Batman Related Trades and Hardcovers You Got recently

[Batman9]

I absolutely agree with you - in general, the hardcover reading experience is much more enjoyable to me than the paperback reading experience. The feel of a hardbound book is worth the extra few dollars (and they tend to have somewhat more durable binding), and it gives the genre more weight and credibility as a literary experience. I'm glad that we're seeing comics get the hardcover treatment much more frequently than we did 10 years ago. I always advocate the hardcover option whenever available.

Same, if it's only a couple books more, I'm getting the HC. Slightly bigger art, better production qualities, and nicer to look at on a shelf. Ever since Hush had a couple pages fall out, even though I took care of it perfectly, I've tried to get the HC's if possible.

[kodave]

Same, if it's only a couple books more, I'm getting the HC. Slightly bigger art, better production qualities, and nicer to look at on a shelf. Ever since Hush had a couple pages fall out, even though I took care of it perfectly, I've tried to get the HC's if possible.

The art is only bigger if its a Deluxe or Absolute version for DC, or an Oversized or Omnibus for Marvel. Don't let the extra size of the actual hardcover throw you off, since the page trim will obviously be standard between a standard HC and a standard TPB.

[Batman9]

The art is only bigger if its a Deluxe or Absolute version for DC, or an Oversized or Omnibus for Marvel. Don't let the extra size of the actual hardcover throw you off, since the page trim will obviously be standard between a standard HC and a standard TPB.

Aww. I thought it was just a couple millimeters bigger. Either way, HC>TPB

[hanotsri]

I'm not a fan of hard covers mostly because I am not a fan of dust jackets. I'd be more inclined to get them if they printed directly on the hardback and not provide a dust jacket.

[kevink31593]

I'm not a fan of hard covers mostly because I am not a fan of dust jackets. I'd be more inclined to get them if they printed directly on the hardback and not provide a dust jacket.

I'm not really a fan of dust jackets either. I always take if off and set it aside when reading a hardcover. I liked the recent dust jacketless Batman Death by Design and Batman Earth One hardcovers.

[dntfeedthemnkys]

I'm not really a fan of dust jackets either. I always take if off and set it aside when reading a hardcover. I liked the recent dust jacketless Batman Death by Design and Batman Earth One hardcovers.

+1.

I love the feel of the hardcover sans dust jacket. Always take them off to read.. then wonder whether or not to put them back on to display.... hmmm....

[kodave]

I'm not really a fan of dust jackets either. I always take if off and set it aside when reading a hardcover. I liked the recent dust jacketless Batman Death by Design and Batman Earth One hardcovers.

Yep. You can do cool texturing and stuff right on the HC too.

DC's hardcover process with the Bat books baffle me. Most of the recent ones are just straight black with titles embedded onto the HC, but they don't bother to put any foil or anything over the lettering. I believe its the Tony Daniels Batman HCs that have great wraparound art on the hardcover under the dust jacket. Almost no need for the dust jacket at that point! I think DC does similar with some of its Absolutes too. Dark Horse also seemed to have switched over to hardcovers without dust jackets and I also prefer those.

[theDarkJAww13]

Don't take it personally, bro. Everyone's free to do whatever they think is best. Sure, some of us think that bagging and boarding entire books is silly - but you should do what YOU think is best and not worry about what other people might think of it. Live your own life and all. (Though by the same token - just because a comic shop does something, doesn't mean YOU should).



In my experience, this has never happened. I don't notice any such wear and tear on books that I restrict to my shelves and my reading hands - any damage I see comes from rough handling if I take it traveling (in my backpack, on an airplane, etc.). So if you want to keep it in perfect condition, it seems like keeping the books in the house will take care of pretty much any issues one might have.

I also feel that books were meant for reading, not for keeping in perfect, mint condition. If a spine or a cover edge experiences a minor about of wear, then it was a worthwhile exchange, given the reading experience I got for it.



Sure, I understand the desire to keep your stuff in good condition and prevent careless, needless damage. But I don't bag my DVDs or clothes, and I don't keep my action figures behind a plastic display case. That makes it easy to look at my DVD cases, watch the movies, and pose and display my action figures. I'm not a bubble boy needing a hermetic seal, and neither are my books, DVDs, or action figures.

Let me ask you - do you bag your other, non-comic books? You probably spend about as much money on each one of them, right? If you don't, what's the difference?

I think people who bag their books should also think about what effect that has on the ability to share them. I like my guests to be able to pull a book off the shelves and flip through it if they want - to share my hobby and also to potentially win over new readers. But I know that if my books were bagged, they probably wouldn't even bother to take them off the shelf to look at the cover, much less flip through - both because it's intimidating to see a collection bagged like that and because it's annoying to have to deal with them.

Maybe that's not important to you, and if so, that's cool - but if it is, it's worth giving a second thought. I know that my love of comics was first kindled by exploring my Uncle's collection of back issues collected in a chest - but if they had been bagged and boarded, there's no way I would've gone through them and explored them, and without the impact of those experiences, I probably wouldn't be a reader today.

lol oh no no dont misconstrue my feelings, i wasnt taking it personally at all haha. like i said the reason I typed that much is just because that's how I converse lol. Sorry if I come off somewhat picky but I just like typing haha.

If you never experienced any wear whatsoever on your books, hey, congrats. But you honestly must not be handling them that much to begin with, because worn corners are a natural progression with TPBs - it just happens.

