Comic publishing has its own vocabulary, and shops (including us) throw it around like everyone was born knowing it. Sometimes it's brain-dead simple, other times it's unnecessarily complicated. We'll help you understand what each term means, and more importantly, what it means for how you buy and read.
Ongoing series: the marathon
An ongoing series is a comic published on a continuing schedule (usually monthly) with no planned ending. Amazing Spider-Man, Batman, Fantastic Four, Superman, and so many more A-list characters. They run as long as people keep buying them, which in some cases has meant decades and over a thousand issues.
What it means for you: ongoings are the books you follow pretty much forever. There are no real end points, and the lore generally follows each saga. You jump on at a good starting point (a new #1, a new creative team, a fresh arc) and ride along month to month, or wait and read them in collected volumes. This is also the format a pull list exists for.
Mini-series (limited series): the complete story
A mini-series is announced with a fixed length up front (usually 3 to 12 issues) and then it ends. On the cover or in the listing you'll see it written like "#2 (of 6)." Watchmen was a 12-issue mini. Longer fixed-length runs (around 12 issues) sometimes get called maxi-series, but it's the same idea: a complete story with a planned finale.
What it means for you: minis are the easiest commitment in comics. Beginning, middle, end, done. If you're the kind of reader who likes finishing things then minis and their collected editions are your best friends.
One-shot: the short story
A one-shot is a single, self-contained issue. One and done. Sometimes it's a standalone story, sometimes a special (an anniversary issue, a holiday special), sometimes a prologue that kicks off a bigger event. Often they're labeled "#1" even though there will never be a #2, which we admit is confusing.
What it means for you: Complete story, great starting point, and usually a couple bucks more than a standard issue because they run extra pages. Great way to sample a character or creator; keep an eye on this week's drop for them.
Story arc: the chapter block
An arc isn't a format. It's a stretch of issues within a series that tells one story, usually 4 to 6 issues. Think of a series as a TV show: the arc is a season's storyline. Arcs matter for one big practical reason: they're what collected editions collect. When you buy "Vol. 3" of a series, you're usually buying one arc. When someone says "start with the 'Hush' arc," they mean a specific run of Batman issues, which you can buy as one book instead of hunting twelve back issues.
What it means for you: arcs are natural jumping-on and jumping-off points. New arc = new reader friendly, most of the time.
The rest of the zoo
- Annual: an oversized once-a-year special issue of an ongoing. Sometimes essential, often skippable; ask us if a specific one matters.
- Event / crossover: a big story that runs through multiple series at once, usually anchored by its own mini-series. You can almost always read just the main mini and skip the tie-ins.
- Volume (the confusing one): used two ways. "Vol. 2" on a trade paperback means the second collected book of a series, but publishers also say "Volume 2" to mean a series that restarted with a new #1. Yes, this is the industry's fault so don't feel odd if you're confused.
- Graphic novel: technically this is a term for a standalone book-length comic that was never serialized (check out the indie shelf). We sort of ignore that and casually use it for any comic in book form. Nobody will arrest you.
Why publishers do it this way
Ongoings keep beloved characters on the shelf every month. Minis let creators tell a story exactly as long as it needs to be. One-shots let publishers test ideas cheaply. Arcs keep ongoings structured so new readers can climb aboard and trades have clean contents. Once you see the system, solicitations and shelf labels stop looking like alphabet soup: "#3 (of 5)" means a mini past its midpoint, and "Vol. 1" means a safe place to start.
Browse it in the wild: complete stories live on our graphic novels shelf, ongoing series land every Wednesday in this week's drop, and if you want to follow a series without missing an issue, that's what our pull list is for. Or just walk in and ask us.
