Overheard a guy at the comic shop say 'real fans don't read trades' and it got under my skin

I was flipping through the new issue rack last Saturday and this dude in his 40s tells the kid working the counter that anyone who reads the collected editions isn't a true fan. He said it so loud too, like he wanted everyone to hear. I buy both floppies and trades because I commute 45 minutes to work and can't haul single issues around. What is it with some people gatekeeping how we consume these stories anyway? Has anyone else run into this kind of talk at their local shop?

3 comments

3 Comments

michaelrodriguez18d ago

Last time some dude tried that on me at the shop I just shrugged and said "cool story, I read them on the bus" and kept flipping through my trade.

eric_wright7718d ago

Three weeks ago at Third Eye Comics in Annapolis I watched a guy tell a teenage girl she wasn't a "real reader" because she grabbed the Deluxe Edition of Saga. @michaelrodriguez your bus comeback is exactly right, but I wonder what makes someone feel so threatened by how other people read comics? Is it about feeling special for picking up issue #1 or is it some weird fear that trades make the hobby too accessible? I mean, Dave at my shop told me trades actually keep the store alive since floppy sales alone don't pay the rent anymore. So who's really the better fan, the guy buying 8 issues a month or the person keeping the lights on with an Absolute Edition purchase?

nathan_thompson6218d ago

Yeah I read this article online a while back about how collected editions actually brought a ton of new readers into comics in the 2000s. Stuff like Walking Dead trades and Watchmen got people into shops who never touched a floppy. @michaelrodriguez your bus comment is perfect honestly because it shows how ridiculous the gatekeeping sounds when you just brush it off. I get that some folks like the weekly hunt and that's cool but acting like trades are cheating is just weird. The stories are the same pages either way, and a lot of the big runs read better in one sitting honestly. Plus my wallet definitely prefers a $20 trade over chasing down back issues for a storyline I missed.