Floppies versus trades

I find that as I get older I find floppies less and less appealing. They take up a ton of space, they're a pain in the ass to re-read, and often times I find myself forgetting what happens between issues. Collected editions, however, store neatly and easily, are easy to re-read, are more economical, and are just easier to deal with in the long run.

While I'll still keep some of the single issues I already have, I'm thinking of not buying new comics anymore and just picking up the trades. Any thoughts?

To pre-emptively combat some of the points that may be brought up:
-I have no problem waiting between trades. I read enough books that every week there's something to pick up, plus I'll be buying older books that I missed.

-For the reasons already mentioned, my LCS won't be losing any of my business. I won't be spending less, I'll just be getting more for my money.

-I don't talk comics with people as much as I used to, so I don't feel compelled to keep up with current story lines.

Am I forgetting anything? Please, I'd like to hear all opinions on this matter.

I am slowly changing from floppies to trades for pretty much the reasons you've mentioned. but there are a few books that I will always buy as they come out

Trades do make my money go farther BUT sometimes the 30 days of suspense is easier to deal with than like 6 months.

I still like the collectability of floppies. But I do see the value in trades. I get Walking Dead in trades after getting the huge compendium.

I'm mostly a floppies kind of guy, myself, however I've been known to buy a trade or two here and there. I'm a collector by nature, so the floppies have a greater appeal to me.

As part of my non-purchasing-comic-books thing for the last couple of years and earlier this year returning to the business, I now buy mostly trades/GNs. Monthlies I read only in pirated format.

Seems more trade-herders here, Josh. I like them both, but prefer comics over trades. 'Course with Marvel, it may be solely trades down the road.

I prefer trades myself as I'm not one to stand suspense and I find them to be cheaper then the floppies.

Overall I prefer trades. However, this has not stopped me from collecting floppies for a few reasons. First, I can't wait. I just cannot wait 6+ months for the next installment. With DC it could be even longer. They aren't great with getting trades out really quickly. Second, the trade will be missing some issues. With some story lines they omit issues to have the story flow better (if an issue didn't deal with the arc). And finally, the biggest reason I'm afraid that they won't put it into trade. Not everything is put into trades. Marvel is pretty good about putting all their books/stories into trades, but honestly DC isn't.

Batman25JM wrote:Overall I prefer trades. However, this has not stopped me from collecting floppies for a few reasons. First, I can't wait. I just cannot wait 6+ months for the next installment. With DC it could be even longer. They aren't great with getting trades out really quickly. Second, the trade will be missing some issues. With some story lines they omit issues to have the story flow better (if an issue didn't deal with the arc). And finally, the biggest reason I'm afraid that they won't put it into trade. Not everything is put into trades. Marvel is pretty good about putting all their books/stories into trades, but honestly DC isn't.

I honestly wouldn't say that Marvel's practice of putting ALL their books into TPB format is really such a good thing.

blue halo wrote:
I honestly wouldn't say that Marvel's practice of putting ALL their books into TPB format is really such a good thing.

Why do you think it's not a good idea?

blue halo wrote:
I honestly wouldn't say that Marvel's practice of putting ALL their books into TPB format is really such a good thing.

Why not? It makes it easier to find stories you missed, and it allows you to read every issue of a book. With DC there are many things I want to read, but since they are not in trades and since I can't find the back issues, I can't read them. Also, it takes for-freakin'-ever for a lot of DC's stuff to come out. With Marvel a trade will come out almost immediately after it wrapped up in the monthlies. I like that a lot.

Well, you know, maybe I'm just simply jaded at the direction Marvel's gone in, and it seems like they're "phoning in" a lot of material for the cash-grab factor. It just seems like an overload of turds coming from the House of Ideas. Also, Marvel has a tendancy of releasing the collected editions very shortly after the series/arc is done, or even mid-way through (ie: Iron Man - World's Most Wanted). Kind of kills the collector value of the single issues.

But really, just ignore me. Its one of those "don't like it? don't buy it!" situations. So I don't.

