![]() Readers inherently understood what was being done in DC One Million you couldn't try that with Time magazine! Escalating issue numbers have been such a familiar feature to comics for so long that humor publishers have lampooned them, such as when Bongo skipped around with Radioactive Man's numbering DC even took an entire month off to show what issue #1000000 of each of its comics would be like. With notable exceptions, serial numbering without yearly volume restarts has been the practice for the vast majority of comic books published in North America since the 1930s. ![]() That benefit would serve comics readers, too, as more and more titles presented continuing stories. If you'd just read Back Number Bixby's adventures in Fame and Fortune Weekly #258 in 1910, you'd assume that #259 was next. ![]() Rather, these serialized fiction magazines - precursors to pulps - found that whole numbers offered a cue that helped readers to know what they'd already read. Comic books, as discussed in my companion essay on numbering's origin, likely took their preference for whole numbers from dime novels, most of which really cost a nickel and which likewise weren't considered of interest to many librarians. 3, for example, but it's doubtful anyone refers to it that way.īut while some bound-together editions of comic books exist, comic books were not generally considered candidates for binding by many libraries - ironic, of course, given today's market for collected editions. Consequently, while most magazines do have a numbering system, it's usually found inside, as part of a volume with numbering that restarts annually or every six months - an indicator for binderies that are preserving issues for libraries. An issue of The Atlantic, for example, goes from being a current affairs publication to a historical record the longer it sits on the shelf buyers want to know when the issue they're picking up was published, and while most covers are post-dated a month or two, most readers understand that and track back accordingly. Most American magazines are known by their cover dates logical, as most are considered to be disposable. How Legacy Numbering Has Changed Over Time Publishers' commitment to high issue numbers has waxed and waned
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