Questions about trade waiting...

[Brennok]

Since I have been out of comics for years, I keep going back and forth between going for trades or going for issues. I definitely see some of the benefits of trades over issues, but it has left me with a couple questions for those who trade wait especially since trades weren't an option back when I was buying.

How do you decide what you are going to buy? Do you just buy the first issue of anything interesting? Do you read via other means and then just pick up the trades? With trades there is obviously more of a financial investment into a new series compared to just buying the first few issues. At the same time you do have more issues that have been reviewed and previewed, but still no guarantee that you will actually enjoy what you read.

Ever get burned not buying the issues? Have you ever skipped the issues only to not have a trade released and then the issues are tough to find?

I just keep seeing trades in Previews that look interesting, but at the same time even with the preorder discounts it adds up quickly.

[RedMoses]

How I decide:
I buy based on Authors/Artists that I trust.  I know I'm going to love a Joe Casey or Mike Mignola book, so I know that I can wait for the trade (HC) and be happy with what I get. 
There are also reviewers and podcasters whose opinions I trust.  Waiting for a trade gives me time to hear how they're receiving the book.
Also, some books I buy the digital and the trade or hardcover.

Ever get burned:
No.  I buy digital so I can always find back issues.  However, we all got burned by not buying Thor: The Mighty Avenger when it was coming out and it got cancelled. So there's that.

[Brian G]

How do you decide what you are going to buy? Do you just buy the first issue of anything interesting? Do you read via other means and then just pick up the trades? With trades there is obviously more of a financial investment into a new series compared to just buying the first few issues. At the same time you do have more issues that have been reviewed and previewed, but still no guarantee that you will actually enjoy what you read.

For me, it's heavily determined by the creators. I'll never buy something done by creators I don't enjoy. If I do enjoy the creators and the series gets some buzz, it's an easy buy. If I never heard of the creators and the series gets some hype, I have a decision to make. I go with my gut. More often than not, I'll try at least one trade. From there I can easily determine if I'm on board or dropping off. More often than not you'll be able to find some kind of bargain for the first trade.

Ever get burned not buying the issues? Have you ever skipped the issues only to not have a trade released and then the issues are tough to find?

This is very rare. It's more likely to happen with indies. The few single issues I do buy are all independents. The Big two (three if you count Image) collect everything. So if there is an independent book I enjoy that doesn't get a lot of hype, I'll always buy the singles.

[PozrDu]

How do you decide what you are going to buy? Do you just buy the first issue of anything interesting?

Pretty much.
I also listen to a lot of podcasts.  If enough buzz keeps ringing,
I can be persuaded to blindly dip.

\
Ever get burned not buying the issues? Have you ever skipped the issues only to not have a trade released and then the issues are tough to find?

[W]e all got burned by not buying Thor: The Mighty Avenger when it was coming out and it got cancelled. So there's that.

It did come out in two manga-sized books with early Thor reprints,
but no issue-sized single volume.   

The All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes got canceled 6 issues into an 8-issue mini,
& Marvel scrapped trading it.  I had been tradewaiting that (like most Marvel minis).
Now I gotta dig up the issues.

This is very rare. It's more likely to happen with indies.

True dat.  I try to buy indies.  Many times these guys need the issue sales to subsidize the trade.

[legion of daves]

How do you decide what you are going to buy? Do you just buy the first issue of anything interesting? Do you read via other means and then just pick up the trades? With trades there is obviously more of a financial investment into a new series compared to just buying the first few issues. At the same time you do have more issues that have been reviewed and previewed, but still no guarantee that you will actually enjoy what you read.

Ever get burned not buying the issues? Have you ever skipped the issues only to not have a trade released and then the issues are tough to find?

i very rarely actually wait for the trade on something, if i'm very interested i buy the issues.  if i hear 5 or 6 issues in that something is really good, then i'll pick up the first trade and continue on singles.  after the fact, i'll pick things up if i hear they're good, like the creators, etc. 

i can't ever really think of a situation of an anticipated trade NOT coming out, i've definitely bought stuff in singles that trades don't exist for, but specific back issues are so easy to get a hold of these days it's rarely a problem.

[Jordan]

For me, this is all about creators.  I know I can wait on a Jason Aaron book or a Jonathan Hickman book and it's a near certainty that I will like it.  However, I also don't always trade wait if I think a book needs help.  I'm on Saucer County in issues so whoever needs to know knows that I'm buying it NOW and not 8 months later. 

