Comic Books 101

WEBVTT
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:00.719
Acroid.
00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:04.240
Dan acroid.
00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.759
The manager, the legend.
00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:13.519
It's either something you have to treat with a topical cream or I got acroids.
00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:15.279
Ah, my head is killing me.
00:00:15.439 --> 00:00:17.120
Do you have any more acroids in there?
00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:20.640
Hey man, I saw you playing Space Invaders.
00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:22.559
Have you ever played Acroids?
00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:32.880
Free radicals and acroids that need to be addressed by taking the Dispatch Ajax supplement boner pills.
00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:37.759
And by that I mean they are supplement to our regular boner pills.
00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:49.119
As part of the Galactic Crisis Council, we implore the Neuronians and the Acroids to come together for the fate of all alien kind.
00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:55.119
The warning factions of red and black actroids that are fighting over the fate of the Earth.
00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:57.119
Wait, this isn't an acroid.
00:00:57.200 --> 00:00:58.479
This is an actroid.
00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.079
Gentlemen, let's broaden our minds.
00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.280
Are they in the proper approach for today?
00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:21.519
Charge the lightning field.
00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:28.799
Well, welcome back to Dispatch Ajax.
00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:34.719
GQ and I have both worked in comic book stores and spent many of our formative years in them.
00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:37.280
I always felt a sense of camaraderie.
00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:41.200
It always made me feel like, oh, here's somewhere I actually belong.
00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:54.879
In its frank discussions about things that you don't have to explain yourself to people, people who already kind of get it, and then you don't have to explain to the girl sitting next to you in algebra why you're reading a comic book or what a comic book game it is.
00:01:55.120 --> 00:02:14.000
But I think that does sometimes have an unfortunate flip side where let's say you're not terribly familiar with all of the forget about just comic book lore, but the terminology formats and different vehicles that comic book companies use to deliver you this information.
00:02:14.159 --> 00:02:16.560
It can be intimidating if you don't know a lot.
00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:19.439
It can be intimidating if you do know a lot.
00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:35.439
So we thought we'd give you sort of a primer on the comic book industry and shop terminology so that the next time you go to a comic book shop, at least in this sense, you won't feel completely out in the cold or get the cold children from Mr.
00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:38.159
Freeze, Iceman, or Captain Cold.
00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:41.039
Always has, always will.
00:02:41.520 --> 00:02:42.080
Always will be.
00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:43.520
That's a cold dick.
00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:52.960
Don't worry if this seems a little rudimentary, but we wanted to start at a ground floor so that we can build for people with every level of knowledge on these topics.
00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:54.719
So let's begin at the beginning.
00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:56.159
Jake, what is a comic book?
00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:58.879
Well, thank you for asking, Skip.
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:01.599
Would you tell us, huh?
00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:04.639
I guess.
00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.159
So, what is a comic book?
00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:19.280
A modern comic book is roughly 6.625 by 10.1875 inch bound periodical, also known as a floppy.
00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:26.719
Generally holds between 22 and 32 pages of content, usually with a lot of advertisements in them and on them.
00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.560
Nowadays it's high-quality paper, but that's not how it used to be.
00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:32.879
In 1897, the G.W.
00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:39.120
Dillingham Company published a collection of reprints of the newspaper comic strip, The Yellow Kid.
00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:43.039
On the back, the term comic book appeared for the first time.
00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:48.800
Now back then, the word comic just meant funny, thus, these were called the funnies.
00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:51.599
1935.
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:54.240
Everything would just be in your local newspaper.
00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:06.080
Kids, I know you don't know what a newspaper is, but ask your grandpa, and he'll tell you that they were the ways that we received news and advertisements and entertainment.
00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:10.639
They'd be delivered to your uh your door, or you could get them at a local newsstand.
00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:12.560
Or you could steal them for your neighbor.
00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:22.639
Or you could hit the paperboy with your truck and just bring him and keep him under your house and take all of his papers and use them to line all the bird cages that you have.
00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:25.839
That was a dark entry into the paperboy game series.
00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:31.120
If you got it wrong too many times, like a choose your own adventure, that would be one of the things that would happen.
00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:33.279
It's a GTA paperboy.
00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:34.879
You'd get gay seed, you know.
00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:35.920
Nobody wants that.
00:04:36.240 --> 00:04:37.120
Oh god.
00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:39.040
I was gonna say newsied.
00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:51.040
The newspapers were so ubiquitous that they would literally use them to line bird cages, you'd use them to wrap presents if you couldn't find any wrapping paper, you'd shred them up and use them as filler and things.
00:04:51.360 --> 00:04:56.720
They were so everywhere, they were everywhere, they were on the streets, they were the way everything was consumed.
00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:07.600
Which also is one of the reasons initially, I believe, that a lot of adults didn't think that when comic books debuted, they were valuable, but things will change.
00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:08.160
Yes.
00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:16.959
All of the stories uh that you would be seeing, your your Dick Tracy's, your actual hubris characters, they would all be in the newspapers.
00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:22.319
Now in 1938, when Superman debuted, most comic books were still collections of comic strips.
00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:29.199
So they would just take comic strips that were in the newspaper, they would put them into a like combined format, and that's how you would read them.
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:37.519
So that kind of comic book would keep being published alongside the growing amount of superhero books until well into the 1960s.
00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:45.439
By that time, uh the name comic book, partly because the word comic was not only commonly used to refer to things that were funny anymore.
00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:52.800
The only thing most Americans associated with the word comic became sequential art that came in these floppy issues.
00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:56.720
Now, again, comic books are generally, again, sequential art.
00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:59.759
Used to tell stories of all varying types.
00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:03.839
Usually they are done one after another in a series.
00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:14.399
Sometimes the stories stand on their own, something we might call a one-shot, but a lot of times they are told in order to prolong a narrative for a character or an event.
00:06:14.560 --> 00:06:15.680
The biggest characters.
00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:30.399
This kind of stems out of the tradition of, at least the American tradition, obviously all these things have roots in Europe, but in the American tradition of printing pulp magazines and paperback books, they were called pulp because they were printed on cheap paper.
00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.759
They often included illustrations, especially the magazine formats.
00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:39.199
But the thing that makes the American comic book when Superman or when Action Comics No.
00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:53.759
But it is the debut of a standalone, uniquely American art form.
00:06:54.399 --> 00:06:57.519
This is the first time this format first develops.
00:06:58.000 --> 00:07:06.079
It's the combination of not just narrative storytelling through text or illustrated text, but a delicate balance between the two.
00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:19.519
And yeah, it's a little rough at first, because a lot of it is just narrating what's happening, what you're saying, but will culminate in a in a style so unique that it's told both harmoniously in balance between text and visuals.
00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:20.079
Yeah.
00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:28.480
And I think because of the way that pulp novels were made, distributed, and consumed, that also colored the way that comic books were thought of at the time.
00:07:28.560 --> 00:07:31.600
So pulp, it was literally disposable entertainment.
00:07:31.759 --> 00:07:33.040
That's how it was designed.
00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:35.600
You take it, read it, throw it away.
00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:38.319
In the UK, we started with the Penny Dreadful.
00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:38.720
Yeah.
00:07:38.959 --> 00:07:40.240
Or a detective story.
00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:43.360
And then those kind of get ported over here, but we don't call them the same thing.
00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:45.680
But then they very quickly turn into something else.
00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:52.319
And so when when pulp novels went the way of the dodo, that entertainment source was taken over by comic books.
00:07:52.480 --> 00:08:07.759
And comic books being of lesser quality paper, designed for both younger audiences and less complicated storytelling, they were immediately relegated to a lower form of entertainment.
00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:15.519
You know, not something that a dignified person would consume, something more for like the muling masses or young kids.
00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:17.839
And that was kind of the stigma that was placed on it.
00:08:18.079 --> 00:08:25.040
And funny enough, that perception also posed an opportunity when Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster created Superman.
00:08:25.199 --> 00:09:02.159
It started out as more of a zine or a almost a pulp-styled story about the plight of the Jewish people in Europe and Jewish Americans, because the first iteration, and I guess technically this you would think of it as an ash can by definition, which we will also talk about, started out with the Ubermensch, where Superman, the Ubermensch, was the villain based on Nietzsche, which was co-opted by the Nazis, and Superman in that was Bald, Allah Lex Luthor, and he was the oppressive Aryan presence that chased the Jews that had fled Europe to America.
00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:24.320
Schuster and Siegel very adeptly realized that if they wanted to tell their story to an audience of not just Jewish youth who needed a way to celebrate, you know, their faith and their traditions, but also accessible to oblivious white Anglo-Saxon Protestants and Catholics that were the majority of Americans at that point.
00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:47.279
They crafted the story of Superman, which we have discussed before, but it bears mentioning because that's part of the history of the creation of these things, that Superman was it's a retelling of the story of Moses, and it's a way for Jewish peoples to pass on their traditions in a more subtle and less stigmatized to avoid persecution and shame, sometimes programs.
00:09:47.679 --> 00:10:00.320
So the superhero, though that type of character still existed, at this moment, that's why we consider Superman the first superhero, because it's the first time this explicit hero shows up in his own book in this format.
00:10:00.559 --> 00:10:04.000
It's the birth of the entire comic book and superhero genre.
00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:07.679
Because you had the phantom and you had the shadow and things before in comic strips.
00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:13.519
But this is the first time it's its own thing, and it's a clearly defined superhero.
00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:14.000
Yes.
00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:31.200
Unless we expand it out, and we could get into Ogunbat, which we've discussed before, in our comic book movies episode, where we detail the entire history, comic books translated to movies and how that evolved over time, both within the comic book and the movie industry.
00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:32.720
Please do go check that out.
00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:34.320
It's a good series we did.
00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:35.279
Yeah, it was good.
00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:35.600
Yeah.
