Just got back from Jimmy Jams. Lean week, actually. The only thing in my pull list is “52”. I perused the shelf holding the week’s newly arrived Trade Paperbacks and grabbed the second volume of “Manhunter”.

Manhunter is one of those books, like “Hourman”, that every comic afficianado says you should be reading. That it’s unappreciated, that not enough people are picking it up, that it’s one of the best books you’re not reading, etc. I read the first trade. It’s not too shabby, but it’s not exactly James Robinson’s “Starman” either. I think many of the kudos are because it’s about a female character who is written smartly and has a realistic body.

In the last year, I’ve begun making the transition to “wait for the trade”. It’s hard for me to do that, because even though it’s financially advantageous and it makes the work more accessible to re-readings, I feel like I’m not doing my part to support the books I like. The comic book market is so bad…so very, very bad… that if I don’t buy a book, that’s like losing 1/4th of the total readership. Readership is so low that they probably know the names of all their readers, and if I decide to drop a book and get the trade instead they’re going to send me a postcard to find out why I’m not picking it up.

I think they made that showcase reprint of Elongated Man just for me. I don’t know if you noticed it, but when Sue Dibny was killed off, if you look very closely at the handle of the magnifying glass you can see the words “Sorry Michael” in the hatching. Seriously. You’ll need a magnifying glass to see it, which is cute. Because, you know, it’s written on the magnifying glass.

My point is, readership is way way way way waywayway down.

Nevertheless, I’ve made some trade transitions…or Tradesitions, as I like to call them. Let me just trademark that:

TRADESITIONS™

Ahem. Anyway, books I’ve tradesitioned to include “Y: The Last Man” (I’m only buying trade paperbacks), “Jonah Hex” (bought the first 12 issues and decided to buy the trade from then on), “The All-New Atom” (I’m waiting til it comes out as a trade), “Mystery In Space” (I bought the first issue at a con, loved it, missed the other issues and decided to wait for the trade), the “One Year Later” Batman books… and I think I’ll start getting “PvP” as a trade instead of monthly.

As I was looking at the Manhunter book, I see this one collects issues 6-14. The book on the rack this week is issue #27. 13 issues. For a struggling book, 13 issues is a lifetime. One of my favorite books of the last decade, “Chase” by Dan Curtis Johnson, J.H. Williams and Mick Gray, didn’t even survive 10 issues. This Manhunter book, if it’s truly struggling for sales, can’t really be dependant upon me to save it by buying the trade over a year later.

Those of you with long memories will realize I’m changing my mind on this issue. I once proposed a “No TPBs for Two Years Rule”, and of all my proposed solutions for saving the comic book industry it was the most reviled and derided. I still stand by my logic behind the argument, though my solution may have been silly. As many pointed out, TPBs are the success story and the “pamphlet” is foundering, so why hurt the good market to save a product which is losing all profitability. Of course, our industry still isn’t in any position to move to a “just write trade paperbacks and forget the monthly” system; it’s relying on the monthly pamphlets even while the trades reduce the value of buying monthlies.

I’m spending $3 a month to buy that comic. If I buy 10 comics, that’s $30 a month, $360 a year. I’m sure I spend more than that a year on comics. It’s probably $500 a year. The days are gone when comics increase in value much at all, but even if they can be resold at a reduced price you’re still getting some value out of them.

Some people respond to this argument that all collectors are wrong and we should just look at comics as throwaway entertainment, like subscribing to a magazine or newspaper. If comic books were still comparable to their old 12 cent formats, where they were shabby productions made on newsprint and drawn by artists who aren’t going for photorealistic quality, we could probably justify treating them disposably (as comics were until the 1970s). But how many of us can afford to throw $500 a year down the toilet? How many of us buy 25 magazine subscriptions every year?

If every book is destined for the trade, we may as well give up on buying monthly comics. We can all just wait until they’re bound as a book, then get them from the library for free (since most of us just want to read them once for the stories).

Of course, we can’t do that. Few books outside of the biggest characters could afford to have the readers that love them not buy the books. I love PS238, and I’ve bought all the trades even though I buy it monthly, but if I waited for the trade and encouraged other lovers of that book to wait, the book would be dead in a month. Other books I’ve enjoyed, like “Cinnamon: El Ciclo,” Scott Beatty’s “Son of Vulcan” and Gail Simone’s “Rose and Thorn,” seemed destined for a trade and indeed would sell much better as a trade…but because sales were too low there won’t BE a trade.

It’s the Catch-22 of the comic world: We’d rather have the book than the comic, but if we don’t buy the comic there won’t be a book. And everytime we wait for the trade, we’re putting the onus on others to provide all the support the things we love. It just seems wrong.

Thoughts? Comments?

UPDATE: I just read 2/3rds of the Manhunter trade. Man, it is REALLY GOOD! ” It’s the best book you’re not reading!”