As for big two books, I don't do much trade waiting.  I trade wait on the Avengers and it's never really burned me.  I don't enjoy each trade equally, but Bendis has never actually let me down.  Now, when he leaves, I may jump back on board depending on who the new writer is.  Art does not effect me as much as writing (I'm the Yin to Vince's yang in that regard). 

The big 2 books I do trade wait on I usually get at cons, at reduced prices, so I rarely feel all that burned.

I have rarely gotten burned in general; I've only been reading for about 6 years, so I still have a lot of universally acclaimed stuff to wade through.  Our four fearless leaders do an excellent job of talking about stuff and I have a good track record judging how much I will like what each dude talks about.  I almost always like what Wood and David like, generally like what Chris recommends, and have to be careful with Vince.  I know this, so I'm able to make educated guesses.  It's the same with War Rocket Ajax, iFanboy, Awesomed by Comics, AC and Two Headed Nerds. 

[evaD]

I'm getting closer and closer to all trades and digital. I'd like to eventually get to the point where all minis I buy are trades and ongoing are digital. When you talk about getting burned, I feel more annoyed by all the books I've started to purchase in singles and then abandoned so that I'm now left with tons of incomplete stories. I'd rather spend the money on the whole thing and then if I don't like it I can give it to the library.

[Brennok]

I think part of my dilemma is I don't know the creators yet so deciding purely based on who is behind the book isn't an option for me. I am not even familiar with most of the series so all I have to initially interest me is the cover art and description.

My other issue is I really don't want to mix a series where I buy some in trade and some in issues. If I buy a trade for a series, I will stick with trades for that series. I also want to avoid double dipping if I can since there is enough out there I want to try without wasting money on buying something twice.

I figured like a couple people posted that I should pick up the independents and probably the mini-series.

For example this month I have been tempted by Grimm Fairy Tales Omnibus, Ant-Man Season one, Activity TP, Valen Outcast TP, a bunch of the DC new 52 trades, and not to mention a bunch of the books like X-Men Season one which have been listed again.

[Tempo House]

I think part of my dilemma is I don't know the creators yet so deciding purely based on who is behind the book isn't an option for me. I am not even familiar with most of the series so all I have to initially interest me is the cover art and description.

If you have a local comics store with knowledgeable staff who don't see it a burden to talk to their customers, you can always start with them.  You can tell them the types of things you generally like outside of comics (genres, tone, feel of movies, tv, prose books, etc) and they should get you started on certain writers and series. If not ... hey we're all a resource here. There may have even been a thread in the past with other people in your position.

My other issue is I really don't want to mix a series where I buy some in trade and some in issues. If I buy a trade for a series, I will stick with trades for that series. I also want to avoid double dipping if I can since there is enough out there I want to try without wasting money on buying something twice.

That transition is not easy ... the thing is, though, there is always some gap between a trade and the actual issues. If you like the trade, you can start digging into back issue bins and see if you can connect the trades to the issues, or take an educated guess on haw far the next trade will go. 

(a. if you see the current issue has "part X of Y" you know that when the series reaches "part Y or Y" that will be a trade, so you jump in on at "par 1 of Z",
b. you c an be sure that if there is a change of creators, it makes sense to start with single issues to get a sense of whether it is working for you, and also you know that the final issue of the previous writer will be put into some trade together, and
c. if there are no other clues, you may look at how many issues were collected in the first volume and take a blind shot at the multiples of that: 6, 12, 18 or 8, 16, 24 .... whatever.)

For example this month I have been tempted by Grimm Fairy Tales Omnibus, Ant-Man Season one, Activity TP, Valen Outcast TP, a bunch of the DC new 52 trades, and not to mention a bunch of the books like X-Men Season one which have been listed again.

If your LCS has one, the used trades bins are your best friend.

The policy I have in general is this:

1. if the single issues are not horribly decompressed, i.e., if you feel like there was some story in the issue you just read, I go with single issues. If it feels like you just read a relatively random pages off of a novel or a random 15 minute chunk of a tv show, I go to:
2. if the company has a good track record in trading, i.e., Marvel, I go with trades. If they are DC and/or Image where either the wait is too long or it is not a guarantee that you will get an eventual trade, I go to:
3. how much is this decompressed bs really promises to be rewarding at the end and how much it is getting on my nerves? If I am really interested, I keep buying the issues with fair amount of grumbling ... if not, I roll back to 2 and take my risks, and/or eventually drop the line.

