Hi Everyone

I just started getting back into comics maybe 6 or 7 months ago and for now I am mostly collecting trades. I'm doing this for several reasons

1) Don't have to worry about going to the LCS every week
2) Storage - Takes up less space
3) Appearence - Trades look better on a bookshelf
4) Easier to obtain back issues
5) I can read a whole story in one sitting. Which is great for me because I tend to forget what happens in last months issue.
6) Don't have to worry about the condition like some do with monthlies.
7) I consider myself more of a comic reader than collector.

The only monthly comic I am picking up is Aquaman (guilty pleasure) because I don't think there will be many trades of him coming out soon.

I know there are pros and cons to each side, but I was wondering what you prefer and why?

I enjoy the weekly grind on Wednesdays. My LCS is run by cool folks, so it's fun to stop by and chat about the latest pop cultural tidbits.

The last monthly I continually picked up was probably X-Force, and that was at issue 14 or 15.

I much prefer trades. I think point 7 sums me up perfectly... I'm a reader, not necessarily a collector, and I find trades allow me to read my collection a lot easier than monthlies do. I've liked trades ever since I got the huge Dark Phoenix collection at a book store when I was a kid... and I always wondered why more comics weren't collected like that. We did, in fact, have the entire Byrne run of the X-men, but it was buried in the pile of comics my mom bought. Of course, as a little kid, there was little continuity to my comic book buying... I'd get random issues whenever I got to go to the comic store (or I read what my mom collected), so having a collected volume was incredible to me. I was also a huge fan of manga as a child, and looking through these book-sized collected volumes was great, even if I couldn't really "read" them.

In the early days, I often found that collected editions often included bonus material that the original monthlies didn't have.

Now I still collect a few monthlies, mostly titles I either don't expect to be collected, or titles that I've collected from the beginning, and have a hard time stopping for months waiting for a collection (like JSA or Titans). And I understand that the way comic book revenue is structured, we need to support the monthlies to get the trades to come out... I just prefer the trade paperback format. For instance, I don't remember where I put all my Legion of Superhero comics from the Giffen era... but I'd buy a (cheaper, non HC) collection of them in a heartbeat.

I read most ongoing titles on a monthly basis, and I read most mini-series in trade. If a writer's only going to be on a book for say, 6-12 issues I usually just wait for the trade.

I prefer trades, but I usually get the monthlies...I dont know, just makes it easier, and oh yeah, I dont have patience to wait.

Call me ol' school, but I hate trades. Hate 'em.

There are a few books I buy in TPBs, but I still buy the majority of monthlies, even though I read them in arcs (so I'll read six or seven issues at a time). I know that makes little sense, but I read the monthlies faster (i've only read the first Walking Dead TPB of the four I have, but I just read 11 issues of Ultimate Spider-Man and caught up). I think the format and the reinforcement of clearly being "done" with something when the issue ends is why. Who knows.

I was a monthly guy, but recently got heavy into trades, since thats all a friend of mine buys.

So my current trend is to buy the monthlies for my favorite series, to keep up with the story line, then sell those when a trade is released. Also pick up trades of series i never would have gotten into monthly.

The collector side of me sticks with Key Silver Age books.

But I agree with all the statements in the OP. Trades do look great on the shelf, and me and my friend can borrow each others if we haven't read them.

Mostly I do trades these days, but I'll pick stuff up in monthlies if I think it might not get collected (particularly if it's a non-mainstream book that I want to support) and/or I don't want to wait until the trade comes out.

I do both. For some titles I'll only go trades while others I can't wait till the new issue monthly.

Trades and sometimes ill get single issues. Most comics I read now are ogn anyway. I like reading comics, not collect them and the idea of going to a store every month for a year and paying 3 bucks on a comic with ads seems insane to me. I cant see why anyone wouldn't want trades.

I like them both but I mostly do single issues. I will pick up trades for series that I missed out on and want to read.

Trades. Makes it easier than trying to catch up on the backissues of a series. Easier for to deal with than the pulling out old back issues. I do still buy the occasional new issue and I still go to a convention every year to fill in on old backissues and try some new stuff. That is about it, though.

Well, I filled my last longbox about a year ago, just as the bottom fell out (creatively) on both the FF and Spidey monthlies.

Needless to say, I've been picking up trades ever since.

I prefer trades for many of the OP's reasons, but I pick up monthlies of a few titles I'm unwilling to wait for (Marvel Zombies, Infinite Crisis, Escape of the Living Dead, Revolution on the Planet of the Apes, 198, Sentinel Squad 1, and soon Battlestar Galactica). I will probably pick up those trades as well, and sell the pristine bagged monthlies to offset the cost somewhat. I still go into the local shop weekly to have a look at new figures and such, and visit.

Mostly monthlies.. but more and more I've been moving over to the trade end (like others, for most of the reasons listed by the OP). I'm waiting for some really nice trades for Preacher (hardcovers) then I'll try and sell my originals and see if I can make out in the end.

I've been debating this for months. I can't decide. I love the monthlies and I love the trades. One thing I have determined is that I really like my superhero books in the monthly format. The more mature the story or the more in-depth the detail, the more likely I'll want it in trade.

For example, Ultimate Spider-Man is great monthly. So are most Brian K. Vaughan books since he's the master of the cliffhanger. But Ed Brubaker is often better in trade because he has a little more meat to his stories.

I've also noticed that I prefer whichever format that I first used to get into the story. I got into The Walking Dead with trades and would never go monthly, but I got into Birds of Prey with the monthlies and will never go trades.

I got into the Walking Dead with the omnibus. I wanted to wait for the next one and tried, but issues 25 and 26 were calling to me.

^^I do agree about preferring the format I am exposed to. I started JSA in trades and doubt I could do monthlies on it.
But I still like some things in trades. Like I started some of the mid 90s story arcs(Knightfall, Reign of Supermen, Maximum Carnage, etc) in monthlies and now prefer to have them in trades for convenience. Plus, I was always missing an issue or two from Maximum Carnage.

Trades. I pick up a rare monthly like Infinite Crisis, but now I can't find #3 and don't want to skip ahead to 4-5. That just reinforces my opinion.

Your opinion seems sort of moot considering they have reprinted the issue.

Clarification: I already bought it but now can't find it in my house. Don't want to buy it again.