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John Vest On Meat Cake And The Good Times Killing Us
posted September 20, 2008
 

In an aesthetic way the serial comic does seem to be a thing of the past. With mainstream comic stories running in 5 to 6 part arcs and then published in trades, I'm often content waiting to read a cost effective book. If anything Brian Michael Bendis' run on Daredevil actually seemed more fitted to a book format. The comics I pick up immediately are the ones I really want in that format and would hate to miss an issue.

When a new release of Meat Cake is a publishing anomaly that's pretty illustrative of the move in alt comics away from serial titles. It still seems too bad that we'll probably see few alt comic series or one-shots again, say a comic like S.O.S. by Mark Kalesniko.

Over the years in my comic buying I rarely double dipped and usually preferred the comic book format over any other. Before their series went to an annual book package though, Los Bros Hernandez releases were always the exception. All the formats were so unique and great - the comic magazines, the comics, the four folded cover books from the 80's, the jumbo sized Gilbert and Jaime hardcovers, the new square sized collections. I collected Love and Rockets Vol.2 through issue twenty but now I'm mulling over picking up The Education Of Hopey Glass - the way the book looks is a knockout and I can't think of a more attractive comic work that's been published this year.