Monday was crazy here at the hospital so totally forgot to post.

Which one this week: Monthly Issues or Trade Waiting?

Used to be I was monthly buyer but the times they have changed. Now I am a Trade Waiter since so many of the stories are dragged out and many times the story reads better in one sitting rather than waiting every 30 days for the next chapter. Also the LCS sells out of an issue (especially even when I have a pull list?) and speculators will buy up. And, these days a Trade will cost you less than the original issues new off the shelf with discounts and pre-order specials if you are willing to patiently wait a few months. What about you all?

Trade waiting.

Firstly, it's cheaper. A new comic can be four quid or more here. So six issues of an arc will be £24, give or take. A trade will cost much less. Why wouldn't I wait? And it's not just about the money. I get a complete tale AND a cost saving.

Take the money out of the equation for a moment, though. Six months is a long time to wait for a complete story to be told, especially as some issues will be of the "talking heads" variety. If I buy the trade months later, I tend to read it in one sitting. It works better that way.

Buying single issues worked back in the day of standalone tales. And at least then we had the likes of Bullpen Bulletins, Stan's Soapbox, DC's Answer Man, etc. Buying six issues of Cap's solo title would mean six different stories (with ongoing sub-plots) and different villains. Nowadays, six issues gets me one story, no columns/letters pages, etc. It doesn't feel like value for money.

Monthly issues, you commies!

I vote for Monthly Issues, for the following caveat:

For ongoing series, it has to be the monthly book. The publishers rely on the monthly sales numbers to know if they should keep producing the book, so if the numbers fall because a bunch of people decide they'd rather wait 8 months for the TPB than pick them up each month, the publishers will take that as a sign of non-interest and cancel a book. As well, this pumps a steady stream of money into the LCS rather than them waiting for long stretches to make sales from me, as they have monthly bills and employees to pay.

The only time I trade-waited an ongoing series was with "Fables". I didn't get into it until around issue #50 or so, having gotten a great deal on the first eight trades from eBay. It made no sense for me to have a partial run in trades, only to switch to floppies for the rest of it, so I continued to pick up the trades when they were released.

That said, I have reached the point where I will wait on the TPB for limited series. The publisher has already made a decision to print a specific number of issues, so there is no harm in my waiting until the series is finished before buying the whole thing at a lower cost than the individual issues. Sadly, however, I can almost invariably find any limited series I want in the $1 bins about a year after they've been published, and I can just pay $4-$6 for the entire thing rather than even buying the TPB for $14.99.

I buy very few modern comics, but the odd series I do still collect I buy as monthly issues.

Mix of both : if it's a smaller publisher, like Valiant, who really needs that extra input on the front lines, then monthlies, but if it's Big Two mega-franchise I usually wait for the trade, cause A. it's all collected, and B. it's more economical.

Monthly issues. Noting quite matches the thrill of holding a floppy your hand.

(Er, that came out wrong. )