you.
As for the issue between manga and American comics, it is different. Manga is b&w; so, it is cheaper to produce. But manga art is pretty consistent. For American comics, there are usually 3 or 4 artists per story arc. Especially, for Marvel and DC, they are not paying to keep the main/good artists. Most of the artists have become cover artists because that is where the money is at. So, American comics can be frustrating when the art is changing every few pages.
I think a big reason people get so caught up with the manga vs comics debate is because manga sales are easier to see and find, they’re more open about it publicly, where as with comics, it’s not as easy to find and the industry doesn’t really care about how many copies they sells in a year. They care about pre-orders and monthly sales. Like, I’ve also read up on numbers of copies sold: Superman alone, no adjacent titles or special issue, sells like 900k to more than a million issues and trades every year. Action Comics #1000 is a special issue, but that sold half a million issues, on top of all the other Superman books. And that’s JUST Superman. Imagine having to take into account every other character or book from DC, and then the rest of the industry. If they went around going “hey, we’ve sold like a gazillion copies of Batman or Daredevil this year” like some do with manga, a lot of the “comics industry is dying” arguments would straight up be over.
Great conversation. You have earned my sub with this one. See you in the next video
Always, always, always, go to your local comic book shop.
There’s one shop that sells $1 comics that were originally $2.99, $3.99, etc. However, yes, they are not popular, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hidden gems [>
I started with trades jumped in both feet into Green Arrow new 52 was like YEAH LET'S DO THIS. Got caught up and kept going in floppies once I understood how that worked. Although I started and finished Batman New 52 in trades. Now I'm just all about my floppies, because my job has set breaks and I like reading an issue per break. Hell James Gunn reads comics and drinks coffee in the morning so I figure I'm doing something right.
I remember Doomsday Clock took what? 3 months per issue back in the day ?! Like how do we wait that long for stories. That's my problem personally. I'd rather wait til the story is done, is it a great story? Then I buy the novel. It's okay, maybe I watch your video on it xD n save the money lol
I had a pull list of 12 different books. Each run was 12+ issues long. At 3-5 bucks per comic. That's roughly 50 every 1-2 weeks minimum but if I wait for the graphic, I save a couple hundred by the end of it. The math proves the logic
I always loved the new comics on Wednesday's when I was younger and still would if there were any comic book stores near me but now I would prefer hardcover and might give it a try one day I only avoid digital & I would love digital but if those apps ever get shut down I will have nothing so I just pull out my old comics now & re-read luckily I have a lot lmao
As an 18-year old I mostly buy trades and omnis, the only singles I have are from the 70s-90s that I got from my uncle and some more recent ones I got from a con.
After watching about a years worth of Twp and all the individual channels. I started buying trades and single issues from bookstores like Books A Million and 2nd Charles since it was discounted. To a lesser extent Ollie's. Now my books are taking up too much space. Currently I buy digitally single and trades when they're on sale. Only collect physical if isn't available on Comixology.
Biggest thing is singles are harder to put on bookshelves
I just put covers on mine then display them on my wall
I started collecting single issue in 2000. I loved the weekly trip to the store. As work and family responsibilities grew I moved to trades. I’d like one day to return to single issues, but it won’t be for a while. It disappoints me that trade sales don’t contribute to the lifeblood of a series, as it seems short sighted of the companies. Why offer the product in this way if it means nothing to you.
I have my absolute favorites in single issues but I still would prefer to collect the trades. I like displaying and displaying floppies isn’t easy
Consider me extremely looking forward to this Comics vs Manga video cuz the way you're talkin about it here makes it seem that people have been spreading a lot of fake news
Personally I wait for an omnibus or absolute edition if I can then get the trades
When I’m in the mood for physical comics, I want trades. But in most cases, I’m reading stuff on Marvel Unlimited, DC Infinite, or Comixology Unlimited.
For me I only read digital. Single issues are very difficult to follow by the time I've read 30+ issues of different books. Tpb's are so much more enjoyable and easier for me to follow
Oddly enough last year I decided to slowly transition to read trades only and get a select couple of series in floppies
Joke is on me because so far this year none of the solicitations for comics have excited me
If someone wants to compare manga volumes and comics, well, try comparing one volume of manga (let's say 6 chapters), than count six issues of one comic and compare that... But at the end, why turn everything into a competition. Both manga and comics have so much good stories that it's really sad to see people argue what is better.
