History Main / WritingForTheTrade

* ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' was incomprehensible when it was monthly issues and separate tie-ins but is absolutely spectacular in its collected form, especially when a copy of Morrison's run on ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' and (to a lesser extent) ''Seven Soldiers'' is available as well.

* Creator/GeoffJohns eventually stopped working for Marvel because he was tired of writing Avengers storylines in six-issue format, however, some of his work for DC slid in this direction, notably ''ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}'' and the ''[[Franchise/GreenLantern War of the Green Lanterns]]'' storyline.

* JamesRobinson's ''ComicBook/{{Starman}}'' subverted this for maximum headache: With the initial run of [=TPBs=] for the series, Robinson was given free rein over how the series would be collected, resulting in the various one-off issues (flashback stories mainly) being omitted from the core [=TPBs=] and collected instead in what would be called "Times Past" [=TPBs=]. This would be well and good, except that the flashback issues established major plot points for the series and indeed, most of the narrative for the book collapses when those stories are omitted as far as said issues setting up key plot points and other essential information that is outright required for a lot of the main storylines to make sense. Even worse, for reasons unrevealed, many of the later series one-off stories were never collected as DC opted not to release any future "Times Past" volumes for the series. They've since made up for it, however, as DC has recently begun collecting the series in hardcover format, with the issues (and tie-in comics) being collected in the order in which they were published, meaning that fans can read the series in the fan-preferred reading order.
* Pretty much the entire point of ''ComicBook/{{Cerebus}}'', you could say. However, at the time that creator Creator/DaveSim [[note]]after tripping out on LSD early in its run[[/note]] had the idea of turning the comic into a 300-issue epic storyline covering the eponymous character's entire life, only rare examples of the GraphicNovel format existed. In fact, he did the "comic books followed by collected volume" before just about anyone. In part because the GraphicNovel did not even have a name at the time, he nicknamed them "phonebooks".

* Creator/NeilGaiman has admitted doing this with 'The Kindly Ones' arc in ''ComicBook/TheSandman''.

* The rebooted ''Amazing Fantasy'' series of the mid-zeros were often guilty of this. Their aim was to capture the style of the original ''Amazing Fantasy'' series, which introduced ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' and the concept of mutants to the MarvelUniverse. But where the original managed to introduce its characters in self-contained one-issue stories, the new version introduced them in six-issue arcs. Only the backup stories came close to the style they aimed for (and most of them were arc-based too).

* ''Webcomic/GastroPhobia'' flows much better when read in batches. The author has stated in interviews that it was always meant to be read in print books.