Legacy vs. Evergreen

Of all places, this is a topic that started on YouTube, where I posted a video recently discussing DC's move towards creating evergreen titles.

The question was, "Is Cerebus an evergreen title?"

Ten years ago, that was an easy "yes" answer.

Today, I'm not entirely sure. Assuming the books are all still in print, do they still sell? Do retailers ever keep them in stock? Do they turn over more than once a year?

"Cerebus" will, for sure, go down in comics history for Dave Sim's many accomplishments in the independent comics world. A part of the industry rallied around his title for many years. He was the standard-bearer of a movement, and his series received critical acclaim.

Things got a little dicey with those last 100 issues, but you know what? He did what he set out to do and created a 300 issue series on his own, without compromise. He found a way to make it work financially. In this industry, that alone is worthy of induction into every possible Hall of Fame imaginable. People can't even sustain a 24 issue series these days. (And Sim hit his deadlines.)

His publishing model is the de facto norm in the industry today. The Cerebus "phonebooks" pioneered a market.

And, for a long time, "Cerebus" was a go to book for many.

"Cerebus" has a strong legacy in the world of comics.

But are its collections "evergreen" anymore? Depends on your definition, I suppose. Some would define it as a book that never ages out and is always enjoyable. Some would say it has to have a minimum amount of sales or turnover to justify the term.

So maybe "Jaka's Story" and "Church and State" v1-v2 qualify? Those seem to be the books people think of and recommend from the series. I've never seen anyone say, "Yeah, Cerebus is awesome. Don't miss "Reads" or "Guys"."

The follow-up question, then, is "Is Spawn evergreen?"

Todd McFarlane keeps lots of it in print in multiple formats, but I'm not sure many retailers keep more than the first couple of trades in stock of the series, and that's only because it's McFarlane's art in those. Even then, do they sell out and restock that often?

Those would likely be the only evergreen books in the series. This is a guess. I don't have the numbers. I'm on a hunch here.

The bigger question, then, is what is the preferred format for those issues? Is it the hardcover that collects the first 12 issues? The two trades that collect the first and second sets of six issues?

The collected edition needs to be the evergreen, not the issues. Can we tell them apart in a case like "Spawn," which has seen so many formats over the years?

Can a book be evergreen if it needs to be reformatted every few years to continue to sell? Have we had the one true ultimate format for a Spawn collection?

Taking Comics on Vacation, 2017 Edition

I'm flying away for vacation later this week. I'll be gone for five days, with about 5 hours' worth of airplane time, total.

For the first time, I'm not bringing any comic books with me. I usually pack a trade paperback or three, maybe a hardcover if we're driving and I have room. Vacations are a good time to catch up on things.

I can remember last year, for example, reading the entirety of "Velvet" in one night while the rest of the family was asleep. I was sitting in a closet with the door closed and the light on so as not to bother them.

I got so wrapped up in the book that I couldn't put it down and read the entire thing in one sitting.

This time, I'm going all digital. I'm packing only the iPad, and I'm pre-loading it with as many comics as its storage will allow. I have some choices, too. Depending on my mood, I have European albums and I have Marvel collected editions. I could dive into Rick Remender's "Uncanny X-Force," or I could read the next volume in the Franco-Belgian series I've been enjoying like "The Campbells" or "Undertaker".

I'm not worried about not being able to read in the sun. When I'm on the beach during daylight hours, I'll be playing in the sand with my daughter. But at night, when everyone else goes to sleep early, I'll be getting some reading done.

I also plan on bringing my wireless keyboard. If I get ambitious, I might take some notes or start writing reviews, too. It's always a good idea to write those down soon after reading the book for the first time.

I tend to forget things a day or two later. Writing quickly is a defense mechanism. Editing extensively is a time killer.

Also, if next week's column is a day late, now you know why.

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