00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:37.519
As opposed to a lot of the other crap we put out.
00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:37.759
Yeah.
00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:39.120
We did a good job, that one.
00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:40.000
How about that?
00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:43.759
We executed the purpose of the uh podcast.
00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:49.840
So if you go into a comic shop, obviously you're gonna see a lot of single issues there.
00:10:50.000 --> 00:11:00.080
We'll get into other differences and intricacies within those, but you'll also probably see a lot of it would seem to be thicker comics, almost books out there.
00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:05.759
We'll get into the differences between what uh a trade paperback is and a graphic novel in time.
00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:21.519
But to start off with, a graphic novel in and of itself is essentially a standalone comic book story that's produced as a complete self-contained work, as opposed from like uh a serialized narrative that is then put together.
00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:32.960
But this is all one cohesive piece that gets a little complicated throughout the history of the term graphic novel, but let's let's dive into that just to give you a little basis of what that where that comes from.
00:11:33.200 --> 00:11:40.559
The graphic novel term was coined by Richard Kyle in issue two of Kappa Alpha Newsletter, published in 1964.
00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:55.440
Now, Kyle stated he would use the term graphic story and graphic novel to describe the artistically serious comic book strip, quote unquote, which in his mind referred to outstanding comics such as Harvey Kurtzman's and Bernard Kriegsted's EC comic stories.
00:11:55.759 --> 00:12:06.399
Kyle used the term again in the graphic story review column he contributed to Bill Spicer's Fantasy Illustrated issue number five in 1966.
00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:23.039
Now he used it as an aesthetic descriptor, summarized as quote unquote great artistic creativity that no child could have appreciated, but which would have electrified many intelligent adults if they'd permitted themselves to read comic books.
00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:26.960
Fanboy defensiveness already already cropping its ugly head up.
00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:33.759
Well, I mean it's it's been 30, 35 years since you know, essentially comic books were really truly on the market.
00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:40.320
And you're starting to get uh people pushing their glasses up their nose and looking down and saying, this is something real there.
00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:41.919
This isn't just kid stuff.
00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:49.679
Now it's obvious the pomposity and subcultural significance colored its interpretation for many thereafter.
00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.960
But it wasn't until the mid-late 70s that it caught on.
00:12:53.120 --> 00:13:02.879
It was the shift from cheap periodical pamphlet formats to higher quality and more expensive format designed at being sold in bookstores instead of newsstands.
00:13:03.039 --> 00:13:06.639
That is in the old days where you would be able to buy comic books.
00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:11.600
It was on newsstands or spinner racks at a drugstore.
00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:15.519
It didn't have shops specifically designed to sell comic books.
00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:37.919
This will tie in later, too, because the archetype of the buying a comic book from a newsstand is an underground spine throughout Watchmen by Alan Moore, where a lot of the narrative is told and it's sort of metatextually defined through a a little kid reading a comic book at a newsstand, a comic book of a different genre.
00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:45.840
It's we we can't get into too much of the meta-layeredness of Watchmen, but we will talk about some of the misconceptions based on this terminology.
00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:47.360
A picture in their mind of what we're talking.
00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:58.320
Now, in Europe, so-called albums, which were book form reprinting of newspaper strips and comic books, were quite popular and had become the high-end segment of comics publishing.
00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:04.320
Things like the adventures of Tintin or Tonton and Asterix being chief among them.
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:14.799
Now the term began to be used in the book trade, as it was said, quote unquote, large format paperbacks that depend upon pictures as much as words to tell stories.
00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:25.360
The two titles were Corbin's Neverware, 1978, published by Ballantine, and Jack Katz The First Kingdom, also published in 1978, published by Pocket Wallaby.
00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:33.360
Katz was an essential, if not inconspicuous, participant in the late 1970s popularization of the term graphic novel.
00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:46.480
In 1973, he created the idea of a mammoth 768-page sustained comic strip narrative, The First Kingdom, which he sold to his publisher, Bud Plant, as a graphic novel.
00:14:46.720 --> 00:15:00.559
The term truly becomes widely known after the release of Will Eisner's A Contract with God in 1978, the so-called graphic story, a whole novel in comic form, which helped popularize the concept and format in the comic book industry.
00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:09.200
In the 80s, the emergence of the direct distribution market embraced the graphic novel as a format that could be designed for specialty stores.
00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:25.120
Marvel graphic novels launched in 1982, and their format of 8.5 inch by 11-inch softcover one-shots printed on quality paper that were written and illustrated by big name creators became the template of other companies and alternative publishers at the time.
00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:35.840
As it continued to gain prestige and visibility in the mainstream, with more media coverage and notoriety, especially with the publication of Mouse in 1992 that won a Pulitzer Prize.
00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:47.360
That said, many booksellers saw this quote industry buzzword as a two to three book field, encompassing Mouse, Harvey Picar's American Splendor, and The Dark Knight Returns.
00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:58.320
It was also around this time that the graphic novels began to enter libraries, which was a huge boost in their visibility and widespread consumption.
00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:25.200
Now the push-pull between commerciality and pretension in the use of the term rather than other terms like picture novella, coined by Seth, the comic book creator, or comic strip novel, coined by Dan Klaus, both were tongue-in-cheek responses to what they perceive as the term's increasingly commercial connotations, but it has provided a pathway away from the juvenile comic book to something resembling quote legitimate literature.
00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:31.919
The discrepancy between the commercial meaning of the term in the comic book and its scholarly meaning in academia.
00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:38.559
Obviously, if you go into a comic shop and ask about a graphic novel, you might get a little bit of pushback.
00:16:38.799 --> 00:16:39.919
Or Blake Stare.
00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:49.360
Yeah, it kind of depends which type of comic book store employer you're getting or what it is you're exactly looking for.
00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:55.039
So they'll probably guide you over to something called a trade paperback or a TPB.
00:16:55.200 --> 00:17:01.120
Generally, this is a collection of previously published individual comic book issues that are bound together in a single volume.
00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:11.359
It's much easier for readability, for collecting the particular issues you want instead of having to pay exorbitant rates for things that are much harder to find as a single issue.
00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:19.599
As the years have progressed, the purpose of the graphic novel and the purpose of the trade paperback begin to blur.
00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:20.799
Oh boy, I have that.
00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:33.519
Because in say the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, it was much easier to just pick up a comic book and read it because a lot of them were pseudo-self-contained issues.
00:17:33.680 --> 00:17:39.519
If you picked up an issue of Superman, he doesn't need to be introduced, but he kind of introduced on the first page.
00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:44.160
And then he goes through an adventure and it resolves at the end of that issue.
00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:52.000
As comic books became more complicated, you started having uh storylines that would be created that lasted more than a single issue.
00:17:52.160 --> 00:18:03.680
And over the years that progressed to a kind of standardized format, most continuous comic books that are running are told in five to six issue storylines or story arcs.
00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:05.039
Sometimes twelve.
00:18:05.279 --> 00:18:08.240
Sometimes twelve, depending on the creator, depending on the book.
00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.559
Sometimes it runs into perpetuity.
00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:17.279
So something like the Hernandez Brothers, they tell stories almost in real time, like their uh Love and Rockets.
00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:18.720
It would run continuously.
00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:22.720
There were story arcs, but the characters would age as the comics would come out.
00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:35.039
So it's all one continuous story, as opposed to something like say a Spider-Man, where it's really based on creator of team taking over or like what size story they want to tell.
00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:50.319
You'll have maybe an overarching creator's run, which may be 50 issues, but there are four to five to six smaller stories that fit within that larger run, but in that run tells an overarching story.
00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:57.920
So if you've read it all 50 issues, you kind of come like a beginning point and a pseudo-defined end point.
00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:02.960
But in the nature of comic books, rarely are any of these characters creator-owned.
00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:16.640
So it's a large company gives somebody the characters to write and draw for a specific period of time to tell some story, ideally, probably staying within the bounds of what they want continuity-wise.
00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:25.119
So you can't make too many changes, not too many things can happen, but things can get wild within a defined space.
00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:34.559
So you have these issues, and if someone wants to come and read those, let's say you're at issue 50 of this guy's run that just ended, and you, oh, I want to read it.
00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:40.720
Well, you could either go get back issues, which are older single issues that might be spotty.
00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:46.640
Rarely are you going to find a complete one through a thousand at any comic book shop to go purchase.
00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:48.079
That's a finite resource.
00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:59.680
But with trade paperbacks, this is a way for you to go back and start at the beginning or read whole stories or whole chunks of a character's arc all bound together for readability purposes.
00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:02.319
And so this is where the interesting granular stuff comes in.
00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:02.960
Yeah.
00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:09.200
Just in the brief things we've already explained, we also mentioned there are complicated variables to go into that.
00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:21.200
And just the impetus for these formats and these definitions are both sort of philosophical and also practical, both physically and in a business sense.
00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:26.160
For instance, you explained the size of a modern, quote, floppy or single-issue comic book.
00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:30.960
Most people don't realize that trade paperbacks are actually a slightly different size.
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:44.160
A trade paperback in the modern sense is usually 6.69 inches wide by 10.19 inches tall, which is slightly different than the standard comic book.
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:54.240
And the reason for that is they're more likely to be put on bookshelves to stand flat as opposed to a single-issue comic book, which doesn't have a spine per se.
00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:58.960
And so they don't stand up the same way, and there's not a uniformity.
00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:18.240
So, yes, there are broad, generalized definitions that are on their own confusing, but those not only come from the abstract sort of concept of what these things are, but also the logistics of each and every one of them is both confusing when you get into the marketing stuff, but also completely uniform by design.
00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:22.480
That's why we're trying to explain these three because they're always a little bit different.
00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:28.400
I mean, the actual physical size of them does matter, even though we're going to argue that it doesn't.
00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:31.200
Well, it's all about what you're looking for.
