Saga — the long-running sci-fi/family drama series by Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, and Fonografiks — is getting smaller, sort of.
It’s actually just the latest comic to get a new print edition that clocks in at 6X9, making it easier to haul around for commutes or beach days or wherever else you might want to enjoy the long-running series. This new format will hit in September, featuring brand-new cover art by Staples.
The book will also still publish collections in the traditional American comics size as well, and no changes will be made to the monthly comic (which Vaughan recently announced in his Exploding Giraffe newsletter will be returning with new issues this summer).
This is big news, in that Saga is a bonafied smash-hit comic, having sold more than 10 million copies to date across formats. It’s been translated into 20 languages, and has become perhaps the American comic one is most likely to find on trendy indie bookstore endcaps. To say nothing of the rewards it has netted during its run.
It’s also not the first well-known comic to publish in this size format.
In November, DC Comics announced a new compact comics graphic novel line, which is about to put some of its most well-known bookstore-sellers into the smaller format as well, from Watchmen to All-Star Superman to Court of Owls. There was no news about how much the Saga compact will retail for (and if there was, apologies, I missed it), but the DC line is slated to go for $9.99 when it hits in June.
This is all part of an effort to make these books more accessible, putting them presumably on endcaps in airports or train stations so folks can grab them easily and get hooked on the medium.
In that regard, Saga is a perfect choice. Not to get too self-indulgent, but I had lapsed from comics for a bit myself, before the standard-sized first trade collection of Saga reeled me back in from an endcap at my local library.
Hey, maybe these new compact editions will do the same for someone else out there!
You can find Staples’ new cover art below…
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