I think one of the most cannon events in a comic readers life will be running out of time to read all of the stories we’re interested in. We get it life happens, more than one of us has had our To Be Read pile grow in the corner wondering if any of the bags will be opened and the pages turned. And while this won’t save your weekly pull list from the same fate there a new hero on the streets making it a whole lot easier to catch up on some classic stories (or revisit some nostalgic favorites) …hopefully giving you more at home time for newer stories. Who is this hero you ask? Well, its most common name is the Compact Edition, though like any good hero it might have an alias or two amongst various publishers.
Compact editions started hitting the shelves just under two years ago and since then they have made their popularity known in a big way (Including taking over a solid chunk of our quarterly Top 50 list.) One of the best features is the trades being either 8.5×5.5 or 9×6 inches making them a whole lot easier to throw in your bag, suitcase, or even the passenger side of your car. The price point is also giving you a massive bang for your buck ranging from $9.99 to $14.99 for complete stories and making them a win-win all around.
Now DC has taken this format and sprinted with it, with almost 40 titles currently available to buy or preorder they are without a doubt leading the way. They are doing it in the best way too, from classics like Kingdom Come, Batman Hush, and Watchmen, to media spotlighted titles like All-Star Superman, The Authority, and Supergirl Women Of Tomorrow, to Vertigo and Young Animals favorites like V For Vendetta, Y The Last Man, and Far Sector, to Non-continuity favorites (or at least some of our editor’s favorites) with DCeased, Injustice, and Batman White Knight there is easily something for everyone to be able to grab and go.
Marvel Premier Collections seems to be focusing more on titles that have media tie in which always makes a great starting point for someone who is just getting into comics. We still have an absolutely solid mix of titles including Captain America The Winter Solider and Civil War for the long-time movie fans, Hawkeye My Life As A Weapon and Daredevil Born Again for the Disney+ viewers and The Visions for those who want a sneak peek at what COULD come. But don’t worry it’s not all about the other mediums, we have fan favorites like Planet Hulk and Wolverine Old Man Logan in the mix too.
Not a fan of the big two, that’s ok the indie publishers are making sure you’re covered too.
(We’re going to switch to a bullet point list for these guys so this doesn’t get too long and so we can easily highlight some of those aliases we talked about)
–(Image) Digest Editions: Hitting hard with most of the Invincible series offered so far (rest coming soon), but also offering some of their top stories with Saga, Paper Girls and more!
–(Boom) Digest Edition: Boom is slowly entering the pool with James Tynion IV’s The Woods collecting the first 12 issues of the award winning series.
–IDW Classic Collections: Now I can’t prove that IDW secretly means Incredibly Diverse Works but their current offering is definitely giving that energy. With some of the first offerings including Star Trek, Rocketeer, Locke & Key (1st of three dual story books) and Godzilla they are making sure all of the fandoms are covered. * They also have a TMNT compact that aren’t under the IDW Classic Collections line.
–Oni Compact Comics Edition: They so far are sticking with their Adventure Time and Rick and Morty lines with no complaints. The first volume of Adventure Time is continuing it’s stay on our All-Ages Top 10 in all 13 of our locations and is a great collection of the original Adventure Time comic run.
The “heroes” name of TPB Compact Editions will also pull up Vault Comics and Dynamite titles on the Graham Crackers Comics website. You can find Vault classics like Savage Shores, Money Shot and Witchblood in stores now. And Dynamite just announced their first title with Pathfinder Dark Waters coming to stores this June.
So, there you have it, a quick look and one of the hottest things in the comics market at the moment. I hope you find a story to enjoy on your next commute and that you can continue enjoying comics even when you feel out of time.