In Japan, people usually buy chapters of various manga collected together into a single phonebook-size anthology, to get their immediate fix on the plot...these books are usually disposed of and they buy the series they want to reread later, in the "tankobon" (equivalent to a TPB) format.

As comic fans fret about the prices of their individual chapters, do you think a system like this could ever work for works in the US? People I've talked to seem doubtful. You can read more about the idea (not mine-- Tim Seeley's) here. I'm curious as to what you guys, the comics fans, think!

As we talked about this, it could be a good idea.  I think people are too traditional in their ways to give up the single issues.   TPB contain basically six months worth or work (for a six issue arc).  Could we wait that long in between?  Could the publishers crank out more content in a timely manner?  Would they be able to take the risks they do now?  They can put out a new series and if it sucks, cancel after a couple issues.   With a trade, they have to commit to a couple hundred pages worth of content.  I love the convenience of the TPBs but there's no way I can wait for them to come out. 

I do think the main thing is people need to be able to let go of the single issue mentality. 

I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea, but most readers simply aren't ready to plop down that type of money on something that size they aren't already familiar with.  Most American Anthology type comics/series sound like they are smaller than Japan's version. 

Due to finances and the fact most Americans aren't as obsessed with comics like Japan is, I don't think the concept would do well in our country. 

I think Trades are great, and plenty of readers buy them, but in the format you mentioned, I just think U.S. readers would not be swayed to do it. 

O.K., O.K., one last thing..cute pic.

Define phonebook size, are we talking yellow pages, gargantuan thousand page thing or itty bitty book that makes me feel like I have giant hands holding it?

To me, there is nothing like the feel of a comic. I have a few trades, and I enjoy them, they're great for reading collections of what can be very rare books that are largely unavailable, but there is something about them that just isn't the same to me, and I would be highly resistant to switching over to an all TPB diet. If paperback became the industry standard, I would probably save a lot of money by quitting comics all together, I think they would lose a lot of their magic.