Comics Alternative

On this episode of The Comics Alternative, Andy and Derek discuss three new titles. They begin by revisiting Jeff Lemire’s Trillium, the first few issues of which they reviewed on their Vertigo Publisher Spotlight show back in November. Now, the miniseries is collected in a single volume, and the guys compare the individual issues to the new trade edition. One of the first differences they note is the page arrangements of the trade. Whereas in many issues of the original miniseries Lemire visually set the storylines of Nika and William to read in opposite directions — where you had to turn the comic book upside down to read one of the narratives – in the trade he more or less places everything on the same reading plane. While Derek is okay with some of this editorial tampering, Andy feels that the difference undermines much of the emotional pacing of the story. But both agree that this new edition lessens Lemire’s emphasis on the materiality of the book, or the comic as object that has to be handled and manip