Trade Paperback (comics) - Additions and Omissions

Additions and Omissions

A trade paperback will sometimes feature additional artwork, such as alternative cover art or pinup galleries by guest artists, not released in the standard issues. Additional story material that was not available in the series itself may also be included, primarily "preview" or "extra" stories presented exclusively on the Internet or in comics-industry publications such as Wizard (or simply things that are unlikely to be reprinted anywhere else, such as Free Comic Book Day comics). Many feature introductions written by prominent figures, some from outside the world of comics—for instance, The Sandman: Worlds' End features an introduction by Stephen King, the Ultimates 2 book has an introduction by Jonathan Ross and most Hellboy trade paperbacks have included introductions by prominent authors. A common practice is to include an art gallery featuring the artwork of the original comic book covers from which the series was compiled.

While there have been exceptions, as a general rule of thumb, trade paperbacks will not feature advertisements, fan mail, special foil or embossed covers. Where the original serialized format included back-up stories not related to the main arc, these may also be omitted, and, in what is now a largely discontinued practice, it was common in older trade paperbacks to use only small excerpts from certain stories, or to omit pages from the main story related to other subplots.