A Few Thoughts...

Today, I have a few thoughts on comics.

I recently finished reading the second volume in what I hope to be a long running series of graphic novels called Locke and Key. I can easily say that after speeding through both volumes, this title is one of my favorites.

It is an independent comic, and a fairly new one at that, so the characters are fresh and the story line is unique. It was released in single issues, but I read it as a collected novelized book. I find this format to be stronger when dealing with an over arching storyline. I like an entire plot to be contained within a single binding of a paperback, or hardcover. I think this is the direction comics should go in. There will always be a super fan who is willing to buy the single-issue book every week. Unfortunately, the general public will most likely not go that far. It is hard for someone to jump into a story with a single chapter, and then have to wait a week, or longer, for the next one. This goes double for the major titles: Batman, Superman, Spiderman, The X-Men, among others. Despite the fact these characters have penetrated the mainstream of popular culture, the casual fan doesn't want to take the time and effort to jump into the maze of continuity that drags behind each of them. I think focusing more energy on the trade paperbacks could solve this. People want a self-contained story line, and that is found in graphic novels, and collected series of the short, single issue comic books. Speaking as a casual fan, I have a stack of single issues and a stack of graphic novels/trades, and I care far more for the novels and trades than those twenty page teasers. That’s what those single issues are: just one piece of a bigger puzzle. Nobody wants to start a puzzle with missing peices.

Anyway, I like my stack of trade paperbacks more for the same reason I care more about an entire novel than a short story, or chapter; it's the same reason I care more about an entire television series than a single episode; and it's the same reason I care more about an entire album than a single song. Sure, I still have my favorite song, episode, and chapter, but I want the entire cake, not just one piece.

Read Locke and Key, it is an exciting and dynamic story!

Daniel Chambers