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retcon74
04-16-2005, 01:53 PM
At the beginning of 2005, I decided to no longer collect monthly issues. Unfortunately, I'm having a problem determining how Marvel & DC decide which titles are collected as TPBs and which titles are collected as HCs.

With some titles, like Ultimate Spiderman, the pattern is clear;

6 issues of Ultimate Spiderman make-up 1 TPB volume, and 2 TPB volumes make-up one HC volume. It appears that Ultimate FF will also follow this pattern, so...in regards to those two titles, my choice is clear; I'll wait on the HCs as I prefer them over TPBs but only when they cover about a year's worth of issues.

With JSA, all 6 issue arcs are collected as TPBs without any indication that there will be any JSA HCs comprised of 2 TPB volumes. So, I've begun collecting JSA in TPB form.

Now, with Marvel announcing the shipping schedule for comics released in July 2005, I see that both Captain America issues 1-7 and New Avengers issues 1-6 are being collected as HCs as opposed to TPBs.

This leaves me in a bind as to what to do because, as stated above, I prefer HCs but only when they collect 2 story arcs (roughly 12 issues) and TPBs when they collect a single story arc (roughly 6 issues)

So, does anyone have any clue as to how Marvel and/or DC go about determing what gets published in what format?

Gaz
04-16-2005, 05:07 PM
DC are more random, I hear because individual editors decide on how many issues get put out, or if one gets done at all.
Marvel are more reliable, most recent series get trades at the end of each arc, consisting of 5-8 issues per volume. HCs get put out for the more popular titles and tend to include a years worth of issues plus some extra material like sketches and scripts.