00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:31.599
Yes.
00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:36.319
If you were to go to a comic shop today, let's say you wanted a specific Batman story.
00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:39.200
Well, of course, you might be able to find it in the single issues.
00:21:39.359 --> 00:21:41.519
You might be able to find it in the trade paperback.
00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:46.559
Perhaps you would like a higher quality version of this collected edition.
00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:53.680
You might get a hardcover edition, essentially a premium version of that same story, sometimes with some added material.
00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:57.200
But essentially the difference is it comes in a hardcover format.
00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.279
Maybe you want it to be part of a bigger edition.
00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:09.200
You can have Have an omnibus taking many of those trade paperbacks, a large story, maybe it's 75 issues, and all putting them in one book.
00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:13.519
It's sometimes soft cover, a lot of times hardcover, obviously a bigger price.
00:22:13.759 --> 00:22:18.160
Or there's also things where maybe you'd want it a smaller, a smaller, cheaper version.
00:22:18.319 --> 00:22:22.799
The DC Compact Comic Series that's coming out right now, extremely popular.
00:22:22.960 --> 00:22:26.720
If you are in a bookstore or a comic book shop, I'm sure you see them all over.
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:28.240
Very hot right now.
00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:34.960
Those trade paperback stories, or those graphic novels, depending on what it is, and depending on who you're talking to.
00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:35.599
Right.
00:22:35.839 --> 00:22:42.799
But they are the same material, but shrunk down into a 5.5 by 8.5 digest size.
00:22:43.039 --> 00:22:44.559
Now, these are industry terms.
00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:47.839
These definitions are usually both by delivery services.
00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:57.920
It used to be diamonds, they were the monopoly distribution company, and they would use these terms defined by their page numbers and dimensions.
00:22:58.079 --> 00:22:59.680
That's why those things are important.
00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:16.400
And also for regular bookstores and bigger book printers and publishers, not just comic book publishers, because they have their own defined sizes, which help them categorize things when you're ordering them, when you're doing inventory, when they're supposed to fit on a specific shelf.
00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:20.240
So it's this weird combination of both of those factors.
00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:24.559
The digest format was a thing that already existed long before comic books.
00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:28.559
That's not the only small form factor size, and we'll talk about some of those too.
00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:36.799
But it's this very specific combination of the comic book distributor, big publishers, and the publishing industry as a whole.
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:42.400
Because a lot of companies, a lot of comic book companies can't afford to do all of their own in-house printing.
00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:49.279
And so they use format sizes that are specifically standardized by publishing and printing companies.
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:50.000
Yes.
00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:56.960
And again, as I've flowed in the conversation, I have jumped back and forth between trade paperback and graphic novel.
00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:03.119
The essential difference at its core is, I think, intended purpose.
00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:10.400
I think one is a collection of previously printed stories that have been bound together for you to read.
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:17.920
And the other one is a singular, on its own, never printed before edition of a story.
00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:27.759
Both are from comic books using artistic narrative interpretation to provide enjoyment to you, but it's much more complicated.
00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:42.799
As you as you saw with those earlier quotes in the history of the term graphic novel, graphic novel became something, something to apply to stories that people thought were more mature, more layered, more sophisticated.
00:24:43.039 --> 00:24:46.160
So it became a term that got bandied about a lot.
00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:58.559
And it ruffled some people's feathers, uh, especially noted commercially genius, I would say, Alan Moore, who in 2014 he kind of went on a little bit of a rant about it.
00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:01.440
I don't do a good Alan Moore, so I'm not gonna try.
00:25:01.599 --> 00:25:04.079
I'm just gonna read it as a normal American man.
00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:07.279
Mumbling your way through a grizzled British accent.
00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:15.920
If you remember, in the 80s, there were tons and tons of headlines just saying, BAM, sock pow comics have grown up.
00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:26.319
And like they hadn't, there were about three or four halfway decent comic books, and the rest of it was still the same juvenile rubbish that had been produced for the last 40 to 50 years.
00:25:26.480 --> 00:25:33.759
What the comic boom of the 80s did was grant a license to a lot of people not to have to actually grow up.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:44.559
By calling them graphic novels, which was a term that I hated because they're not particularly graphic, and they're certainly not novels, usually they're 12 issues of She-Hulk stapled together.
00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:45.920
That is not a novel.
00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:59.680
What I think happened was that a lot of people who were just interested in the adventures of Green Lantern, even though they were 35 or 40 years old, having Watchmen gave them a way of saying, Oh, I'm not emotionally retarded.
00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:00.799
Oh, I am reading.
00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:03.839
And this is a graphic novel that is for adults.
00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:05.519
No, it's not.
00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:08.400
It's the same comics that you've been reading for ages.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:18.559
I would feel happier about it if graphic novel actually meant something more than it does at the moment, which is big expensive comic, and that's pretty much all it means.
00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:22.319
It's funny how wrong and right he is at the same time.
00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:24.160
Yeah.
00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:26.960
He's wrong and right for the same kind of reasons.
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:32.400
That's a great example because Watchmen, which is extremely thorny thing, it'd be very difficult to talk about.
00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:41.759
You know, conceptually, the idea was that he was writing comic books in the genre of comic books and taking a serious take on them, but using the tropes of comic books.
00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:46.960
No spoilers, but I mean a supervillain does a supervillain thing in a comic book format.
00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:49.440
And in it, they talk about reading comic books.
00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:54.799
In fact, you as the reader, in the comic book, read through the eyes of a character reading a comic book.
00:26:55.119 --> 00:26:57.599
It was released in 12 single issues.
00:26:57.759 --> 00:26:59.279
It was a comic book.
00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:04.240
When it is released in a collected format, DC calls it a graphic novel.
00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:12.319
Spiritually, it's Alan Moore is right there, and also the way that that term is used traditionally is also relatively accurate.
00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:17.359
But it is not a graphic novel, and it was never meant to be a graphic novel.
00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:28.640
So while technically it is a complete thought, it is a trade paperback, which means collected from the original 12 single-issue comic book run.
00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:30.880
This is where people get tripped up.
00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:41.839
And DC does not help the fact that often they slap graphic novel on the cover, or they say, you know, with that HBO show, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore.
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:43.680
It's like, well, it's not a graphic novel.
00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:46.240
It fits some of the criteria, but it isn't.
00:27:46.400 --> 00:27:46.799
Correct.
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:48.640
We understand your confusion.
00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:49.359
Yeah.
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:50.799
It is complicated.
00:27:50.880 --> 00:28:03.039
Uh, I think part of it is a format issue because it came out issues, but the way that, let's be honest, 95% of people who have ever read Watchmen, it was in a collective format.
00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:03.519
Yep.
00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:11.279
Because of that, and because it was seen as more sophisticated storytelling than Biff Bath Pow.
00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:14.079
And it was all meant to be read together.
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:25.279
I mean, yes, it came out individually, but unlike you know, a regular issue of the Flash or a Green Lantern that he talked about, it's kind of a necessity to read all of Watchmen all together.
00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:28.160
They do not function well singularly.
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:33.759
So it's kind of disingenuous to like say, like, well, it came out as issues, so it's meant to be read as issues.
00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:36.079
It's not really meant to be read that way.
00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:52.000
I don't know that I completely agree with that just because I think not only is he doing multiple layered metatextual commentary on the format and tone and content of comic books in general, and making a statement and critiquing genre at the same time.
00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:57.039
I think he wanted it to come out in single issues so that you'd be on the edge of your seat every month waiting for it to come out.
00:28:57.279 --> 00:28:59.920
I don't know if he had put it out just as a graphic novel.
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:17.599
If A, if DC would have done it at all, or B, it would have ever gained traction, because you could pick up an issue that was a dollar, but a$20 story from a guy you probably didn't really know, from an artist you probably didn't really know, about characters you didn't know.
00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:19.759
I don't know if that sells the same way.
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:25.039
So I think it's a little it's a little more complicated than this was his designed intent.
00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:27.920
Well, I think he's made it pretty clear what his intent is.
00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:38.960
Especially just by the nature, and I know this almost gets into a more philosophical reading, it almost strips away a layer of the experience he wants you to have when you're reading it collectively.
00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:44.079
You can read all 12 single issues back to back, and I think that's kind of what he wanted you to do.
00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:50.559
He is a tribute and commentary on the traditional printed-on newspaper comic book.
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:58.880
Though you're right, it is better to read it collected, it also loses something in that experience, which is why a movie was always a bad idea.
00:29:59.119 --> 00:29:59.440
I don't know.
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:00.880
I I think I disagree.
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:08.480
I don't think the inherent comic book nature pulls away from the intent of the story or the possibilities therein.
00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:11.839
But you're taking it out of its originally intended format when you're making a movie.
00:30:12.000 --> 00:30:16.960
I mean, I enjoyed the Watchman TV show, and you and I both liked it, but I mean I love the Watchman TV show.
00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:21.759
I think it's really good, but it's also not making the exact same the layered commentaries.
00:30:21.839 --> 00:30:28.799
It's just continuing the stories, but in a way that's finally competent, which had ever been able to pull off before that.
00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:46.160
Yes, in particular, Watchmen is a deeply layered treatise on what comic books are, format of comic books, and their purpose, both textually and metatextually, along with a vision of what heroes, especially heroes in a non-hero reality, look like.
00:30:46.319 --> 00:30:47.680
But I don't I don't know.
00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:55.519
I don't think that it's a killer to take that story out of that context to the point where it's not worth making.
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:56.799
It makes it difficult.
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.240
You definitely lose things, but I don't I don't know that's a death knell.
00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:04.400
I don't think that's the reason that Zack Snyder's Watchmen is not all that it could be.
00:31:04.640 --> 00:31:10.720
No, that one actually goes out of its way to actually almost touch on its own version of that critique.
