Back Issues Vs. Reprints

[SamuraiMike]

So lately I've been on a major push to fill in holes in my collection or buy complete runs that I've always been meaning to get. Right from the start I've been trying to get actual comics where it made sense. But, I'm reading the Walt Simonson Thor Omnibus at the moment, as it seemed like a good way to easily get the full run. Coming up shortly is my completion of the Byrne Thing issues - but now I've just realized those are reprinted also. My conundrum is this - the reprints are easy, lines are clear, colours vibrant, etc., but at the same time, part of the appeal is reading the book as it actually appeared - the smell, the feel, the advertisements, everything.

It's got me thinking - where does everyone else stand on the issue?

[dupont2005]

If the cost of buying reprints is significantly lower, get the reprints. I like the ads in indy comics because they are just in house ads to other series I might have not heard of, that I can then sample. I can do without the ads for toys and other crap in the Marvel comics though, especially when every other page is an ad. Same with the letters colums. In some comics I've enjoyed them, but when the average writer is ten years old I tend to skip them. And that color was awful, anything that improves on that is a must. I'd rather read the uncolored reprints.

[Destro777]

Not sure if this qualifies on the classic section (cause this is pretty modern) but Im reading thru Brubaker's first few arcs of Captain America in issue format. The huge addition to the issues are the letter pages, write-ups from fellow comic creators, and thoughts from Brubaker himself at the end of the issues. I dont think I could miss the first few arcs without reading this insight. Same thing with Huston's recent Moon Knight run. The manifesto and thoughts from the writer himself + the letter pages are most likely absent from the collected versions. This is just essential reading in my eyes and you would be missing out if you didnt catch it.

Older stuff though - collected is the way to go for the most part. Reading an old, smelly, falling apart comic is not ideal. On the flip side - Im not a huge fan of the way Marvel re-colors things for instance. Another example: the old Valiant books looked much better with their original painted colors compared to the computer stuff they did with the recent reprints. The classic "Valiant house style" is totally lost in the computer colored reprints.

[Jezebel Bond]

I like owning original copies of favourite titles, but don't mind collected editions if I can get a good deal on a sealed HC or Omnibus. With the exception of Archie, I'm not always a big fan of comics which reprint other comics, eg Marvel Tales, but do have some Annuals and some of those 100 page DCs.

[Dave2739]

I love to have the originals as often as possible. I know others don't feel the same, but the feel of the paper, the smell, the ads (house ads, ads for Robert Bell's comics and ads for stamps, etc.), letters pages all add to the "time-capsule" feel that old comics have. I'll buy an archive, masterworks or omnibus if I can't afford the originals or if it's just a run that I really like, so I can read and reread as often as I want without fear of wearing out an old comic, but I personally prefer the original if I can afford it.
Also, how else am I going to get Cap's Hobby Hints? Too bad nobody will ever reprint those!

[An Ear In The Fireplace]

Well, you don't always have to buy a smelly, falling apart back issue. It's possible to get a lot of back issues in very fine condition for not a lot of money.

Ideally, I want to have the back issues. The reprint editions are convenient. You can read a lot of stories and you don't have to worry about going through a bunch of boxes and bags to get at the stories. But that's just for stories--and even there, I'm always curious to know how the story originally appeared in its first printing--whereas, my interest in old comics is much broader than just the story itself. I want the whole experience of that comic book--the kind of feeling I got when I was a kid buying comics.

Back issues answer that need--even if they get to be a bit of a drag when I'm faced with such a large collection of magazines. If a publisher reprinted the actual comic--with everything including ads and letter pages--exactly as it originally appeared that would probably satisfy most of my need. Although I note that even though DC did a series of Annuals that were almost exact copies of the originals, I still want to have the originals.

[dupont2005]

True. These days for most things I'm interested in its just as cheap and sometimes cheaper to buy floppies. On the occasion it isn't, I'll probably go the trade route now. But I've also noticed that when a collection reprints expensive comics it's difficult to get the collection on the cheap too. EC Archives for example

[glue]

Subject matter, oddly enough, is probably the biggest factor. If it's a superhero book, I'm probably going to buy the originals, whereas something like Preacher or The Goon I'll get in collected editions. This is for more recent comics, though. With the older stuff that's been collected in Showcase/Essential volumes I'll always go for the reprints.