I agree with Batman25JM.


I prefer trades, but I get floppies because I really don't want to wait months for it and if the story is already talked about online, I sorta lose the enthusiasm to spend my time reading it unless I really like that book or am really interested in the story. But then again, if I only bought trades maybe I'd get use to knowing some things about the story and still being really interested in it.

Although I plan on cutting back and being more strict about how many comics a month I get, I could see myself getting mostly trades (but only for books I really want, not because I wanna give it a chance) in a few years down the line.

Torrents

Rapidshares.

Now the next big question is... would you buy purely Trades/GNs without a series of floppies behind it?

As for me I'd have to wait for reviews of the Trades to see if it was worth picking up.

I think floppies are my "addiction" of comics; I buy them because I feel I need to.

TPB's are what I buy for reading, more often than not.

I get to pick up books I "heard about that time" usually for a decent price at Cons.

As far as the 1 month vs 6 months debate, I found that 6 months gives me an opportunity to experience that "oh yeah, I remember that" feeling. The only time I feel like I lose out by going TPB's specifically was 100 Bullets; I oftentimes have to research what was going on because I forgot.

Metal Misfit wrote:Torrents

Tomer Soiker wrote:Rapidshares.

I'm horrible inept at computer stuff. I just don't know how to do things like that. Plus, I'd rather have the actual book in my hand, and not read it on a computer screen.

Batman25JM wrote:

Metal Misfit wrote:Torrents

Tomer Soiker wrote:Rapidshares.

I'm horrible inept at computer stuff. I just don't know how to do things like that. Plus, I'd rather have the actual book in my hand, and not read it on a computer screen.

And I'd like Rose McGowan to dress up as Miss Kitty and prance around for me but the computer is all I'm gettin' sirrah.

Esbat wrote:

Batman25JM wrote:

Metal Misfit wrote:Torrents

Tomer Soiker wrote:Rapidshares.

I'm horrible inept at computer stuff. I just don't know how to do things like that. Plus, I'd rather have the actual book in my hand, and not read it on a computer screen.

And I'd like Rose McGowan to dress up as Miss Kitty and prance around for me but the computer is all I'm gettin' sirrah.

+1!

The trades I buy usually are either old story lines that I can't find the floppies for, or for a series I'm unsure of (ie: Green Lantern). One trade I bought even though I had the floppies. I just didn't want to read the floppies and keep them mint (Batman: A Death In The Family)

I go both ways. I was late to the party on Invincible, for example, so I got the first two trades on the cheap at last years WWC. I fell in love with the book, but there wasn't much in the way of back issues around the local shops, so I went the trade route (I actually bought the Ultimate HC Library for 1-25 and the regular HC #3 to get myself current. But now that I am up to date and because I like the book so much, I am searching out a complete run in floppy format just to have. I like the calming effect that bagging and boarding my comics has on me (lord knows I've been doing it for 20+ years now). And while a trade is great for reading around the house, the collector in me MUST have the floppies. It'll cost more, sure, but for me it's all about the thrill of the hunt.

It honestly depends on the title. There are some books I need to read on a month to month basis like Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. I will get trades for mini-series. Most anything that is 1 of 4 or something like that, I usually wait for the trade just because I want the whole story in one book. A lot of trades I get is because I like the book enough but not enough to get it each month or because I came on the title too late and just decided to read the trade instead. I read Ultimate Spider-Man in trades which I thought was much better because the trades would include the Annual story and this way I only got the Ultimate Spider-Man Annual story and not the other Ultimate stories which I didn't care about.

It's a matter of preference I think. There are pros and cons to both I think. I do think there is a lot to be said about trades. You get the entire story all at once which is good. It's more cost effective in the long run. Maybe not by much but still, I believe you save a bit on the trade, but there are some books that I just cannot wait for and I have to get it every month.

I buy as many single issues as I can afford... (or not able to find torrents for)

Anything I miss out on, that I still want to read, I'll get the trades.