00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:14.880
We should narrow the scope of watchmen because we could go talk about Watchmen for It's true.
00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:19.279
There's a distinct derision that comes from Alan Moore.
00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:29.920
I think that's tied in how he perceives comic books and comic book readers, and also his view of the industry and how he felt that he'd been treated with his work.
00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:36.640
This is someone who's completely divorced himself from his work and a lot of the financial uh elements of his work.
00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:41.440
He's a unique case, so uh you have to see where this is this is coming from.
00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:52.799
Alan Moore's the whole thing, but perhaps a better version of a graphic novel in this case would be something like Batman's the Killing Joke, also from Alan Moore, which came out in a prestige format.
00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:54.079
Not a single issue.
00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:55.359
Well, yes and no.
00:31:55.519 --> 00:31:55.680
Okay.
00:31:55.839 --> 00:32:02.720
I mean, it was a single issue, it was a one-shot, it was a thicker, a thicker comic, but a self-contained story.
00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:05.519
And the cover paper was different.
00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:07.279
There's a harder cardboard.
00:32:07.359 --> 00:32:08.880
Uh maybe cardboard isn't the right word.
00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:09.599
What am I trying to say?
00:32:09.839 --> 00:32:10.799
It was a thicker stock.
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:12.480
Okay, it's probably more of a card stock.
00:32:12.720 --> 00:32:13.759
Yeah, more of a card stock.
00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:14.079
Yes.
00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:15.039
The card was there.
00:32:15.279 --> 00:32:17.200
Just paper was it what came out.
00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:22.160
That's something that's been promoted as a graphic novel within the industry.
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:23.440
And I think that fits better.
00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:29.440
One, it is a higher quality in a lot of aspects, both production and creation.
00:32:29.599 --> 00:32:31.119
It's a self-contained story.
00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:39.519
It has been reprinted as such, often with a hardcover or even a larger version in a small version.
00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:44.400
In a small story, you can't really expand out to like an omnibus size.
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:53.039
But if you're looking for a truly premium comic book experience within the DC publisher, you get something like an absolute edition.
00:32:53.119 --> 00:33:01.759
And essentially, that is an oversized version of the comic book done in hardcover, pseudo-leather bound with a slipcase cover.
00:33:01.839 --> 00:33:20.240
A lot of times there's added material, whether that's a script or sketches, uh, variant covers, promotion materials, the premium experience for someone who truly loves a particular run or story, you would get that version to have the creme de la creme version of that kind of correct.
00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:22.079
That's the DC absolute edition.
00:33:22.319 --> 00:33:25.119
Marvel's version are called gallery editions.
00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:27.039
They've had some other names for them over the years.
00:33:27.200 --> 00:33:31.119
Dynamite does definitive editions, but they're all the same idea.
00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:33.759
Those are basically the same dimensions and materials.
00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:34.160
Yeah.
00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:40.799
Again, if you were going to a shop and you're just looking for a comic book, these are some of the different ways that you can consume the same thing.
00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:49.039
And some of those are graphic novels, some of those are technically high-quality versions of trade paperbacks, or collected editions or collected editions.
00:33:49.119 --> 00:34:01.440
I think collected editions is a great way to encompass all of those different versions of collected stories as opposed to a singular story put out just for that larger format or that bound uh edition.
00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:04.000
And then there's omnibuses if you want to get nasty.
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:04.480
Yeah.
00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:18.960
As we mentioned before, if you're looking for a generally pretty expensive but larger, you know, maybe you're looking for 25, 35, 50 issues of a comic book all bound together, you can pick up an omnibus.
00:34:19.199 --> 00:34:23.760
And there are many different deluxe hardcover collections and graphic novels out there.
00:34:23.920 --> 00:34:28.000
Some do vary in size, a lot of them are padded out with other stuff like you're talking about.
00:34:28.159 --> 00:34:40.800
So if you're walking into a store like that and you are looking for a very specific thing, we're hoping to guide you in a way that helps you understand what you're asking for, and that you can even spot on the shelf based on its dimensions.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:52.480
And then when things get a little more granular, like you have more questions or someone's asking you questions about what you're looking for, this can help you narrow those things down so that you don't get frustrated and storm out of the store.
00:34:52.639 --> 00:35:05.360
If you go into a comic store, let's say you don't know anything about being in a comic store, you're getting your nephew, that Spider-Man comic, to help you navigate that entire experience because it can be daunting if you don't know.
00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:11.199
It's one of those things where if you don't watch sports and you go to a party where everybody's talking about sports, you might feel really lost.
00:35:11.360 --> 00:35:21.360
Or you go to a you tag along with your father-in-law to a car show and everybody's talking car joggering, and you're like, I don't know, I I have an automatic, like I drive a Prius or whatever.
00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:27.039
It'll help narrow this down and give you a fair a fair shot at not feeling terribly alienated and awkward.
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:34.480
The other formats that you will see in terms you will hear thrown around are things like digest formats, which are a very specific size.
00:35:34.719 --> 00:35:40.000
Then there's an ash can, which is uh unique to the American comic book concept.
00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:49.599
It is funny to note that while the ash can has been democratized, the original intent for an ash can was essentially a scam.
00:35:49.920 --> 00:36:07.440
So the United States Patent and Trademark Office had very specific criteria, and to circumvent some of the patents that were already out there, some companies tried publishing a comic book in a different format to avoid trademark and copyright laws.
00:36:07.599 --> 00:36:16.000
There would be certain companies they would publish a comic and then provide a copy of it to the trademark office as proof that the comic was published.
00:36:16.159 --> 00:36:25.039
So in this industry jargon, to be published as a comic book, the term is that it would be marketed as quote in the trade so that it can be trademarked.
00:36:25.199 --> 00:36:31.199
That's where we eventually get trade paperback as a definition, not just of comic books, but now sort of co-opted by comic books.
00:36:31.360 --> 00:36:35.599
And so they would just show them these comics that were crudely printed.
00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:40.239
The cover would be whatever they were trying to prove was real and then receive a trademark.
00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:52.320
But then they knew they would never actually read the contents of the comic, so they could put whatever the fuck they wanted on the front, and then they could just reprint somebody else's comic and steal it, and then obviously that didn't last forever.
00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:56.000
Uh like we said, these terms have evolved and changed over time.
00:36:56.239 --> 00:37:00.800
Ashcans started during the right off the bat with the golden age of comics in the 30s and 40s.
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:03.360
By the 1980s, they were a very different thing.
00:37:03.519 --> 00:37:08.079
The idea is that one company had an idea and it's going to be stolen by the rival company.
00:37:08.320 --> 00:37:12.239
A lot of it, what they would do is what Asylum Studios does.
00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:19.840
With these, they would give you a misleading title on the cover, and then they would put something else inside.
00:37:20.079 --> 00:37:21.440
All you had to do was sell it.
00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:24.159
The rest of it you could just throw it away because they already got your money.
00:37:24.480 --> 00:37:28.559
For instance, sometimes they were trying to do this to give away from other trademark stuff that they were doing.
00:37:28.719 --> 00:37:35.599
Fawcett Comics did an ash can for the first appearance of Captain Marvel, otherwise known as Shazam now.
00:37:35.760 --> 00:37:40.480
But the original company published it under the title Flash Comics.
00:37:40.719 --> 00:37:46.639
But National Comics, which would eventually become DC, had already trademarked that name, The Flash.
00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:54.400
So it was an attempt to trick people into thinking this guy with the lightning bolt on his chest was in some way related to the Flash.
00:37:54.559 --> 00:38:12.480
Then they tried tried once again to trademark Thrill Comics for a different title, but that company, the company that they were trying to rip off there, had already trademarked that name as well, so they couldn't do that Ash can, and instead they changed it to Wiz Comics and eventually just published it as an actual goddamn comic.
00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:18.000
So these were basically a way for you to buy cheap, small printed comics.
00:38:18.239 --> 00:38:20.320
It was a really cheap bait and switch.
00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:35.920
And they tried really hard to trademark these as they went along, but people caught on, and in 1946 they started allowing companies to register the intent to release a trademark, so there was no real need for this type of chicanery.
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:38.239
But the Ashcan didn't go away.
00:38:38.400 --> 00:38:44.320
It came back in the 1980s as sort of a kindred spirit to the zine.
00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:48.239
Now, a little bit about zines, you don't know, because they're in the news.
00:38:48.320 --> 00:39:03.679
But basically, zines were self-published works by artists and writers, people in the punk community, anybody who wants to self-publish in a way that is inexpensive, accessible, and you put it in your pocket, essentially.
00:39:03.920 --> 00:39:10.239
It's a DIY punk version of a digest, but an original story or a collection of original stories.
00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:13.199
They're diverse, they're imperfect by design.
00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:14.480
It's leaned into.
00:39:14.639 --> 00:39:21.519
I mean, you can have a zine with pages of poetry or traditional visual narrative comic writing, manifestos, you know.
00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:26.079
So those became a way to express yourself and circulate it.
00:39:26.320 --> 00:39:32.159
Zines always are in small circulation, they're DIY, they come in different formats and compositions.
00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:43.599
They're usually either personal anecdotes or political critique or talking about niche, you know, topics, and they're usually either stapled or straight up just folded.
00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:45.679
And they're about the size of a digest book.
00:39:45.840 --> 00:39:47.280
About the size of a digest book.
00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:54.159
The ash can itself was reclaimed after the underground popularity of zine culture.
00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:58.239
I think it's a direct spin-off, but a but more of a specific intent.
00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:09.199
So in 1984, a guy named Bob Burden started publishing a zine that would eventually become defined as an ash can with the uh with the character the flaming carrot.
00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:10.880
I don't know if you remember flaming carrot.
00:40:11.119 --> 00:40:11.679
I certainly do.
