DC reverting back to old ways on releasing trade/hc collections; can they change?!

[Mr. Holmes]

I don't really care about whether they release hardcover or tpb first. At least the books will be out there eventually.

The terrible practices I don't want them to continue or fall back into are:
- Editing material or even entire issues out of the middle of TPBs. Example: Death of Superman "Omnibus"
- Using worse paper for the tpb than was in the original floppies.
- Bad glued binding.

If they can stay away from those things, the rest is negotiable for me.

They already did the first one in Lobdell's books. Removing any references to a past incarnation of Teen Titans.

[Phantom Roxas]

6 months is fine imho

what i hate is how there's no hardcover version for medium/low selling books

I think that's because they're not selling as well. That's why all the cancelled books have gone straight to paperback.

While I'm also okay with waiting long enough, the fact of the matter is that this will eventually pile up. By the time all the first will be out, the books will be a their fourteenth issue. Maybe fifteen, because I think Captain Atom and DC Universe Presents are being released in December. The amount of material being collected has varied from five to nine issues. However, by the same the second volumes are all out, there will be nearly thirty issues, at least for the books that last that long, with only half of the material being available in collections. To give an example, I'm excited for Lemire and Sorrentino taking over Green Arrow. However, since the second trade ends at the twelfth issue, Volume 3 will most likely cover the rest of Nocenti, with Lemire and Sorrentino's run being collected in the fourth volume, and who knows if the book will still be around by then?

Now, if they release a series in trade bi-annually, that would speed things up, and I'd be fine with that. You'll get somewhere between ten and eighteen issues spread across two volumes every year, and that sounds good to me. I think the reason DC is being slow is just so that they can give the single issues a head start. With Batman, Incorporated and The Ravagers as the only second wave books that haven't had their first volumes solicited, I'm curious if they'll release the first trades for the third wave books later in the year. They'll have enough material to collect by then, so I think it could be done.

- Editing material or even entire issues out of the middle of TPBs. Example: Death of Superman "Omnibus"

Agreed. I've been thinking of checking out some Pre-Flashpoint stories, and that was one I had decided on, but alas, it's not complete. Isn't it missing only one issue though? Still, I recall that the recent Knightfall trades have had material missing as well, and the Absolute Blackest Night just doesn't have enough material to justify the price or being labeled an Absolute. Some of the trades releasing next year are even skipping the zero issues. Stopping at #12 is fine, but Suicide Squad and Earth 2 will have the issues that were released after the zero issue, but not the zero issue itself.

[stk]

They already did the first one in Lobdell's books. Removing any references to a past incarnation of Teen Titans.

That's an alteration, which is a little different than what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about is DC removing pages from the issues being collected because they relate to subplots that aren't the main focus of the TPB. This used to happen all the time on Superman TPBs and it is freaking maddening. So you don't get the complete issues of the issues supposedly collected. Or you are missing issues from the middle of the run being collected.

[Nova2814.1]

I think the release schedule is a consequence of everything being relaunched at the same time, meaning all the first arcs finishing at around the same time. DC couldn't have released collections of all 52 series across 1 or 2, or even 3 months; the market would only spent their money on sure-fire hits. So DC has spread it out across the year, with the first trades and hardcovers coming out 3 months after the first arc was finished.

For books that go to hardcover first, it looks like the paperback version of Vol 1 will be released when the hardcover version of Vol 2 is released.

[SpideyZERO]

What I don't like is that now it takes more than 6 months to release a tpb, especially on less popular book. For example, Swamp Thing is on #14 now, the first trade collects until #7. We have to wait till April 2012 for the next book and the monthly issue is now, what, #19?

[dancj]

Trades should be the sole realm of people hopping on late to a book and needing to catch up.

Why?

What is the problem with people wanting their stories in a more convenient, more presentable, more durable format?

[Fused]

Yeah it kills me I wont get ever get Supergirl in hardcover.

[MajorHoy]

What I don't like is that now it takes more than 6 months to release a tpb, especially on less popular book. For example, Swamp Thing is on #14 now, the first trade collects until #7. We have to wait till April 2012 for the next book and the monthly issue is now, what, #19?

You could always just break down and buy monthly issues.

[Lord_Jimsicle]

As I have a bit of a distaste for hardcover books, I would prefer if they at least released the two formats simultaneously. It's not very practical however so I'll have to continue to wait up to a year for a softcover version like I did Blackest Night.

Though saying that, I got "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" hardcover for £2 in a charity store once so I'm not completely against hardcover :)

[Kymeric]

6 months is fine. Flashback to a a couple decades ago when NOTHING was ever done in tpbs. You either found the individual issue on the store shelf before it sold out or youd never EVER have a chance to read it. Compared to that 6 months is effing paradise.

[Schnitzy Pretzelpants]

They should so it simply like this:

If a Story Gods over issues 1 to 7, the Trade should be releases the Same Day/ week as issue 8.

THIS.


DC and Marvel need to use the trade-publication date the way that Image Comics have.

[aaronghunter]

If DC would refrain from excluding segments of arcs from their trades, I would be much happier. It was rather embarrassing to lend out the trade of Batwing only to discover that the last issue of the first arc is being collected in the second trade.