The CRAZIEST Comics Ever Published!

[carsondemmans]

I recently read an old ACG anthology which had 5 short stories in one issue. Even in gold key comics of the 70's you'd probably get 3 self contained stories in one comic. So what do you prefer: getting 2 pink panther and one inspector story in one comic or getting a 3 issue long story in batman? my issue is that the longer a story is serialized in a monthly format, the more likely it is that I will forget what the beginning was. Do they do that so you have to buy the tpb collecting the story?

[Sijo]

Oh, definitely. We're living in the "writing for the trade" era. Trades actually sell better than regular comics these days; they're not even hiding the fact that they're writing every. single. storyline. so that it takes up to a YEAR before it concludes when it's plain it could've been told in three issues at most, no matter how unnatural it feels; some issues just feel like nothing happens because, well, NOTHING really happens. See Marvel's "Secret Invasion" for one of the most blatant examples. -_-

On the other hand, while I prefer to have multiple stories in one comic, there ARE stories that would feel crammed that way. For example, a mystery story, in some cases, had you finding the answer as soon as looked at the next page- boooring! Others required absurd amounts of exposition to explain what was going on.

In my opinion, the best format is the "complete in itself full-issue story that still had plotlines going on in the background". Spider-Man is a good example; most of his stories (in the old days anyway) had him battle the villain of the issue (clearly shown in the cover) and you knew that by the end, he would have won- but you also found a plotline that led to another issue (usually the next)- you got a full story to enjoy, but, you also got a hint of what was coming later, and if it interested you, you would pick up the next issue- but it wasn't strictly necessary.

You can also have an anthology series where there are multiple characters having separate, continuing stories. Adventure Comics was like that for a time.
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[carsondemmans]

Adventure did that for the majority of its long history sijo; it was only during the legion years and later during the dial h for hero years did it have a single feature per issue; I enjoyed the dollar size giant phase, the oddball 70's years when adventurer's club, black orchid and captain fear were around, and the digest years towards the end of its run which were full of great legion reprints as well as shazam, golden age sandman and other stories, all for a buck.

[MacQuarrie]

Personally, I'd prefer a return to the Golden Age format; 64 pages, magazine-size, with a mix of serialized and "done-in-one" stories. Throw in about 30 pages of ads, and put it on the magazine racks next to the checkout stands, priced about the same as PEOPLE, and I think it would sell.

I'd include a 24-page lead story, a 16-pager, two 8-pagers, and two 4-pagers, or maybe mix in some one- or two-page bits. I'd also insist that every serialized story run no longer than four issues. Subplots can run indefinitely, but the main story has to conclude every so often.
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[carsondemmans]

the new life with archie comic is sactually magazine sized, but so gar I haven't seen it naywhere other than in comic book stores