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:17.920
That was that was the difference here is that it is still cheaply made, it is still meant to be cheap and circulated underground.
00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:21.519
But this was actually printed and published by a a comic book publisher.
00:40:21.599 --> 00:40:51.760
Uh so that's where the industry sort of takes on the zine format and turns it into a proof of concept to test the waters, to either prove it to other publishers, to pitch it to get it picked up or whatever, or because it's so cheap and easy to circulate, to gain momentum and sort of a grassroots marketing, but they use the traditions and the mechanisms that zines were circulated with, and think of them as pilots for testing the interest and gaining interest for a new comic book.
00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:53.360
So that's eventually what they would become.
00:40:53.440 --> 00:41:09.440
And then this would get kind of corrupted later because then Rob Leifeld did Ashcan editions of Youngblood comics, Jimmy Palmiatti and Joe Cusato, and they had that character Ash, which is like a firefighter-turned superhero, if I remember right, for Valiant Comics.
00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:11.760
They put out their own Ash Can editions.
00:41:12.000 --> 00:41:13.360
Some of those are legitimate.
00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:21.440
They're like, this is my testing out the waters before I publish the real book, or after the fact, this is how I came up with the characters, and here's all the stuff.
00:41:21.599 --> 00:41:25.360
It all kind of gets muddled later, and it's it's not its original intent.
00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:32.400
But think of it as sometimes positive, sometimes negative version of a genuine zine, but co-opted by the actual comic book industry.
00:41:32.559 --> 00:41:39.519
Then you get into other sizes like Marvel's Conan series was published in a much larger format.
00:41:39.679 --> 00:41:41.519
Was that just called magazine size?
00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:42.320
I believe so.
00:41:42.559 --> 00:41:45.199
Because it was the size of Time Magazine, Time or Life.
00:41:45.360 --> 00:41:50.239
Then there are sizes like oversized editions, which are essentially 8x12.
00:41:50.400 --> 00:41:52.800
Kingdom Come did one in a hardcover.
00:41:52.960 --> 00:41:55.280
And then there's the bigger oversized ones.
00:41:55.519 --> 00:42:06.480
Alex Ross did Superman Piece, Batman 1-2, they did a Wonder Woman one, he did a Trinity, and they were this enormous magazine size, but they were also bound with a spine and not soft pump.
00:42:06.639 --> 00:42:08.559
They weren't hardcovered, but they were that cardstock covered.
00:42:08.719 --> 00:42:12.400
More closely akin to the uh treasury size or tabloid size.
00:42:12.639 --> 00:42:14.480
Sort of a tribute to the treasury size.
00:42:14.639 --> 00:42:14.800
Yeah.
00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:18.320
Those are 10 and a quarter by 13 by 5, 13 and a half.
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:26.159
And these are important not just for making them stand out from one to the other, but let's say you're a collector, or you just want to get that comic book home safely.
00:42:26.320 --> 00:42:30.400
You want to make sure it lasts longer than getting thrown away immediately after reading.
00:42:30.559 --> 00:42:34.719
You need to know and standardize these sizes to get bags and boards.
00:42:34.880 --> 00:42:39.440
Another thing that you need to know if you go to a comic book store, traditionally they are sold.
00:42:39.519 --> 00:42:45.280
Well, not everybody does it the same way, but if you want to preserve your comic, you will be either offered or asked for a bag and board.
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:47.920
You can get just a bag, but often a bag and board is going to go.
00:42:48.079 --> 00:43:00.719
Those are literally just acid-free polyurethane bags and cardboard boards that keep your comic book pristine, sealed if necessary, upright, and able to transport and eventually collect if that's your desire.
00:43:01.199 --> 00:43:04.800
Those other niche sizes, for most of you, you don't need to know it.
00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:08.719
But it is good information to have, especially if you're looking for something very specific.
00:43:08.880 --> 00:43:16.639
There are so many different editions of, let's say, the Sandman, there's the Sandman Omnibus, there's the Sandman Deluxe Edition, Director's Cut.
00:43:16.719 --> 00:43:21.679
So if you want to go in there and go, hey, I saw that Sandman show on Netflix, I'd like to read the whole thing.
00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:27.760
They might try and upsell you on one of the hardcovers, or the prestige version, or the absolute edition, or the omnibus.
00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:34.000
If you want the individual issues, that's gonna be really hard to get, but your best bet is to go and get a trade paperback.
00:43:34.079 --> 00:43:40.719
And even if it says graphic novel by whomever on any of those books, it's not necessarily a graphic novel.
00:43:40.880 --> 00:43:43.679
What you want is most likely a trade paperback.
00:43:43.760 --> 00:43:45.840
And that's kind of what you're gonna be going for most of the time.
00:43:46.079 --> 00:43:50.880
I would say if you are getting those bags and boards, they're also different sizes based on the comics.
00:43:51.039 --> 00:43:51.760
Yes, exactly.
00:43:51.920 --> 00:43:56.239
So comics, the floppies, the single issues, over the years have changed sizes.
00:43:56.400 --> 00:43:56.559
Yep.
00:43:56.719 --> 00:43:59.760
The original, what's considered golden age of comic books is.
00:44:00.079 --> 00:44:10.159
Which is generally the late 1930s to the early 1950s, was a much larger size, closer to a magazine size than a standard floppy issue now.
00:44:10.559 --> 00:44:13.199
Seven to seven and a half by ten and ten and a half inches.
00:44:13.599 --> 00:44:14.159
There you go.
00:44:14.320 --> 00:44:16.079
After that, you had the Silver Age.
00:44:16.239 --> 00:44:19.519
That was essentially the late 1950s to the early 1970s.
00:44:19.840 --> 00:44:24.880
So that size is between 6.75 inches and seven inches by 10.25 inches.
00:44:25.039 --> 00:44:29.039
And that's specifically so that they could fit in the spinner racks at drugstores.
00:44:29.760 --> 00:44:30.079
See?
00:44:30.159 --> 00:44:31.360
The spinner racks came back.
00:44:31.519 --> 00:44:32.000
Yeah, they did.
00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:32.800
They actually did.
00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:34.639
But now they're sized for comic books.
00:44:35.599 --> 00:44:36.800
How the turns have tabled.
00:44:37.119 --> 00:44:37.280
Yeah.
00:44:37.519 --> 00:44:44.400
Now they're for the after Silver Age, you had the Bronze Age, which is the period from 1970s to about 1985.
00:44:44.719 --> 00:44:50.480
And then after that, they essentially have the same size of the modern age of comics.
00:44:50.880 --> 00:44:53.840
Bronze and Modern are about the same size.
00:44:54.000 --> 00:44:56.079
They both fit in the same bag and board.
00:44:56.559 --> 00:45:07.679
The difference is like uh they're both 6.625 inches wide, but Bronze Age was like 10.1875 inches tall, and modern is like 10.25 inches tall.
00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:10.559
So I mean it's it's negligible, but there is a difference.
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:13.599
So when you're buying bags and boards, remember there are distinctions.
00:45:13.840 --> 00:45:16.719
Specifically for this, not as much between bronze and and modern.
00:45:16.880 --> 00:45:19.440
If you get modern, they usually don't put bronze on it.
00:45:19.519 --> 00:45:21.199
You you just fit a bronze in a modern.
00:45:21.280 --> 00:45:21.440
Yeah.
00:45:21.599 --> 00:45:26.000
Usually they're just gonna be selling gold and silver magazine and modern.
00:45:26.159 --> 00:45:31.519
Yeah, and then they do have digest ones, and then you have certain other really specific ones, but you have to kind of order those.
00:45:31.760 --> 00:45:42.960
Yeah, you gotta special order those, and depending on how much of dick your retailer is, or if they're available, because sometimes if you're ordering something super specific, you might just need to buy in bulk, and that's just the way it is.
00:45:43.119 --> 00:45:47.599
Yeah, because they don't have that and they're not going to carry it after you, so keep that in mind.
00:45:47.840 --> 00:45:51.039
One of the reasons we're bringing these up, it's important to know what you're asking for.
00:45:51.119 --> 00:45:59.440
So let's say if you went, you've got a trade, or you found a golden or silver age book specifically for SIM present or a part of your collection or whatever.
00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:02.239
Don't just assume you can put that in a modern bag.
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:16.639
They need each of those requires specific sizes because if you try and squeeze a fucking amazing fantasy comic or an action comics from the early 50s into a modern or even in that case, silver age bag, you're gonna fuck it up.
00:46:16.800 --> 00:46:19.920
So if it doesn't go in smoothly, don't force it.
00:46:20.079 --> 00:46:22.880
This is also our our love life advice.
00:46:23.039 --> 00:46:31.519
Yeah, no amount of fine wine, chocolates, or a nice dinner date is gonna make that golden age fit any better into a modern age bag.
00:46:31.679 --> 00:46:32.719
You're gonna ruin it for everybody.
00:46:32.800 --> 00:46:41.199
You're gonna ruin it forever, and you're probably not gonna be able to get it graded for as high as you as you would if you're gonna send it off to CGC, an official comics grading company.
00:46:41.440 --> 00:46:43.199
Which you can also do in your love life.
00:46:43.280 --> 00:46:46.320
You can actually get them to come out and evaluate your techniques.
00:46:47.199 --> 00:46:52.320
They put it in a hard plastic case so you can no longer enjoy it the way you used to.
00:46:52.480 --> 00:46:52.960
And you know what?
00:46:53.119 --> 00:46:54.159
They judge really harshly.
00:46:54.400 --> 00:46:57.599
Yeah, I had too much yellowing, that's why I got a lower grade.
00:46:58.880 --> 00:47:00.559
Was this acid-free?
00:47:01.360 --> 00:47:04.079
When they tell you to wrap it up, you better wrap it up.
00:47:04.480 --> 00:47:05.519
Wrap it up.
