floppies vs. graphic novels

ztoical

A mini discussion has started on-line regarding floppies vs. graphic novels. I'm not sure where exactly it started but theres been some interesting points brought up. Most are by cartoonists taking about it more from the freelance artists side of things.

Becky Cloonan, who does both a flooppy, American Virgin, and a graphic novel, the OEL book East coast Rising, has a good post about it on her blog as does Tania Del Rio, who does Sabrina for Archie, over at her blog the witching hour Both are well worth reading

I've noticed that alot of people on here tend to go for trades rather then floppies now so it would be interesting to hear peoples views.

Fysh

I know that Steven Grant's column discussions about bittorrent have started people discussing why they might download monthly comics instead of buying them, so it might have stemmed from there since it was quite rightly pointed out that trades are a more appealing buy to non-hardcore fans. That being said, I'm just reading the sites you linked to now and it's interesting to see the different perspectives on the issue depending on where people work...

bombidol

I get both, some stuff I need to know whats goin on and i get floppies, some stuff I wait for trades. some I wait for hard backs.
Stuff like, Local, DMZ, Punisher Max and Thunderbolts, in fact most, Ennis, Ellis, Vaughn, Wood, Kirkman and Brubaker i get in floppies and then trades too for ease of rereading.

qwertplaywert

for me ,trades-better quality paper alot of the time, better presented,and easier to read arcs in 1 sittings

ztoical

Lea Hernandaz, "rumble girls" and founder and former editor of girlamatic has her view on the whole floppies argument [its about half way down the post]

Jonesy3110

I dont get to the comic book store often so I rather but comics in book form, so I dont miss any

Fysh

My personal view on it is that, even getting to the comic store every week and liking the idea of supporting smaller books (eg Warren Ellis's upcoming "Doktor Sleepless" project with Avatar) which might not get TPB releases if the floppies don't give a strong enough indication of market popularity, I still hate most floppies for how they're put together.

Too many of the Big Two floppies are on relatively crap paper, with 22 pages of comics and 10 pages of ads strewn throughout the comic in such a way as to completely interfere with my immersion in the story. Image books are better for this, in that they move the ads to the back of the book separately to the story; in some cases the paper quality is significantly nicer as well.

I don't mind the idea of getting monthly installments of a story, if there's a feeling that the story will actually finish (I generally prefer miniseries or at least series with defined story arcs). However, having to pay the guts of 4 euro a go for a magazine containing this chunk of story even though a 3rd of the magazine is adverts is enough to put me off - especially when I can pay roughly the same per issue (or less) for the TPB which will have no adverts, better paper, and a more durable format.

Now, I'm not in any way interested in the collector's aspect of comic fandom, nor in the speculation market associated with it. So that will colour my judgement somewhat. I buy comics because I like the medium for storytelling; I have no problem spending money on TPBs of stuff that's worth re-reading, or even on buying floppies of more disposable stories.

What I do have a problem with is that the current industry thinking is "We'll release it as floppies to judge marketability at full price, then release the TPB later and basically complain to fans who wait for the TPB that they're hurting the industry, but we won't do anything daft like offer a digital service for people who want to read the individual releases legitimately, but wait for the TPB in terms of buying physical product".

I would happily pay a euro or two for digital versions of monthly comics, and then fork out for the TPB or hardback or whatever is released. If the comic's worth reading once, I'll pay a small amount to read it in digital form. If it's worth re-reading, I'll buy the TPBs. The essential issue is, I think, that floppies were the only affordable way for companies to release their product. That's not necessarily the case now, but as with so many other things, the industry is clinging to them and suffering for it rather than looking for new ways in which to offer their product and make money from it.

spooydermot

....10 pages of ads strewn throughout the comic in such a way as to completely interfere with my immersion in the story. Image books are better for this, in that they move the ads to the back of the book separately to the story; in some cases the paper quality is significantly nicer as well.

This is without a doubt my number one problem with floppies (never called em floppies before...makes me think back to the days of 5 1/4" disks :rolleyes: ) - not only does it destroy the story but if your ever passing on an issue to a non-comic reading friend (I have a few mates who would not read comics - but are prepared to take a lend of some if I tell them theres a good story within) it just looks ridiculous when they're three pages in and are greeted with the offer of Amazing Spiderman pajamas or some such.

having to pay the guts of 4 euro a go for a magazine containing this chunk of story even though a 3rd of the magazine is adverts is enough to put me off

It's more like 5 euro in Dublin at the mo - in fact they way floppies are going at the moment, some of them may become unmarketable.
I'm prepared to pay a little more for a good quality story thats trying something new and isn't perhaps published by the Big 2 i.e Supermarket - but I find it difficult to justify nearly 5 euro a comic thats chock full off ads and really isn't doing anything new....

Jonesy3110

I'm aware this is totally OT but all the other boards im a member of make you restrict you signature to 5 lines max, I see that rule doesnt exsist here! :P

Oh and just so I'm not deleted - My bf buys floppies, but he's big into collecting stuff, I call him The Collector. But I just like the stories and as I said before I dont like to risk missing any