#also like absolutely no hate to op of that post if ur not highly aware of comic book stuff its an easy misconception to have

[ectonurites]

Soooo I’ve been seeing this post go around and I do wanna just take something I wrote about in the tags and make an actual post about it to clear up an (understandable) misconception I think a lot of people have:

The upcoming Tales From Hawkins #3 centered on Robin…

(Variant covers for Stranger Things: Tales From Hawkins #3)

…is a single comic issue not a graphic novel.

This distinction matters here for two primary reasons:

Length: A standard comic issue is generally about 32 pages, as opposed to graphic novels which vary a lot in length but are much much longer. I haven’t read other issues in the Tales From Hawkins series so I’m not 100% sure the length of this issue specifically, but I do know people thinking this is going to be the length of a full graphic novel will be expecting a lot more than what there will actually be, so that’s just like, setting yourself up for disappointment.

Availability: While digital purchasing and/or pirating will of course be options, if you would like a physical copy of this story you will not find it at a regular book store any time soon, you will need to to go to a comic book store (here is a helpful tool: the comic shop locator) or if there are no comic stores near you/getting to one is not feasible for you, order from a comic store that delivers to other places (for example, Midtown comics or Things From Another World). Comic publishers used to have some single issues available at bookstores via the newsstand distribution model but that ceased existing during the 2010s. I think it’s highly likely that once the Tales From Hawkins series is over there will be a collected edition (much like the other Stranger Things comics have gotten) and THAT would be available at regular bookstores, but that would not be for a while.

And just for the context of how I know for a fact that this is a single issue and not a graphic novel:

Every month comic publishers put out solicitations (also known as ‘solicits’) which list what books are available for preorder. Usually solicits are about 3 months ahead of release, so in the case of Tales From Hawkins #3, it was part of Dark Horse’s August 2023 solicits which were released in May.

Anything that is a hardcover, trade paperback, graphic novel, etc is labelled as such—with the remaining listed books being single issues. Plus this specific site reporting these solicits has everything sorted by category so super clearly labelling what’s what, and if you scroll through the page you’ll see that Tales From Hawkins falls under the single issue category!

And also just like… graphic novels typically don’t get variant covers like this, that’s a comic issue thing. Graphic novels also typically aren’t given numbers like ‘#3 of 4’, they’re given numbers like ‘Volume 3’ if part of a multi-book series. And the list price is $3.99 USD which while standard for a single issue is like unheard of for a new graphic novel.

#ALSO QUICK ADD ON: midtown doesn't have it available right now because we're past the pre-order date but before the actual release date #so once it actually releases the backstock will likely be available to order from 👍 TFAW seems to still allow preorders tho so i added it #included the covers to encourage ppl to actually read this LMAO #stranger things #robin buckley #stranger things comics #stranger things tales from hawkins #tales from hawkins #also like absolutely no hate to op of that post if ur not highly aware of comic book stuff its an easy misconception to have