00:47:05.920 --> 00:47:13.119
Some other points for normies or people who don't want to feel alienated, like in High Fidelity or the comic book guy in The Simpsons.
00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:15.360
New comics come out every Wednesday.
00:47:15.519 --> 00:47:18.800
That is different than records and also movies.
00:47:18.960 --> 00:47:20.480
Things like that come out on Tuesdays.
00:47:20.639 --> 00:47:22.400
Comic books come out on Wednesdays.
00:47:22.719 --> 00:47:29.360
If you want to go find a comic, the next issue of a comic, could you actually records are released Fridays.
00:47:30.559 --> 00:47:30.880
What?
00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:32.079
They used to be Tuesdays.
00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:33.920
Globally released on Fridays.
00:47:34.239 --> 00:47:36.960
So when I worked at Best Buy, it was always Tuesday.
00:47:37.519 --> 00:47:42.800
And I remember on I I think they just so I also worked at Best Buy.
00:47:42.880 --> 00:47:50.400
We have we've uh our Venn diagram is is one black dot um of despair.
00:47:51.679 --> 00:47:52.159
Yeah.
00:47:52.320 --> 00:47:56.239
I know that CDs and and movies were always Tuesdays.
00:47:56.400 --> 00:48:01.199
I think they would release on Fridays, but we just wouldn't put them out until we put everything on the side.
00:48:01.519 --> 00:48:02.000
Oh, yeah.
00:48:02.320 --> 00:48:04.880
Yeah, because you'd have to have time to put up the displays and all that shit.
00:48:04.960 --> 00:48:05.360
Yeah, yeah.
00:48:05.519 --> 00:48:15.840
And I remember that very specifically because on 9-11, which was a Tuesday, my first thought was, well, damn, I'm not gonna be able to go get the new DM IP Giants album today.
00:48:17.519 --> 00:48:19.199
So I bought it the next day.
00:48:20.480 --> 00:48:21.519
Oh, that's funny.
00:48:21.679 --> 00:48:22.079
Mm-hmm.
00:48:22.400 --> 00:48:24.719
So you don't have to ask, it's always on Wednesdays.
00:48:24.960 --> 00:48:35.840
And if you're looking for specific individual issues, but they're not on the new comics shelf or rack, depending on what kind of store you go to, they will tell you you can look in the back issues.
00:48:36.320 --> 00:48:44.239
Back issues are simply older issues that they still hold on to because they hope they will sell one day, but they're just there for you to peruse and buy.
00:48:44.320 --> 00:48:49.760
And they're usually either in the fancy stores, they're in uh drawers specifically made for these things.
00:48:49.920 --> 00:48:56.000
But in most places, they're gonna be long boxes or short boxes stacked up on top of each other, which brings us to the next thing.
00:48:56.159 --> 00:48:58.159
What's a long box and what's a short box?
00:48:58.400 --> 00:49:05.840
Long boxes and short boxes are very much what they sound, they are boxes with handles on either side, usually white, with a top-loading lid.
00:49:05.920 --> 00:49:16.000
And they do come in different sizes too, because there are golden age and silver age long and short boxes, but basically they're two different size boxes for you to house your comic book collections.
00:49:16.079 --> 00:49:24.639
The short boxes is literally half the size if you want to contain or coalesce all of your comics in one place, you should get long or short boxes.
00:49:24.800 --> 00:49:28.960
I think the best way to determine what box you should get is how many comics you want to put in.
00:49:29.039 --> 00:49:32.320
So a long box generally holds between 200 and 300 comics.
00:49:32.400 --> 00:49:36.079
Yeah, I usually say about 250 if they're bagged and boarded.
00:49:36.239 --> 00:49:40.079
A short box is probably closer to 100 to 150 in there.
00:49:40.239 --> 00:49:40.480
Yep.
00:49:40.559 --> 00:49:41.920
That is a good way to determine.
00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:53.440
And unless you're really just like into it, don't let anyone try and upsell you with those graphic printed long boxes or short boxes, because they're way too expensive and they don't really do anything, especially for something that's probably going in your closet.
00:49:53.599 --> 00:49:54.719
So don't bother.
00:49:54.960 --> 00:49:56.480
Unless you want to display them, you know.
00:49:56.639 --> 00:49:57.760
But they are more expensive.
00:49:58.079 --> 00:49:58.880
Much more expensive.
00:49:59.119 --> 00:50:03.280
Bags, boards, long and short boxes, those are the keys to storing comics.
00:50:03.519 --> 00:50:10.639
And for whatever reason you want to store them, any combination of those things will be, depending on your intent, are what you're going to need.
00:50:10.800 --> 00:50:13.920
Now, with a pull, I know every store is different.
00:50:14.079 --> 00:50:19.679
Some of them make you sign fucking contracts where they just like terminate all of your shit if you ever miss one.
00:50:19.920 --> 00:50:23.440
But the idea of a pull is most of the time it's just it's a handshake agreement.
00:50:23.519 --> 00:50:29.840
But you go into a comic book store, let's say you want an issue of a comic or a graphic novel trade paperback that isn't out yet.
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:33.519
Go in and you'll give them your name, your number, your email address, what have you.
00:50:33.679 --> 00:50:43.679
What comic books would you like for them to pull off of the new comic shelf and make sure they save that for you so that it doesn't get sold and pulled right off the shelf.
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:46.719
So to ensure that you can get that issue.
00:50:46.880 --> 00:50:55.119
And also it's a way for you to collect if you want to get weekly, monthly issues, multiple issues that you want to get regular, those will go on your poll.
00:50:55.199 --> 00:51:01.920
Think of it as a subscription service, but physically talking to a guy and writing it down and not having to pay HBO Max or whatever.
00:51:02.159 --> 00:51:02.400
Yeah.
00:51:02.559 --> 00:51:03.920
And every shop is different.
00:51:04.079 --> 00:51:07.920
What they'll allow, how often you can change things, add drop things.
00:51:08.159 --> 00:51:13.440
I would say the thing we ask is that you just be up to date on things.
00:51:13.599 --> 00:51:19.519
They didn't want to pick up death stroke, and they you couldn't wait six months to let that back up and then pick up death stroke.
00:51:19.679 --> 00:51:21.280
You needed to stay on top of things.
00:51:21.440 --> 00:51:28.559
Also, if you decide you don't like something, but you have multiple issues built up in your pull list, think of it like anything else.
00:51:28.719 --> 00:51:33.199
Every every place is different, but most comic shops, they're buying these for you specifically.
00:51:33.360 --> 00:51:37.599
So if you want a particular comic, we're ordering it for you specifically.
00:51:37.760 --> 00:51:44.000
We're not buying ordering in bulk and then pulling out from what we'd normally put on the wall to put in a pool spot.
00:51:44.079 --> 00:51:49.920
We're ordering for the wall of what we think we can sell off the wall of a given comic and the pool.
00:51:50.079 --> 00:51:56.639
So if you say you don't want something, especially something that's two, three, four months old, the shop just has to eat that money.
00:51:56.719 --> 00:52:00.239
So a lot of places just ask that you pick up whatever you have pulled.
00:52:00.320 --> 00:52:06.880
And sometimes we would pull things for people if we thought they would want it, but we didn't hold them accountable for those things.
00:52:07.039 --> 00:52:17.199
So if they were big fans, let's say an indie book about crime, and there's a new really good indie book about crime from a similar author and artist.
00:52:17.360 --> 00:52:19.679
We were like, Oh, we think you'll like this.
00:52:19.840 --> 00:52:22.400
We'll pull you the first issue, see if you like that.
00:52:22.559 --> 00:52:25.920
If they came in and was like, No, I don't want that, we're like, No, that's no problem.
00:52:26.000 --> 00:52:26.880
We just thought you'd dig it.
00:52:27.039 --> 00:52:36.000
It all depends on your relationship with the people working at the shop, how well you guys know each other, if your tastes align, what they're into and what you're into.
00:52:36.639 --> 00:52:44.559
You know, it's it's a complicated relationship, but depending where you're at, depending on the shop, depending on the people, it may be something that they do for you as a service.
00:52:44.719 --> 00:52:53.840
And again, this is one of the reasons that you're getting stuff from a comic shop and not getting it digitally or getting some some mail service is that we're here to help you.
00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:59.920
We're here to find what you need, get you what you need, and also help you find new things you didn't know you wanted 100%.
00:53:00.320 --> 00:53:02.239
Um, because we have that knowledge.
00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:06.000
It is the argument for the brick and mortar experience.
00:53:06.239 --> 00:53:16.320
Because downloading digital things is fine, but discovering new things through this genre, there aren't TV advertisements for new Vertigo comics.
00:53:16.480 --> 00:53:28.480
The only way you discover new things or share things with new things with people that or old things that other people don't know about is to go into the store, create a relationship with the people that work there.
00:53:28.639 --> 00:53:37.280
And yes, that can be intimidating, sometimes they're condescending, but that's just because it's often a stigmatized part of our society, and so a lot of kids have chips on their shoulders.
00:53:37.360 --> 00:53:42.400
But for the most part, and it's customer service, yeah, and they're not getting paid very well.
00:53:42.880 --> 00:53:57.920
But yes, you're not getting paid very well, you're dealing with people all day, every day, a lot of times asking the same questions, you know, the the same you develop the same jaded opinions about both people and things, and sometimes it's hard to hold those things back.
00:53:58.079 --> 00:54:00.880
You know, I've been a dick at the shop when I worked there.
00:54:00.960 --> 00:54:05.679
I didn't mean to be, I didn't realize I was being such an asshole, but I've done it.
00:54:05.840 --> 00:54:17.599
I try not to let that come out, you know, unless there's too much eye-rolly, the same questions, or especially the people who don't actually want to buy things, they just want to hang out in the shop.
00:54:17.760 --> 00:54:18.239
Oh, yeah.
