Have Trades Killed Comic Collecting?

How things have changed.

When I started collecting comics as a very young wee lad, part of the joy of it was re-reading my collection. There was this glee to searching through the long boxes and pulling out an entire series and diving back into it. After a while, as the collection grew larger and larger, finding a particular run became more difficult. I started cataloging my collection, keeping like-minded series in the same longbox until that series grew too large and I would need to rejig the storage of what series was kept where.

I have a complex coding system to finding my comics, estimating their value and keeping track of my collection.

Trades changed that. As sales of trades (collected editions of story arc in paperbook or hardcover format) grew, so did the number of them being put out. At a certain point, most of my favorite runs I had collected were being represented in tradebook format.

And here is where collecting comics changed for me. In the old days, I would simply delve through my collection, find the run I wanted to re-read and read it again. Now I just pick up the trade and read it there--- leaving my collection untouched for years. 

Yeah, I still have the collection but it's growth has slowed over the last few years. I don't feel that need to go back and pull issues out to look over the artwork and revisit my favorite storylines. Additionally, I can keep my collection almost untouched so they keep their value. My trade collection on the other hand just keeps growing.

Have trades hurt the industry? Are sales down on the individual monthly issues and made up for on the sale of trades? I really wonder as I hop online and see what other trades I can pick up.

But just for old times' sake, I went and pulled the issues of Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity War to spark that old feel of going through the longboxes. Maybe it's not too late to go back.

~SeanGeek

This post originally appeared on May 28th, 2018 @ seanmcginity.ca

Shared with permission