Editor’s Note: It’s Wednesday so that means it’s time for the fifth issue of Amazing Journey, the new comics section of ARC Worlds.
The Amazing Journey column will touch on a comics-related topic, such as writing the first issue of a series, what it’s like to run a comic book store, working with artists, and how writing comics is different from writing prose.
I’ll also highlight the week’s new releases, indie comics, and backlist titles I’m reading.
How do you read your comics? Unlike books, comics can be read in multiple formats. You can pick up an issue each month (or every 2.3 weeks if you’re reading Amazing Spider-Man or Batman), wait for the trade paperback, buy the incredibly heavy omnibus, or borrow the entire series from the library and binge it in a few days.
Because of this, creators not only need to be aware of the story beats from issue to issue, but also volume to volume. And reading one versus the other is definitely a different experience. There is something to be said about faithfully reading each issue over many years and watching the story and characters develop. On the other side, it is satisfying to be able to read through an entire complete story.
What I’ve found recently though, after reading all six volumes of Paper Girls in a month (and reading all of WicDiv in the span of a week and a half), is that it’s much harder to make that same emotional connection when reading through something so quickly.
It’s the issue I have with Netflix and other streamers dumping an entire season in one evening. The weekly release schedule forces you to wait, to build anticipation, to talk about it with other people, and I think the same is true with comics. That being said, I’m not never going to pick up an older series just because I will have to read it as a trade paperback, but I wonder if there is a happy medium (other than just pacing myself). Unfortunately most publishers don’t make it easy, oftentimes not even putting in a noticeable issue break in the trade.
What say you, Guild members?
Do you like reading serially or prefer to wait until the trade is released?
Leave a comment or reply to this email with your thoughts!
Twig #4: This is a super fun adventure/questing miniseries written by Skottie Young with gorgeous artwork by Kyle Strahm. With only one issue left, I’m sad to say good bye to this mashup of Bone, Labyrinth, and The Dark Crystal!
X-Men Red#5: Kieron Gillen has been hyping this issue for several weeks now, and after the events of Judgment Day #1, I need to know more about what happened on Mars.
Immortal X-Men #5: Gillen has been knocking it out of the park with this series, focusing on each members of the Quiet Council and this month, it’s Exodus’s turn. Will he and Sinister get into a fight over lapel width? I sure hope so!
Variant watch
X-Men House of XCII #3 variant by Mike del Mundo: This series is reimagining the current X-Men books if they took place in the early 90’s and has strong X-Men: The Animated Series vibes. And so does this awesome del Mundo cover. How long do we have to wait until X-Men ‘97 comes out?
Demon Wars: The Iron Samurai #1 variant by Gurihiru: Peach Momoko’s reimagining of the Marvel universe in the vein of Japanese mythology continues with the launch of her follow-up series to Demon Days! While the A cover is of course awesome, I’ve also been collecting Gurihuru’s variants because Gurihuru is amazing. (Go read It’s Jeff on Marvel Unlimited if you don’t believe me!)
I like reading singles issues as they're published for a lot of the same reasons you do. If it's on older series, I often look on eBay for someone selling the entire series. I don't mind TPB's but always prefer old school comics. Right now I'm reading Snakes Above, Eight Billion Genies, and The Closet. Enjoy!
I've mostly been a trades reader, largely because a lot of stuff I've read I've come to long after initial publishing. Also, my entry point to comics as an adult was Alan Moore's classics, and those DO work extremely well as single collected volumes.
In recent years I have committed to a few series by issue: Saga, WicDiv, now Eternals by KG. WicDiv is a good example actually - I was immensely invested on those characters, reading it over the course of several years. At the same time, though, the publishing schedule meant that by the end I was quite confused about what was actually going on, simply because it was quite difficult to remember the intricacies of the world building and plot. Re-reading it through as collected versions made a lot more sense.
I suspect it depends a lot on the way the story is conceived. I can't imagine reading a lot of Alan Moore's stuff as individual issues, for example. Whereas the Transformers UK comics I read as a kid in the 80s and 90s is 100% issue-by-issue in my mind.
I like reading singles issues as they're published for a lot of the same reasons you do. If it's on older series, I often look on eBay for someone selling the entire series. I don't mind TPB's but always prefer old school comics. Right now I'm reading Snakes Above, Eight Billion Genies, and The Closet. Enjoy!
I've mostly been a trades reader, largely because a lot of stuff I've read I've come to long after initial publishing. Also, my entry point to comics as an adult was Alan Moore's classics, and those DO work extremely well as single collected volumes.
In recent years I have committed to a few series by issue: Saga, WicDiv, now Eternals by KG. WicDiv is a good example actually - I was immensely invested on those characters, reading it over the course of several years. At the same time, though, the publishing schedule meant that by the end I was quite confused about what was actually going on, simply because it was quite difficult to remember the intricacies of the world building and plot. Re-reading it through as collected versions made a lot more sense.
I suspect it depends a lot on the way the story is conceived. I can't imagine reading a lot of Alan Moore's stuff as individual issues, for example. Whereas the Transformers UK comics I read as a kid in the 80s and 90s is 100% issue-by-issue in my mind.