TPBs vs. Comics - How do you prefer to read Usagi?

[MikeM]

I pick up the monthly, and then when the trade comes out I pick that up too. Im a collector at heart. I can't help it.

I have every trade except 18. No idea why Im having such a hard time. My FLCS swears it will be in soon.

However, I would like to get a volume 4 with the old trade design to match my volumes 1 - 7.

It also bums me out that volumes 8 to 14 arent numbered but 15 to 19 are.

Ah well.

Oh yeah, so I like both.

MikeM

[Pekass]

Definetly, trade paperbacks, they are good for reading in a sit before going to bed, indeed I read them in bed but before falling asllep

[MikeM]

Definetly, trade paperbacks, they are good for reading in a sit before going to bed, indeed I read them in bed but before falling asllep

I do that as well actually. It a nice way to end the day.

MikeM

[Lundonj]

I get both trades and the comics, for a couple reasons.

On one hand, I like the larger scale art of the comics and I have a hard time waiting for the next adventure.

Then, I grab the trade and re-read the arc months later as one large chapter in the ongoing saga. I also find that trades provide easier access when I try to recall a specific moment or storyline.

And, as important to me, to support the series, I don't mind buying a high quality series like this in more than one format. My sons also read Usagi, so it doesn't hurt to have the trades around, in case they have borrowed some of the back issues out of the box (which happens a lot).


-Don

[shaxper]

I also find that trades provide easier access when I try to recall a specific moment or storyline.

That's an excellent point. While Usagi features some of the most breathtaking covers ever to appear on the face of comics, they rarely tell you much about the story. I've been trying to get a friend of mine into Usagi and had him read an early Fantagraph issue where an old woman asks Usagi to slay her corrupt son. Months later, he asked to read it again but I couldn't, for the life of me, remember which issue it had been. I've been too lazy to start unbagging and rebagging every fantagraph issue between 11 and 30 (I know it was somewhere in that range) to find it.

[Fanfan]

Definetly, trade paperbacks, they are good for reading in a sit before going to bed, indeed I read them in bed but before falling asllep

I understand you well
but i don't know for you in Spain, but here in France it is more simple anyway to find softcover rather than comic format... i don't even talk of Hard Cover ed, i hope i will get one one day... (perhaps the 20th ?)

but i agree with Steve : what is cool with comic format are the somptuous colored illustrations...

there is one big problem with softcover ed : i see posts on the forum that are about recent stories, and i got to wait now 1 or 2 years to know why you are so excited...

[Maka]

Okay UY fans,

I put down trade paperbacks as my choice.

1) That's how I discovered UY (Hawaii public library).
2) They are easy to order/collect/cost effective.
3) I too like how they line up on a shelf (although I like the wish the numbering was on all the issue - but easily solved with a Sharpie marker )
4) INTRODUCTIONS from some of the greatest comic contributers. Some how it feels like a validation when Will Eisner agrees with me that UY is great.
5) They are easily to give to people to check out (I can't remember the last time I gave some one an individual comic/mini series to read. But I gave UY book 1 to someone last fall.)

However, that said, I have been buying individual issues on eBay to complete my collection. Those have been fun to read (especially the letters page).

Peace,

maka

[Stan Sakai]

I've been trying to get a friend of mine into Usagi and had him read an early Fantagraph issue where an old woman asks Usagi to slay her corrupt son. Months later, he asked to read it again but I couldn't, for the life of me, remember which issue it had been. I've been too lazy to start unbagging and rebagging every fantagraph issue between 11 and 30 (I know it was somewhere in that range) to find it.

Actually, it was #8.

[shaxper]

That would explain why I didn't find it

[Trevis Woods]

I was just introduced to this character through the Grasscutter softcover and picked the other 18 a couple weeks ago for Christmas. I would never have been able to afford all the back issues so the softcover was the way to go for me. I can also introduce my children to the story and characters without worrying about damage or decreasing the value of the comics.

Does anyone know when Vol. 20 will be released?

[Pekass]

Definetly, trade paperbacks, they are good for reading in a sit before going to bed, indeed I read them in bed but before falling asllep

I understand you well
but i don't know for you in Spain, but here in France it is more simple anyway to find softcover rather than comic format... i don't even talk of Hard Cover ed, i hope i will get one one day... (perhaps the 20th ?)

but i agree with Steve : what is cool with comic format are the somptuous colored illustrations...

there is one big problem with softcover ed : i see posts on the forum that are about recent stories, and i got to wait now 1 or 2 years to know why you are so excited...

