Jhaeman's Library # 6

Issue #6 of Jhaeman's Library in the Legends zine included review of several Buffy novels, along with "Comics That Time Forgot" features on The Gargoyle and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane. Some diligent searching will turn up these reviews elsewhere on this blog. One of the things I found interesting looking back was part of a discussion about the effect of trade paperbacks on the comic market, and what life would be like if prose books were marketed like comics . . .

"I've only been in fandom for a little over a decade, but I too can remember when publishers issued TPBs only for comics that were really in demand and popular; now, it seems like every moderately successful series has a TPB coming out every few months. I agree with you that it's hard to forecast what sort of effect this will have on the industry . . . I wouldn't be heartbroken if publishers decided to issue a TPB every 4-6 months for a series instead of monthly issues--in a way, the current system is like the old 'serial novel' that book publishers abandoned a century ago, notwithstanding the recent attempts to revive the system by Stephen King and others. On the flip side, I can remember the excitement as a kid of showing up at the comic store every week to see what would happen in my favorite comics, and if I had had to wait several months between adventures I would have become rather frustrated--a reason I think bimonthly books have difficulty being successful."

"It is really weird to think what it would be like if books were marketed just like comics used to be; can you imagine digging through the back issue bins and seeing several copies of Chapter 22 of the new Robert Jordan novel, but the one you're looking for is Chapter 14--and if you find it, you'll finally have the complete story? Or becoming a fan of Elizabeth George by picking up a new chapter set halfway through one of her mystery novels because the other chapters are long out-of-print and difficult to find, at least at a reasonable price?"