Are TPBs the way of the future?

[Horrorfan]

I was reading wizard, and it mentions how 'waiting for the tpbs' hurt she hulks sales, but eventually saved it from cancellation because the tpb sales were so strong.

I was thinking....I prefer tpbs. I don't have to go to my store every month, it probably saves cash overall, and I get a whole story arc without having to wait six months of cliffhangers to see its conclusion. and also they are way more durable than your average comic.

Now what do you guys think about a tpb only type future? Where the writers and artists actually finish the arc and release it all as one tpb, which would cut down on appalling delays (Ult. Hulk vs Wolverine, I'm looking at you). It would be easier to collect, imo, and just be a better way since you don't wait months and months for it to be finally collected, and therefore be months behind current avents (ie im dying for civil war to be done and collected as a tpb, and waiting for the next new x men and astonishing and exiles, among other tpbs).

sort of like television seasons boxed set....one arch is released in tpb, then a few months later, the next, and so on and so forth. Maybe one every month or two...

what do you guys think?

 

[Elijya]

no, a tpb only scenario won't happen, and if it does, it'll destroy the industry

 

[deathshead2]

I was talking to the owner of my LCS and he told me about how TBP are killing stories like his. I can't remember all of what he said though.TBP are the way of the future well for marvel and DC at least smaller comic book compainies will more than likely just up and die. To bad really and most comic shops will go out of buisness and everyone will buy there comics from barnes and nobles.

 

[Elijya]

picture this: you're a comicbook artist. You get paid by the page. But your rate, in addition to your skill and popularity, is determined by the sales of your work.

now if it takes six months to produce six issues which supply one trade, then it takes six months for just a trade to be produced. So a comicbook company is going to pay an artist by what they THINK a trade will sell when it's released. And they'd have to do this for six months before they'd start to see any profit from this. That's a lot of capital to have waiting around, and six months is a long time, at least in an industry as small as comics. And if the trade flops, that's money down the drain. It's too risky, and the business is risky enough already.

So the other method is not to pay anyone until the work is actually released and revenue for it comes in. But who is going to work for 6 months without a paycheck? What if the project falls apart before completion?

If trades is the way the industry goes, then it would end up being like a movie, where you lay out a project, assess it's cost and likely revenue, and secure all your financing before production begins. This would make it extremely difficult for smaller company's and smaller titles to make it to print.

Also think about a consumer: a person is much more likely to give a new title a try if they only have to spend $2.99, and then they'll hopefully get sucked into the story, then they are likely to pay $20 blind on one big book. You'd end up only being able to support books like X-Men and Spider-Man that have loyals followings who will pick up just about anything with them in it.

 

[WOLVERINE25TH]

Yeah, but how do they get paid when their individual issues are passed up fer th' trades anyway? Someone has to lose out there, regardless of how well th' trades do.

 

[Harlekin]

Elijya brings up the most important point IMO, which is simply the time between TPB's. I'd rather read a part of a story each month rather than wait for six months on one story. You can also more easily drop a book during a story-arc. Once you get the trade, that's it.