Does the nonuniformity of spine designs bother you?

[hoaznod]

I have a modest sized shelf filled with what might be 100 assorted TPB and HCs all arranged by name and size, but my OCD about uniformity makes me cringe almost everytime I see the shelf.

I guess it's because I come from collecting manga where the volume #, title space, artist name, and extras all have their own set size on the spine that spans through the entire company line. You never get a shonen jump logo slightly taller or out of place. You never get the words One Piece in different places on the spine.

I know I'm definitly a little OCD about stuff like this but I was just wondering if anyone else felt this way. Plus, it's a slow day at work. Bored :/

Oh and as a specific (although I'm not home so I'm doing this from memory) but one example I can give is the Fable trades. Becuase of the extremely differnt page count in certain volumes, it throws the Vertigo banner out of place, which then throws other things out of sync.

Then there are the books that want to center all text on the spine, which leads to different stuff every time. So......just me?

[jaflanagan]

It doesn't bother me at all. Ask Ron and Conor that and you'll get a completely different answer.

[paper]

It bothers me from a design standpoint, but eventually you just have to let go.

[gobo]

Definitely bothers me a little bit, but what's the point in getting bent out of shape over something you have no control over?

[paper]

Just realized my response is one of the central themes of Benjamin Button.

"In the end, you just have to let go."

[humphrey-lee]

As long as they're the same in general, I'm fine with little differences. Like how newer Vertigo TPBs have the big imprint logo on the bottom whereas the older ones don't, so if your collection is a mixed breed the volume numbers won't line up. I can deal with something like that. But I absolutely HATE it when like, font's are dramatically different, or they're not aligned properly. The thing that drives me nuts the most on my bookcase are the Hellblazer TPBs. I have every trade for the series they've put out, but all my Ennis ones are from way back. And with the Azzarello stuff they finally decided on a spine with the title "John Constantine: Hellblazer" in some sort of white bolded font and then there's a line after and then it goes into the creative team and all that jazz. But the old ones are all just ugly colors and no uniformity and it drives me nuts since they're in the middle of all these properly aligned and matching spines. Just blech. Sadly, at some point I'll probably ditch the old volumes to buy the new printings of them that DO match. That's how sad I am... :(

[hoaznod]

Sadly the thing that bothers me the most is the smallert differnce in the size of the volume number on my walking dead hardcovers. I'm starting to gravitate to hardcovers because they are usually much more uniform, but the number 1 is ever so slighty bigger than my 2,3,4 and it drives me insane because the hardcovers are very uniform otherwise.

[deezer89]

It bothers me only when a series has different spine treatments (a la Scott Pilgrim), but in general, no I don't mind it. Despite my bouts of OCD every so often, I actually find it easier to find everything if they're different (the marvel ones mess me up, but whatever)

[conorkilpatrick]

It bothers me a whole lot.

[thenextchampion]

It doesn't bother me at all. Ask Ron and Conor that and you'll get a completely different answer.

It bothers me a whole lot.

Wow Josh was right :)

It doesnt bother me in the slightest. Only because I dont have a huge OCD problem like some people probably do when it comes to organizing their comics or trades. Unless I bought a huge omnibus (lets say the first 25 issues for Brubakers Captain America) and then buy the small trade paperbacks for the next part of the title....other then that it doesnt bother me.

[matthaber1]

not really. The size difference in volumes gets me pissed off. I have both volumes of justice league america international, and volume 2 is bigger than volume one. Its longer and taller. The two of them next to each other, just look very weird.

[cenquist]

If we are talking spines like 100 Bullets trades where the design is similar but the colours are different I am ok with it. But when they change the design completely like the Marvel Essential lines it drives me nuts.

Changing the topic to dvds but still the same, when they changed the Simpsons season dvds (I think it was season 5 or 6) to the crappy plastic head cases I was ticked off like no tommorow.

[optimus187prime]

It doesnt bother me but I would prefer it to be uniform.

