Fin Fang Foom wrote:
You misunderstand -- I'm not talking about "advertising," I'm talking about the way these books are packaged and sold. To use my previous example: a book with the title The Greatest Jimmy Olsen Signal Watch Stories Ever Told gives everyone -- book buyers, Direct Market retailers, consumers who are familiar with comics and those who aren't, casual bokstore browsers, book reviewers, everyone! -- at a glance, at an instant, without even reading past the title, they get far more information than Jimmy Olsen, Volume 7 could ever give them.
I really doubt that a lot of buyers are influenced by the title of a book - much more significant is the solicitation copy that DC puts next to zero effort in composing - and that's been an issue no matter what the nature of the collection

How so? I'm sure the "sequential" quality appeals to some people (perhaps even most of the people here), but I don't think it's necessarily representative of the audience for these books as a whole. I don't see it as a factor that's driving sales -- just something that's taken for granted.


I disagree - that's been the "hook" of those big black & white books from the very first Marvel Essential - getting your own Silver Age collection on the cheap.


"As for contentment, that is a myth.  Give a man everything he wishes and he will be unhappy, because he didn't wish for more; give him more, and he will die of his worries.  Only a turtle, asleep on a sunny log, knows contentment!"
-Merlin to Prince Valiant

            Hal Foster 3-7-43