Comments on: 11/18 - Curious Cat Asks...

By: Zack

Zack — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 01:47:46 +0000

Ads had never bothered me until last week, when on two separate occasions I accidentally skipped over a page of story because the page was sandwiched between two clusters of advertisments. That bothered me.

By: plok

plok — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 13:56:32 +0000

Absolutely YES. The increase has become quite noticeable, and it gets annoying.

But the when you're reading a highly-decompressed storyline as well...!

It's like a slap in the face. Nothing sucks so much as thinking you've got another four or five pages of comic, only to discover after a bit of page-turning that what you just read was the damn cliffhanger...

By: Evan Waters

Evan Waters — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 18:11:52 +0000

Re: #28- I think there has to be some theoretical maximum. It's like the Laffer Curve for taxation- with 0% advertising the companies don't benefit, with 100% advertising they don't benefit because nobody watches or reads, it just becomes junk mail. So I'm thinking they have to put on the brakes before it actually becomes impossible to get content from media. But maybe that's too idealistic.

By: James Welborn

James Welborn — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 17:11:13 +0000

I don't mind them, as long as they are clearly not content. If I have to spend time discerning whether it's content or not, then it's no longer automatic.

However, as someone who likes to put away my comics and save them, it's disconcerting for me to read about people tearing out pages in comics.

By: Dweeze

Dweeze — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 20:20:50 +0000

Anyone else find it ironic that there's an ad at the bottom of the original post?

By: Barlow

Barlow — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 18:47:51 +0000

When the ads were printed on single pages (ad on right-hand page, turn it over there's another ond), it seemed somehow less intrusive. Now that four out of every five right hand pages are commercials, overlooking them out isn't so simple. That's no accident -- in the west (because of how we're taught to read) the human eye is naturally drawn to the right, so those right-hand pages are prime advertising real-estate. It's not the number of plugs that's gotten out of hand, it's the way they're PLACED that grates. It's become content, ad, content, ad, content ad, ad, etc. Superman Confidential is a great example. I like Cooke, I like Sale, I like Supes... it was a no brainer. Until I flipped through the issue and was completely put off by the volume of non-story clutter. Comics are expensive enough, I won't pay $2.99 for 20+ pages of material I'd rather throw away. Worst of all, it's soured me on on the whole SC enterprise and completely killed my excitement for the project. All-Star Superman will fill my Supes needs and there are plenty of other good comics on which to spend that three bucks.

By: Lynxara

Lynxara — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:44:34 +0000

I find trades preferable for self-contained works like prestige mini-series. For individual monthly issues of a comic, I don't enjoy trade format very much. Something about it seems to enhance and preserve whatever crappiness was inherent in the story. Then there's stuff like NextWave and All-Star Superman that's clearly meant to be read in single issues. I like having the floppies around for those, and it's doubtful I'd seek out either title in trade format.

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:31:39 +0000

"On a related story, what reason is there not to get a story in trade format instead of floppies, anymore? Especially from Marvel, which collects everything. "

I like the magazines. I like collecting them and I like getting a new story every month. I'd hate to only get Spider-man twice a year.

By: R.Nav

R.Nav — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 14:45:21 +0000

They only bother me when it disrupts my comic by breaking up a 2-page scene, when it's a multi-page pamphlet of a totally different type of paper, or worst of all.. CARDSTOCK!

By: Greg Geren

Greg Geren — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 14:38:26 +0000

I also find myself "editing" the centerspread ads out of my comics if no story pages are lost. Especially the 8 or 12 page inserts with different paper stock than the rest of the book. They serve no purpose, and there's no way I'll ever miss them down the road.

By: DanCJ

DanCJ — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 11:03:06 +0000

Not at all. But then I read trades and the ads (if any) get stuck at the back

By: ulf boehnke

ulf boehnke — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 01:15:55 +0000

I didn't really noticed them.
I am tearing out every page with ads on both sides, though.

By: Derek B. Haas

Derek B. Haas — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 23:28:49 +0000

On a related story, what reason is there not to get a story in trade format instead of floppies, anymore? Especially from Marvel, which collects everything.

By: Joe Rice

Joe Rice — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 22:59:57 +0000

Nope.

By: MN

MN — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 22:26:21 +0000

It never used to bug me until recently when:

- You'd have five pages of ads breaking up what the creators clearly intended to be a double page spread, and

- The sheer number of ad pages is either equal to or greater than the story pages and this somehow justifies raising the price of the book itself.

Marvel's the worst of the two, since both of the above have led me to drop one of their titles, even though I enjoy the bits on those increasingly rare story pages. It's made it easier for me to understand the 'wait for the trade' mentality at last.

By: Jaap

Jaap — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 22:24:15 +0000

2 page spread advertisements take me out of the story

By: Apodaca

Apodaca — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 22:04:37 +0000

They don't bother me as much as the increased crossovers and events in Marvel and DC comics.

By: DanLarkin

DanLarkin — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:50:00 +0000

The number of ads doesn't really bother me as long as the page count of the story isn't reduced. What I don't like are the gloss inserts in the middle of double-lage spreads, the punchout 3-D glasses, and the gatefold inserts and other stuff like that, which actually interfere with reading the darn book. If they're in the middle of the book, I usually rip them out carefully before I read the comic.

By: Paperghost

Paperghost — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:34:54 +0000

"When the Hell is enough going to be enough?"

...as someone who spends every day battling Adware makers, I can answer that with a:

NEVER.

By: Evan Waters

Evan Waters — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 17:13:19 +0000

Somewhat. I definitely notice it more on the first pass-through- later they're easier to skip.

What gets to me is the degree to which advertising just keeps growing in all media. TV shows are shorter than they used to be and have squeezed credits to fit in more promos. Theaters have solid blocks of the things. Normal magazines have about 12 pages of advertising before the table of contents. When the Hell is enough going to be enough?