Waiting For the Hand-Bound Spanish Edition

Heidi linked to this discussion at Peter David's blog about Claypool's current problems. I don't have much interest in the comics Claypool publishes, but I did find this post from Peter David interesting:

Okay...now we're just into weird territory. I mean, are people SO locked into trade paperbacks that they're literally *incapable* of acquiring back issues even when they're readily available?

I just don't get this. When I was a kid, I was a late starter on Marvel comics. I started catching up on earlier issues via reprint packages such as "Marvel's Collector's Items Classics" and "Marvel Tales." As they garnered my interest, I went back and started collecting back issues. It was long and involved but the acquisition was part of the fun.

So what's the current paradigm? Not only must back issues be easy to get, but they're only to be had if they're in a particular format. Trades or nothing. I mean, that's what's being said here. Here's a company that's teetering on the brink, but if you can't have the comics in trade collections, you're not interested. Being readily available isn't sufficient. They have to be readily available in a permabound format. Why? To avoid the non-existent ads? The letters page at the end?

If it means that much to you, do what many fans in Spain do: Buy the books and have them bound yourselves.

Sheesh.

PAD

I should note that, up to that point, no one claimed they were *incapable* of buying or enjoying single issues, only that some comic fans prefer graphic novels over the floppy format. Of course, some comic creators seem *incapable* of understanding this preference, insisting that consumers buy whatever format the creators (or publishers) prefer.

It's great that PAD has such fond memories of collecting single issues when he was younger. But maybe there's a growing segment of the market that's grown to prefer a different format. PAD's bristling at a simple suggestion that Claypool might find more of an audience if they expand the formats they offer their comics in reminds me of Christopher Butcher's remarks that Claypool was unreceptive to suggestions he'd made on how to make their comics more appealing. Of course creators and publishers can't act on every idea that consumers send their way, but it strikes me as odd when companies willfully ignore trends that are staring them right in the face and then complain when they can't compete with other companies that are more in tune with what the market wants.

If customers' preference for the trade paperback format is that strong, why not try to capitalize on that strong preference? Otherwise those fans you're trying to convince to buy your books will do what many other fans do: Not buy your books at all.

UPDATE: Matt Maxwell and Paul O'Brien have great takes on the Claypool situation.