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DC Compact Comics

𐑛𐑰𐑕𐑰 𐑒𐑩𐑥𐑐𐑨𐑒𐑑 𐑒𐑪𐑥𐑦𐑒𐑕

Far Sector

DC Compact Comics are budget re-releases of trade paperbacks and graphic novels published by DC.

At digest size, they're smaller^[1] and cheaper than regular trade paperbacks. The series seems designed to appeal to more casual comic readers, who might be more accustomed to prose novels and tankōbon of manga. The collection is pretty well curated, and certainly good value.

Given the smaller format, each layout has been shrunken down. Some people have reported finding the smaller text harder to read. Personally, I haven't had that issue, with the exception of Arkham Asylum's artistic red scribblings.

On the other hand, I have sometimes had to open a spread unnervingly wide in order to read text placed right next to the spine, where a more traditional prose book typesetter would have placed a handy margin. Still, I appreciate that adding a margin would have shrunken the layout down even further. It's a good tradeoff.

Many of the books contain a complete limited series, making them full standalone stories, as with any novel. Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns are all prime examples.

Some combine several shorter limited series, as with Catwoman: Trail of the Catwoman. Some are merely the first volume of a larger series, seemingly in an attempt to get you hooked into buying a far less affordable or portable omnibus, as with Gotham Central. Even then, it certainly beats chancing an expensive omnibus to discover whether you actually like it or not.

It's like DC remembered they're in the business of selling stories for people to read, not selling artificially scarce art for people to collect. The only collectable things about this series are the matching covers and that the stories are generally well-received — perfect.

More realistically, it's an attempt to expand their audience via a loss-leader product for newcomers, featuring relatively high quality old stories re-released as lower quality physical books. It seems to be working too, with the budget format being ideally suited for tentatively checking out stories, or indeed a whole medium, that you'd otherwise skip.

Books

References

1. "Got the Compact Edition of Watchmen early. Here's some comparison photos to the first printing of the trade and the Absolute Edition." @NaveenKalirai Twitter, May 2024

Further reading

Official webpage

• "DC Compact Comics Series" Penguin Random House

DC: Batman | DC Compact Comics

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