[thenextchampion]

If we are talking spines like 100 Bullets trades where the design is similar but the colours are different I am ok with it. But when they change the design completely like the Marvel Essential lines it drives me nuts.

Changing the topic to dvds but still the same, when they changed the Simpsons season dvds (I think it was season 5 or 6) to the crappy plastic head cases I was ticked off like no tommorow.

That bothered me to no end! I mean sure it's for a 'special edition' version of the DVD, but it's still a pain. Taking the discs out is flimsy and I worry I will accidentally break the disc. You cant put the DVD's vertically, but horizontality which is a pain. What they did for Season 11 is have a regular sized DVD with a face on the cover....but they make an accordian like slip case for all the DVD's! What the hell!?

[cenquist]

That bothered me to no end! I mean sure it's for a 'special edition' version of the DVD, but it's still a pain. Taking the discs out is flimsy and I worry I will accidentally break the disc. You cant put the DVD's vertically, but horizontality which is a pain. What they did for Season 11 is have a regular sized DVD with a face on the cover....but they make an accordian like slip case for all the DVD's! What the hell!?

I was glad they offered a mail in for the box for season 6. And each set after came out with the two versions. I was so happy when I got the box in the mail....then I put it together and it doesn't have a top! I was still ticked! And now you can buy it in the store like it came out that way with a top!!!

[jumpingjupiter]

I keep my nooks in a file cabinet so I don't see the spine, otherwise it would bother me a little yes.

[hoaznod]

I also have Ultimate Spiderman trades, and I guess I got older versions of volumes 1 and 2 which are like smaller and different colors than the newer versions. Also if the trade is bigger, the centered "Ultimate Spiderman" text is bigger, fatter, and longer. Then they also slightly differ in size too.

I dream of a company wide spine layout like all Marvel books are arranged the same (the color and design could be different, but the text is all in the same place and the same relative size), but I know that's just impossible high hopes.

But it's just confusing why even the trades of a single series can be so totally non uniform.

[joexmas]

It is annoying only cause they have the power to make everything make more sense if they wanted to. Regular trades should be uniform...Absolutes and Omnibuses can do their own thing. I don't need company wide uniformity...just title would be nice. Maybe I'm just lazy and want an easier way to organize my shelf.

[gabeja]

Yes, I know its petty but it pisses the fuck out of me. Especially with fables when they decided with the seventh trade to make the spines match so half of my trades match, and the other half are all over the place. Also, With Ex Machina, wildstorm did a logo redisign so the first five books or so have a different design than the last two.

[deadspace]

Yes I'm pretty OCD about that. You're fucked with Vertigo trades. It doesn't bother me enough to start a thread about it ;) - I just go "arrrrrrrgh!!!!!" inside my own head occasionally.

[hoaznod]

Yes I'm pretty OCD about that. You're fucked with Vertigo trades. It doesn't bother me enough to start a thread about it ;) - I just go "arrrrrrrgh!!!!!" inside my own head occasionally.

That's how bored I was at work on New Year's eve. Sigh. I think I have over 40 vertigo trades and I think I might...just might have two trades with a same sized vertigo logo. But of course, they would never be next to each other on my shelf.

[deadspace]

That's how bored I was at work on New Year's eve. Sigh. I think I have over 40 vertigo trades and I think I might...just might have two trades with a same sized vertigo logo. But of course, they would never be next to each other on my shelf.

Stop it. That description is making me twitch!!

[bonemachine]

2000AD are the worst offenders! I have a Judge Dredd trade that was taller and a bigger width then the rest of my trades and it was so bad that it made me break my sacred rule of organising alphabetically! It was the same with my deluxe edition of The Killing Joke! And I don't even know what I'm gonna do with my hardback of Civil War!

Reading over that paragraph makes me realise what a geek I've become...

[gabeja]

I can console myself with the size of the vertigo logo, because it makes it look vertigo-ey. Like, dizzying. Yeah, I tell myself that a lot.




I've wasted my life