History Main / WritingForTheTrade

* Creator/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/CerebusTheAardvark'', 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".

* Most of IDW's run of ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW Transformers]]'' comics have been neatly arranged into 4-6 issue story arcs. Exceptions include the stand-alone Spotlight issues and the 16-issue "All Hail Megatron" series.

* The ''[[ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW IDW Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comics are clearly divided into story arcs that last around 4-12 issues, and are often best enjoyed in complete form. The Metal Virus saga ''especially'' falls into this category though: running from issues 13 to 29 (32 if you count the DenouementEpisode, and you probably should to avoid a DownerEnding). It's generally-agreed to be a good story if read as a whole, but a far less enjoyable experience to keep up with issue-by-issue, especially as its original release suffered several delays and coincided with [[UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic a real-life global pandemic]] (hitting far too close to home for many).

* Pat Mills is criticised [[http://www.2000adreview.co.uk/site/index.php/2000AD-2008-2010/2000AD-1677.html here]] for ending the Volgan War mega-arc of ''ComicBook/ABCWarriors'' in a way which shows he was clearly thinking more about the inevitable collection than about a sensible weekly series. The strip is written in six-page installments; the final one ends the war in two pages, followed by a four-page epilogue.

* Hardly anyone remembers reading ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' in its original 12-part format. Although instantly acclaimed even before the story had reached its conclusion, it was only after the collected edition was issued that it came to be regarded as a true novel.

* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' has been steadily shifting towards this. The first volumes were collections of short episodic stories, while the recent ones have increasingly featured longer continuous ones, particularly volumes 9 and 11, each of which consisted almost entirely of a single continuous story arc.

* Jonathan Hickman has been said to not just write for the trade, but for the ''omnibus''. His most prominent works (''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' and ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengersJonathanHickman Avengers]]'') tend to have individual arcs... but always end up forming some huge story arc across multiple ''years''. The individual arcs are always at least four issues long, and those arcs themselves tend to be parts of "acts" in his huge stories. So you have ''Fantastic Four'' #570-574 being the "Solve Everything" arc, which is ''actually'' just part of the first act of his ''Fantastic Four'' saga. The acts themselves tend to have about five "arcs" in them. The entire ''saga'' had three "acts". The result is a story that very much feels epic and carefully planned out, and constantly builds on itself, but is also is very self-referential (and not even explicitly, at that) and reliant on the reader having started from the beginning.

* This is an accusation frequently aimed at the Marvel [[ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Ultimate Universe]]. Many of the series (including the ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', ''[[ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour Fantastic Four]]'' and ''[[ComicBook/UltimateXMen X-Men]]'' series) are mostly comprised of six-part stories.

** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'', on the other hand, came in 13-part arcs, and so was Writing For The Hardcover. Read in that format, it was arguably among Creator/MarkMillar's finest work.

* 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 ''[[ComicBook/GreenLantern War of the Green Lanterns]]'' storyline.

* ''ComicBook/Batman''

* Pretty much the only way ''[[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Batman RIP]]'' is going to make any sense is if you read the previous two trade paperbacks in the MythArc. And that one issue where Bruce gets high on weapons-grade heroin and runs around in a red-and-purple Batsuit makes a whole lot more sense as a chapter of a graphic novel than as a standalone issue.

* ''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.