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Stupid Comic Question

post #1 of 5
11/7/10 at 5:02pm
Thread Starter 
I'm a very infrequent reader of comics - own a few graphic novels, but nothing else - but I've always been mystified as to why comic covers don't carry the date of publication on them like every other magazine/soft cover pub. They only show issue (and or volume) number, and for non-officianados, that's usually really, really unhelpful.

Anyone know what's behind the refusal to have the date on the cover?
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post #2 of 5
11/7/10 at 5:09pm
The last floppy issue I bought is probably All Star Superman #12, and that pretty plainly has the month next to the issue number. Unless they've stopped doing that in the last few years, most comics have at least the month on the cover.
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post #3 of 5
11/7/10 at 5:18pm
Most comic covers through history have had the month and year on the cover in some form or other -- typically some close to the issue number but less prominent. DC currently has the issue number above the smaller month and year, but Marvel isn't displaying it at the moment.

Companies seem to want to have the cover art as prominent as possible these days, so that's a partial explanation for why the publication date isn't as noticeable as it used to be.

Further, the publication month does tend to stray now and then. This has been the case for a long time, but in the last few years delays of well over a month have become relatively common. Also, it's important to remember that not all comics are monthly publications -- some are weekly, biweekly, quarterly, etc.

The issue number is the common denominator regardless of publication schedule and so has over time become the main way to keep track of issues.

Yowzer, that's a long post. I hope it helps!
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post #4 of 5
11/7/10 at 5:41pm
Comics are really the only periodical that relies on issue number, aren't they? Most just go by the month.
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post #5 of 5
11/7/10 at 6:58pm
I see a thread merge in the future.
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