00:54:18.320 --> 00:54:20.239
They want to talk shop, they don't want to shop.
00:54:20.400 --> 00:54:22.800
Yeah, this is how I am making my living.
00:54:22.960 --> 00:54:29.199
You wouldn't expect someone to come into a bar and just sit at the bar and talk to the bartender and not buy a drink.
00:54:29.440 --> 00:54:42.239
Yeah, I mean, and because we have the perspective of both being patrons and working at comic book stores, we do carry that knowledge on how to navigate those awkward situations, potentially awkward situations.
00:54:42.480 --> 00:54:53.360
The best way to not have a bad experience at a comic book store is just to be a regular patron, don't be afraid to ask questions, but to streamline your query and your experience.
00:54:53.519 --> 00:54:59.599
It is helpful to have a certain baseline knowledge of what you're looking for and how to ask for it.
00:54:59.760 --> 00:55:09.119
Not because you have to cater to jargon or bad faith actors, but because you'll probably gain a lot of respect and they'll enough feel like they have to geek explain things to you.
00:55:09.280 --> 00:55:15.920
It's the easiest way to cut off guys that are dicks of comic bookstores and also help you find what you're looking for more easily.
00:55:16.000 --> 00:55:17.440
That's the best advice we could give.
00:55:17.679 --> 00:55:25.440
I would say the only other thing that really jumps out at me is another big thing in comic shops and bookstores is manga.
00:55:26.079 --> 00:55:26.320
Yes.
00:55:26.480 --> 00:55:42.400
Now manga could be its own whole episode that honestly I don't feel versed enough to truly get into the depth necessary, but essentially manga are Japanese comics, usually bound together in a a smaller, closer akin to a digest format.
00:55:42.559 --> 00:55:44.880
Yeah, five inches by 7.5 inches usually.
00:55:45.039 --> 00:55:46.719
It's about average, I would say.
00:55:47.280 --> 00:55:47.599
Okay.
00:55:50.320 --> 00:55:50.480
Okay.
00:55:51.039 --> 00:55:56.880
In manga, the way I would always explain it is that there are manga about anything and everything.
00:55:57.440 --> 00:55:59.840
Now, again, they have their own specifics.
00:56:00.000 --> 00:56:02.880
Generally, most manga are done in black and white.
00:56:03.039 --> 00:56:09.280
The format is usually in the Japanese style, so it's read from right to left instead of the western left to right.
00:56:09.760 --> 00:56:14.880
If you're getting into some mangas, they can be extremely lengthy.
00:56:15.039 --> 00:56:24.400
I mean, there are the one piece manga spans over 1,170 chapters, compiled into more than 114 volumes.
00:56:25.199 --> 00:56:28.800
Just as an example, they can be extremely large.
00:56:28.960 --> 00:56:32.000
So it can be a bit daunting getting into some of that.
00:56:32.159 --> 00:56:41.840
And as opposed to, say, your standard superhero comic book in the West, these tend to be drawn-out long stories that have a beginning, middle, and end.
00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:46.159
You don't have other writers and creators coming in to like take over these characters.
00:56:46.320 --> 00:56:49.599
Essentially, it's one person's vision the entire way through.
00:56:49.679 --> 00:56:53.760
So you can't really just like, I'm gonna pick up one piece volume 34 to check it out.
00:56:53.920 --> 00:56:57.440
I mean, you could, but that's probably not the way it's intended.
00:56:57.599 --> 00:56:59.920
You're gonna miss a lot of the story that way.
00:57:00.079 --> 00:57:00.320
Yep.
00:57:00.480 --> 00:57:05.840
And again, there are like a billion different subcategories of manga.
00:57:06.000 --> 00:57:20.960
I would say ask your local comics purveyor, depending on what you're looking for, so that they can point you where you need to go and what it is you might want, whether that's shonen or isekai or shojo or yaoi or you know, whatever.
00:57:21.199 --> 00:57:21.760
Hentai.
00:57:21.920 --> 00:57:30.079
Yeah, that is one of the things that we don't emphasize as much because we grew up with American comics, but the industry and interests have shifted with Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
00:57:30.159 --> 00:57:33.119
So we'll probably revisit more of that in the future.
00:57:33.280 --> 00:57:50.079
But this was a primer mostly for just the average to above average patron of a comic book store, someone who's never even been in one, and how to make that experience smoother and impress your friends and the Starky fanboys that you thought ignored you when you went in the first time.
00:57:50.320 --> 00:57:54.400
Three other, I think, important golden rules when coming into a comic shop.
00:57:54.480 --> 00:57:57.679
One, you don't ask what the most expensive comic in the store is.
00:57:58.000 --> 00:57:58.559
Don't do that.
00:57:58.639 --> 00:57:59.679
You're not gonna buy it.
00:58:00.480 --> 00:58:08.079
If you want to look around and through the depth of conversation about other back issues that gets brought up, sure.
00:58:08.159 --> 00:58:10.559
But don't just come in off the street, ask that.
00:58:10.719 --> 00:58:12.320
Everyone's gonna roll their eyes at you.
00:58:12.559 --> 00:58:23.039
Two, when you bring comics in, what you're bringing in is not a 9.9 near mint perfect comic that's gonna give you a hundred thousand dollars.
00:58:23.199 --> 00:58:27.440
Okay, probably what you have is gonna be worth a few bucks.
00:58:27.599 --> 00:58:28.239
That's it.
00:58:28.480 --> 00:58:32.719
Be it the fact that you have it means probably a million other people also have it.
00:58:32.880 --> 00:58:34.320
We have seen it a billion times.
00:58:34.480 --> 00:58:42.800
We're happy to help you find the price, whether you'd like to sell it or you want to get it graded, or you just want to have a knowledge of it.
00:58:42.960 --> 00:58:46.000
Some places will appraise comics for you.
00:58:46.079 --> 00:58:48.400
So if you want to get them insured, you can do that.
00:58:48.480 --> 00:58:57.039
Ideally, if you don't have comics that aren't worth multiple thousands of dollars, probably at least 10 grand, I wouldn't even bother trying to get it insured.
00:58:57.199 --> 00:59:05.599
But if you were just bringing comics to resale, or you know, you're trying to figure out this 1985 comic, how much it's worth, probably not gonna be much.
00:59:05.840 --> 00:59:07.519
Come in with low expectations.
00:59:07.679 --> 00:59:10.320
Think of the people on the Antiques Roadshow.
00:59:10.480 --> 00:59:16.400
They had this thing was passed down from generation to generation, it didn't mean much other than sentimental value to them.
00:59:16.639 --> 00:59:18.000
Maybe it's gonna be worth a lot.
00:59:18.159 --> 00:59:23.119
I would say you can try to collect comics for value, but I think it's best to collect comics for enjoyment.
00:59:23.280 --> 00:59:26.559
Don't try to search for things that are gonna be worth a whole lot.
00:59:26.719 --> 00:59:29.440
Search for something you like and grow from that.
00:59:29.599 --> 00:59:35.840
As you start accumulating things that might become valuable with time, then move forward.
00:59:36.000 --> 00:59:44.800
But come to comics, come to the medium for the love of comics, for the love of the story, the characters, the enjoyment of that moment, not as a money-making venture.
00:59:44.880 --> 00:59:46.960
Now, this is not a hard and fast rule.
00:59:47.119 --> 00:59:52.800
Obviously, do whatever you want, but I think it's the best way to approach comics and comic collecting in general.
00:59:52.960 --> 00:59:54.960
It will definitely make your experience more smooth.
00:59:55.119 --> 01:00:00.320
I would say never walk into a store to resell comics and assume that you're going to resell comics.
01:00:00.480 --> 01:00:01.679
Don't lead off with that.
01:00:01.840 --> 01:00:07.360
If you want to go in hoping that you can resell comics, ask them what they're worth first.
01:00:07.599 --> 01:00:10.239
But make sure they're not just spitballing it.
01:00:10.400 --> 01:00:13.679
Check a price guide, look it up online first so you know what you're dealing with.
01:00:13.760 --> 01:00:17.599
Because they will try and haggle with you if you actually end up getting to the point where they want to sell it.
01:00:17.760 --> 01:00:19.280
Just don't assume you're going to sell it.
01:00:19.599 --> 01:00:22.800
Start with the approach of, do you think this is worth anything?
01:00:22.960 --> 01:00:31.199
And if you didn't look it up on your own ahead of time, they may and try and undersell you or whatever, but most of the time they're happy to help you look up the value of it.
01:00:31.360 --> 01:00:37.119
Save yourself the embarrassment by only after you know what the value is, then ask if they're willing to buy it.
01:00:37.440 --> 01:00:40.960
Because so many times people come in and be like, Well, I've got all these old comics.
01:00:41.039 --> 01:00:43.119
I'm like, that doesn't mean anything.
01:00:43.280 --> 01:00:44.559
I mean, do you want to buy them?
01:00:44.639 --> 01:00:45.119
I don't know.
01:00:45.280 --> 01:00:46.960
I don't know what they are, I don't know how much of the words.
01:00:47.039 --> 01:00:47.840
We haven't looked them up yet.
01:00:47.920 --> 01:00:50.320
You just brought it in a long box and expect me to just buy it off.
01:00:50.639 --> 01:00:51.360
That's not gonna happen.
01:00:51.440 --> 01:00:53.199
So don't go in there with that expectation.
01:00:53.280 --> 01:00:57.760
Otherwise, you're just going to be disappointed andor humiliated, and rarely come out with a lot of cash.
01:00:57.920 --> 01:00:58.079
Yeah.
01:00:58.239 --> 01:01:02.480
And you can always call ahead, say, hey, yeah, I have this box of comics.
01:01:02.559 --> 01:01:03.679
It's Spider-Man.
