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Topic: Marvel Outdoing Themselves Again (Spoilers) (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Shane Matlock
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Posted: 25 April 2017 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | 1  

Funny how Stan was able to use hyperbolic cover blurbs like "The Greatest Comic Magazine in The World!!" and have it be backed up by the actual comic making it more than just hyperbole. Something Marvel is still trying to do with overused phrases like "break the internet in half" except, now it's just plain hyperbole. 
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Brian Skelley
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Posted: 25 April 2017 at 5:48pm | IP Logged | 2  

 Shane Matlock wrote:
Does there need to be another one besides comic book? In my mind, it's always been a derogatory way to indicate that graphic novels/ tpb collections are better than the monthly issues (which at the time it started being used it was being pushed that monthly comics were becoming obsolete and graphic novels were going to take over). Anyway, if you really need a term besides comics or comic books, doesn't "monthly" or "monthlies" serve the same purpose as "floppy/floppies"?


When a "comic book" is being published in multiple formats of the exact same thing, sometimes a word is needed to tell what format it is.. is the "comic book" in print form? Is it in digital? With Graphic Novels (which in my mind means those magazine sized one shot stories Marvel used to print in the 80s, possibly 70s) Prestige, or Dark Knight format, Trade, collected, enhanced, or whatever, the word "Comic Book" means a lot of formats. Now that digital and motion comics are a thing, using the word "monthly" doesn't cover all the bases. It really seems to me that adding a word to tell me that it is the format I expect isn't a bad thing.

This is one of those times where I starting to feel that some people are getting grumpy old man syndrome and hating anything that isn't in line with what they've always known and loved. It's a word, and if you aren't in any need of it that's cool... some people are and it's nice a word exists to tell the person exactly what format the "comic book" is in.
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Shane Matlock
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Posted: 25 April 2017 at 6:08pm | IP Logged | 3  

Like Michael so humorously stated above, that word actually exists. There is already a distinction between comic/comic book, graphic novel, and trade paperback collection. Yes, they are all still comics but there are words that describe what type of comic they are already. When someone says "comic book" they are generally referring to a single issue no matter what the format, digital or print. I guess, yes, some stuff isn't monthly anymore cause some artists are growing roses and some companies are pumping out bi-weekly books, but again, they are still comics no matter what the frequency. Also my most recent ex-girlfriend called her period her monthly so maybe that's not the best alternative either. But I still prefer it to floppy and while I have plenty of cases of grumpy old man syndrome, this is not the case of that so much as a phrase I really think is a terrible description. 

Edited by Shane Matlock on 25 April 2017 at 6:10pm
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John Byrne
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Posted: 25 April 2017 at 6:34pm | IP Logged | 4  

Books are simply called books. If there is a distinction, it's whether or not they have hard covers.

Recent decades have seen the arrival of audio "books," but no one buying one expects paper pages.

In the case of comic books, we've seen the form expand into graphic novels and trade paperbacks. Those terms tell customers not to expect the traditional half-tab format.

Now we have digital comic books. Like those aforementioned audio books the name tells customers not to expect folded paper. No need to retro-fit a dismissive term for the original format.

Comic book, graphic novel, trade paperback, digital comic book. How tough is that?

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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 26 April 2017 at 4:01am | IP Logged | 5  

Mr. Byrne, we might to need to add one more category; hardbound collections. To include omnibuses (omnibi?), collections of series a la trade paperback, et. al. Perhaps trade hardback?

But it certainly could be simplified. 'Course then, Marvel couldn't sell the same stories four or five different ways. I realized that when I thought that I must have three or four different formatted collections of the Dark Phoenix saga, between the original comics, a couple releases in TPB, and an Essentials version. I'm sure there's a hardbound version, a digital edition, maybe a digest version... their name is Legion. ALL OF THE SAME STORY.

It might be the most reprinted story in the modern era...
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Shawn Kane
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Posted: 26 April 2017 at 6:02am | IP Logged | 6  

I've often found most people online who use the terms "floppy" and "pamphlet" are using them to discuss the demise of the monthly comic book so it's not necessarily a complimentary term. 
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John Byrne
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Posted: 26 April 2017 at 6:14am | IP Logged | 7  

Mr. Byrne, we might to need to add one more category; hardbound collections. To include omnibuses (omnibi?), collections of series a la trade paperback, et. al. Perhaps trade hardback?

••

How about applying some real logic and stripping it down to TWO categories: paper and digital. After all, "comic book" describes content -- words and pictures in combination telling stories -- and whether it's half-tab, graphic novel, trade paperback, omnibus or whatever form outside the digital realm, it's still a comic book. Point of fact, a trade or a hardcover edition is even more of a comic BOOK than the traditional form.

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John Byrne
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Posted: 26 April 2017 at 6:15am | IP Logged | 8  

I've often found most people online who use the terms "floppy" and "pamphlet" are using them to discuss the demise of the monthly comic book so it's not necessarily a complimentary term.

••

There has been no time at which I have considered either term in any way complimentary. When we consider the time frame, the period in which the terms were coined, we find both dripping with contempt for the form.

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David Miller
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Posted: 26 April 2017 at 9:53am | IP Logged | 9  

I remember when Warren Ellis started to popularize the terms on his forum, he was explicitly trying to delegitimize monthly comics and traditional storytelling, and confer that legitimacy on decompressed stories and trade collections.
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Brian Floyd
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Posted: 26 April 2017 at 5:38pm | IP Logged | 10  

You know, we should have seen this coming. ALL the signs of Steve being a bad guy were there. After all, he didn't use MySpace or watch NASCAR, so naturally he just had to be evil! O_o





(I refuse to name the moronic character that brought all that up, but if Marvel ever uses her again, I hope its only to give her a slow, agonizing death......)
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John Byrne
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Posted: 26 April 2017 at 6:52pm | IP Logged | 11  

Somewhere along the line, Marvel decided Cap was one of the Beverly Hillbillies.
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Michael Roberts
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Posted: 26 April 2017 at 7:17pm | IP Logged | 12  


 QUOTE:
After all, he didn't use MySpace


That panel becomes more hilarious as we've reached a point where
many young adults have no idea what MySpace is.


 QUOTE:
I refuse to name the moronic character that brought all that
up


She's not family?
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