Shelves upon shelves, bins after bins, long boxes, short boxes, bookcases, glass cases, buckets, piles. If you have never stepped foot inside a comic book shop, it can seem very intimidating finding a place to start. Sensory overload abounds when you try out the LCS, and newcomers are usually wary. But I am here to tell you, there’s nothing to fear in not knowing where to start.
After my many years working in a comic book shop, it became clear to me how important a base-line understanding can help remove beginners’ fears. Countless customers have come up to me and prefaced their question with, “I’m new to all of this, so sorry if I sound stupid.” There are plenty of stupid customers out there—if you’ve worked a minute in retail you can back me up—but asking a question doesn’t make you stupid. Any customer interested in taking the time to understand more about my favorite hobby, I will assure you’re leaving with a beginning understanding.
Whether you want to read Batman, Wonder Woman, X-Men, Captain America, or your coworker told you to check out that small independent comic book called Saga, I need to know one thing. Do you want the issue or a volume? When I ask this question, most of the time I get a blank stare and a request to see both. For my first two 101 Lessons, I’m going to explain the difference between an issue and a volume, and why one might be better than the other for you.
Issues
Issues can be called a few different things: comic books, singles, back issues, or I’ve even heard someone once say floppy. I couldn’t determine if it reminded me more of a very outdated disc or an inappropriate euphemism, but it was off putting and you’ll probably never hear that term used. Regardless, they ultimately all mean the same thing.
A small personal note, I always try to refer to an issue as a comic book and not a comic. It may seem pedantic but a comic to me is a comedian and it prevents any confusion.
When customers of mine really don’t understand the concept of an issue I usually use a very loose metaphor for explanation: episodes. In a single episode, take The Office’s episode “Booze Cruise,” you see Michael take the office on a pointless office retreat, we see Pam and Roy interact with Jim and a girlfriend, and ultimately Jim confesses to Michael his feelings toward Pam while Dwight foolishly thinks he’s steering the boat on a prop ship wheel. Beginning to end, there are jokes, action, maybe some intrigue, but the story is complete. As an episode, however, you know there will be more development with your favorite characters.
The same can be said of a comic book; it is a piece of the whole story. Every week—Wednesday, in fact—issues are published. Now unlike an episode of your favorite TV show that airs every week, an issue of Superman isn’t published weekly.
Typical publishing schedules for a comic book are monthly, though there are exceptions to the rule. Some come bi-weekly, some are bi-monthly, and some get stuck on a hiatus for so long you forget about it until a year later you’re in your local comic book shop, you ask whatever happened to that awesome story, and the employee’s only response is a shrug and “I have no idea.”
Hopefully, after all of that explanation you may understand the concept of an issue but you should still be wondering why buy an issue. It comes down to a few questions:
Are you looking to get into collecting?
Are you trying to stay up to date and current with your series?
Do you only have $5 to spare in your pocket?
Collecting is a big aspect to comic book readership but it isn’t for beginners. Last month I had a younger man come into the store, admitting to having no experience buying comic books and tasked himself with collecting the entire Walking Dead run from issue #1. That is an awesome goal, and by no means is it impossible, but it’s going to cost a lot of money and take a good amount of time.
My suggestion for beginners who want to get into collecting is to find what they enjoy reading first. If you’re going into it hoping to make some money, in this day in age it is unlikely to happen. Simply because very few comic book series will have any substantial increase in only a couple of years. That’s why I suggest finding your favorite characters, writers, artists, or stories because then collecting is more important to you for personal feelings rather than a payout down the line. Collections take time to build and will take time to be worth anything.
That brings us to the second question, if you are trying to stay current and don’t care about a complete set in your collection than starting on the latest issue is perfectly fine. Counterintuitively, you can go and pick up a random issue on the shelf and simply start reading. Most newcomers feel they need to start at the very beginning, but you don’t.
Comic books are published to attract new readers, not necessarily to retain old readers. The best comic book writers smartly give enough context clues in each issue so that you may not be familiar with each character but get the gist of the relevant storylines. Any new reader who is checking out this post, I dare you to go to your local comic shop right now and pick up a random issue. You may not be familiar with every character, but ultimately you will understand the direction of the story.
Finally, if you aren’t looking to spend $10,100 (recent selling price for a Walking Dead #1), and you want to know what is going on currently with Carl then you need less than that $5 in your pocket. The majority of Walking Dead issues, in fact, have been $2.99. The average for most comic books that are a standard 32 pages is $3.99. There are other special issues, like an annual or an anniversary issue that are more expensive. However, they’re generally priced for the amount of pages and if you break it down are equally priced to the average $3.99. If you just want a cheap option to read this week, then going the issue route is definitely for you.
So are issues for you? Tell me below if they are or aren’t, and why. What is it that appeals to you as an issue collector? If you don’t like issues, what are the drawbacks to picking up issues each week? My next post will take a look at volumes and why they may be the better option.