That's just how I do it.

[InspectorSpacetime]

How do you decide what you are going to buy? if its isn't available in digital on sale then I'm not buying it in a single issue.
Ever get burned not buying the issues? if its not available in trade or digital then the publishers don't want my money. its the publishers job to try to pry the money from my hand. for too long they have just assumed that their fan base will blindly buy what ever they put out there like a pig at a troth.
its no coincidence that when publishers bottom out sales wise that they start to come out with their must creative work in an attempt to regain an audience.

[Dean S.]

I'm a single issue guy, so I can't offer much help on "what to buy". 

But, don't worry about not being able to find the single issues.  In this era of eBay and wonderful online shops, you can find everything and it's almost never expensive.  And....there's digital. 

[PozrDu]

I think lately that I buy some trades just as a soft breakup with a title.

"I've bought you in issues, and I'll call you.  I promise.
Here.  See, I bought your first trade.
We'll see what happens when Vol. 2 comes out."

I never call.

[turdougen]

How do you decide what you are going to buy? Do you just buy the first issue of anything interesting? Do you read via other means and then just pick up the trades? With trades there is obviously more of a financial investment into a new series compared to just buying the first few issues. At the same time you do have more issues that have been reviewed and previewed, but still no guarantee that you will actually enjoy what you read.
I usually go by creators I know I like.  If it seems incredibly cool and I haven't read or seen anything from the creators before I usually check review sites or podcasts I respect the opinion of first before taking the plunge.  It works for me...

Ever get burned not buying the issues? Have you ever skipped the issues only to not have a trade released and then the issues are tough to find?
Never got burned by not buying issues.  I buy digital now, read them on my ipad, and then if I like it enough and there's a nice hardcover or deluxe thingie out there I'll pick it up through dcbs or amazon. 
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[Jay Tomio - Part Deux]

Honestly, for 99% of comics, I don't even consider it "trade waiting" because I pay virtually zero attention to what comics are being put out monthly, so for me, the first time I see/hear about a book for the purposes of deciding whether to buy it is when I see the collected edition for sale.

Essentially, for me when it's traded might as well be the first time it's ever been seen.

[legion of daves]

i very rarely "trade wait."  i usually just get trades for stuff that i'm catching up to after the fact.  in the rare instances i do wait it's because i'm not convinced it's going to come out on a consistent schedule, or i'm not convinced of it's potential quality, so i wait it out and see what my friends think of it or see how it reviews before taking the plunge.

[PaulSharkey]

It's beena long time since ideas weekly books but the problem with trade waiting is that there is a buzz about monthly periodicals, especially superhero books that isn't there in trades. Digital has been a god send to me as I get to follow books one month after they come out (I wait for the price drop) and the buzz is normally still there.


Saying that I don't currently read any superhero book monthly

[Devilhand]

If I trade wait, I don't worry about issues.

My general rules of thumb are:

Buy indie comics, if you don't they may not complete their run - much less publish a trade of it.

Don't sweat big title stuff from Marvel and DC, that stuff will get traded two times over. The small stuff is riskier, but even then most shops order Marvel and DC, so you'll be able to fish the issues out of the back issue boxes with some effort.

I don't listen to comic podcasts. That helps me avoid spoilers and prevents me from getting hyped up for events. I think listening to a certain comic podcast several years back and falling for the Civil War hype really soured me on both comic podcasts and event books. You can just read the seven issues my pasty, hair covered behind! 

Digital could be a great way to replace the single issues, but digital comics should not cost more than 99¢.

Also, unless you're really married to your local comic shop, just order the trades from DCBService, Amazon, or CheapGraphicNovels.com. You local comic shop simply cannot compete with the discount level of these vendors. That is, if the volume of trades you're orders is creating a price problem for you.

Oh, and the only time I felt "burned" with trade waiting was with the last set of Green Lantern cross over trades. It was kind of a jumbled mess reading it as printed in the trades, when you were supposed to be jumping between two or three titles as the story progressed.

[jwaesch]

I think lately that I buy some trades just as a soft breakup with a title.

"I've bought you in issues, and I'll call you.  I promise.
Here.  See, I bought your first trade.
We'll see what happens when Vol. 2 comes out."

I never call.

Yup!  Great analogy.
Only a few titles I can think of off-hand that I switched to trade and still keep up with after the switch;BPRD, Sweet Tooth, The Sixth Gun

Anymore, it's one way or the other from the outset.