Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)

Dan

David M., this information, at least for the singles, is freely available at Comichron.com. For instance, last month (http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2008/2008-09.html), Criminal sold 15,610 copies, good enough to be the 134th best-selling comic for the month.

if i had to pick one it’d be singles. most series’ i read, i read in trade until i’m caught up, and then buy the single issues. books like The Goon and DMZ and Powers and now the newest Vertigo book The Unknown Soldier, i try to pick up in single issues, if for no other reason than to support them. i have no qualms about waiting for a trade of Green Lantern Corps, but i dont read alot of “big two” books, so take that as you will.

i’m not against trades, they’re easier to read and you never feel like you’ve been left hanging. but as Ed has pointed out many times in the Letterbox of Criminal, an unfortunate truth of a new book, is how well it sells in single issues. not everyone can be Garth Ennis writing Crossed. that book, no matter how little it sells in single issues, is still going to make it to trade and sell by the pantload, but new writers (like me!) and new artists who put thier blood sweat and tears into a creator owned book, might have something you’d really enjoy, but you see it on the shelf and you say “oh neat! i’ll wait for the trade.” please please please buy the single issues. if you love it to death? buy the trade when it comes out too! so you can read it over and over again and lend it to people and get more people into comics!

Ed’s work on Criminal is in my collection in both single and trade form, and i’ve made fans out of friends with the trades countless times, but i’d never skip the singles. they’re pretty to look at and 2.99 to hear Jason Aaron (scalped) talk about his favorite tv and movie badasses is worth it with or without the awesome comic that comes beforehand.

I prefer Criminal in trades — easier to store and lend than the floppies. Plus, as a consumer, I generally get a better discount buying it in trade form online than I do by buying the floppies from my LCS. (Sorry, but that’s the simple economics of it.) And I personally don’t really feel the need to pay the extra money these days just to read Patton Oswalt’s take on “Charley Varrick.”

ps. And speaking of singles that offer more material, where the hell is FELL? Please, Messrs. Ellis and Templesmith, bring back FELL!!!

>>Where do you get this information?>>From articles I’ve read here at CBR. So take that for what it’s worth.

Yeah, with the odd exception like Walking Dead or Bone (and even that took years to really catch on) there are very few books that sell better in trade than they do in the single issue format. And those that do sell as well or better generally take a year or more of being on sale to get to that point.

I get my comics in one huge monthly batch, and every month (that it comes out) I leave Criminal to last, simply because it’s always of such high quality. I always have a sensation of dread before I start, that “this” month, is going to show a downturn in excellence! But thankfully, it never does.

Where do you get this information?<

From articles I’ve read here at CBR. So take that for what it’s worth.

Also when a story arc has finished, I go back and read the all the 4/5 issues together thus making a ‘pretend trade’. That way it’s the best of both worlds. But yeah, anyone who hasn’t checked it out should definitely give it a shot.

CRIMINAL 2 #6
CRIMINAL 2 #5
CRIMINAL 2 #4
CRIMINAL 2 #1

CRIMINAL #10
CRIMINAL #9
CRIMINAL #8
CRIMINAL #6
CRIMINAL #5
CRIMINAL #4
CRIMINAL #3
CRIMINAL #2

In addition…. I really want to see the series go on and waiting for the trade can’t help it survive in a monthly format.

Sijo – “-Trades overall are selling BETTER than the regular series.”

Where do you get this information? I work in the industry, and while trades are selling better than they used to, most trades don’t sell as well as the single issues of the same series do. Not by a long shot.

Books that sell 100,000 units as a monthly will sell about 30K in trades over the course of a year or two, if you’re lucky. So not printing the comics first leaves a lot of profit on the table. Trade sales are a long-term game, slow-moving sales over years… with the odd exceptions that do amazingly, of course.

I think we’re still a long way from trades becoming the dominant format, honestly.

I wonder if the monthlies (for any series) would be ordered in higher quantities if trades weren’t released so quickly. I prefer having stories in print for longer, so I’m not advocating reducing trades or increasing lag time, I’m just curious.