01:01:03.920 --> 01:01:06.880
Uh, looks like I can you can always look on the front cover.
01:01:07.119 --> 01:01:09.599
Usually we'll have a date on what it is.
01:01:09.760 --> 01:01:17.920
And usually, if you have the date of when it comes out, the title and the issue number, those are good uh indicators that will give us an idea of what the comic is.
01:01:18.159 --> 01:01:29.519
The quality of it, you know, how well it's been loved over the years, that can vastly change both the price and our desirability to own that and then try to resell it.
01:01:29.679 --> 01:01:30.719
It all depends on the shop.
01:01:30.800 --> 01:01:35.119
You know, some shops have 500 copies, it's spawn number one, some have two.
01:01:35.199 --> 01:01:40.159
Obviously, if you go to the shop that has 500 copies, they're probably not gagging to get another.
01:01:40.239 --> 01:01:43.440
You know, maybe just shop around, see who who needs, who wants what.
01:01:43.599 --> 01:01:46.639
Every store is different, just like every customer and person's different.
01:01:46.719 --> 01:01:47.440
Take that into account.
01:01:47.599 --> 01:01:52.559
Yeah, and if you're not experienced and you find a an issue, wow, this is X-Men number one.
01:01:52.719 --> 01:01:53.760
It must be worth a lot.
01:01:53.920 --> 01:01:58.880
Just because an issue says number one doesn't mean that it's it's the first issue, especially in that scenario.
01:01:59.119 --> 01:02:00.960
It's the first issue of that series.
01:02:01.119 --> 01:02:01.360
Uh-huh.
01:02:02.079 --> 01:02:04.239
Well, X-Men number one still does decently.
01:02:04.400 --> 01:02:05.840
Well, but there's so many of them out there.
01:02:06.000 --> 01:02:16.639
The difference between X-Men number one circa the 1960s and X-Men number one 1991 and X-Men number one circa 2024, those are all X-Men number ones.
01:02:16.800 --> 01:02:17.440
They're not all working on it.
01:02:17.519 --> 01:02:21.360
That's why it's always good to like check the date and have that information available.
01:02:21.599 --> 01:02:33.199
Good pro tip, especially I don't know how common it is for today's comics because sometimes this information is printed in the back now, but it used to be pretty standard for most, at least Silver Age to Bronze Age comics.
01:02:33.360 --> 01:02:35.199
Open the front cover, look on the first page.
01:02:35.280 --> 01:02:37.119
There is a block of text there on the bottom.
01:02:37.280 --> 01:02:38.719
It's the only page that it appears on.
01:02:38.800 --> 01:02:46.719
It will give you the name of the comic, the year it was printed, publisher, where it was printed, and most importantly, which printing it is.
01:02:47.039 --> 01:02:58.719
Because even if you see a comic that you've looked up online and wow, this is a valuable comic, make sure that it's not the second, third, fourth, fifth printing of that, because those are not worth anything comparatively.
01:02:58.880 --> 01:03:00.320
Sometimes they are, very rarely.
01:03:00.639 --> 01:03:03.119
What you want to make sure is that you don't embarrass yourself that way.
01:03:03.360 --> 01:03:04.480
That's another good topic.
01:03:04.639 --> 01:03:06.159
Multiple printings of comics.
01:03:06.480 --> 01:03:13.679
If it is a reprint, that book is by nature not as valuable because it's not part of the original limited print run.
01:03:13.840 --> 01:03:18.159
I remember when the Death of Superman came out and there were like, it was like six printings of that book.
01:03:18.320 --> 01:03:19.199
They were just everywhere.
01:03:19.360 --> 01:03:22.480
It's a complicated field and the medium's all over the place.
01:03:22.559 --> 01:03:31.519
But sometimes a second or third printing can be more valuable because there are so valuability is often based on availability.
01:03:31.679 --> 01:03:42.559
And if they only printed 2,000 copies of a second print, you know, that might be much rarer than the 75,000 copies they printed to the first one.
01:03:42.719 --> 01:03:42.960
Right.
01:03:43.119 --> 01:03:44.400
It just all depends.
01:03:44.559 --> 01:03:53.199
Uh a rule of thumb is that generally a second, third ongoing prints are less valuable, less wanted than the original first prints.
01:03:53.440 --> 01:03:53.840
You're right.
01:03:53.920 --> 01:03:59.039
It depends on how many of the first one they printed, if they change it between the first and second.
01:03:59.199 --> 01:04:04.960
Let's say you have a comic that has like a foil embossed cover or whatever, and the second printing was just a regular floppy cover.
01:04:05.199 --> 01:04:12.239
Sometimes that second printing is still valuable because there are so few of the original that those are the only ones you can get your hands on.
01:04:12.320 --> 01:04:13.920
And so they still have currency.
01:04:14.079 --> 01:04:20.400
But oftentimes companies won't do a second or third printing with the same bells and whistles of that rare first printing.
01:04:20.559 --> 01:04:26.480
At the same time, those are the ones more easily accessible and therefore most likely to be sold or traded.
01:04:26.639 --> 01:04:36.079
Uh, it just depends on what it is, what the gimmicks are, but it is important that you have that information ahead of time, otherwise you might be sadly disappointed or pointed at and laughed at.
01:04:36.480 --> 01:04:37.760
Just something to arm yourself with.
01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:38.239
Yeah.
01:04:38.400 --> 01:04:44.719
I think this should help guide them on their at least initial experience into the comic book realm.
01:04:45.039 --> 01:04:46.480
Oh, I'm gonna pull a Columbo here.
01:04:46.559 --> 01:04:47.760
What just one more thing?
01:04:47.920 --> 01:04:50.079
This is a very small but very specific example.
01:04:50.320 --> 01:04:58.239
If you've never been to a comic book store before, you never talked to somebody who works at a store or hangs out at a store, so that you are armed with this ahead of time.
01:04:58.400 --> 01:05:01.599
There is a difference between the Flash and Flash Gord.
01:05:01.840 --> 01:05:03.199
Know that ahead of time.
01:05:03.519 --> 01:05:08.800
Well, we hope that this has been informative and will help you on your journeys into comic book land.
01:05:08.960 --> 01:05:11.440
Oh, look there! You're in comic book land.
01:05:11.840 --> 01:05:12.719
Fantastic.
01:05:13.119 --> 01:05:15.119
Your journeys into mystery, as they were.
01:05:16.559 --> 01:05:17.519
Well played.
01:05:17.760 --> 01:05:21.280
Not the house of mystery, but I mean it might be in a house.
01:05:22.159 --> 01:05:22.559
Who knows?
01:05:22.639 --> 01:05:24.239
It may be in a tale that astonishes you.
01:05:24.320 --> 01:05:25.440
It's really hard to say.
01:05:25.760 --> 01:05:27.840
But it is gonna be an amazing fantasy.
01:05:28.400 --> 01:05:30.239
That sounds spectacular.
01:05:30.559 --> 01:05:31.519
Amazing.
01:05:33.440 --> 01:05:34.320
Sensational.
01:05:34.559 --> 01:05:37.199
Uh we we specialize in action comics around here.
01:05:38.000 --> 01:05:40.559
We're just your friendly neighborhood comic shop.
01:05:41.119 --> 01:05:42.719
But yes, uh, thank you for listening.
01:05:42.880 --> 01:05:46.559
If you wouldn't mind like, sharing, and subscribing, we'd really appreciate it.
01:05:46.719 --> 01:05:57.280
Rating us five near mint podcasts on your podcast app of choice, ideally Apple Podcasts, is the best way for us to get heard and thus seen.
01:05:57.519 --> 01:05:58.559
And rated by CCG.
01:05:58.719 --> 01:06:02.639
So we can spread our filth to the rest of the universe.
01:06:02.960 --> 01:06:04.079
By Gren Morrison.
01:06:04.639 --> 01:06:05.440
Yes, thank you.
01:06:05.679 --> 01:06:10.960
I should have said giant black sperm or whatever, but uh, we'll have leave that as a non sequitur.
01:06:11.199 --> 01:06:11.599
Mm-hmm.
01:06:11.840 --> 01:06:12.639
Thank you for listening.
01:06:12.800 --> 01:06:14.239
Please spread this around.
01:06:14.400 --> 01:06:20.079
And uh until you need more help through your journeys through Comic Land, you can always reach out to us.
01:06:20.159 --> 01:06:21.199
We're happy to respond.
01:06:21.440 --> 01:06:29.360
We can address your concerns, your thoughts, your desires, your wanton lusts, whatever they may be on the pod.
01:06:29.440 --> 01:06:30.400
So feel free to reach out.
01:06:30.639 --> 01:06:31.679
Well, you can guarantee that.
01:06:31.760 --> 01:06:40.239
I'm not going to commit to that part, but but until we can make Skip guarantee to it himself to satisfy you sexually.
01:06:40.639 --> 01:06:42.480
What what should they do, Skip?
01:06:42.960 --> 01:06:52.639
Well, I think the most important thing to emphasize, and really the only one we need for this, is don't forget to support your local comic shops and retailers.
01:06:52.880 --> 01:07:01.840
The brick and mortar experience is the best way for you to enter this world in a way that perhaps will expand your horizons.
01:07:02.159 --> 01:07:02.719
Be patient.
01:07:03.039 --> 01:07:04.400
Hopefully they will be patient with you.
01:07:04.639 --> 01:07:08.400
But make sure you do support your local comic shops and retailers.
01:07:08.559 --> 01:07:13.920
And that having been said, Jake and I would both like to say, no matter where you go, there you are.
01:07:14.159 --> 01:07:14.639
That's right.
01:07:14.880 --> 01:07:15.840
True believer.
01:07:16.159 --> 01:07:17.199
Excelsior!
01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:21.360
What in hell, Kirby?
01:07:21.599 --> 01:07:23.199
Please go away.