[Mormel]

Ideally, I want to have the back issues. The reprint editions are convenient. You can read a lot of stories and you don't have to worry about going through a bunch of boxes and bags to get at the stories. But that's just for stories--and even there, I'm always curious to know how the story originally appeared in its first printing--whereas, my interest in old comics is much broader than just the story itself. I want the whole experience of that comic book--the kind of feeling I got when I was a kid buying comics.

Back issues answer that need--even if they get to be a bit of a drag when I'm faced with such a large collection of magazines. If a publisher reprinted the actual comic--with everything including ads and letter pages--exactly as it originally appeared that would probably satisfy most of my need. Although I note that even though DC did a series of Annuals that were almost exact copies of the originals, I still want to have the originals.

It's interesting that you should say that, and I think this is where countries may differ.

Here in the Netherlands, a number of American comic books were re-printed (and translated in Dutch), by several different publishing companies throughout the years. When I was a kid, the big name in translated superhero comics was Junior Press, which started around 1980, and pushed through until recently, when it went out of business. Now these reprints naturally didn't come with the American ads. Thus, Dutch kids could read their Marvel comics unhampered by advertisements, in one gulp.

So when I started reading the original American comics in English, I was quite SHOCKED at the amount of ads featured in the books. At first, I honestly found them very, very difficult to read. I just wasn't used to it at all, seeing announcements for 80s Sat-Morn cartoons, ads for NES video games, cereals, movies, etc. So reprint TPBs reminded me much more of the reading experience I'd had with the Dutch Junior Press editions, especially since they would occasionally bind about six issues together and call it an 'omnibus' (yes, really).

[icctrombone]

I buy the originals up to a point. When they get too pricey I settle for reprints. I would love to have the entire run of Fantastic Four but I have settled for getting Marvel Collectors Items classic' and Marvels greatest comics to fill the holes in my collection.

[mrc1214]

I buy the originals up to a point. When they get too pricey I settle for reprints. I would love to have the entire run of Fantastic Four but I have settled for getting Marvel Collectors Items classic' and Marvels greatest comics to fill the holes in my collection.

This is what I do as well. Im going to go back as far as I can with my Fantastic Four run but I don't want to spend more than 10 on an issue and i haven't come close yet. If a series in my opinion reads better in trade form (Fables, Walking Dead and most newer comics) ill buy the trade.

[Richard Bishop]

I'm a serious back-issue guy, but as others have mentioned already, there comes a point where the cost of acquisition outweighs the enjoyment of ownership. For me, that happened with Uncanny X-Men. I have a complete run of floppies from #94 on, as well as #'s 10, 13, 51 and most of the reprint issues between 67 and 93, but I realized that I could (would?) never spend what it would take to own the entire run in floppy format, particularly a #1. So I bought the first Omnibus from a LCS for $50 (down from $99.99) and the second one from Amazon for about $55 with shipping. So while I can't say I own a copy of every book, I do own every story and I'm fine with that.

Captain America, on the other hand, will soon be entirely complete in floppy format from #100 to present. Just 17 issues to go, and I just got $175 from selling some stuff on eBay, so that number is going to shrink mightily, possibly by this weekend.

If a series in my opinion reads better in trade form (Fables, Walking Dead and most newer comics) ill buy the trade.

QFT. I won an auction for the first 8 Fables' TPBs for $40, and even though I could have picked up a bunch of later issues for $1-$2 from Half-Priced Books, I am determined to collect that entire series in trade form, because they read better that way and I can put them on a bookshelf in a nice little collection.

[Jezebel Bond]

Looks like I'll have to settle for this in 'reprint' form. I believe it collects 1-12. I've never read a Walking Dead, but am convinced I work with some of them....



The Walking Dead is something I never paid attention to, thinking it was just another confetti Image title that would last a handful of issues and feature tits and ass of some kind. Well colour me stupid However, while I do put out for some of the older Marvels and DCs...I have misgivings about doing the same for independent titles.

By the way, can anyone tell me why this Image book succeeded compared to many other Image titles that came...and went...without much notice?

[dupont2005]

Because its good

[Reptisaurus!]

It's got me thinking - where does everyone else stand on the issue?

Back issues vs. reprints? I think they're different.

Okay, obvious statement, but if you change the presentation and context of a piece of art you change the work itself fairly significantly.

If your interest in comics is tied to an interest in cultural history, than Back-Issues are the way to go - You get the ads, the letter pages, you learn something about the time and place that your comic came from. If your interests are purely aesthetic, bound reprints are (mostly) better looking and (almost always) more durable.

Me, I'm on both sides of the fence so I go for whatever's cheapest.