As Someone gotten into comics and manga. I will say I find it easier to collect manga simply because I could look up the Author quick find what I want.
43:07 ding ding ding! That’s why Amazon has been making awesome content, they say do what you want cause it’s the least of their worries as a business
The savings for trade is very negligible
Often times a trade will have 6 copies for the price of 5 copies
So you do get one comic book worth free If you buy 5
If you're buying trade a very old comics sometimes the deal is a little bit better
Buy a mix of both of trades/ single issues just buy trades if its a needed one or if I fell off or missed issues
Benny i love back issues!! And comicstorian so this is amazing!! Its a black benny just to here to talk comics while i hit this weed lol gm fella'z #Cheers!
If your local comic store is 3 hours away then it's not your local comic store
Luckily my comic store is absolutely fantastic and they help order whatever I need. I have books on my pull list and then there are books I get in trades. Right now my favorite book I have on my pull list is Daredevil. I have been getting the Radiant Black series in trades though because I found out about the book through trades. Personally no way is wrong both are right Do what works best for you!!!
This was very informative, thank you for wasting your time but bring an interesting topic to us. If we ever meet I'll buy you a drink.😄
Got about 4000 floppies. I can't get anymore. It's digital and trades for me
at this point if you prefer graphic novels/trades then omnibuses is the way.
Personally, I prefer trade paperbacks over single issues because A. they are generally more affordable, B. they are usually more durable than single issues, C. are much easier to store and display. As well, single issues can feel like a complete waste if the story you paid $5-$6 for is either just filler, poorly written or poorly drawn, meanwhile trade paperbacks while usually have good issues as well as the bad (not always, of course; some runs and story arcs are just flat out horrible). Now, I have been in grad school the past few years, which has involved moving around a lot, so the amount of digital content I have been reading has increased exponentially. But, when it comes to physical copies, trade paperbacks absolutely wins over single issues for me.
Did Benny do some research? Not sure if he mentioned that or not..
The DC Tom King books are the most difficult here for me. I want to buy them as they come out, so DC corporate sees sales and let him keep doing shit. But stuff like Batman/Catwoman or Supergirl feel like theyre explicitly written for the trade. It's frustrating. Batman/Catwoman particularly is a really cool book, but it came out so infrequently that I couldn't follow it. It hops between three timelines constantly without telling you its happening. But that actually works REALLY well reading it in one go. Yeah. Frustrating.
Marvel and dc have a subscription service
Singles are better for the industry, Trades are better for most readers at this point, digital is necessary because it's more convenient, but a physical copy will always be better for 1, and they need to do a lot more work towards promoting and making digital a better experience. (Better hardware and software)
Good talk bois
There was a time when my local Piggly Wiggly sold singles.
I think for me, I really don't care for the manga vs comics argument. I stopped caring years ago after I got out of HS. I read and enjoy both. When I get burned out from one I go to the other and cycle through. Unfortunately the only lcbs I had, the owner passed away and gave his store to the same type of guy Benny had to deal with. He didn't understand the industry at all and only talked about woke arguments. Until eventually, they closed down. So now I only have Amazon as a source of anything. My town no longer has a book store either. So for me, it's just more convenient to preorder a trade rather than focus on single issues
Comics should just fully transition to tpb and digital those sell WAY more and easier to get ahold
I always wait till trade comes out but then worry if I don’t buy singles. They might cann my fav comic
It sounds like you and Perch are talking about very similar things right now.
Love current monthies.
I like being able to listen to people talking about the comics I'm currently reading.
It creates the illusion that the stories are happening in real time.
Manga vs comics has been built up better than kang
Personally I read mostly digital and sometimes if I really like a story I'll buy the trade. I used to buy floppies when I was 12 and they just started taking up too much space.
Did Sal make a mic stand out of Kinex?
12:30 manga volumes ussualy have 200 pages
I do both
what do you think about Deadpool samurai?
I love Me a nice hardcover or tpb full vol set.
Singles are the worst for me because I can read in less than 3 mins spent $4 or more on it. I like trade backs and Volumes cause I can get at at least 15 mins of entertainment.
Why not both?
The second arc of chainsaw man is fire so far 🔥🔥🔥