"Planeta" (who recently lost Marvel publishing rights to "panini") publishes Usagi in spain, and they only release it in this format, so, if I want to get comic format I must buy it in English, and my local comic shop wont order them for an only freak like me xD
Indeed if I want to get the comics I should buy it online as an only way.

Only thing I hope is that some day they catch the english version, snce books published here are 3 years old already, so I have read all, but last 6 books in english.

[Lundonj]

Does anyone know when Vol. 20 will be released?

I think Stan mentioned the early part of July this year.


-Don

[Bienenoberst]

Comics:
1. Cover Art
2. Story Notes
3. Reader's Letters
4. Bigger Size
5. Comics should be read as comics. To have a real 24 pages comic and sit down in a train or in a chair with it has a feeling to it, that a paperback never is able to reach.

[ookami]

Definetly, trade paperbacks, they are good for reading in a sit before going to bed, indeed I read them in bed but before falling asllep

I understand you well
but i don't know for you in Spain, but here in France it is more simple anyway to find softcover rather than comic format... i don't even talk of Hard Cover ed, i hope i will get one one day... (perhaps the 20th ?)

but i agree with Steve : what is cool with comic format are the somptuous colored illustrations...

there is one big problem with softcover ed : i see posts on the forum that are about recent stories, and i got to wait now 1 or 2 years to know why you are so excited...

"Planeta" (who recently lost Marvel publishing rights to "panini") publishes Usagi in spain, and they only release it in this format, so, if I want to get comic format I must buy it in English, and my local comic shop wont order them for an only freak like me xD
Indeed if I want to get the comics I should buy it online as an only way.

Only thing I hope is that some day they catch the english version, snce books published here are 3 years old already, so I have read all, but last 6 books in english.

I'm in the same situation, Planeta really are so slow that I'm always worried that they're going to up and stop publishing the series part-way through it's run as they (and other Spanish comic distributors) are infamous for doing.
In the case of U.Y. the wait between TPBs is plain torturous!! I wait and wait and wait, the comic stores I frequent are normally sick of the sight of me, to the point of the minute I walk through the door I'm greeted with the cry of 'NO!! There still isn't a new Usagi Yojimbo!!!' And then just when I've given up all hope and am preparing irate letters to Planeta.. up pops a new book, which I normally devour before I can get it home, then of course because I've had my latest Usagi 'fix'... I'll end up having to go cold turkey for at least another year!!
I do get the urge to say Arrrggg!! To heck with it!! Why not just start getting the comic books with all the other stuff you get from Previews??!! But then I think to myself - 'But look: Stan's already up to issue #92 with Dark Horse!! You being such an obsessive collector you'd get #92 and you'd just have to have all 91 of the previous issues even if you've already got them in TPB format, plus you'd probably end up selling your grandmother to get the hard-to-find earlier issues!!'... So I normally end up persuading myself off the idea....
But you know what?.... What the heck! Tomorrow I'll be swinging by my favorite comic store and I'll add Usagi Yojimbo comic books to my monthly subscriptions from the US!!
I'll still get my Spanish TPBs if and when they do come out but the withdrawl symptoms are just too much. (They're one of the reasons why I haven't been in here for so long: I don't want to be spoiled!!)

Hey Pekass, that's such a pain about your local comic store not wanting to get the comics for you! Shame on them!
If you really are interested in getting them sent to you, drop me a PM and I'll pass along the details of the store where I get all my US subscriptions here in Madrid. It's a tiny little store in a little back ally in one of the rougher areas of Madrid downtown, but the owners/staff (all three of them!! ) are really nice and do know their stuff (they read/try out absolutely everything they stock), at the moment there are only two of us who order from the US from them, (the other guy has all his stuff mailed to him as he lives somewhere up North and has only been by the shop once!!), but that has never made them treat us differently, in fact if I haven't been by the shop when the monthly order deadline comes around the manager will always phone me up to check if there's anything I've seen in the catalogue that has taken my fancy, and he'll even reccomend some new product that he's heard about because he takes an interest in what each individual's taste is.

(Sorry Mods, I really didn't mean to sound like I'm plugging this store, I swear I don't get anything out of this, but you have no idea how great it is to find such a friendly comic store here in Madrid, especially for a 'chica friki' like me . I'm also sorry for going OT. I'll try not to do it again. Just call me 'Baka Gaijin'.. )

[Bienenoberst]

The sad sad thing about reading the comics is, that I'm missing the color-specials, as I can't afford to buy the collections in addition.