So, I ran out of time to put the March Mailbag Q&A together before I departed on vacation. You may have noticed that. I still wanted to knock that out, though, so instead of it being a March only edition, I collected a couple extra questions and converted it into a March/April Mailbag Q&A! It’s a lighter load this time, but they’re all big questions, so let’s get straight into it.

Retailers often note that part of the value of the single-issue format is its ability to act as marketing for the future collected edition. I wonder then if there’s a way to more efficiently convert trade sales because often, the trade comes out so much later than the singles that the initial interest (or even memory of the comic’s existence) has faded.

So, for example, could a publisher solicit the collected edition at the same time as the debut issue? That way, if at any point during that series’s run a reader becomes interested in the series (whether it’s because they read #1 or just have been hearing good things but feel it’s too late to onboard with the singles), they could immediately ask their retailer to preorder the collection for them? I’m sure there are reasons that wouldn’t quite work, but it feels like there might be ways to more fully capture the marketing potential of the single-issue format. Any ideas? — Cameron Chittock

I completely agree with the premise of what you’re saying here, Cameron. The ability to connect interest to action is one of the greatest failings of the direct market as a whole, but perhaps most specifically in converting interest in a collected story. Related to that, the length of time between the end of an arc and the release of a trade paperback has long been a bugaboo of mine, dating back to SKTCHD 1.0 when I wrote about bewildering trade release strategies from publishers. It makes no sense!

In an ideal world — and I say this knowing that it’s almost certainly not this simple — direct market publishers would do their best to have a standardized release schedule for trades. Consistency would make it easier for potential readers to understand how it will all work. And my take is it should be “very quickly after the arc/series ends.” No more than a month would be preferable, and doing so could potentially create a better pipeline of “single issues as ads” to “the person buying the trade.”

I like your suggestion of soliciting the collected edition at the same time as the debut issue, at least in theory. That would allow for pre-orders in the system at the very least. There are two elephants in that room, of course. One is the fear that trade orders could cannibalize single issue sales, which could happen but doesn’t really strike me as how consumers typically work. The other is more realistic. It’s, what if the single issues become delayed for one reason or another? That would mess with everything.

Beyond that, I suspect the main reason is because that’s just not how direct market ordering works. But could it be? I don’t see why not, especially considering the fact that a lot of these collections are already available for order in the book market. I think doing this on the occasional project would be a worthwhile test by a publisher who is looking to mix it up. At the very least, it would allow readers to take action quicker, if they so desired.

I will say, Mad Cave is already playing with a variation of this mechanic in its Series Bundles. They’ve been doing those for a while. If you get one of these series bundles, you get each single issue in digital format as they come out, and after everything is done, you’re mailed the trade paperback collecting that same story. I think that’s really smart. More than that, if Mad Cave can do that in its direct-to-consumer platform, I’m not sure why comic shops (or more specifically, comic publishers and distributors) wouldn’t be able to do that if they so desired.

One other thing that might prove to be a problem with all this — and something Mad Cave’s tactic solves — is even if someone pre-orders, they may never come to buy the actual book at their comic shop. That leaves shops with a non-returnable and higher cost product. There’s a part of me that wonders if this type of thing would need to take place through a shop’s online store, as Mad Cave does, because then it would allow shops to take money up front. They could do that in person as well, but that isn’t exactly how comic shops typically work.

I think some variation of your suggestion is the only real solution here, and it really should be something shops have the option of doing. I suspect the hold up largely comes with publishers and the system itself. Simply put, some would be horrified of a) the material not being ready on time and b) the collection possibly making the single issues suffer. As much as some talk about single issues being ads (or creating cash flow) for the trade, they still want to maximize potential revenues of both. This could threaten that, which I am sure they fear. You’d probably need to convince them that there’s enough value and limited enough downside before they consider doing this, and that might be a tough sell.

I could be wrong about all this, though. There may be some logistical reason preventing this. I’m not sure what that is, but it’s possible!

I recently picked up The Art of Something Is Killing the Children, which explores the first seven arcs of the series with James Tynion IV (JT4) and Werther Dell’Edera interviewing each other throughout. I loved it. And I know you do great interviews, but there’s something different that happens when creators interview each other. They just latch on to different details, and suddenly the interviewer and interviewee dynamic swaps. So, I couldn’t help but wonder, what creators would you like to see interview each other? — Mark Tweedale

That sounds like an interesting interview! I like the idea of that, and you’re right, creators interviewing each other definitely changes the dynamic, although in these situations I’d almost consider it less of an interview and more of a conversation, if such a delineation exists.

My take, though, is I’d prefer to read/listen to conversations between creators who haven’t necessarily worked together. I’d love to see creators building off each other from the perspective of different experiences. A good example of that is an idea for SKTCHD I’ve never been able to get off the ground, which is an interview series featuring creators from different generations. Daniel Warren Johnson and John Romita, Jr.! Mark Waid and Chip Zdarsky! Jeff Smith and Raina Telgemeier! Etc.! Getting perspective from creators from different periods on how they approach the art and business of comics would be really interesting to me.

Beyond that, though, I think I’d like to get people with parallel or almost opposite experiences on very specific things. Jonathan Hickman and Scott Snyder on leading the Ultimate and Absolute universes. Becky Cloonan and E.M. Carroll on making horror comics work. James Tynion IV and Brian K. Vaughan on making creator-owned comics with diametrically opposed business models (variants vs. no variants, amongst other things). Faith Erin Hicks and Max Sarin on bringing characters to life visually. Kate Beaton and John Allison on going from webcomics to print comics.

Needless to say, there are a lot of chats I’d like to read. Or host. Or whatever. They’d definitely be fun!

I know you’re coming up on 500 podcasts. Congratulations! Who do you still want to have on the show that you’ve never had on before? — Oscar L.

I’ve said this a lot of times, and I’m sure I’ll say this many times more: I’ve asked way, way, way more people than I’ve had on the show, so this list remains quite long. The dark secret of hosting an interview podcast is the only way to 500 episodes is by asking, like, 1,500 people. So, there are a lot of people I’d still like to have on the show. But I can’t pick all those people — this would be an insane Mailbag answer if I did — so instead, here’s a top ten list of people I’ve tried booking (sometimes multiple times) but have never had success lining up. They’d all fit as folks I’d love to have on the show.

• Jim Lee
• Raina Telgemeier
• David Mazzucchelli
• Kate Beaton
• Mariko Tamaki
• Jillian Tamaki
• Stuart Immonen
• Jenette Kahn
• Chris Bachalo
• Robin Lopez (an NBA player that’s into comics)

That would probably be my top ten for potential guests I’d like to have on but have never booked (although one is actually coming up while another is someone I have a highly conditional yes from!). And to be honest, I get it. We’re talking about a stratosphere of creator that a) probably has a ton of interview requests and b) doesn’t do a ton of interviews, or they’re folks who are not in comics in the current state. Jenette Kahn would be amazing to talk to, but there isn’t really a reason for her to want to do an interview, and who am I to pester someone?

Maybe one day for some of them, but if you’re asking me for my white whales, that’s probably the list, or at least close to it.