Let's Get Physical: Physical Comic Book Vocabulary

One of the things that can be overwhelming when you first enter the comic book space is the number of words that are thrown around without explanation. Knowing these vocabulary terms can help you know what you're looking for, understand your surroundings, and feel more confident in the community. 

 I'm breaking down the vocabulary list into two sections. Words relating to physical types of comics and words that help you understand comics internally. That post can be found here. These will, by no means, be exhaustive lists. They are just meant to give you a basic understanding to help you feel more comfortable and confident. Today we're going to talk about physical types of comic series! 

Groups of Comics

• Issue - An issue is any individual comic.
  
  
• One-Shot - A one-shot is a series where the whole story is told in a single comic issue.
  
  

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  Graphic by Caroline Rea

  Limited Run - A limited run is a series/run where there are a pre-determined number of issues that the story will be told in. Each issue is usually released on a monthly basis and will be wrapped up within the set number of issues.
  
  
• Ongoing - An ongoing series is a series/run where there isn't a set number of comics in the series. Each issue is usually released on a monthly basis, but the number of issues is heavily dependent on the number of copies sold/readers. Sometimes these series can last hundreds of comics, and sometimes they can end very abruptly. It often all depends on the sales data that the company sees. The more popular the run, the longer it can last, although that can occasionally mean they outstay their welcome.

Here is a website that goes into more of the very specific and niche vocabulary surrounding comics and how they're created/produced if you're interested in learning more. I have left those out of this list to avoid overwhelming anyone with information outside of what is helpful to know. 

Collections of Comics

• Trade Paperback - A trade paperback (also known as a trade) is a single book that has a small collection of comic issues. This collection is often of comic issues from one series/run. Each trade usually only contains between 5-7 issues. There can be multiple trades for a longer series. 
  
  
• Omnibus - An omnibus is a large book collecting dozens of comics from multiple series that are based around one topic. That topic might be a character or team, a comic event, a writer, or something else entirely. These books often have hundreds of pages and range in size depending on the topic. 
  

CBR has a great community thread that goes deeper into the differences, types, and pros and cons, of both trades and omnibuses. I'll link that thread here for anyone looking to go deeper into this specific part of the hobby.