Would the Coconino Black Hole reprints be considered comics or trade paperbacks? 1 1

[Qalyar]

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Trade Paperback books are not eligible to be added to any sets.

But what's a Trade Paperback? Sometimes this question is easy. Sometimes... it's not. Let's consider Black Hole, the Charles Burns indie book.

• It was published as a 12-issue miniseries. Obviously, the individual issues are comics.
• It was collected as a single volume, published in both hardcover and softcover. Obviously, the softcover is a trade paperback (and too big to slab anyway).
• When it was licensed for foreign editions:
  • Spanish publisher Ediciones La Cupula published it as a 12-issue miniseries. Obviously, these are comics.
  • German publisher Reprodukt published it as a 6-issue miniseries, with each issue containing two of the original comics. Obviously, these are still comics.
  • French publisher Delcourt also published it as a 6-issue miniseries. Although these are still comics, they're also not eligible for encapsulation because they were printed in the French bande dessinée format (which means they are hardcovers).
  • Italian publisher Coconino published it as a 3-issue miniseries, each being an approximately 150 page book containing four of the original comics. I believe these have slabbable dimensions, although they'd get the extra-chonky cases. Obviously, these are... um, actually, that's not obvious. What are these? Are they comics, or are they trade paperbacks. If slabbed, would they be eligible for the Registry (in a Black Hole Foreign Editions set, obviously)?
  • All kinds of publishers -- Coconino, Delcourt, Hjemmet (Norway), Like (Finland), Oog & Blikt (Netherlands), Reprodukt, and likely others -- produced foreign editions of the collected volume. Obviously, these are all trade paperbacks (or hardbacks, as applicable).

Is there any firm dividing line between multi-volume reprints and trade paperbacks? Or is this just a "know it when I see it" sort of demarcation problem?

[jstam]

@Qalyar Foreign Editions have unique publishing traits and this is recognized on the Registry. While technically if a foreign book collects multiple issues it could be considered a trade, they are not considered trades in the traditional sense. 

 

[Qalyar]

On 3/1/2024 at 1:18 PM, jstam said:

@Qalyar Foreign Editions have unique publishing traits and this is recognized on the Registry. While technically if a foreign book collects multiple issues it could be considered a trade, they are not considered trades in the traditional sense. 

 

Appreciated! I just wasn't sure if the Italian 4-in-1 books managed to cross a line. I love foreign republications, but it's a wild world out there!

Still sad that there's nothing that can be done for French b.d. books, though. Maybe someday CGC will work out an encapsulation process for them.