QUOTE: Why do writers 'write for the trade'? If they want to release 240-page graphic novels, why don't they go do that and leave the monthly episodic fiction to people who write monthly episodic fiction?

It may come to pass, but 60+ years of American comics being a serial medium is a damn tough tradition to overcome. And weirdly, in an industry that's very niche these days, the serial stuff is actual vital to the trades coming to pass; it's the best way for publishers to test the waters for a trade of material that's not an obvious, surefire hit (as with the Spider, X, and Batman franchises).

We might be seeing the internet taking over that role in years to come, though. I've recently seen several small press books go to trades-only (GIRL GENIUS and FINDER come to mind), with the serialized material being published page-by-page online for interested parties. It seems a good solution to the fact that oft-times the serial stuff is a loss leader for indie books, the real money coming from trade sales. Biggest question is whether they'll be able to raise enough awareness in the online world for folks aren't already regular reader to find their material.

QUOTE: All this 'decompressed' stuff is garbage. Even the word suggests that its compressed to begin with, which is plain false.

I don't think that's the case. I think American comics have long had a tradition of squeezing a lot of material into a relatively small page count. Compared to our other big storytelling mediums - cinema, with its ability to distend a moment to great degrees (thinking Sergio Leone here); prose with its amazing capacity for digressions - I think American comics feel comparatively compressed. That approach has been developed to amazing effect, of course, but it's obviously not the only way. Manga's just too popular to ignore its form, and it's like the Sergio Leone of the medium!

So nowadays, while I agree it's an awkward fit to have paced-for-the-trade material serialized, I think of the term decompression as being completely neutral in and of itself. It's just a descriptor of technique, and it can be done well or done poorly, same as the traditional American technique of highly concise storytelling. It'd probably be better if we could find a term that's not based on countering a pre-existing tradition, though. Would probably be better to be more precise and use "novelistic" (say, for FROM HELL) or "cinematic" (for the latest manga) to describe the effect.

Of course, then we're stuck comparing different mediums. Maybe we should get more abstract and simply refer to long-form comics and short-form comics? Where's Scott McCloud when I need him?

Remember when computers of the future were going to weigh 2 tons and fill a garage? Everything in the world is geared towards speed and economy - yet comics are going the exact opposite way. Drawn out stories, hyperdetailed art that serves no purpose (artistic masterbating, maybe? I don't know)....comics are going backwards. No wonder they're going down the tubes.

The Peanuts gang has been seven years old forever,

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Interesting thing about the Peanuts-I believe some of them aged a little bit (like Linus) to be closer in age to the others.

No real point there.

Yeah, I'd have to call bullshit on that one.

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Not sure why the hostility Matt.  I love Spider-man too, and I am just giving my opinions, experiences, and perspective. I started reading at 9ish.  I was not upset it did not follow Spider-man and his Amazing Friends (like some say about the Spider-an movie). I was not upset he was not a kid anymore. I was not upset he was (soon) married.  In fact, it was the first comic I ever staked out the stationary store to make sure I got it. I had the best of both worlds really, between Marvel Tales and Amazing and the late, lamented Web, and Peter Parker.  Plus I even got the Marvel Masterworks for Christmas and my birthday (I'm probably getting closer to 12 now).

I believe i clarified they've been a blessing and a curse-at times he has been very happy to escape into Spider-man-at times it's brought him misery. He's quit being Spider-man like 940 times. it was never the wish filfillment of say SHAZAM! On the other hand, he does have cool powers.

ANyone remember when he lost his powers (I think Larson was drawing him) that was a fun read at the time for me.  i really felt the danger and yet the character of Peter Parker-going in to battle hopelessly outgunned

You, as a 28 year-old lawyer, found ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN too slow a read, yet insist that if kids want to read about the character of Spider-Man closer to their age, they can read ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN.  Idiotic.

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I believe I said that kids could enjoy the regular Spider-man-not that they need to find a Spider-man closer to their own age.  If adults here want  kid Spider-man, they have him, though if they hate Bendis they have a conundrum. There is always Marvel Adventures I guess (I think he is a kid there).

It probably does work out better in the trade-I thought the writing was fine, but for several reasons it didn't work for me-partly the pacing and partly I don't need another Spider-man book or version.  I'd rather follow the version i have always been following.

Maybe i have a different age group in mind when I say kids.  In my experience, which is just that, younger than 10 say, did not read superhero comics on any regular basis-they read other types of comics. THey graduated to superhero comics (after Archie or other books) in junior high and read them into high school and maybe college before they quit. Prime superhero years in my experience was like 12-16, 11-17 something like that. That is just my experience and observations. 

"Part of what was lost -- a very important part -- as Parker aged and ended up married to a supermodel, was that for him Spider-Man used to be an escape"

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That might have been true when Spider-man was a TV star, back in Amazing Fantasy #15, but "With great power comes great responsibility" through all of that right out the window.  If we look at how Lee and Ditko followed that ending up in Amazing Spider-man #1, we see that Peter can no longer earn money as Spider-man, plus he is already harrassed by the media.  Hardly the form of escape one would hope for.

If that's not enough, saying that fighting them villains was an escape contradicts the whole "With great power comes great responsibility" mantra.  Peter doesn't go off fighting super-villains because he wants to, but because he feels obligated.  If anything, the concept behind the Spider-man stories since Amazing Spider-man #1 has been the often failed ability to be both Spider-man and Peter Parker, and examples of that have already been mentioned in this thread.

So sure, Peter liked to go swinging on his web from time to time in order to clear his head, which still remains true today.  One can also say his alter ego has helped Peter's confidence, making him less of an outcast.  But fighting super-villains was never an escape, and never really a free choice.