As a kid I remember being all hardcore about issues and hated trades. I liked comics, and preferred the single issues – I grew up on them — getting the trades was reserved for issues that were just too expensive to afford. Now I am 31 and I have my own home with more room for book shelves [not to mention a better job]. I prefer trades and HC’s so that they are also on display for the passerby. It makes me happy that someone can walk by and see some of my reading interests or just things I think are kick-ass. Also, I would not stop buying – I could download every single comic released and I would still want to buy them. I will read Y the last man four or five times and I do prefer the satisfaction of owning it and having it in my hand. I love some of these stories that much. There are plenty of times I read something from a writer I have never heard of and all of a sudden I need to own it. I like that feeling.

However, sometimes I’ll read threads with spoilers simply to see if it’s a title worth picking up in trade — including and maybe especially for books I used to collect monthly but then moved to my trade wait list. For example, I used to collect Avengers, but then when it divided into two books, I decided I didn’t want to get them monthly. So, I would just read what was going on in those books in spoiler discussion threads, and honestly I haven’t bought an Avengers trade.

As for waiting for trades, it depends on the book. Example: Fables, I read only in trades and avoid all solicits and spoilers. Green Lantern I buy in singles every month and bind them. The Avengers books I generally only get AFTER I hear a spoiler, and that’s what hooks me to buy it.

If I hear spoilers about a storyline that I’m interested in, I get the trade. Take Superman: Brainiac for example. It was everywhere that Jonathan Kent dies in that arc. Hypothetically, if I don’t want that event in my own personal “Cisco Kid” continuity, I skip that trade.

As another example, I avoid Dark Reign because in my own continuity, Norman Osbourne is still dead. Thus, I don’t have to worry about buying any Marvel trades for quite a while. I’m still able to enjoy Brubaker’s Captain America in trades.

I try to avoid spoilers for self contained stories and universes like the DMZ, Walking Dead, Ex Machina, and Invincible.

And yet there are some stories that I set apart from all the others–stories that absolutely must not be spoiled. Stories like Y: The Last Man or Harry Potter. So I suppose there is a special quality added when you don’t know how it will turn out. But the examples of Y: The Last Man and Harry Potter are different, because those stories *end*. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men will go on forever, so those kinds of spoilers tend to have less of an effect on my enjoyment of the story.

It’s the difference between having the end of a *story* spoiled and having the end of a *chapter* spoiled. And if a story never ends, then what exactly is being spoiled anyway?

Sure, real surprises are nice, and I do miss my pre-Internet days as a kid when I could walk into a drugstore and pick up an issue with no clue about what was happening inside. But the story should be what carries the book, what makes it worth buying.

When my paycheck permitted, I used to spend $50 – $60 bucks a week on comics every Wednesday. 2 kids and a recession later, I started downloading the torrents under the guise that if I liked a title I would buy it later or in trades. Guess what, neither happened. After I read the book, what was the point of buying.

I don’t mean this to be a post on whether downloading is right or wrong. I believe it is wrong, but I do it anyway. I did the same with music before “digital music” and Itunes became the way to listen to music.

My point is the current business model is broken. If I can download a book for free or pay close to $5.00 for something I am only going to read once, what do you think is going to get chosen. It isn’t about morals, markets are not driven on morals, they are driven on price, and free beats $5.00 everyday.

Sooner or later this will need to be addressed. Downloads affect a large portion of comic readers’ buying decisions. Just as much as monthlies and trades. A discussion about the last 2 is not complete without including the 3rd

In another example, no 2 people seemed to agree about what was happening in Final Crisis, so I figure there will be plenty of surprises there when I finally get to read it this week.

Knowing to which conclusion a book leads before reading it, is a major dissapointment to me, especially when it’s not a back issue. Knowing what happens in a back issue doesn’t annoy me, these books are more for background information, a history lesson if you like.

I also dislike to detailed reviews of movies I like to see. In last couple of years reviews seem to describe the whole movie. I don’t want to imagine, what watching From Dusk till Dawn for the first time would be like, knowing beforehand, it would mutate from road movie to *SPOILER* movie.

I’d heard good things about Cowboy Bebop and finally bought it on DVD a couple of months back with plans to watch it soon. Now I guess that I will wait awhile and try to forget your spoiler.

Personally, I read all my comics the first week that they come out, so I had no concerns about seeing any comic related spoilers on this thread. I guess that it just never occurred to me to be worried about anime spoilers.

real dudes like up for their comics on wednesday

and people who call comics pamphlets or floppies are jerkoffs

So, I’m more than content to read articles to tell me if something is worth getting in collection or not.

Saved me from wasting money on crap like Countdown and Trinity anyway.

The thing I get spoiled on the most are movies. If I can’t get into an advance screening about two months beforehand, I have films mapped out for me frame by frame despite my clearly stating “DO NOT SPOIL IT FOR ME OR I WILL HURT YOU.” I still haven’t seen Wolverine and I don’t need to because I know everything that goes on in it and every varying opinion, especially since my patronage is fond of piracy and got the leaked version months before release. Then these people have the audacity to ask my “professional opinion.” It’s like they didn’t hear me the 3,000 times I said, “I haven’t seen it!”

As for news sites, most everybody is really good at ambiguous headlines. I don’t read articles about stuff I haven’t read. It’s not necessarily because I’m trying to remain spoiler-free (sometimes I hunt spoilers so I know what to recommend at the shop), but if it’s something I’ve yet to read then I really have no interest in the article. I can’t relate to an article if I don’t know what the subject matter really is.

Oh yeah, spoilers for the decade old show, btw.

2) Most of what I really care about is stuff that most other people don’t care about and therefore doesn’t get written up as much.

3) If I think the article is going to spoil something I’m waiting on and care about, I tend not to read it. Pretty easy, really.

I’ve been using this example on a lot of different threads I’ve been participating in recently, but it bears repeating: I will not be picking up the Final Crisis or Batman RIP collections–not necessarily because I know the ending, but because I’ve decided I think the storytelling is poor, and I don’t want to spend money on something I don’t think I’ll enjoy.

However, I will admit that if there is a storyline with a major impact, like Batman RIP or Final Crisis, sometimes I will pick up that final issue.

I view monthly issues vs. collections much in the same way I do books and movies that are based on them (or the other way around). I can read a book and know all the plot points, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the movie.