I was amazed at the range of responses when we broke the news about the Brighest Day hardcover on Tuesday; I'm not very happy about it, but some fans out there are really not happy about it. And I heard from more readers than I expected that you're planning to wait for the paperback of Brightest Day, rather than buy the hardcover.
So -- I thought I'd put it to a poll. I'm curious about your final Brightest Day purchase -- if you're going to buy the series in single issues and then in hardcover, please choose "hardcover" below, and ditto for paperback; only choose "single issues" if that's the only way you'll be reading the story.
I'm curious to see how this turns out. And if you'd like to explain your choice, please leave a comment below. Thanks!
Paperback. I just don't get hardcover unless it's pre-crisis.
ReplyDeleteThere are way too many modern trades ONLY released in paperback so my shelf would look pretty uneven if I got any in hardcover - so I try to avoid it.
I really hope, also, that the crossovers will be collected in an easy to read order. I'm getting a little fatigued with the Final Crisis and Blackest Night style of collecting... though since the people at DC haven't changed, I'm not sure their position on this will.
Paperback because it's just so much simpler to transport.
ReplyDeleteEasier to transport in terms of just carrying around with you? For me, hardcover wins out there because there's less tendency for damage.
ReplyDeletePaper's got about half the votes right now, though ...
I'm going to go the "none of the above" route on this one...I'm only getting Brightest Day if it comes out in larger, 52 or Countdown-style paperbacks. Reviews of the series just haven't been good enough for me to fork over the extra money it would take to buy a larger number of slimmer volumes.
ReplyDeleteSince Brighest Day is actually bi-monthly (twenty-six issues), my guess was that it would be two collected volumes, each with thirteen issues. If you pair that with two volumes of the bimonthly Justice League: Generation Lost, that's about the same as 52 or Countdown. It'll be interesting to see in what form Generation Lost gets collected ...
ReplyDeleteReposting this 'cuz it got deleted somehow...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yes, transport is what I mean. Maybe this is just me, but I'd be too worried about keeping a hardcover clean. I'm a neat freak that way.
I will bring hardcovers on travel, but only if they have library binding=this is books only though. Don't own any trades with library binding. Do you? Is it a good investment?
The reason I no longer read issues is because of the convenience and durability of the collected format. Sadly I will usually buy the first edition released if it is something I definitely want to own. Trade-waiting is left for the books I'm undecided on.
ReplyDeleteI find that hardcovers are more bulky and heavier as well, and it's something I take into account, though not as much as making my shelves look consistant - which for some reason feels important to me, haha. Also, I like to think I save a little money by being patient.
ReplyDeleteNone of the above. I have absolutely no interest in the series.
ReplyDeleteWithin the last couple months I've been leaning toward HC because of the durability. I don't do too much traveling but if I did, the HC, I feel, could take a beating.
ReplyDeleteI use to be a paperback only, my trades looked nice and even on my shelf with tpb. My first few HC were a little weird to look at cause they didn't match with my other trades but I learned to let that go. What I do not like is when they start a series in tpb and then switch to HC. A fifth volume of JLI was announced and the listing has it as paperback. Not cool, I've been collecting them in HC and I like that. Hopefully that will change.
For BD, I'll probably get the HC. But I don't know for sure if I want to get it. I told myself to try to stop reading after BN when the trade comes out and only follow a couple titles after. I've spent too much money on comics.
Hardcover. At $30 a pop, that works out to $18 at Amazon for 13 issues, or just over $1 per issue. TOTALLY worth it.
ReplyDeleteBTW, bi-monthly is every two months. Bi-weekly is every two weeks. Semi-monthly is twice a month. BD is bi-weekly.
Actually Mike, bi-monthly (or bimonthly) can mean either twice a month or every two months -- http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861590541/bimonthly.html -- but I agree semi-monthly might be a less confusing term.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the unit cost of the Brightest Day hardcover works out well, and for me that's some draw to get the hardcover (and the hardcover is currently ahead of the paperback in the poll), though I imagine some would argue that with the paperback, the unit cost is even cheaper than that.
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutwords/bimonthly
ReplyDeleteDoes bimonthly mean 'twice a month' or 'every two months'?
I'm afraid it means both! But in the publishing industry, it is used fairly consistently to mean 'every two months'. The same ambiguity affects biweekly and biyearly. If you want to be absolutely clear, use a phrase such as 'twice a week' or 'every two years'.
What do you mean by library binding, Tom? Binding a bunch of paperbacks together in hardcover format, or applying harder plastic sheets to paperback covers? I haven't done either myself, but I'm curious; over at another post I've started a similar conversation on library binding.
ReplyDeleteThe latter. I've checked out PBs with library binding from the, y'know, library but haven't actually bought one with that binding yet.
ReplyDelete