How to buy a comic?

[Neil H]

Hi, I'm wondering if someone can help me out. I picked up a comic from my nice, it was called "Shade, The Changing Girl" I don't really know much about it I just liked the illustrations but it turns out she really liked it so I was hoping to pick up some more for her. The one I bought was called "Vol 1 earth girl made easy" So I went looking on eBay for a number 2 but this turned out to not be so simple.

Many are listed with a # then a number, a second often different number on the cover and then some have Vol 1 or 2 in brackets but without much apparent relation to the ether of the previous numbers, to confuse it even more, some of the comics with the same cover have different numbers on them?

I'm presuming, maybe naively, that it's a story that precedes in a linear fashion from issue to issue but how do I work out which ones to buy?

Any help appreciated.

[Twice-named]

The Shade, The Changing Girl series lasted 13 issues. You bought the first collected edition of this series, which collects issues 1 through 6. The second collected edition collects issues 7 through 13. Here’s the cover.

3F8C6AF5-5CAC-48D3-98FC-F5200CAA3096.jpg

After that, you can pick up Shade, The Changing Woman. Here’s the cover for the collected edition. It collects the entire series, which was 6 issues.

D619A984-2AE4-42C7-959D-E3963842AA14.jpg

[Lee]

Shade, the Changing Girl Vol. 2: Little Runaway

Publisher: DC Comics (February 6, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1401275451
ISBN-13: 978-1401275457

Shade, the Changing Woman

Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: DC Comics (January 15, 2019)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1401285708
ISBN-13: 978-1401285708

[Neil H]

Thanks, I really appreciate the help.

[Lee]

No problem! Hope your niece enjoys them!

[DrNewGod]

I have no better advice to give you. I just wanted to say it's great to see you here, and double great to see you bringing a youngster into the hobby.

Some of on here are new. Some of us have been fans since before Watergate. I won't speak for anybody else, but it always thrills me to see new people interested in comics, even if it's on stuff I've never heard of.

We can be salty about weird stuff (i.e. Who Should Be The Flash/Green Lantern/Robin?), but don't let that put you or your niece off. I think I can say that We're Glad You're Here. Welcome.

[iron chimp]

An important reminder from the OP just how mindbendingly complicated buying comics can be.

[Vampire Savior]

An important reminder from the OP just how mindbendingly complicated buying comics can be.

Yes, there's way too much "inside baseball", and this is a particularly basic example. When you encounter something like Captain Marvel, which has multiple volumes going on, it turns into a quagmire. One example is how the word "volume" has two different and even conflicting meanings in this setting. It means both completely different runs of the same title, but one collected edition to the next is often called volume 1 and volume 2.

It's pretty bad when people need guides on how to simply buy your products. I've encountered people numerous times who have interest in comics but stay away from them because they can't decipher them in one way or another.