Black Label will be GRAPHIC NOVEL SIZED per DiDio

[Comic-Reader Lad]

In the recent episode of DC All Access on YouTube, Dan DiDio revealed that the first Black Label project, Azzarello's and Lee Berjemo's Batman: Damned will be published in the graphic novel size that we saw a lot of in the 1980s (think "Death of Captain Marvel," etc.) that is still used for European Comics Albums like Tintin or Asterix. Some Black Label stuff will be published at standard comic size.

DiDio said that he knows it's a risk because people want things in comic book size that they can put in bags and file in comic boxes, but he feels that having larger size art will make this format and these more grownup stories "pop."

For me, I have no problem with the Graphic Novel size rather than the trade paperback size. If you want to bag/board/box them, get magazine-sizes of everything. Yes, it won't be able to be filed with your other comics, but I do agree that the larger size makes for a more special experience.

I wouldn't mind seeing the return of the Tabloid/Treasury Edition format either. I think it worked great for the Dini/Ross stuff DC put out years ago. However, I wouldn't mind seeing these albums stapled instead of squarebound so that the book can lie flat.

So, what are your thoughts on using the Graphic Novel size for Black Label? Would that give you second thoughts as to buying the product?

You can see DiDio's interview here, cued up to the point where he talks about Black Label and Batman: Damned.

https://youtu.be/wu9GWenzXEE?t=460

[Ilan Preskovsky]

I don't mind oversized single issues but once I'm going for a prestige format, I'd rather just wait for the oversized HC, which probably won't be much more expensive. This is exactly what I'm doing with this series. Azarello leaves me cold pretty often but I want me some of that Bermejo art in the nicest format possible (though not in the Absolute format - rich I'm not).

[Frontier]

I was kind of expecting it to be honest.

[Thor2014]

Personally, I only buy collected editons but with that said I love the larger, deluxe size. I might be tempted to get the WW ones.

[Carabas]

Oh noes, they'll be in regular comic book size instead of the American half-sized books.

[Güicho]

I have no problem with this size format, as I bought several of them when it debuted in the 80s.
Death of Captain Marvel, New Mutants, and others.
And already collected several European books.

GRAPHIC NOVEL SIZED

I get we once called them that, yet is this really still the right (or useful) term for that format size though?

[CaptCleghorn]

Oh noes, they'll be in regular comic book size instead of the American half-sized books.

The page counts is probably gonna be metric, too.

[Elmo]

what is "graphic novel size"

[MRP]

I prefer the magazine-sized/album sized format to the standard American comic size anyways, so this is a plus for me. When Brubaker and Rucka offered magazine sized variants of first issues for some of their books at image I picked those up rather than the traditional comic size because I prefer that format. It lets the art breathe and makes for a better reading experience. I could care less for how well they store in bags/boards/boxes, I buy the things for the reading experience and I want the best format for that.

-M

[Comic-Reader Lad]

what is "graphic novel size"

As I said in my original post, Graphic Novels, which began to be published by DC and Marvel in the early 1980s were published at a larger size than a standard comic book. If you've ever seen European Comic Albums like Asterix or Tintin in your LCS, an American Graphic Novel was basically that size. They fit in magazine-size polybags.

DC and Marvel stopped publishing them in the 1990s some time, and future OGNs were published at Trade Paperback size, so eventually the term "Graphic Novel" and "Trade Paperback" became interchangeable.

What DC is saying is that they're going back to publishing at the larger size for the Black Label projects.

You can see DiDio do a comparison between the sizes at the link in the original post.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I have no problem with this size format, as I bought several of them when it debuted in the 80s.
Death of Captain Marvel, New Mutants, and others.
And already collected several European books.

I get we once called them that, yet is this really still the right (or useful) term for that format size though?

Part of me laments that we might have to replace that term, but I guess today's fans don't have the same definition of "graphic novel" as we once did.

So, what should be the new term?

I guess we could go with Comic Album or Graphic Album.

[Carabas]

what is "graphic novel size"

But you get them in both soft and hardcover (but a proper soft cover, not just a regular flimsy page), and I don't think I have ever seen one under 46 pages and many are larger.

[Ascended]

Works for me. I was assuming at least a few of these would be in such a format anyway.

[dancj]

For me it all depends on whether they use that extra space. Standard American comics work fine at the size they're at - averaging probably 4-6 panels per page.

Asterix books on the other hand, are probably more like 12 panels per page so I wouldn't want those shrunk down. Likewise, something like Miller + Darrow's Hard Boiled hasn't got a huge panel count, but the art is so intricate, it warrants a larger page.

As long as they make use of the larger page, I'm fine with it.

[Gurz]

Doesn't matter, OHC waiter here.