TPBs...

[Kriton Kyrimis]

HARRY:

> People have been talking about the format of Gemstone's new Disney comics,
> and they use the term 'Trade paperback" (TPB). I have been wondering for a
> while now: what *is* a TPB? Is it like any comics I know from Gladstone,
> Holland, Germany, France, Italy, Scandinavia?

When talking about books, a trade paperback is a large size paperback
book: it has the size of a hardcover book, but has the cheaper, paperback
binding, and is priced somewhere in between. Books that are expected to
sell (e.g., well-known author, next installment in a successful series,
etc.) are often published as trade paperbacks first, and then as regular
paperbacks.  This is most likely a ploy by publishers to get every last
cent (US cent, most likely) from their readers.

If such is the case with comics, then I suppose that the French "Mickey
Parade", which is a book size, square bound comic, would qualify as a
trade paperback.

In Diamond's announcements, it would appear that they have something else
in mind, however. Their mention of digests, and their reluctance to use
the term, makes me think that they might be planning to produce something
similar to, say, the Greek "Klasika": a small size, square bound comic
book, printed on good paper. If Gladstone's digests were anything to go
by (four-color printing on newsprint, small pages where small details
were lost), I can understand why they would not want to use the term!

	Kriton	(e-mail: kyrimis at cti.gr)
	      	(WWW:    http://dias.cti.gr/~kyrimis)
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"When you're looking for a needle in a haystack, it's easy to clutch at 
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