No I don't bag regular books, toys or clothes - but bagging these things isn't widely considered the go-to method of keeping them in good shape. I don't buy paperback books - if I buy a book its a hardcover. So that alone helps preserve those - hardcovers ARE easier to store on a shelf and keep in good shape. I'm talking strictly TPBs here. It's just common knowledge that the material used for the covers can get worn out and it's just obvious a bag would help this.

And I don't think you're giving your guests, who for some reason love rummaging through your comics, enough credit. If they can't have the patience to pull a plastic baggy off a book to flip through the pages that's a different problem of yours all on its own lol.

But you're kind of missing my point here. My bagging of my TPBs isn't to keep them in "mint condition" like you keep insisting - it's simply to keep them in decent enough shape. I don't buy them to "not read," and I often take them down to look through art. All that handling is bound to wear them out a bit, the bag just helps out.

Your uncle experience is cool though, I had plenty of those as a kid - finding old comics, learning to read with A Death in the Family, etc. However it doesn't really hold any water in this discussion - that's just your personal experience. It's lucky for you that your uncle didn't bag his books so you could flip through them, but like 70% of anyone else would have their books bagged up.

BUT ON TOPIC lol, speaking of ADITF, I just picked up a newer version of it. Like I said it was one of the books I learned to read with and having finally re-read it I can hardly imagine being a young kid and reading this book. I mean, Batman mentions "kiddie porn" on the first page! Lots of stuff over my head back then but I really enjoyed how they threw Jason through a very personal journey before it came to an end. The fact that it takes place in the middle east is a little out there though - kind of took me out of it a little bit.

I also nabbed the Robin Annual #1 from 1992 with a bunch of other Robin books. I'll get around to reading it soon hopefully!

[Haytil]

No I don't bag regular books, toys or clothes - but bagging these things isn't widely considered the go-to method of keeping them in good shape.

But considered the "go-to" method by who, exactly? Bagging trades may be the "go-to" method by comic fetishists, but that doesn't mean one should emulate them. Comic collectors include a notoriously OCD lot. Just because some of them do something, doesn't mean it's necessarily a good or important idea...

And I don't think you're giving your guests, who for some reason love rummaging through your comics, enough credit. If they can't have the patience to pull a plastic baggy off a book to flip through the pages that's a different problem of yours all on its own lol.

Actually, it's just the opposite - I give them enough credit to assume they want to be polite. I know that if I were a guest in someone's home, I would feel it was impolite for me to ask to open a bag that sealed something on their shelf. I'd probably think to myself "It's probably in that bag for a reason, so best to leave well enough alone."

If a guest had a burning curiosity, sure, they might ask - but it's the people who are merely idly curious, and thus would stay silent given the small barrier that a bag presents, that I worry about. I bet there are at least some who would say nothing if there's a bag, but would still take it off the shelf if there wasn't a bag...

Your uncle experience is cool though, I had plenty of those as a kid - finding old comics, learning to read with A Death in the Family, etc. However it doesn't really hold any water in this discussion - that's just your personal experience. It's lucky for you that your uncle didn't bag his books so you could flip through them, but like 70% of anyone else would have their books bagged up.

Right - but if he had bagged them, I wouldn't have flipped through them, is my point. So how many potential fans and readers aren't flipping through books and becoming interested, simply because their experiences are with friends/family that DO bag them? How many potential fans and readers are lost?

Just something to think about.

[Gryphon]

To change this up for fun. What are the next trades and/or hardcovers you plan on getting?

I plan on getting next, the last volume of knightfall and prey.

[Haytil]

In the last 6 months of the year, I generally hold off on buying comics. That way, it's easy to generate a Christmas list to give to my family - saves everyone a lot of trouble. Of course, it means my Batman reading gets starved for a good chunk of the year!

This Christmas, my list includes "Time and the Batman," "Penguin: Pain and Prejudice," "The Black Casebook," "Death by Design," "Batman Inc. vol 1," "Faces of Death" (as a leadup to the upcoming Snyder Joker storyline), and the last two No Man's Land trades.

I'll pick up anything I don't get on Christmas via Amazon, along with Batman Chronicles 11 (since it comes out a week after Christmas - D'oh!) and "Death and the Maidens." Then, at that point, aside from new releases (the Night of the Owls storyline, Gotham by Gaslight, Batman/Deathblow Deluxe edition, etc.), I think my Batman comic book collection will finally be pretty much complete. It spans almost three entire shelves now - will definitely post pics at that point.

[hanotsri]

Looking to get Batman: Night Cries, Robin: Year One, Huntress: Year One

[MajorHoy]

To change this up for fun. What are the next trades and/or hardcovers you plan on getting?

I plan on getting next, the last volume of knightfall and prey.

I've recently bought the tpb collections for:
* Birds of Prey (New 52, Vol. 1)
* Penguin: Pain and Prejudice
* I, Vampire (New 52, Vol. 1)
* Justice League Dark (New 52, Vol. 1)

and may get Demon Knights (New 52, Vol. 1) next.

I usually pass on hardcovers due to the cost vs. tpb collections.

[Bob Fett]

I plan on getting Absolute Batman and Robin, and Absolute Final Crisis.In Morrison I trust.Trades are All Star Western vol. 1, and Supergirl new 52 vol.1 which are must reads for me also.

[batman23]

Picked up Detective 14, Legends of the Dark Knight 2 and the Untold Legend of Batman 1-3