What are your thoughts on single issues and their future?

[thecoffeeman]

The collected editions market has continued to grow over the years, especially in the last few, but I’m not sure what the state of floppies is. I’m not here to suggest floppies are dying off—in fact, as serialist’s print has gone down, I’m amazed at how well comics have continued to endure—but I’m curious to hear the perspective of both the young and old on their viability over the next 10-20 years.

I know I’m one of the younger people that goes into my LCS each Wednesday (in my late 20s), but I often see at least one or two teens browsing and picking up some floppies to give a go. So it isn’t just a bunch of 45+ year-olds that are keeping the weekly floppy tradition alive, from my experience. The teens in front of me said they got into comics over the pandemic because everything else in their lives went digital… interesting tidbit.

What are your thoughts on the state of the floppy market? Do you still follow series week to week or have you gone fully for collected editions at this point?

I would say I follow about 7-8 series that likely won’t be collected any time soon, or are so tiny that even getting a trade is in jeopardy if their single issues don’t sell, but the rest of my reading is done in omnis and TPBs. Not to mention I’ve grown to like having something to look forward to each week instead of every 6-8 months.

[LordMikel]

30 years ago, they were talking the demise of floppies. I'll just stop there really.

[SJNeal]

My current pull list consists of 32 monthly series, 75% of which I pre-order every month through DCBS (along with maybe a dozen collections). That *really* helps keep costs down. I also keep a smaller pull list at my LCS of "hot" titles and event books that I like to keep up with on a weekly basis; I like to support them cuz they're great people.

That said, the $3.99 books seem to be going the way of the dodo sooner rather than later; a year from now I won't be surprised if the standard is $4.99 for 22 pgs. And while I don't think I'll ever stop buying comics, I need to reevaluate my spending soon - I'm thinking a lot fewer floppies and more collections, like many have already done - because even after online discounts it's a ton of money for relatively little entertainment.

Long story short, I don't think single issues are going anywhere, but this very well may be the year I do. Or at least cut back on them drastically.

[Jely4me]

My current pull list consists of 32 monthly series, 75% of which I pre-order every month through DCBS (along with maybe a dozen collections). That *really* helps keep costs down. I also keep a smaller pull list at my LCS of "hot" titles and event books that I like to keep up with on a weekly basis; I like to support them cuz they're great people.

That said, the $3.99 books seem to be going the way of the dodo sooner rather than later; a year from now I won't be surprised if the standard is $4.99 for 22 pgs. And while I don't think I'll ever stop buying comics, I need to reevaluate my spending soon - I'm thinking a lot fewer floppies and more collections, like many have already done - because even after online discounts it's a ton of money for relatively little entertainment.

Long story short, I don't think single issues are going anywhere, but this very well may be the year I do. Or at least cut back on them drastically.

If DCBS ever folds, I’m doomed, but I would also have to quit comics altogether, been going at this since the .25 days. While my number of monthly series is dwindling, I am reacquiring some old classics that for me are timeless, an example would be Thor. Bought the Simonson Omni, and the Epic that drives to #400, perfect, done. Batman is a bit tougher, I’m more into single stories, say from the #300’s, the Gene Colan drawn vampire story, after that, I pretty much skip around for the Aparo artwork. I’m going to reacquire the death of Jason Todd story as a grail set, forget the trade..point is that I’m falling out of love with monthlies due to content and lack of interest, the trades and a bit of back issue hunting helps me reminisce…

[ARkadelphia]

When my LCS closed in January 2021, I stopped buying floppies altogether. Now, it’s digital for weekly releases and collected editions for material I think I want to keep.

[Tayne Japal]

Depends on the amount of youth entering the hobby. A subreddit I participate in for comic collecting regularly has people posting that they haven't bought new comics in 10-20 years and focus solely on 1960s-1980s comic collecting. Of course, these people are in their 40s-50s (I'm 39).

I transitioned to buying mostly digital through Comixology years ago, but the explosion of variant covers (I'm a sucker for great cover art) increased my spending on individual floppies. This year I plan on cutting back on variants and be more selective of which floppies I support. I have a self-imposed, max amount of space for physical comics remaining (enough for 3 BCW plastic bins), so that is added motivation to be more selective in purchasing floppies.

[charliehustle415]

When my LCS closed in January 2021, I stopped buying floppies altogether. Now, it’s digital for weekly releases and collected editions for material I think I want to keep.

This may be the answer, if brick and mortar comic shops can't stay open then floppies may not be long for the world.

The only way I can imagine then going on into the future is having them back in grocery stores and drug stores.